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<p>I don’t know what point you are attempting to make concerning the Bob Norris letter but, I feel, it exemplifies the differences in a nutshell. Very direct, to the point, and true.</p>
<p>P-3s do deploy, unaccompanied, routinely, just not aboard ships. As do the Marines.</p>
<p>The AF is a derivitive of the Army. It is bound by regulations. The cliche is that AF pilots are given a ton of manuals outlining what the can do while Navy pilots are given one small volume of what they cannot do. It is definitely true from the Navy end and, I suspect, also true from the AF end.</p>
<p>I will never forget coming back to the states on emergency leave. Caught an AF C-5 in Rota, Sp. Everything was perfect. On schedule. Taxied out to the end of the runway. Didn’t even stop. Turned around and came back to the line and shut down. The pilot explained that they had just gotten an updated forecast and the revised winds aloft would have caused their crew day to expire prior to reaching Norfolk. Navy pilots would have been laughed out of the ready room for pulling a stunt such as this.</p>