Flying the COD: An Honorable profession.  

By Mike Wilson

A VIPs (Foreign or Domestic) first exposure to Carrier Aviation is usually via the Grumman C-2 Greyhound of VRC-30 or VRC-40. The VIP is loaded aboard and flown to the carrier where he or she is taken to a briefing by one of the ships officers.   The officer explains how United States Navy assets are employed in power projection and peace keeping around the world. They hear all the things about the carrier being sovereign US territory that’s mobile and not subject to the whims of a foreign government. Everything the VIP hears is true. However, during their briefing, they aren’t told anything about the importance of the aircraft, mission, pilots or aircrew that flew them safely to the carrier. Hopefully, this article will help.

The supply mission isn’t the most glamorous but it’s one of the most important. As it was once said, “We ain’t goin’ nowhere lessen we got beans and bullets”. That’s the point; the Carrier Onboard Delivery (COD) squadrons deliver the beans and the bullets. It’s also been said that the most difficult part of the battle is keeping the supplies moving. COD guys do more with less than most of the squadrons in an Air-Wing. They get less operating money and older assets that their Tactical (TACAIR) counter-parts. If you visit VRC-30s website, their theme song is “Mission Impossible”. They do more with less than most TacAir squadrons.

 In the past, they’ve received less than their share of respect from Navy brass. I’ll cite just one example. One of the CVNs was about to mark a milestone in its 100,000^th landing. All the Air-wings pilots’ names were thrown into a hopper to see who was going to make the milestone landing. A pilot from a COD squadron was the lucky one picked. Needless to say the young pilot was excited that he’d been picked and would be part of the ships history. However the Carrier Air group Commander (CAG) had other ideas. When he found out that a COD guy had been selected for the honor he said, no blankety, blank COD guy’s going to make that landing, It’ll be a TacAir guy as long as I’m CAG!… Can you imagine the way this young pilot felt? Here’s the guy that commands the entire Air-Wing telling him he’s not as good as his peers! Talk about poor leadership! I’m happy to report that this CAG (Jerk) was relieved of command for other un-officer like conduct and forced to retire.  Recently, that sort of thinking while not entirely absent, seems to be happening less.  Esprit de’ Corps has been rising steadily for the past few years within the COD community. A couple things that have helped boost morale are: Current and former COD pilots being promoted through the ranks to Skipper and XO slots and the Navy has finally promoted a COD pilot to the very important position of Carrier Skipper. The effect of this has been that every COD guy now has an equal shot at promotion to a command slot. More of the Junior Officers (J.O.s) are now happy to be in CODs and I even heard one say that he enjoyed flying CODs and performing the mission. This particular pilot had been in the jet pipeline but due to a physical problem was transferred to multi-engine training and then to COD’s. He wasn’t bitter but rather very happy about it! His exact words were, ”This is a great community”. 

In the not too distant past, not many J.O.s wanted to stay in the COD community as some felt it was a dead end. Now however, the career path for COD pilots has opened up and J.O.s aren’t trying to leave the community as soon as their tour is over

Recently the French Navy has become interested in the C-2 and may order 12 new airframes. This would re-open the production line and make it possible for the Navy to order new aircraft. Airframe life for the current C-2 is running out and the Navy could take this opportunity to upgrade the C-2 fleet with new airframes, 8 bladed props and glass cockpits. My information is that the COD community will also soon have its own requirements officer that will be separate from the E-2 side of the house. This will also be a step in the right direction. All in all, things are looking up in the COD community.

The next time you see a COD guy, thank him for bringing your mail, parts and replacement aboard. Remember, he’s the one that’s bringing the beans and bullets.