I hear you Sweet, but they really do make those considerations and have over the years. It is just impossible to have sides even remotely balanced if you don’t have some kind of line in the sand for how many are allowed to fly. If you look at the numbers squads have to commit themselves to it really is a wide spread. Keep in mind that squads can have up to 2 pilots under and 2 pilots over their committed numbers.
4-6 is really 2-8 pilots
7-10 is really 5 -12 pilots and so forth.
I have always had a mid size to larger size squad in Squad Ops. Over the years we have been under and over at times. I think our fewest number was 9, but we have had as many as 25. What we have done (seems to work best) and currently do with my squad is first come first serve rule. Right now we are slotted with 16-21 pilots. So we can have as many as 23. Once we reach 23 we know who is flying. When the 24th pilot shows up he is flying as an observer, gunner, with another squad, or off to the MA. It is not any fun being late, but it is a great encouragement for all squadies to show up on time.
It will to a great degree help you to get a better hold on what your numbers will be like from month to month.
The other thing I did is ask all the squadies how many FSO’s they think they will make in an average month. 1,2, or 3. When I received the numbers from everyone I simply added them up and divided it by 3 to get a rough average of how many would show up on Friday’s. It worked well and would especially for the larger squads where the number can fluctuate widely.
