Standardization Pilots are found in several levels of the Aviation Unit command structure (or at least they used to be), usually from the company, to the battalion, to the brigade (and sometimes higher).  Their commanders rely on them to - as the name implies - set the standard across the formation.  As the formation grows, so does some degree of standardization.  Any Aircrew Training Program commander can designate any instructor pilot to be his or her standardization officer, as the selected pilot will be entrusted to ensure the commander's intent is met with regard to any grey areas in the aircrew training program.  I don't think the same selection process (essentially, the ATP O-5 pointing a finger) should apply to schoolhouse SPs.  The reason being, schoolhouse SPs have to understand the standardization process outside their formation, as it crosses over to other airframes and other methods and programs of instruction.  The training and preparation process to create a schoolhouse SP is more arduous as a result, but necessary, as they will inform commanders at brigade level and above while speaking with one voice as the other schoolhouse SPs.  That cannot be accomplished with a finger point.

Yet, now it does.  When you can't meet the standard, lower the standard.  Or, so the schoolhouse headshed decided circa 2019.

The Apache was not the easiest aircraft to learn, and it's also wasn't the easiest aircraft to teach.  One of the things that made the Apache pilot more formidable than your average Army Aviator was his or her ability to fly the aircraft under "red illum" conditions.  Essentially, having the ability to operate without ambient light from the stars or moon, instead relying on thermal energy ratios of terrain, objects, and vegetation.  One of the ways the schoolhouse used to ensure that the student Apache pilot was solely using the Night Vision FLIR system to fly the aircraft was through the use of the "bag."  The bag was a system of black canvas panels velcroed into place on the inside of the back seat pilot canopy, enclosing the back seat pilot in complete darkness.  The pilot would use the imagery projected into his or her right eye through a Helmet Display Unit, and scan the other instruments within the crewstation with the unaided, unobstructed, and dark-adapted left eye.  The process helped determine if the student Apache pilot was experiencing monocular rivalry, and whether or not the monocular rivalry could be overcome.

The bag phase was also a logistic solution, as night flying proficiency was - at the time - considered a requirement by Apache unit commanders.  Due to the lack of available stagefields to accomodate the full Apache student load during the one active night period (N1) at the schoolhouse, the bag phase allowed night system training to be conducted during the day, and in safer conditions, as the instructor pilot would be sitting in the front seat of the aircraft, daytime, with no obstructions whatsoever.  Flying with one eye was occasionally disorienting for even the best daytime pilots, so it was an extra layer of safety built into the program of instruction.  The student Apache pilots that successfully passed their bag phase flight evaluations would then move on to actual night flying with their instructors, swapping seats, and honing their skills further by flying with the more challenging TADS FLIR system.  The end result was a confident student Apache pilot, ready for gunnery, day or night.

The schoolhouse commanding general at the time (circa 2018-2019) called the schoolhouse SPs - including the Department of Evaluation and Standardization (DES) Apache pilots - into the installation conference room to discuss the future of the bag phase.  His argument at the time was that we do not fight the enemy from the bag, so why was it a phase of training.  I wondered, at the time, if a frontal lobotomy was a requirement prior to receiving a second star, as the man asking that question was once a very good Apache pilot, himself.  He had forgotten his training, and all that it took to be proficient in the Apache.  I was the only one that said that the bag phase was NOT a right of passage, as some had claimed, but rather a logistic and safety measure that had served the schoolhouse well for decades.  I explained all of the above, and watched as the general's face turned red as he smiled and let me finish.  I wanted to also say that we don't fight the enemy from the simulator, either, but we spent dozens of hours in the box as part of the program of instruction.  But, the damage was already done.

When you can't meet the standard, lower the standard.  Again.  With the divestation of the OH-58D, there were a lot of retreads getting trained in the Apache.  And, while you can fly Night Vision Goggles in the Apache, that is not the primary means of flying the aircraft at night.  At least, it wasn't, until the former Kiowa pilots flooded the Apache community.  They learned in a shortened bag phase program of instruction, or bypassed the bag phase altogether.  The results were evident, soon after.

Finally, I sometimes wonder if I retired too early, or if it was right on time.  I was literally at the top of my game, finally being the best Apache instructor pilot I could have been.  I had previously been asked to replace the head of DES and turned it down to helm the AH-64E New Equipment Training Team, which I excelled at.  I wonder how my career would have turned out if I had taken the DES job.  There were a lot of jealous folks out there, thinking they should have been the NETT Flight Training Lead, and eventually, I'd be replaced by one of those weasels.  I was told by the assignments officer that I would be able to return to the job that I did so well, someday, but it never happened.  The Army was changing their Physical Fitness Test, and I had a no-running profile due to a broken back that I incurred duing flight school, some two decades prior.  Old age catching up with me, I wasn't the cross country runner I used to be.  There was also a woke movement taking place in the Army, and I found it not only disturbing, but troubling.  We were intentionally making ourselves weaker with regard to flight ability.  Courses were being looked at for making them shorter and easier, in an effort to graduate more students in less time.  Again, the results were evident soon after.  

When a brigade commander I respected enough to take a bullet for was replaced with a little man with a big Napoleon Complex, life didn't get any easier.  The little man wanted a Command Chief Warrant Officer in his ranks, even though such a position was not authorized for TRADOC units.  The little man whined, though, and was determined.  I refused the position, explaning that I was already doing what I was best at for the Army.  I enforced the standard, but the little man didn't want to follow his own rulebook - the one with his signature block on it.  So, the little man essentially fired me - after giving me a high-marks efficiency report a month prior.  It didn't make any sense, but I wasn't going to argue with the little man.  I cleared out my office and waited for the assignments officer - the one that actually determines when I stop one job and start another - to get back to me.  He found a spot at the same installation, in a nothing Safety Officer position.  I dropped retirement paper shortly after, and retired a year later.  I was denied the retirement with my peers in my community setting.  Some of my peers attended, and I will be forever grateful to them and to the organization that gave me a place to hang my hat for my last year of service.  But, I will never forget that little man and what he did to me, my career, and my family.  I also won't forgive what he did to the community by removing one if it's staunchest protectors.  I remember a scene from Ben Hur where Charleton Heston's character prays to God, and lets Him know he wouldn't get bent out of shape if something bad happened to his nemesis.