We did use something like 9-liners once for CAS, but I think it was more of a 6 or 6 liner catered to work in ArmA 3. The other problem was or is the training effort related to it. You can only use stuff like 9-liners when you have at least two people in the right positions (pilot/gunner and FAC) who did the training. Otherwise it simply does not work. Dedicated pilots are a bit of a contradiction of how the unit works. There are several problems with something like a 3CB Squadron or dedicated/fixed roles in general. These problems are both of a practical and social nature.
• The first thing is that you would need to work out a training that is in line with 3CB standards and you obviously would need somebody who is willing and able to hold the training on a regular basis.
• Dedicated pilots/roles are easy to establish some sort of weird elitism which usually ends up in a toxic atmosphere.
• Another issue is that you kind of have to rely on these people and if they cant attend a mission or simply leave the unit, you end up with a pilot shaped hole.
• Not all missions feature air assets.
When it comes to training in general, I cant really comment on most things, since I am not a training instructor, but we (ncos and above) are discussing the matter of training in general. It is also not forget that specific roles have SOP's connected to them. You can find a list of SOP's here:
https://3cbknowhow.wordpress.com/standa ... rocedures/