Leaderboard

https://www.airforcetimes.com/articles/3-star-air-force-may-need-even-bigger-pilot-retention-bonuses Nowland said that when he first entered a fighter squadron as a lieutenant in 1990, he was told his job was to study and become the best F-15 pilot he could be. He threw himself into learning all about the then-new AIM-120 air-to-air missile. "That took hours and hours and hours back in the vault," Nowland said. "Why? Because I didn't have to do DTS [Defense Travel System]. When I had orders, I had people that helped me get from point A to point B. Lt. Gen. Nowland best quote, "In my personal opinion, we lost our way when we started running the Air Force like a business," Nowland said. "Producing a pilot is not a business decision. It is a capability for America." applause... applause... applause 🤗

After my commitment is up give me my base of preference no matter where I want to go for 4 years or a 1-2 year bonus. You can't take both. One or the other. Stop trying to hand out 365s at the end of a career or commitment which causes people to become more jaded. Base of preference for the old guys or a 1-2 year bonus and you might give guys something to look forward to in my opinion.

Hit or miss. The only GO who I have for frame of reference for this question is Mark "Grace" Kelly, a previous Sq/CC who actually refutes my point. If you look at his bio, the reason he counters this stereotype is right there in his duty history. Save for one year at ACSC, he flew for the first 20 years of his career. I was constantly impressed at his tactical proficiency when he was my Sq/CC. He would develop completely non-standard CT sorties to get us to go out and try new and challenging tactics. I remember sitting in the bar and listening to him talk about his Aussie F-18 exchange tour and he was drawing out schematics to the Hornet's radar on a bar napkin - from a system he hadn't used for five years. He is the exception, not the norm. Too many of the young officers who are fast tracked for leadership commit to that objective at the expense of tactical proficiency. For them, the queep takes priority over 3-1 and meetings take priority over flying. Without a solid foundation, there isn't much to build on, and when you take them out of the cockpit for years on end, the result is somebody who needs an experienced handler whenever he goes to fly.

VMA187 is right in the perspective of you don't need to be out their turning wrenches to be a great leader for your maintenance troops. You being visible on the flight line at times and ensuring your airmen are not being pushed to the limit would go far further in my opinion rather than turning a wrench. As an airman, chances are you are getting in my damn way. You can watch, but still learn the job is tedious. Before cold weather hits, make sure your airmen are outfitted properly. On a snow day, I would walk around the flight line and ensure those airmen are in fact equipped to handle the elements. If someone didn't have gloves, I would give them mine. Then go find out why SrA Mitts wasn't issued any gloves. This isn't something you teach to officers in AFROTC or the USAFA. Leading by giving a damn goes far further with the E's. Some pilots are too focused on you having to be great at what the person underneath you is doing in order be an effective leader. I don't see Bill Gates writing code for programs. There are different ways to be an effective leader and you don't have to know in detail how to perform a persons job to be successful. Always ask "mother may I" before going around E's who do not fall under your chain of command. You could have talked to their commander and CMSgt first about what you wanted to do. I would be protective of my airmen as well if WG Safety was always hanging around. I don't know what are your intentions. You could be like the guy Herbert from Family Guy disguised as WG Safety. I believe in communicating your intentions and we don't teach officers how to do this enough.

Is there any reason we do anything anymore? Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

This line of logic on behalf of the airlines is bull. Compare a list of guys on long term mil-leave to guys on long term medical leave and tell me that the military leave is what is really breaking their system. Last I heard from a Delta pilot, the ratio of long term sick leave to long term mil leave was in the ballpark of 10:1. The airlines may complain about guys 'abusing' USERRA, but United sure didn't seem too heartbroken about using bankruptcy court to kill fixed pensions they should still be paying out today. If the shoe were on the other foot, the company would use every power the law gave them to maximize their profit. Why is it somehow wrong when employees do the same thing?

No, he wasn't. Early on, Gates needed Jobs vision, and Jobs needed Gates proficiency. Steve Jobs had a natural gift for connecting the dots, and for connecting Gates work to the average person's need. After they split, the readily stole/acquired/supplanted/and even subsidized one another's work for decades. Jobs is definitely a better model for visionary strategic leadership combined with tactical ignorance.

I've seen some guys I know treated poorly when I was a captain. I'm talking grads from the USAFA and USNA as well. One was a pretty big guy around 6 ft 6 inches and he told me straight up one of his CCs was intimidated by him. The one officer who took care of them was in fact a fast burner. Best CC I've ever had to this day. The negative aspects of the AF some minorities pilots experience are definitely a deterrent to others trying to fly. In my opinion, minorities who want to promote and fly will find a way if they are mentored properly. A vast majority who dont want to promote have had bad experiences and will want out. But mentoring those individuals is crucial to ensuring they are promoted. Otherwise, if there is nobody else like them in the chain of command what makes any person think they can climb the ladder or reach that level? Most minorities look for inspiration in others like them.

Although I am not in the know, I cannot imagine this being a possibility. USERRA is "law of the land", and will take an act of Congress to make significant changes. The AF is only one of seven uniformed services: have they coordinated with the other six? The airline industry isn't the only employer of military personnel. They don't get to decided the rules unilaterally. I couldn't get a couple of safety-related 847's approved through the bureaucracy my last 2 years in the AF. How will they manage to change USERRA?

I get that it's the military, and pissing contests/butthurt fragile egos/red tape dominate the entire way of life, but.... why can't we just have flyers/ops be in charge of flying and running wars and battle staffs, and then have support guys dickfight each other over school, volunteer crap, and high vis non operational staff gigs. Its the bullshit fake equality that needs to go. Anyone who no-shit flies, fights, plans, runs, or deters the air war needs to be put in one box (where their worth is measured in ability to contribute to the war), and the people-herders need to be put in another box and be measured by their ability to support the mission. Do that, and I promise you, you would see more young flyers burning the midnight oil to come up with insane new innovative ways to win wars, rather than writing bullshit essays for a degree that has no relevance to their job.

Guard-Prior Interview-Sep16 Selected-Oct16 FC1-Jan17 FC1 Approved-Feb17 NGB Approval and Training Dates-May 17 TFOT-July17 IFS-Sep17 UPT-Nov17 Edited February 27 by RunningMan

Good discussion. I often hear some version of "the AF sucks at training tactical officers for leadership, we do it too late compared to the Army" or similarly worded observations. But you can be a technically proficient Army soldier as a 2LT, and OJT the details of soldiering while also leading 100 folks and learning that skillset; at least according to Army infantry folks I know. You can't do the same with an AF pilot; it takes years to grow a new pilot into a value added member of the SQ. That necessarily takes away early career opportunities to experience leading large organizations. Bottom line, spend an officers first 1-6 years leading people or honing airmenship (which involves tactical leadership). We can do one of those things, not both. In my opinion, this whole conversation speaks to the need for formally tracked AF officer aircrew paths. I think you should fly your full first operational tour then track either leadership (JQO, AF support functions, etc.) or tactical (which again, involves leadership of a different type). Some formal bifurcating of career trajectories would be a win-win for an individuals career aspirations and force management issues writ large. Too much time is spent by the system forcing people to do things they don't want, while willing volunteers for the same things become frustrated. We could solve that problem while deliberately growing folks into what they want and what the system needs. Great ideas at fixing these issues are out there and well know. The biggest obstacle is how to start. What authorities are required to initiate a change this large? Who are the stakeholders that need to be convinced, and can we speak intelligently to studies predicting the second and third order effects of said proposed change? What principals need to be philosophically aligned? What cabal of GOs will force this issue by socializing a consistent message at all internal & external levels? Those questions are the meat & potatoes of making any big change in a bureaucracy, and answers are totally lacking therefore change of this scope is not forthcoming.

Like I said...that sucks. And those commanders suck. So I might as well come out of the closet: I'm not a pilot or even an operator. I'm an MSG guy (CE) who cares about where the AF is headed. These forums seem to have pretty good gouge on what the nuts and bolts of the rated force is thinking. When people ask me how I like my job, it's mixed. I like the technical nerdery, but I always wish I was working more directly with operations. It's kind of like working at Microsoft...unclogging toilets. It's cool to say I work at Microsoft, but... I'm not sure if I'll ever be a squadron commander...I got to be a deputy for a year overseas. Tried my best to bust my a$$ to make the mission happen, and also make sure our Airmen understood the impact they were having on the mission. It wasn't easy...the MSG has its own kind of salt...but I tried to do my best. Now I'm on Joint Staff working plan sourcing, as I said. If we were sitting down at a bar, what would you say to me that I can do to help?

OK... why exactly is this robot so amazing? I fly the 737-800NG, and it already has a computer on board that will fly the jet, and even do an auto-land. Get rid of this robot, and you can keep the F/O's seat installed, and have a flight attendant join you for the trip. When you've got a robot that can make complex decisions, let me know. Until then, continue to crash as many Global Hawks as you like.

This is an Air Force that rewards risk aversion. Hence the most risk averse rise to the true upper echelons. I think very few, if any, up there get it at all. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

It's like a pilot with an ADSC trying to sort out an exit strategy... my heart smiles that the Air Force has a losing hand...

"That' doesn't matter"...until it's time to pick your flight lead for night one, or deciding who is leading your Red Flag push, or otherwise executing your most challenging sorties. It's not about the strat...it's about being able to recognize that performance in others.

Guard/Prior Interview/Selected: November 2016 FC1: February 2017 (took 5 weeks to receive paperwork stamped approved) NGB: March 2017 (took 7 weeks to receive dates) OTS: September 2017 ENJJPT: February 2018

Thought I would add my experience to this topic in hopes it could help somebody. I failed depth perception (uncorrected) at MEPS on letter B. It was extremely alarming and decided to go see my civilian doctor who told me difference of refractive error within eyes can negatively affect your depth perception. I let the doctor dilate my eyes and he was able to write me a prescription for corrective lens, which are ALLOWED to be used to take the Depth Perception test during your flight physical. I took the DP test again during my flight physical and was able to pass through letter F (perfect). If you ran into this issue, don't stress but make an appointment with your civilian doctor to get a glasses prescription.

Bill Gates was no Steve Jobs. Steve had his fingers all in the kool aid. But after his death, Apple's innovation died. I would insert Steve into your example as a better example. And I refuse to buy an iPhone.

From the mid-70's to at least the mid-90's, Bill Gates brilliance in writing code spawned and then carried Microsoft. As he developed from a tactical leader to a strategic leader, the time and energy he had put into coding became infinitely valuable to him. It provided a bedrock of experience, enabling him to evaluate COAs developed by his underlings, and move the business forward. He may not have proficiency in today's programming languages (I don't know, maybe he does) but he's a master at the language of his profession, at leading and guiding the code writers that he once was. Barring a few crazy outliers, a person doesn't master the language of war without first having been a participant in combat, and not the 'everyone's a warrior' or 'I only had 3 beers a day at the died' kind.

You have to incentivize passengers. In the long run, those expenses will be peanuts because you can roll them back. Secondly, not every flight will be fully autonomous at the same time. They would start off with select flights. Those autonomous planes would have Twitter, FB, and Instagram accounts. People love that retarded stuff. The loud speaker voice would be from James Earl Jones or Chris Hemsworth. The booze makes the elderly flight attendants bearable. Might give you a nice set of beer goggles for the lady sitting next to you who needs two seatbelts and who keeps eyeballing your miniature pretzels..

Not about the money. You bait and switch. Get flyers accustomed to unlimited free booze and food. Then slowly take it away like the airlines did with seat sizes. How many people actually drink #1 or are of age to drink on flights? Secondly, booze is free in first class already. Third, you can use the cheap stuff, but I'm sure liquor companies would support the airlines. On a flight in first class, an old lady sitting next to me wanted what I was drinking. I was having the margaritas. We were both messed up on that flight. Her grandkids must have been wondering why grandma smells like booze. I just want them to stop finding flight attendants at the old folks home or bingo night. Go recruit at FSU, UT, and USC. Turn it into a summer program.

Lawmakers again push for more flexibility with military moves http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/pcs-moves-flexibility-bill-reintroduced This is a great start and all, but how about homesteading?

Because that doesn't matter. Third tier strat, at best.

I would fly on a fully autonomous flight without a pilot if the airline gave out unlimited free booze and in flight meals. I am for certain most passengers would do the exact same for free booze and food. Most times you don't even see the pilot unless you are actively looking for them in the cockpit or they are standing at the door when you board.

Rhetorical and honest question, what are we using the skill as a military aviator for in determining AF leadership? Is it proof of intelligence, strategic thought, knowledge of modern warfare, understanding of historical lessons, wisdom to apply these as required, etc...? Is it a filter or braking system / requirement to ensure that individuals have enough time and experience and a record to judge and predict future performance at now directing and leading the Air Force in operations? I ask as I agree with the sentiment of disgust that many of the cadre of modern AF leaders have mediocre or little skill, knowledge or even interest in their tactical art but at some level, high tactical personal proficiency may not be required to be a great strategic or enterprise leader. My analogy would be Nick Saban, whether you're an Alabama fan or not, he's a great coach, but he only played two years as defensive back at Kent State before then going on to becoming a great leader in his profession. He demonstrated skill by playing at the college level and then moved to leadership. Credentials established and he was given a chance to prove he could not only perform but lead. Now I am not in anyway arguing for that kind of fast tracking for AF leadership but we have to step back and honestly ask as this person can fly his jet or lead this formation great but are those skills indicative themselves of a good leader of the AF? It is supposed to be a building process, Operational to Tactical to Strategic ability with demonstration of skill leading to the next level but that is not what we have. Unfortunately I think it is a combination of dedication to admin obsession and personal connections that are markers for leadership; there is no truly objective factor(s) as those are manipulated to some degree to give the desired result but I'm not cynical not one bit...

Not all of them. I've had senior leaders who were quite possibly the worst aviators I've ever met, and i instruct at the FTU.

Why would you not measure everyone in this way?

I just put mine in a two pocket folder and put that into the usps envelope.

Having instructed Senior Officer requalification courses in the Strike Eagle, I can say this is almost entirely false.

It'll be a few years I'd guess. Maybe by time new CSAF is leaving??

Dude, you would be shocked at how false this speculation is. More and more OGs these days with fewer hours than the CGO IPs that they "lead". The typical exceptions have a patch on their arm, and a few others just maintain IP qual/proficiency just because they are good shit, bit they're going quickly the way of the dodo.

You need to consider "portal to portal time". Example: for me to fly Sacramento-LAX is about 1:40 of time. However, I must leave my house 2:15 prior to the flight to get there, park, and get to the gate (no bags to check). At LAX, it will take 10 minutes to unload the aluminum tube, and 10 more minutes to get to a taxi. Then I need to travel to my destination... maybe an hour from LAX? So that's about 5.5 hours from my house to the destination. And a good bit of that is time that I cannot be "productive", because I'm driving, walking through security, boarding, cell phone off, etc... Yes, well short of 14 hours... but not as bad as it seems initially. In other scenarios, the results are different.

But he's building his own tunnel machines!

No no, WaPo had an anonymous source. Who ya gunna trust? I don't think this is about Trump anymore. I think it's very convenient for the opposition that's he's such a public persona disaster, because normally they have to completely invent things to be outraged about. But really this seems more like the desperate flailing of a party that has almost ZERO power at the federal, state, that local levels right now. And he may seem ridiculous on TV and Twitter, but so far his policies are not. This is how he got elected, folks. Act nuts, look nuts, sound nuts, but speak truths the other politicians won't speak. If he keeps hammering through on the action side of things (Gorsuch, dismantling EPA rules, undoing net neutrality, Obamacare repeal, immigration enforcement, etc), I don't think the people who fancy themselves "in charge" are going to be able to stop him. They failed quite spectacularly during the election, why should the same strategy work now? But if the investigation into Russian collusion yields nothing, he's going to be rubbing it in their faces very publicly in 2020 Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

Very simple, the media has been hounding Trump non-stop. A research group tracked CNN's coverage for a day and over 90% of their coverage/guests were negative/anti-Trump. Obama was a deemed a Saint and above reproach by the media. Regarding Special Counsel, they have never prosecuted anyone for the reason or "crime" they were tasked to investigate but prosecuted smaller characters for procedural errors like testimony inaccuracy. Think Scooter Libby or Martha Stewart.

The A-10 is back to 2035+; the 15C is the new kid on the "near term" chopping block. Point: Shit changes all the time and will change 69 times before you're even done with UPT. Go for the job you want as it exist today; do not alter your decisions/goals based on hypotheticals or possibilities of what the future MIGHT be, because nobody, especially the dipshits running the AF, has a clue what 1 yr from now looks like, let alone 10+ yrs from now.

Fast & Furious (with the Attorney General held in contempt of Congress for ignoring a document subpoena)/IRS targeting Tea Party/Benghazi/Clinton home-brew e-mail server that the POTUS knew about and used/etc, etc, et-bloody-c... And not one damn special counsel in 8 years. 120 days and being the majority party in both House and Senate, as well as the White House, and the GOP rolls over, even is rushing to the microphone to bellow "Watergate!" Leviathans don't diet...

Nope, they'll just say the Justice department is biased because Trump runs it. The president looks bad and the people pushing this nothingburger are the same reason, in part, why Hillary lost, we are tired of the sky is falling.

SOS go home you're drunk and this is the promotion/PRF thread. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

6.5 weeks. Still a complete waste of time.

Do you have any details of the recent meeting? That article is from 1997.

After reading rancormacs' financial debacle, I think that should be added as an example of what is wrong with the AF. Failing to properly pay your people or making that process incredibly complicated is absolute BS. Step one to good leadership is taking care of your people.

It will be ugly but not in the ways we assume, some people are staying and they will most certainly be overworked. This will be yet another opportunity for non-pilots to rise to positions of influence (Space/Cyber/Intel), and we will see a further erosion of morale and our core competencies of employing airpower as they seek to further agendas and secure tribal position and power. I fear this will ultimately result in a non-warrior leading the USAF or a GCC. Plans are in motion to dramatically increase the UPT pipeline so we will likely see an Air Force with a glut of younger far less experienced aviators and in IMHO that will manifest itself in a much higher accident rate. Also, look for increased incidents of battlefield "mistakes" and fratricide. If there is a major conflict in the middle of this...scholars will write books for a 100 years on the death of a once great power.

Yup. Most interesting meeting I've ever been in that didn't involve discussion about blowing shit up. Refreshing to see a 3 button getting basically yelled at by a room full of crusty O-3s and O-4s. Some big takeaways: 1. He came into the meeting incredibly insulated from what is going on. His disconnect from reality was no fault of his own, but very clear. For example, he couldn't wrap his head around guys not wanting to be "developed" by way of ACSC and other PME. Also was unaware of some of the buffoonery going on such as Vance being dry, the elimination of additional duties memo being largely ignored, and the perception that the AF is at best incompetent in the way it handles people, and at worst malicious. It was obvious that the O-4s he is surrounded are the pickle shining types would would rather die than tell the boss bad news. We didn't have that problem, and he wasn't sure how to react. 2. "There is a plan in the work, trust us". Supposedly there is a 28 point plan of some kind floating around to address the retention issue. See point 1 for his reaction to our skepticism of it. 3. He doesn't even know that he is fed a steady diet of bullshit. He told a story of a great base visit he went on, and was dismissive when told to take everything he sees on a base visit with the biggest grain of salt he can fit on the jet he rode in on. He didn't realize that whenever guys like him show up, guys like the ones in that room get stuffed in a closet. 4. Stop loss is off the table. CSAF realizes that even IF they could get a stop loss approved (unlikely) it will permanently break any chance they have at retention. They'd get a temporary bump from locking guys down, but they know that as soon as that lockdown inevitably ends, EVERYONE leaves, not just the people who were on the fence before. So maybe we opened his eyes, but even if we did, points 1 and 3 above kinda indicate that at best he will be one more voice yelling at the brick wall. The AF is chronically averse to making the kind of changes necessary to retain pilots, and will continue to hemorrhage talent.

Sounds a lot different than reapers. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Justice Department names former FBI Director Robert Mueller as a special counsel to lead the investigation into possible ties between Trump campaign associates and Russia. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/deputy-attorney-general-appoints-special-counsel-to-oversee-probe-of-russian-interference-in-election/2017/05/17/302c1774-3b49-11e7-8854-21f359183e8c_story.html