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What's wrong with the Air Force?


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So there I was. Doing paperwork in my office.  I'm Flt/CC of ~60 folks, so I'm usually doing this about 7-8 hours of my 11-12 hour days.  In walks the Sq/CC.  He casually asks what I'm up to.  

"Oh you know sir, just the normal queep. Awards, OPRs, EPRs, updating trackers, you know."

Sq/CC with disappointed face: "Oh, you mean taking care of your people?"

Then he turns and walks out without allowing me to reply.

That's how you take care of your people in the AF. With paperwork. 

Edited by flyusaf83
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So there I was. Doing paperwork in my office.  I'm Flt/CC of ~60 folks, so I'm usually doing this about 7-8 hours of my 11-12 hour days.  In walks the Sq/CC.  He casually asks what I'm up to.  
"Oh you know sir, just the normal queep. Awards, OPRs, EPRs, updating trackers, you know."
Sq/CC with disappointed face: "Oh, you mean taking care of your people?"
Then he turns and walks out without allowing me to reply.
That's how you take care of your people in the AF. With paperwork. 

Sad. I've come to realize though that they truly believe it. They have been brainwashed into this backwards way of thinking that paperwork is how you "take care of people". Best Commander I ever had wasn't the best because I won awards from him, but because one day he sat me down in his office to get to know me and then asked me "what do you want?". Blew my mind that it took almost 5 years into my career for someone to ask me this.

Keep the faith brother. Your people truly know who is "taking care of them".


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Duck you sound like an abused child every time you post. I'm cynical too but god damn....I feel bad for you dude. 

The funny thing is besides some early Force management issues in my career and going through two potential RIFs, I personally haven't been mistreated, until my last two years.

One of my personal struggles is that I internalize things way too much. I have seen way too many good guys get the shaft all in the name of the needs of the AF, when it was really out of convenience for the Commander and it affects me way more than it should.

I've had a couple awesome Commanders. I have had some truly terrible WG/CCs.

As I reflect I realize how negative I am most of the time. So here's a positive.

Right after the first RIF board I was one of three Capt ACs in my Squadron. Our Sq got dropped a Pred for a Capt, AC. Out of the three Capts, I was the only one who didn't have an assignment yet. My Commander fought tooth and nail to get that assignment passed to our VERY weak swimmer Copilots who was about to pin on Capt. He then got me my first choice assignments out of there to protect me from any more AFPC "good ideas".

Best damn Commander I ever had. Saw him fight day after day against OG and WG leadership to the point where he got sick of it and retired. Bright and shiny guy who would have been an awesome Wg/CC one day.

He now flies for Southwest. Called me about 3 months into the job and told me that it was the best decision in his life and he should have done it 10 years earlier. Also told me to get out as fast as I could.

Dammit, that was supposed to be a positive story about the AF. Oh well. I am actually a pretty positive person in real life. If any of you all ever run across me in the real world, first rounds on me. Cheers!


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4 hours ago, flyusaf83 said:

So there I was. Doing paperwork in my office.  I'm Flt/CC of ~60 folks, so I'm usually doing this about 7-8 hours of my 11-12 hour days.  In walks the Sq/CC.  He casually asks what I'm up to.  

"Oh you know sir, just the normal queep. Awards, OPRs, EPRs, updating trackers, you know."

Sq/CC with disappointed face: "Oh, you mean taking care of your people?"

Then he turns and walks out without allowing me to reply.

That's how you take care of your people in the AF. With paperwork. 

Ah the quintessential passive aggressive commander, my favorite.  Tell him to get the dildo out of his behind and express his words like a real man.  Seriously, is a little bit of light hearted sarcasm that offensive these days?

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5 hours ago, flyusaf83 said:

So there I was. Doing paperwork in my office.  I'm Flt/CC of ~60 folks, so I'm usually doing this about 7-8 hours of my 11-12 hour days.  In walks the Sq/CC.  He casually asks what I'm up to.  

"Oh you know sir, just the normal queep. Awards, OPRs, EPRs, updating trackers, you know."

Sq/CC with disappointed face: "Oh, you mean taking care of your people?"

Then he turns and walks out without allowing me to reply.

That's how you take care of your people in the AF. With paperwork. 

Your Commander is a fucking douche.  And yes, I make that sweeping statement based on this one fact, because that one passive aggressive act pretty much spells out his poorly developed leadership philosophy.  The EASY button reaction is to chuckle, say "yeah, tell me about it!  But thanks for taking care of your folks."  

 

 

Edited by RTB
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I asked my bosses at Apple how I would be able to check work emails at home, since their email server is behind a firewall. I was asked why would I ever think of taking work home with me? That was "my time" and that it wasn't an option to work from home.

It was refreshing to hear that.

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6 hours ago, 08Dawg said:

Hello, AFGSC...

Sorry to hear that. That MAJCOM does nothing well. I would truly rather be ignored step-child at ACC than micro-managed by the clown show at Barksdale.

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31 minutes ago, MooseAg03 said:

 


To be more specific, it teaches you how to deal with a member who may no longer want to possess their member. Or who may want to surgically add a member.


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IMG_6254.JPG

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17 hours ago, Azimuth said:

I asked my bosses at Apple how I would be able to check work emails at home, since their email server is behind a firewall. I was asked why would I ever think of taking work home with me? That was "my time" and that it wasn't an option to work from home.

It was refreshing to hear that.

OK, I gotta ask, what do you do for them.  I grew up in NORCAL and got my EE degree just to work for them, but then I discovered flying.  

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44 minutes ago, matmacwc said:

OK, I gotta ask, what do you do for them.  I grew up in NORCAL and got my EE degree just to work for them, but then I discovered flying.  

Technical Specialist. I work on iOS devices and some networking hardware.

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Now THIS is what's right with the Air Force.  Finally. This guy gets it.

 
 
 

Bring on the Revitalization

By Lt Col David Knight, 21st Security Forces Squadron / Published July 18, 2017

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. - Lt. Col. David Knight, 21st Security Forces Squadron commander, took command of the 21st SFS on May 31, 2017. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Anthony Nelson Jr)

 

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DOWNLOAD HI-RES /  PHOTO DETAILS

 

 

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. - Lt. Col. David Knight, 21st Security Forces Squadron commander, took command of the 21st SFS on May 31, 2017. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Anthony Nelson Jr)

 
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PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- A few weeks ago, I took command of the 21st Security Forces Squadron. It is an incredible honor to lead such an extraordinary group of people. Prior to my arrival at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, I served as the Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein’s legislative advisor in Washington, D.C. In that position, I was able to personally witness the development of his three focus areas, one of which is revitalizing squadrons.

For over 15 years, the major focus on America’s armed forces has been on countering violent extremism. That necessity has resulted in considerable trades across many Air Force portfolios, especially our manpower accounts. Many tasks that were once completed by Airmen have been relegated to self-help links or checklists, however, security and law enforcement are two functions that are not easily automated. As a result, Security Forces – the Air Force’s largest enlisted career field – has had to bear an incredible deployment tempo, manpower shortages and long working hours. Goldfein’s focus on revitalizing squadrons could not come at a better time for my Defenders.

I recently sat down with one of my flight chiefs, let’s call her “Kelly.” Kelly’s day begins at 2:45 a.m. Her husband and four kids are still asleep, so she quietly showers and gets dressed. At 3:30 a.m., she leaves her home on U.S. Air Force Academy and commutes to Peterson AFB. She arrives at 4:15 a.m. and begins her pre-posting tasks while the rest of her flight begins arming up for duty. At 5 a.m., the flight is formed-up for guardmount; a formal roll-call where announcements are given and the day’s events are briefed.

Guardmount breaks at 5:30 a.m., and the Airmen are driven out to their posts – their home for the next 12 hours…no medical appointments, no personal errands, etc. – all the things I, and many of us, take for granted every day. There will be no easing into the day either because in the next three hours, over 13,000 vehicles will traverse through Peterson AFB’s gates. With three gates and 17 base augmentees to manage, Kelly scrambles between each gate to ensure traffic flows as smoothly as possible.

The day presses on following the morning rush, and after 12 long hours, her relief arrives. She conducts a changeover and finishes up the day’s paperwork. By 6:15 p.m., her 14-hour day is complete and she races home. She arrives around 7 p.m., just in time to give her little ones a bath and read them a story. That single hour is all she will have with her kids today. At 8 p.m., she tucks them into bed, reheats her dinner, and crashes – sometimes too tired to take off her uniform. She is exhausted in the truest sense of the word. And in six hours, she has to do it all over again.

As she walked me through her day, it broke my heart. As leaders, we try to promote balance – striving for symmetry with work, family, spiritual and personal needs. While we all understand there are going to be days when the job comes first, 14-hour days have become normal operations for the unit over the past three years. This leaves my Airmen with very little time for family, pursuing education, volunteering, working out or personal time to just relax.

Needless to say, my number one priority is finding ways to provide balance for my Airmen. Until the manpower gains from Goldfein’s revitalization are realized, I have to take a hard look where we can gain some efficiencies. We recently reduced the hours at the North and East Gates to free up our manpower. While not a popular decision, we found the manpower required to keep those gates open into the evening was not worth the costs.

I appreciate and sympathize with the fact it is inconvenient to have to drive around to the West Gate after a commissary run or when returning to housing from an off-base trip, but I hope you will focus on the bigger picture. I want Kelly to see her kids today, and someday soon I’d like to hold my first commander’s call without having to call my Airmen in on their day off.

With this in mind, I thank you for your compassion and support for those who work very long hours to keep us all safe.
 
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Ah the quintessential passive aggressive commander, my favorite.  Tell him to get the dildo out of his behind and express his words like a real man.  Seriously, is a little bit of light hearted sarcasm that offensive these days?

Probably a tanker squadron, or at a minimum a Heavy unit. Am I right?!


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6 hours ago, MooseAg03 said:

To be more specific, it teaches you how to deal with a member who may no longer want to possess their member. Or who may want to surgically add a member.

It doesn't really matter which -- the penis is a concept that is a social construct:

http://www.skeptic.com/downloads/conceptual-penis/23311886.2017.1330439.pdf

SOCIOLOGY | RESEARCH ARTICLE


The conceptual penis as a social construct
Jamie Lindsay and Peter Boyle

Abstract:
Anatomical penises may exist, but as pre-operative transgendered women also have anatomical penises, the penis vis-à-vis maleness is an incoherent construct. We argue that the conceptual penis is better understood not as an anatomical organ but as a social construct isomorphic to performative toxic masculinity.

Through detailed poststructuralist discursive criticism and the example of climate change, this paper will challenge the prevailing and damaging social trope that penises are best understood as the male sexual organ and reassign it a more fitting role as a type of masculine performance.

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Good try, Bergman. This thread is off the fvcking jacks.

...going to take a whole hell of a lot of poststructuralist discursive criticism to get us back to somewhere recognizable at this point.

In the meantime, my penis and I will be over in the NSFW threads...

Bendy


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2 hours ago, GlassEmpty said:


Probably a tanker squadron, or at a minimum a Heavy unit. Am I right?!


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Likely, but could also be a fighter, bomber, recon, helo squadron...toxic leaders are everywhere.  AMC does seem to have a special breed of CYA managers though.  

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8 hours ago, matmacwc said:

OK, I gotta ask, what do you do for them.  I grew up in NORCAL and got my EE degree just to work for them, but then I discovered flying.  

He works retail at an Apple Store.

A typical day at work as a Technical Specialist at Apple consists of helping customers with Genius Bar appointments, creating/checking people in for their appointments, or delivering completed repairs.

It is basically working any other retail job except instead of getting $10 a hour you get $15 a hour.

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1 hour ago, Holden said:

He works retail at an Apple Store.

A typical day at work as a Technical Specialist at Apple consists of helping customers with Genius Bar appointments, creating/checking people in for their appointments, or delivering completed repairs.

It is basically working any other retail job except instead of getting $10 a hour you get $15 a hour.

And instead of doing that I'm fixing iOS devices in the back and I make more than that. There are other folks that do the stuff you listed. I'm also a full time student.

 

Edited by Azimuth
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4 hours ago, Holden said:

He works retail at an Apple Store.

A typical day at work as a Technical Specialist at Apple consists of helping customers with Genius Bar appointments, creating/checking people in for their appointments, or delivering completed repairs.

It is basically working any other retail job except instead of getting $10 a hour you get $15 a hour.

Not funny, try again.  The civil air patrol is calling you…..

Edited by matmacwc
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