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What's wrong with the Air Force?


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21 minutes ago, Sprkt69 said:

https://www.military.com/dodbuzz/2018/09/18/air-force-wants-halt-pilot-attrition-appealing-sense-community.html

I’m not sure SECAF and the rest of management actually understand the problem they have with manning or know the meaning of the word “trust”

"I can't offer you the compensation that Delta Airlines can," Holmes said. "What we can offer you is a life of meaning and purpose. 

You know, while I had this week off from work, I had time to think about how my life was devoid of "meaning and purpose".  Well, I better get going...I have a busy evening.  Got to take the kids to soccer practice then scouts...in my brand new Porsche.  

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He also said in his next sentence “I want you to feel like you are a part of a community … the squadron is the place where that community exists."

Do you get the sense of community at whatever airline you’re at? I highly doubt it.

But the hilarious part of all this to me is that we’ve all got a very lucrative skill set and the AF seems to be trying to do this on the cheap. I love the camaraderie and know that I will miss it. But the financial differences are just too great to turn them down for patriotism when there’s no will to actually end this boondoggle of a “war” we’re in.

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I also noted this quote..........

"We have asked them to do a lot over 25 years," said Gen. Mike Holmes, head of Air Combat Command. He spoke during a panel addressing the service's pilot shortage at the Air Force Association Air, Space and Cyber conference.

 

HEAD!!  who said head?!?!.................

 

Speaking of community, remember when it was killed?  Quote from a few previous bros, "I used to do these things and sing these songs, but now I forbid you!"

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1 hour ago, ARAMP1 said:

"I can't offer you the compensation that Delta Airlines can," Holmes said. "What we can offer you is a life of meaning and purpose. 

Ah, a life of meaning and purpose, felt so strongly by C-130 pilots dropping off and picking up the same pallets of water around the AOR for 4 months in a row, or by a fighter pilot starting their 4th hour of orbiting supporting a JTAR that the army forgot existed 9 months ago, or by the major spending 365 days away from his family building powerpoint slides that people glance at for seconds at a time, or the captain right in the middle of the IPUG who spent a weekend finishing up OPRs on his guys that don't even end up going in front of a board.

This whole thread is a testament to the meaning and purpose the Air Force provides.

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“The composition of flight squadrons needs to reflect the entire U.S. population, he said. Squadrons today, particularly fighter squadrons, are still mostly composed of white males, something that must change to reflect the country's demographics, he added.”

....Yepp, this is why pilots are leaving the Air Force, too many white males!! YGBFSM

 

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3 hours ago, dream big said:

“The composition of flight squadrons needs to reflect the entire U.S. population, he said. Squadrons today, particularly fighter squadrons, are still mostly composed of white males, something that must change to reflect the country's demographics, he added.”

....Yepp, this is why pilots are leaving the Air Force, too many white males!! YGBFSM

 

They really are this stupid.

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Twenty-five years of continuous combat have made Air Force fliers the "best the world has ever seen," Holmes said.

...at low threat CAS.  The bad part is you’ve treated your people so badly that all your experience has left, leaving you to relearn the same lessons over and over…the hard/expensive way.  You have active duty OGs begging the Guard to send experienced FLIGHT LEADS (not just IPs), to come help with their upgrades.  

The composition of flight squadrons needs to reflect the entire U.S. population, he said. Squadrons today, particularly fighter squadrons, are still mostly composed of white males, something that must change to reflect the country's demographics, he added.

Yes, this is EXACLY it!  Just the other day we were commenting about our diversity (or lack thereof) and how much it’s impacting the tactical prowess of the squadron!  DUBYA TEE EFF!!!

While the pilot shortage remains less of a problem in the Guard, "the crisis is coming," Rice said.

Yes, yes it is!  But please, keep denying the big bonus for 1 year orders, it’s really helping the situation…  Also, keep denying us full ACIP even though we, as part timers, maintain the same currencies  and fly as much as a full timer/AD guy. 

"I can't offer you the compensation that Delta Airlines can," Holmes said. "What we can offer you is a life of meaning and purpose. I want you to feel like you are a part of a community … the squadron is the place where that community exists."

Yes, I love “deploying” for over 4 months to go fly TRAINING lines on NON-contingency orders (blue pill 12301D vs red pill 12304B).  Made even better by sending me to a location with terrible weather and terrible navaids causing us to cancel more than we fly.  Why am I taking this massive pay cut again?  SO MUCH MEANING!!!

I love the insinuation that I get no meaning from my Delta job.  On the contrary I quite enjoy the gig.  I get people (to include mil charters) where they want to go and I fly with lots of great people, including lot of former mil guys.  On my last trip, at the hotel bar I ran into a buddy from an Afghanistan deployment.  We hit the town with both our crews and had a blast.  The hotel bar is like a reunion every time I go and is always fun.  The crazy part is none of us worry about if we’ll have to fight to get paid properly or if we’ll have to jump through hoop after hoop just to make shit function normally.  Then we all get to go home and spend a metric fuck ton of time doing what we want to do with our 18-21 days off per month.  Bonus, I also have shit ton more money to do the things I like to do with my awesome amount of free time.

I’ll tell you what, I do get some meaning out of all this.  Today I get to go give an incentive ride to a top-notch engine troop who is a longtime friend from my enlisted days.  This will be the most meaningful thing I’ve done in a long time…and I “deployed” this year.  Let’s just hope it doesn’t get ruined by a “higher priority," since the AD technically has TACON (or some kind of CON) of our jets for right now. 

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6 hours ago, dream big said:

“The composition of flight squadrons needs to reflect the entire U.S. population, he said. Squadrons today, particularly fighter squadrons, are still mostly composed of white males, something that must change to reflect the country's demographics, he added.”

 

Holy shit, he actually said that. I suppose this means I should stop serving in order to reduce the number of white males in my squadron.  Need to make room for a non-caucasian female.  

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Quote

“The composition of flight squadrons needs to reflect the entire U.S. population, he said. Squadrons today, particularly fighter squadrons, are still mostly composed of white males, something that must change to reflect the country's demographics, he added.”

It's a good thing that I serve in a professional organization that only judges people on their merit and not the color of their skin...

 

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14 hours ago, isuguy1234 said:

I also noted this quote..........

"We have asked them to do a lot over 25 years," said Gen. Mike Holmes, head of Air Combat Command. He spoke during a panel addressing the service's pilot shortage at the Air Force Association Air, Space and Cyber conference.

 

HEAD!!  who said head?!?!.................

 

Speaking of community, remember when it was killed?  Quote from a few previous bros, "I used to do these things and sing these songs, but now I forbid you!"

Yea.. Gen Holmes is pretty far detached from most of us.  He's a dyed in the wool military dude who doesn't compute that not everyone wants what he has.  In Jan '18, I heard him try to convince a bunch of WIC dudes to stay in with the reasoning that they would get great experiences on 365 deployments that they wouldn't otherwise get...

Edited by MDDieselPilot
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I think we all need to remember that those statements were essentially made under duress - at AFA - and saying anything other than what he said would have been met with dismissal. 

To the point, we need to diversify thought and expertise, background and education. Not necessarily parts or skin color. If you want that, you have to build that - which starts with recruiting. The service recruited a white male majority pilot force - it always has, because for 70+ years that’s who flew - and we can’t point the finger anywhere but ourselves. Want to change it? You have to grow it.

 All that was poorly wrapped into what was said at ATA - because some people can think on their feet and some can’t...

Chucks, Ducks and Adders don’t give a damn about skin color or what parts you have.

Chuck

edits: clarity

Edited by Chuck17
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36 minutes ago, Chuck17 said:

I think we all need to remember that those statements were essentially made under duress - at AFA - and saying anything other than what he said would have been met with dismissal. 

To the point, we need to diversify thought and expertise, background and education. Not necessarily parts or skin color. If you want that, you have to build that - which starts with recruiting. The service recruited a white male majority pilot force - it always has, because for 70+ years that’s who flew - and we can’t point the finger anywhere but ourselves. Want to change it? You have to grow it.

 All that was poorly wrapped into what was said at ATA - because some people can think on their feet and some can’t...

Chucks, Ducks and Adders don’t give a damn about skin color or what parts you have.

Chuck

edits: clarity

There's something to be said about reaching out to historically under-represented communities and trying to instill an interest in flying and aircraft early.  Getting the local Girl Scout troop a tour of your sim or aircraft, sponsoring minority groups to come out to the airshow, etc.  The point is to increase the diversity in the people who apply for the program, not to weed out straight white males to inflate the numbers.

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2 hours ago, Chuck17 said:

I think we all need to remember that those statements were essentially made under duress - at AFA - and saying anything other than what he said would have been met with dismissal. 

To the point, we need to diversify thought and expertise, background and education. 

For your first point, if I’m paraphrasing correctly- “he’s saying something dumb but he has to, otherwise he’ll be dismissed” is illogical.  He should say the truth, and if the truth gets him dismissed then get dismissed.  Am I misinterpreting you chuck?  You usually say smart things, but excusing senior leaders for saying dumb shit by reasoning that ‘they have to’ is intellectual rubbish and enabling bankrupt leadership.

 To your second point, that we must diversify thought and experience,  I will disagree he was talking about ideological diversity. He mentioned there are too many white males so he was obviously wanting to diversify me out of the squadron.  But I’m also curious why diversity is so sought after as an objective and why you think we need to diversify.  Is there some proof that more diverse militaries are more lethal and more prone to success?   I missed the ‘diversity as a decisive advantage’ chapters in Sun Tzu and Clausewitz. If diversity of skin color = battlefield success I’m interested in the evidence.  

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42 minutes ago, tac airlifter said:

If diversity of skin color = battlefield success I’m interested in the evidence.  

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/ruchikatulshyan/2015/01/30/racially-diverse-companies-outperform-industry-norms-by-30/amp/

More generally, do you believe that America is the best country in the world? Do you think it's a coincidence that it's also the most ethnically diverse? 

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The military, like the government, works best when it’s made up of the people. Not just the predominantly Southern, conservative, white male people (though that’s what many seem to be most comfortable surrounding themselves with), but a true cross section of the American populace. That will help our communities begin reconnecting with their military.  I absolutely agree with Chuck’s “grow diversity” sentiment. This doesn’t necessarily mean promoting based on ethnicity/race/gender (although I admit this does happen). But recruiting from a broader cross section is certainly a worthy goal. 

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1 hour ago, Jaded said:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/ruchikatulshyan/2015/01/30/racially-diverse-companies-outperform-industry-norms-by-30/amp/

More generally, do you believe that America is the best country in the world? Do you think it's a coincidence that it's also the most ethnically diverse? 

I asked for evidence of battlefield success attributed to diversity, you gave me a study on business.  Invalid answer.  

 What makes you think America is the most ethnically diverse country in the world?  Google says we’re in the middle.

 

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1 hour ago, Prozac said:

The military, like the government, works best when it’s made up of the people. Not just the predominantly Southern, conservative, white male people (though that’s what many seem to be most comfortable surrounding themselves with), but a true cross section of the American populace. That will help our communities begin reconnecting with their military.  I absolutely agree with Chuck’s “grow diversity” sentiment. This doesn’t necessarily mean promoting based on ethnicity/race/gender (although I admit this does happen). But recruiting from a broader cross section is certainly a worthy goal. 

The Draft would accomplish this.... Problem solved with retention too right??

A conversation about diversity would be great when the organization itself isn’t coming apart at the seams.... Priorities.

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