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Remember everyone, "Shoe Clerk" is not a job ... "Shoe Clerk" is a mindset and attitude. "Shoe Clerk" is a 2-hour lunch or taking gym time when there's actual mission to be done. "Shoe Clerk" is surfing Facebook while someone stands waiting at the customer service desk. "Shoe Clerk" is closed for training and not actually getting any better. "Shoe Clerk" is saying 'no' rather than actually trying to help people or solve the problem. "Shoe Clerk" is thinking the bureaucracy and/or the processes are more important than the results. Don't be a Shoe Clerk. It's a decision YOU make.

I almost posted a long winded response that pretty much says the same thing this one does. No one in upper management will ever say the "system is broken" because it is working for them. But that "system" is actually perpetuating this environment where people are becoming more and more self serving. I have NEVER met anyone who volunteered for a staff job in order to make improvements for an organizational process...or improvements to anything else for that matter. They volunteer for staff assignments so they can get a school push or a PRF written by a 3-star or above. The goal today is not to make the organization better, but rather to secure a promotion so I can make it to 20. Just ask around and see who actually plans to stay past 20...I haven't met any yet. Why 20? What is so magic about that number? Why aren't people talking about making it to 30? Why, because we have a self-serving goal...and for a lot of people, it isn't making this organization better, but rather, doing enough to get by without changing anything or making any important decisions that could get me in trouble, non-selected for promotion, and (nowadays) possibly kicked out of the service....I have to make it to 20. That my friends, is the min-run Air Force...and we have created this environment and have rewarded people for living it. The reality is if you want to make it to that magic number, you have to play the game and take care of yourself first....which from what I remember in SOS several years ago is exactly opposite of those things they call "Core Values." Mission first (alone) will not help you succeed. It is self first, and I'll get to the mission after I'm done with my Masters paper, but I'm only going to do enough to get noticed for my efforts and not get in trouble. The secret to success in this organization is simple given the current environment: take care of yourself, prepare for life outside the Air Force, do the best you can while you are still in the Air Force (in that order). People on this thread aren't just making this sh*t up. If leadership is lurking, please listen to what your junior members are saying. Junior members, bitch, yes, but give some solutions to the problems as well. Sure, this isn't going to change overnight, but we need to change the culture back to the real "Core Values"...whatever they are these days. Stop rewarding self-serving behavior. Ok, so that was still long winded...

<p>Since long-winded seems to be the trend . . .<br /> Be thankful that this is a forum to discuss issues. Too many careerists disregard this site as they claim it's full of cynics and rejects. You'll gain far more insight by respectfully engaging on here than you will with some ass-kissing executive officer who's striving for that stratification. If your purpose was to spike the punch bowl with kool-aid and re-blue everyone, then I'll ask you to leave. When you begin to take actions that benefit people and not the institution, you've made the right decision . . .<br /> <br /> Liquid,</p> <p> </p> <ol> <li>Those that get promoted have an inflated sense of how good they are. They have a tendency to shrug off the grunt work so they can plan Christmas parties and become execs so they can advance their careers and have others take on the deployments and short-notice taskings. If you’re talking the law of averages (over 50%), sure, for the most part, the senior raters and the board get it right. But, we’re talking about the AF and 50/50 isn’t the standard that’s expected of anyone in the AF, so why is it acceptable at a promotion board? Would you care to explain how an aircraft commander, responsible for “accidentally” flying live nuclear weapons across the country, was not just able to make O-5, but make it 2BPZ? Remember, you can build a thousand ships . . .<br /> </li> <li>The top half is not easy to identify. You’re wrong. The bottom 10% is easy to identify. The top 5% is easy to identify. It’s that middle 85% that all looks alike. Since you seem to like sports analogies, let me help: tell me who the top 50% of teams are in (fill in the blank). You can’t. At least, you can’t without a lot of arguments and disagreements. But, tell me who the top 5% and bottom 10% are and, while there will still be some disagreements, by and large, the arguing will stop. <br /> </li> <li>Most people who, in your words “don’t give a shit” become that way because of the D-bags in the first paragraph. They quickly see that hard work, excelling in your job, being a stand-up guy, etc., don’t get you anywhere in the AF. </li> </ol> <ol> <li value="4">“The AF gets it right most of the time.” Those were your words. If you truly are a senior “leader,” thank you for identifying yourself as part of the problem. “Most of the time” isn’t good enough. You’re talking to a crowd of individuals who live in a world where 30 seconds can mean the difference between mission success and a catastrophic international incident. “Most of the time” doesn’t cut it dude. </li> </ol> <ol> <li value="5">I know plenty of people who regret “jumping through the hoops” only to get passed over. They wish they had bailed years ago. Hindsight tells them that they fell for the AF used-car salesmen pitch and they kick themselves every day. When life gives you a lemon, you take it back to the dealer and tell him to go screw himself.</li> </ol> <ol> <li value="6">PME is useless. “Back at SOS/ACSC/AWC I learned . . .” said no one ever. This goes back to an over-inflated sense of self-worth. The AF thinks its PME is valuable. It isn’t. Fix it, or get rid of it.</li> </ol> <ol> <li value="7">Stratification will be the undoing of the AF. Last time I checked, one was graded against a standard, not against your peers. People waste too many brain cells creating new types &amp; categories of stratification – brain cells that could be put to a much better use. As every year goes by, somebody tightens the vice just a little more to make our promotion system more “scientific.” What they fail to realize is that at some point, you tighten the vice too much and you ruin the product.</li> </ol> <ol> <li value="8">Your sports analogy sucked.</li> </ol> <ol> <li value="9">The AF won’t be fine. It’s shrinking by the day, and the concentration of careerists is getting stronger, and the core makeup of those that get the mission done will continue to shrink. Just look at the percentage of senior officers when compared to the Cold War. Senior officers don’t do work, they create it. You won’t do fine without the “toxic, anti-authority crowd.” Those are your critical thinkers. Those are the ones that meet your “diversity” AFI (diversity of thought). They provide the check-and-balance to your leadership. Not having a crowd like that leads to fascism, authoritarianism, despotism, etc. You should thank them every day. You should encourage it. And, lastly, you should promote it. They’re the ones who will stand up to the other services and Congress and tell them like it is. </li> </ol>

You guys really are disgruntled about this OPR nonsense, almost as pissed off as PYB and I am about our government's big power overreach and direct violation of the Bill of Rights. You have a senior leader here, a flag officer, engaging in conversation with you. He has opinions, naturally, but is respectfully conversing. Rather than seeing this as a grand opportunity to have your personal perspective heard and possibly to influence high level promotion/PRF positive changes, you act like fukkers questioning his motives and leadership. That's baseops for ya!

Gents, There are lots of points that can be discussed here...I would just caution you on linking cause and effect on many of the things that you have discussed here. Sometimes appearances can be deceiving. I have seen the PRF with the guy that had all the boxes checked and he did not receive a DP based on "strength of record" or lack of it. I have also seen the guy that did not have all the boxes checked but had a strong record otherwise and he got a DP. I am sure there are places where Q-3's are withheld for the favored guy, as a matter of fact, I have witnessed it. I fought against it and lost. However, I have also been at places where a Q-3 was a Q-3 and it didn't matter who the person was. The major criteria used was the flying violation and whether a Form 8 was the appropriate vehicle to document the issue. As an aside and to avoid this becoming a topic, I am not a proponent of the Q-3 in all situations, but they do have their place. Without calling anyone out, I have also watched several people volunteer to deploy at minimal dwell times and then not have time to complete their AAD. In ONE case (a case I am familiar with, so only an anecdotal story) this guy used the deployment as an excuse to not complete his AAD. As far as I know, he received a P. However, I can confirm that he was passed over. IMHO, the right decision was made. My point is that the system does work sometimes. There are always going to be situations where you believe your buddy got screwed over, etc, but I would caution you that you may not have all the information. You probably have just the information that your buddy wants you to have and not much/any of the deragatory information. Continue to rage against the up or out system and push for change. Just don't be surprised when the system that you signed up for continues to move down the road while you are left standing on the side of it. PME and an AAD are not very difficult to get accomplished...would I like to see the AAD masked for promotion to O-4? Yes. However, the idea that everyone deserves to make Major or is capable of leading multiple teams is not accurate.

https://www.rentrecoveryservice.com/ https://www.tenantcollection.com/processing_fee.htm https://www.mrlandlord.com/html/resreport_intro.html You can also take them to small claims court and get a judgement, but good luck collecting. They will have an outstanding judgement that shows up in the court records that will indicate what kind of tenant they are. That should be enough to put future landlords on notice.

Ha these guys are great. https://www.duffelblog.com/ https://www.duffelblog.com/2013/02/air-force-musical-showcase-ensemble-sees-tryout-surge-one-year-after-dadt/

Why are you linking back to this thread?!? Just bustin' on ya! Here's the real link... https://sgammo.com/product/golden-tiger/1000-rds-762x39-fmj-bt-golden-tiger-124-grain-ammo-limit-5-cases-day Why does it say "100000 or more?!?" Anyhow, I am sufficiently hoarded up on 7.62x39, must resist the urge to buy even more just because the prices are dropping! That is an awesome price, and SGAmmo are great to deal with! Cheers! M2

According to "Bob" in the bonus office (I don't know what to call it anymore), the FY13 "ARP" was approved 07-Jun-13. They are in the 2-week "implementation phase" now and expect the release date to be "on or about" 25-Jun-13. I'm still not going to hold my breath.

Every time I open this thread, my decision to volunteer for VSP and subsequently getting passed over are further proven the right direction for me. It's good to just walk away.

Along with what you are all saying, rated dudes will probably always hold the promotion system in contempt. We invest so much up front to the air force (getting a pilot slot, UPT, SERE, crew qual upgrades, etc etc) all while trying to not die in the process. Then we sign a 10 year ADSC for the effort and that ADSC doesn't say we get to keep flying. On the other hand, other career fields don't sign that 10 year ADSC and can punch when they don't get promoted.......... makes no sense

Doubtful, if anything it only demonstrates the uselessness of the gun control measures (similar to the ones currently in California) proposed by she-whose-name-will-not-be-spoken... A legitimate argument could be made that armed, law-abiding citizens could have defended themselves from this criminal and possibly even stopped his killing spree from spreading as far as it did. Gun control laws don't get rid of illegal guns nor do they disarm criminals.

Are you referring to someone off this last O-4 board? I know someone that sounds exactly like what you described. (No, is not me.) My focus is in the other direction. What about the guys that are picked out of the litter to be shiney toys on the basis of strats, SOS DG, or being a graduate of a particular school/program, and then, as it turns out, they can't lead their way out of a wet paper bag? In fact, their personality is actually an infection to morale in their unit as a result. There are multiple examples of that in our AF and a clear indicator that our system doesn't always get it right.

I see you are not a boater. Beer makes the boat float dumb ass.

*your

TX bar : As a matter a fact, yes I am in the military. Served under Dubya and yea I'm a pilot by the way. You're place?? Ok, let's go. Cali : I was totally into that speaker at last week's 'occupy' rally! Huh, a job? I was working the lifts at Tahoe last season. Hope they take me back if I can pass the drug test. You're place?? Ok, let's go. Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

I think a draft would be good, I mean if we can hire a TCN to do it why not give a kid a stripe and have them cook the omelettes. This is opposed to a contractor that will pay half a dozen civlians 6 figures to hang out behind a bar at 0800 with a contingent of 2-3 enlisted troops ensuring that none of the 10 patrons is getting more than their three drinks per18 hrs. The biggest problem I see is putting some of the punks I know through basic training with it being "kinder and gentler," we don't want any feelings getting hurt after all...

Yeah, she'll weigh 350#...inflation.