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We are bringing this exact conversation to the conference. I agree, too many are oblivious. If bringing it up at the conference doesn't work, this issue will be brought up directly to the chief. Guaranteed.

Take pics, put in a file and if you get passed over/career not where you want it, scream harassment and blame it on fighter culture racism.

Yeah. It's the folks that are fleeing (en masse, by the way, the numbers of which even the most delusional of your peers can't deny), yeah, they're the problem. All of those folks in the 2004 and beyond year groups, the ones who don't talk about anything but where to get their ATP, how to best network with the guard/reserve airline pilots, how to best protect themselves from a 365/RPA/etc, when the next VSP/RIF will be, when to realistically apply for Palace Chase... yeah, those people don't exist, and if they did, they're the problem. We don't need them anyway... the Warrior Monk ShoeClerks can fight the next war. You can't make this shit up.

The irony that a senior leader would even need to care, much less be worried in some way, about it being publicly known that he was having straight talk with the rank-and-file is staggering.

Your kind doesn't trust us! I've seen it too many times in the last 5 years. So I don't trust you guys anymore. You people have fucked over the good people of the AF with utterly unbelievable fucked up bullshit. I could go on, but I'd be repeating myself and nothing will change. Out.

I was raised being taught that painting over history was stuff the Soviets and People's Republic of China did...not America.

I normally don't pitch into these discussions on BO but I find the Bikini Sting Operation at Vance fascinating. https://www.vance.af....sp?id=123368125 Granted I only did SOS in correspondence, this leadership style is interesting to say the least. Not that long ago when the Air Force spent money on flying.... So there I was flying my Viper 1 foot high and 1 knot under the max speed limit over an NFL stadium full of screaming fans after a full ACM mission, we hustled home, debriefed in the car and found ourselves back at the game before half time. At some point we were escorted into the bowels of the stadium where we took photos with the NFL cheerleaders - them in a two piece, us in uniform, which were then displayed on the jumbotron, saluting the military to thousands of red blooded americans cheering our prowess. That picture hung in the squadron for years. No one that saw that picture ever mentioned it in a bad way, we were in the squadron and certainly approachable about it. Most of us were married with kids. Now there is an off colored empty space where it used to be. Next to the now void space is a large plasma that we spent end of year funds on that usually shows ESPN, often displaying highlights of the same cheerleaders in full HD. I saw those same cheerleaders in the desert during the war, brought in to increase morale. Airmen, and officer alike lined up to have their picture taken with them. PA then took pictures of the airmen having their pictures taken and posted them on the base web page and news letter. I had a picture already with the cheerleaders so I skipped that page of the base paper. There were often musicians that were on that desert base that had lyrics that I didn't agree with - mainly the country singers. I usually just didn't go. I have to do water survival every few years. This has taken place at the pool, the beach, a river and even a water park where the family was invited to spend the day afterwards as a unit cohesion family day. Work and play in the same outing. I was never issued a swim suit by the Air Force so I wear the same board shorts I use to surf. The women wore the same suits they use to surf, the enlisted life support and the officers alike. PA was there and they took pictures of the day, all in our swim suits and put it in the base paper saying how great of a day it was to accomplish the mission and build that camaraderie. My little girl and I went to to the beach a few dozen times this summer. She is 3 and has two bathing suits. A pink one piece with Cinderella on it, and a two piece with Dora. She picked them out at Walmart. I think they only make 5 swimsuits total for kids her age because I saw many other kids wearing the same thing. On babycenter.com you can find discussions on what is appropriate for a child to wear to the beach. Some think children should wear jeans and long sleeves as not to attract predators. I see these children in full clothing at the beach and some of those kids even play with my daughter. I know the views of the parents are different, but I have never been lectured on it. She thought it was hilarious to smash sand castles that I built, so I took videos and pictures and showed them to friends at work when I wasn't busy learning how to kill. I have framed pictures of the same. They all thought it was adorable. What if she was 16? Could I show those same pictures? 18? Does the difference in age make them appropriate or not? Maybe it is worse displaying a minor in a bikini? If someone said something inappropriate about my daughter in the way the sting implies, we would discuss it after they woke up from being knocked out. Or maybe I invited inappropriate remarks for showing the picture in the first place. Possibly we are finding controversy where there really is none. The Vance sting is an interesting experiment. I know the exact day the Air Force lost its mind and it is somewhat related. I'm working on a story for my story thread but it is a little out of order. I think I'll bring it to the top.

I don't work at the puzzle palace, hunt pictures or desecrate AF heritage. #### you and your "here you go" bullshit. I am doing something about this.

M2 did you see that the Randolph BX just started selling firearms and ammo? Checked it out today, the shelves were still fairly well stocked and prices seemed reasonable.

One of the Intel folks at Dhafra this summer was told she needed to "get some help" because she was showing tanker crews video of the strikes they had assisted, and was not offended by the videos. Apparently a crew was offended by video of Talib/AQ/insurgents/targets being destroyed, and was even more offended that the Intel briefer didn't find the videos horrific, offensive, and inappropriate (her words, not theirs)... edit: fix quote, format

  Read TSgt Smith's complaint - the assaulters at the core (the MSgt at Sembach, the John Doe in Iraq, or the flight surgeon) could have been investigated and punished without the AF - wide thrash for "offensive" material that did not address any of the horrible things that happened to her. Instead we have this - https://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=254177. Maybe I'm wrong but you'd think if the AF was prosecuting the sex offenders responsible they'd trumpet it in the national news. Re the Wilkerson case - was it not dynamic leadership by Gen Franklin to review the evidence and conclude that the LtCol was falsely accused? One would assume if the AF gave convening authorities (including yourself possibly) the ability to review convictions, it was because of their trust in dynamic leadership to make the right decision on a court-martial appeal.

Anyone that says a Runners World cover wasn't about sex, you are out of your mind...there is a reason they display a woman with running shorts and a sports bra on the cover instead of a woman with full leggings, long sleeve shirt, ear muffs and gloves running in the winter...sex sells! The point about what the young ins are talking about is spot on!!! When I entered the Air Force in the 90's, no one dared talk about getting an ATP, and no one would even mention an airline by name...hell, you were fined for even saying "airline"...only appropriate term was " a-word" Now, all you hear is where to get an ATP, when is the next SWA app window opening, guys asking to upgrade to SEFE or FCF because they hear it helps get points with the a-words...dudes/dudettes walk into the Reseve office weekly to ask about palace chasing and the next AGR opening. Cap-10

As if fondling my kid wasn't enough, now they will have a gun while they do it. Thanks Patriot Act!

Good points. Maybe she did all that after the experiment. Maybe she did all that prior to the experiment. Maybe she is being very effective at teaching young airmen how to be adults. Maybe not, who knows. But attacking this one instance, simply because PA did an article on it, isn't useful. Particularly when when you add the "I'd hit that", "finance sucks" and "my wife is hot" bullshit to the discussion. Part of the "treat them like adults" involves correcting poorly led and misinformed crewdogs and pilots that think it is ok to bring sex into work with bullshit word games, call signs and traditions. It is time for all of our officers to act like adults, and professional military officers, and not frat boys. The vast majority of them do. This may be tough to do, tough to change, and may impact retention and morale, but it is worth it. It is time for our current officer leadership to step up and lead our force to accomplish our assigned missions with the resources and constraints given to us by our senior leadership. That is the true challenge of command. Get it done. So I challenge all of you to be great leaders, that understand the dynamics and specific guidance regarding sexual assault, hostile work environments and the intolerance of inappropriate materials at work, understand the METT-TC environment and get the critically important job of killing people, breaking things and defending this nation done. You must take the current guidance, continue to build esprit d' corps, camaraderie and brotherhood, and get it done. Stop the f*cking bitching and whining and lead this force. The negative attitudes and constant threats of separation and revolt are not doing our force much good.

It comes across as if it is being held up as an example of what SHOULD be done. And I think that is completely the wrong message that needs to be sent.

UCMJ Article 88: "Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Transportation, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Territory, Commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.” Punishable by dismissal, forfeiture of all pay and allowances and confinement for a year. I don't make the laws, but I try to know them. As a rule, I avoid conversations about politics. Commissioned officers have a duty to be politically impartial. We should not violate the trust between the military and our civilian leadership. This should apply to our retired GOFOs. Their remarks damage the trust and confidence our civilian leaders have with current GOFOs.

Well here you go, you want to fix something that directly impacts mission employment here's an easy kill, granted that's if you aren't too busy hunting the puzzle palace cubicles for vacation pictures or desecrating actual AF heritage.

Comment on how a picture of my wife in a bikini is offensive.

Pretty big "NO" from me. Here is what surprised me the most: out of the ~100 items on the multiple pre-deployment checklists I had to accomplish (many including CBTs such as cultural sensitivity, foreign language modules, sexual harassment, OPSEC, etc), not one of those items was "Sit down and read the three Class B-E mishap reports from MC-12's in the past." All past in-flight mishaps were related to stalls while in orbit with the autopilot on. I would say 90+% of the deployed pilots have not read these, and wouldn't you agree that they would be the most important readers of such reports? I'd say that's a pretty big failure at multiple levels. Not to mention after arriving to deployment, we have another 20+ item reading list, and guess what is still absent from the reading list?

That is not a photo of an actress in swim wear on the beach...

I don't think any of the recent GO/FO "firings"/forced retirements (McCrystal, Ham, Fallon et al.) had anything to do with UCMJ article 88. Rather, I think it has more to do with an employee/employer relationship than breaking a law. If I was an Apple employee and wrote an Op-ed piece saying the iPhone sucked and Steve Jobs was an @$$hole, I would expect to be fired. The same goes for those in the military. I think any military member is well within their rights to disagree, even publicly, with anyone in government. Consequences may include being asked to leave the military but I think you would have a line of free speech attorneys willing to defend you pro-bono if it ever went to court martial.

Ok- just to clear the air, AGAIN, I am not a fan of Obama. Yes I defend him when absolute bullshit is thrown his way. He has enough bad policies out there that there's no need to make shit up- which happens a lot. I appear to be an ardent supporter of him on this forum because most everyone on here is so far anti-obama that anyone who calls BS on BS gets labeled a supporter. And because I don't dogpile on with everyone else on every little thread that has to do with him. So if you want to know my actual view on a particular subject- ask me. I'd be more than willing to give you an answer.

Would it make you feel better if I reference more explicit and more specific that says you can? "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances" ​I am not advocating that we should all go out and bad mouth the POTUS. That would be and should be a career killer and you would likely be forced to resign/retire since, as a condition of employment, you should not publicly discredit your boss, whether you are a military officer or a jr exec at Apple. My only point is that I would be shocked if anyone was ever criminally charged under article 88 and convicted since the US Constitution protects the free speech of everyone (including military officers). I think it would be an interesting situation and would likely find its way to the Supreme Court. Disclaimer: Not a lawyer