Leaderboard

All the CFP BS made me think of another idiotic antiquated issue we have. If I want to pick up the phone and make a long distance call....I can't. Eventhough every phone company in the US has free long distance phone calls, the Air Force still hasn't figured it out. When I worked in safety, this become a big issue when we had a mishap - we weren't able to make calls to the FAA and ATC folks, and since cell phones don't get reception in our building, we were running back and forth from our office to the front doors on our cell phones while trying to run safety checklists. After the fact we tried to get access on our phones for long distance calling and were told that we could: a) Be issued a long distance PIN that we'd have to enter prior to every long distance call b) Have a phone granted long distance access, but every long distance call would have to be logged. Both of these are kind of inconvenient when there's a smoldering jet on the airfield, so we just stuck with cell phones and jogging.

"This year’s 85-show, 76-location tour" Proof that we really aren't as broke as we think we are. Fuk me. What a waste of money.

Ahh, the ole Petraeus technique.

Another pitfall of the system is that the rating officer only has so many of each category to give out. So say in a group of 8 officers, only one can get an EP, two or three will get an MP and the rest P (early promote, must promote, promotable). Where this becomes a total fallacy is if the rating officer knows a guy is getting out. He'll give the "quitter" a P so as not to "waste" an EP. Thus you get guys getting top tier ratings, that otherwise wouldn't have. Then the quitter leaves having a stellar track record then showing his last FITREP as all of a sudden becoming a shitbag. That follows him/her into a reserve career. It's so common that promotion boards will try and overlook it, but can be a deal breaker for promotion or selection if the board needs a tie breaker. I recently saw an entire group of great dudes all get P's on their way out, and the second to last performer scores an EP.

The problem is using this TTP you are still breaking the rule set by "The Man" and you can still receive punishment if someone found it on your hard drive. You should not get in trouble for e-mailing a recall roster to yourself. What's next? Getting a LOR for losing your cell phone with you coworker's contact info? How about LOR for losing a paper copy of the recall roster?

A couple of 3's would fix it quick.

The pilots is a good friend, was glad to have him back with his wife and girls. There were a lot of mistakes made, and too many senior leaders sticking their fingers in the pie. Even without a mx det in Khar, most guys would have taken a divert. The Admiral is a great guy, and he didn't want a blue water situation either when he called for them to divert (against the air wing wanting them back at the boat). Admiral is a great pilot too. Admittedly the crew could have put their foot down and just taken a course of action, but as we all know that can be easier said than done. It's even harder in a deployed carrier environment where it may be days or weeks to fetch a hurt bird/crew. The FADEC on Superhornet engines is a double edge sword. It's great when it works, but if you need to limp and trash an engine to save the plane... It won't let you. This emergency was also compounded by a very subtle, and until now almost completely unknown quirk of the Superhornet.... When the probe is out fuel will only gravity feed from the wings once the LO FUEL warning trips open all valves. Until then you have trapped gas in the wings. Even once it starts to gravity feed, it's at too slow a rate or keep the fires lit. Almost no one knew this, and only a few sentences buried in NATOPS make mention of it. Classic Swiss cheese event, compounded by leadership micromanagement and failures, in a complicated environment. I'm just glad they got out. 100% accurate. Seen it happen with FAC(A) crews in the flight.

I've used the same XC/TDY nametag since I was a LT. It's the callsign/last name of my, now OG/CC...when I first got it he was my DO, then SQ/CC. I think he's taken and destroyed 2 of them....I bought 5. Both great dudes!

Got it. That's not a problem with the system, that's a problem with being around a bunch of douchebags. I've never been anywhere where guys turned into dickheads for a strat or DP.

Do you no longer have to be a TCO to submit a WOMS request? For those of you who dont know what that is... Be thankful.

That sounds striking similar to strats...

The promotion system in the navy (FITREP ranking) is all fucked up as it is and promotes ridiculous amounts of backstabbing amongst bros.

Oh look, the Navy fired another senior officer. This is my shocked face. The best anyone can do anymore is break even. It turns great leaders into terrified yes men, and the ones that do really lead with a warrior mind set usually leave the Navy if they survive their command tour (we don't promote bold warriors). There are exceptions to the rule, but they wonder why junior officers are bailing left and right and why morale is in the toilet.

I think it's stupid that I'm allowed to print out PII (like, say, a recall roster), and enter everyone's phone numbers into my personal cell phone from the paper...but I can't email the recall roster to my personal email address.

If you were 18 days overdue on a suspense (1 Apr TERA), would you be leaving work promptly at 1700? Working overtime maybe? Surging potentially?

How can we trust the Air Staff to get the big things right, if they can't even take care of the little things? Or does AF logic, like integrity, only work when it's convenient?

Of course it is... Quitter.

The wrong mammals look embarrassed in that photo.

That's no different than closing every gate into a base for 4 hours for an exercise. I get it, you need to show that you can stop traffic in and out of the base and secure it. Why can't they just roll the gates shut for 69 seconds, re-open them and slap a piece of paper with "SIM CLOSED" on it? We simulate everything else for God's sake and the guards were just standing there looking at the cars. This happened at Laughlin with my wife and 1 month old daughter stuck 3 cars from the front of the line.

If I were you, I'd start by de-douchebagging myself.

Champ, I agree with your sentiment, and far be it from me to defend the mgmt at 18AF, but I am 90% sure this is a boy-wonder wing commander requirement, and not coming down from on high... Think the wing cc is gonna roll in just anyone to sit for a spell with HIS boss and possibly make him look a fool? No. Hence the screen. And the subsequent garbage in - garbage out dynamic of the whole thing. This is a wing commander problem, not at 18AF problem. Knowing the current command climate, this should surprise no one. Now, if the 18AF expects honest feedback from the general population he has to go to the source, not the sources supervisors or chain of command. (Get the hooks out of your ass, do some battlefield circulation and pull aside a random group of captains - ala Gen Welsh). The fact that DCO is being used to touch as many people from afar as possible (like the new money saving version of "High Flight") should tell you how "important" this is to leadership - as in, it ain't. It's all show. It briefs well. Take note fellas... One day you are going to be leading people. Decide now what your style and legacy will be, and find good and bad examples to pull from. Just remember, perception is reality. Chuck Edit: follow up - also take note of how this "tasker" was pushed down - via the exec chains, circumventing the squadron commanders authority, though they would ultimately be able to nominate dudes up. No decentralized execution. No empowerment. No trust. No "send me your three strongest dudes to come learn a thing or two about leadership and work in some focus groups for a few days." No, instead we get "send up names, OPRs and PT scores so we can screen them and then the wing commander will decide who is going to participate." If the wing is this far in your chili, maybe you don't need squadron commanders, let alone a Group commanders... Small example, but I think it says a lot. Cheers

It is often easy, sometimes too easy, to highlight the negative. For some reason, highlighting the positive is seemingly less important. After all, that’s the way it’s supposed to be, right? I sometimes fret these types of things reach out and touch the wrong people. I really hope that does not happen here. I can attest personally that this is not representative of my experience with my home station Squadron Commander (I am not in the squadron that email came from, so I can’t/don’t speak from any personal experience on that squadron). When faced with a similar situation (operating in a 6 month on, 6 month off tempo leaves everyone in the situation), I knocked on the Squadron Commander’s door and asked to sit down and talk to him about what was on my mind. Part of the reason for this is my personality, but in larger part it is because he is approachable and I knew he wanted to know. I understand the responsibilities that both these squadrons have. The MC-12 is a unique challenge as a squadron command; I know of no other squadron that is a school house that directly feeds downrange squadrons (one is now “ops”, but that’s not that important here). Filling deployment billets is the sole purpose of those squadrons and for years now it has done an acceptable job, even when the “good idea fairy” has suggested additional challenge. There is a legitimate test presented to both meeting the squadron’s responsibility and taking care of your people. Often, something must be sacrificed… I believe in service before self. I swore my oath just like you. I am prepared for sacrifice, as I was not naive about what I was signing up for. There were many ways I was naive, but that was not one of them. Holding this belief is different than offering unconditional, arbitrary sacrifice of massive proportion when a little time and effort can prevent it. Taking care of your people often means going out of your way to prevent unnecessary sacrifice, or even trading one sacrifice for another of less significance. It takes a great deal of energy to apply this across an entire squadron, but if that isn’t something one is willing to do, then they should let someone else have the opportunity and step aside. That is the only right thing to do. If a squadron command is nothing but a stepping stone, morale will be the big loser. I shared my story in hope there was some way to meet both commitments, the one I made to my family and the one I made to my squadron. I had no interest in shirking either. There was little leeway, but both the Squadron Commander and the (at the time) Director of Operations both stood in front of the white board in his office, for at least an hour, drawing arrows, changing dates, and bouncing ideas off each other. They came up with what they believed was the best plan they could and shared it with me. I have five specific thoughts: 1. That was far more than I would have ever expected from them (why I don’t know), 2. I am very grateful that they found an opportunity for me to accomplish all of my goals, not just one (certainly not just the Air Force’s…a possibility I was prepared for), 3. I am very grateful to the person that accepted (begrudgingly) a sacrifice of less significance (something he will be repaid for someday), 4. I want to be a Squadron Commander just like that, and 5. I can’t wait to meet my new little baby boy/girl when I get home (with travel plans in hand, it looks like I’ll be waiting for him/her). There is a lot wrong, but not all of it. Bendy

What makes the top -17 driver? Landing at the right airfield, with current TOLD, and the gear down?

Going to the AOR..... For fuck sake just give them beer on Xmas. It'll be cheaper and it will make them less likely to suck start an M9 than watching 15 bad singers grind out a shittier version of Lady GaGa songs.