Leaderboard

All righty. Going to breakup the monotony of this thread and just say. I survived command on a 365. One of the best experiences in my life probably because I wasn’t a shiny penny. There may be some wrong in the USAF but not in the deployed environment where the mission hackers make it happen. There are a lot of eager and aggressive Airmen out there who are only limited by the system they exist in. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is why you don’t let non-pilots run flying organizations

Young young crew chief uhhello was at PSAB for start of OIF. Waiting on pilot to show up and was surprised to see the WG CC's SUV pull up to spot. Was surprised and asked ignorantly what he was doing. "I'm leading the package in".

I've had both pilot and WSO Commanders, and there were good and bad out of both camps. I consider it a good thing that there are some who I'd really have to sit down and stretch my brain to remember if they were front seaters or back seaters. That being said, I remember being at SOS and having one of those "senior leader seminars" with my flight. The guy who led the seminar for my flight was one of the original CROs, a big burly dude who was emphatic that any "leader" could command any unit, regardless of specialty. I offered that such a thing would not work in a fighter unit, to which he scoffed and told me I just wasn't evolved enough in my thinking about leadership to understand that I was wrong. I said, "in my community, our Squadron Commander generally is the lead pilot of the first formation to cross into badguy territory on the first night of the war. How are you going to inspire your warriors if on the first night of the war you're sending them into the IADS while you're going to watch them all take off into the night, then stay behind in the office and watch it on CNN?" His only response was, "that's not a fair question."

If ever there were a subject which should engender bi-partisan agreement it should be this: make China pay for unleashing this shit. Unfortunately we cannot agree on even that.

I’ve never understood the reluctance to use medicine to improve performance. If I have an infection that makes me DNIF, I take antibiotics. If I have a sleep schedule that needs to be shifted to operate safely, I take ambien. Need to be awake? Go pills. (Edit to be clear for OSI: I’m describing the ideal, not what I do or current practice. Also to be clear for OSI: get fvcked.) You’re asking me to strap into a fuel-laden tube, filled with fire but balk at altering body chemistry? Thanks Nancy. Smarter, stronger, and better at our job… of killing and not getting killed. Give us the pills. Can you imagine how great the MPF could be if we gave them Dex and locked them in for 12 hour days twice a month?

Two of the absolute worst commanders I’ve had were pilots. Two of the very best were navs. The radiator shield does not automatically qualify one to be a good commander.

Smoke and mirrors. They are essentially just executing phase 3, but with wings. I don’t understand how this changes anything, except maybe gets them a form 8 earlier so the MAF bound guys can be softened up to Q3s and re-quals earlier in their career.

My personal take on it is that it’s time to move past the vaccine/not vaccine, mask/no mask discussion… The vaccine is free and widely available, get it if you want, don’t if you don’t. Wear a mask if you want, don’t if you don’t. Don’t come crying to me when you get COVID, and I won’t come crying to you when I can’t have kids in 3 years. Make your personal choice and let’s get back to business. Hopefully this policy stays local to us so no one else has to deal with this painful step backwards

Yes. Snort died in his L-1019 up in Lewiston. Got the word from my warbird / airshow buds. He was heading back to Ft Snort when he crashed. Quite the character, and there are a lot of opinions about him. But Snort was part of the dying breed of old school fighter pilots that the current military really doesn't want around much anymore. My Tomcat buds that flew with him and worked for him think the world of him. Even the ones that didn't care for him! The fact he flew the way he did, and was able to live as long as he did... well, that's quite a feat. Snort was a Brother in Arms, and I raise a glass for him tonight. edit: for those not aware, Snort was the pilot of the famous knife-edge Tomcat pass. https://theaviationgeekclub.com/the-story-and-video-behind-dale-snort-snodgrass-legendary-super-low-banana-pass/

Yes, combat ORM is a skill that takes a lot of time to develop and requires actual experiences (e.g. it can't be taught in a classroom), just like airmanship and judgment. But just like airmanship and judgment, combat ORM it does not require intentionally violating rules or doing something unsafe to see and understand where those boundaries are. Generally the boundaries of the black and white are gently touched during peacetime training, and it is only in no-shit combat ops (and with that combat ORM already seasoned) that you can "live in the gray area" to get the mission done. I say that as someone who had the special opportunity to wear my blues and describe my operating in the gray area to a board of rated officers.

Sure did not used to be that way. I'm fortunate that in my first AF gig as a 21A1 MX Officer I had a CMSgt who grabbed me by my scrawny neck and showed me the ways of the AF. Certainly not like the soy boy E-9s hunting for hurt feelings and missing glow belts by the time I was ready to retire.

I’ll never tell. She made me promise.

RM math isn’t anywhere near perfect, but it also never will be. Sometimes a risk assessment just comes down to gut feeling. Hairs on the back of the neck and all that. If a dude one day isn’t comfortable with 300/1 and he wants to cancel, sure go ahead. If a dude will never be comfortable with 300/1, that’s a different problem.

I agree with you that this has been mishandled and politicized from the start. But also... the Democrats' shitty interpretation of the data shouldn't cause individuals to abandon data-based decision making in response. There are good data on the efficacy and safety of these vaccines from all over the world and none of it has anything to do with the lab leak, what the teachers unions are up to, or what fauci says on a daily basis. An educated person should be able to distinguish between those two things and still make a solid data-based health decision. Don't trust the CDC? Perfect, because there's 100+ other countries whose health departments have reams of encouraging data on vaccines too. But instead, we have close to 50% of the country refusing the vaccine. I don't think it's because they carefully considered all the data and made a finely calibrated personal health decision. It's because they're wrapped up in the covid narrative battle and they believe the Democrats/CDC/fauci are lying to them and trying to use covid to control them. Which, again is completely true. It just shouldn't be a factor in an individual personal health decision.

Amazing how many Trump supporters want to shit on what was probably his greatest achievement as a president. Operation Warp Speed is a triumph of modern scientific research and biomedical engineering, funded and supported by Trump...and it's mostly Trump supporters who won't take it because "I don't trust Fauci" and "I don't trust Biden". I wonder how many of those Trumpers would be vaccinated if Trump had been re-elected then tweeted non-stop about how awesome Warp Speed turned out to be and what a genius he was for finding the "cure to Covid".

Good point. The “trust the data” position was undermined early in the pandemic. The same scientists who I’d normally trust were telling me Trump political rallies were super spreader events but then signing letters saying BLM riots were ok. Data indicates kids not statistically significant spreaders but we have to cancel schools when the teachers union edits the CDC talking points. “This definitely developed naturally” turned into a total hoax as the scientists were discovered to be behind an attempt to hide the origin in a lab in China they were donating to. These aren’t conspiracy theories, all of these events above happened. When data originates from people caught lying, their additional data is suspect. This is why Fauci’s “noble lie” approach is so damaging. We are the most advanced and scientifically minded society to have ever existed. That we’re back to telling each other anecdotes is not a sign we’re idiots, but rather the scientists should have stayed in their lane of science.

Shack. More people die every day from random accidents (e.g. falling off a ladder) than Covid. Heart disease kills 6x more people daily than Covid. So why is our policy “zero cases!”-driven for something that’s not even in the top 5? Why do we continually move the goalposts on Covid, yet don’t do shit public-policy wise for heart disease prevention/cure, cancer prevention/cure, etc. Covid is a thing and kills people, got it…but the data does not remotely support the totalitarian reaction from the gov/some portions of society, expressed or implied. Get your shot, or don’t…do what’s best for you and the people you regularly interact with, then STFU about your opinion of what someone else’s personal decision should be.

Should be a great time. The people at Oshkosh generally aren't the woke, virtual signaling part of the American public. Looking forward to getting back after being gone for a few years.

Bad counterpoint. SOF units wouldn't be caught dead with a non SOF commander. Also, the dude leading the guys on horseback was an operator. He wasn't some logistics dude that said "peace out, tell me when it's done".

Jesus people. The Trump administration, for all of its faults, knew that the way to get back to something approaching “normal” was heard immunity, and that the fastest way to get there is through vaccination. Hence ‘Operation Warp Speed’ which, to give credit where credit is due, was an unqualified success. No, not “everyone” needs to get vaccinated. Seventy percent or so will do. When you have half of a population unvaccinated it leaves plenty of room for a virus to mutate. Hence Delta and probably Echo and Foxtrot and so on until we have heard immunity. We can wait a few years for that to happen naturally or we can all get a shot and watch this thing disappear within a few months. It’s not a fucking difficult concept to grasp.

The only thing that stops this is when we collectively say we’ve had enough.

Turn off the Newsmax.

I dunno about y’all…but I am so damn sick of hearing “Delta variant”, “second wave” etc…get the goddamn shot so we can stop living in this damn bizzaro world

Hoss I get what you’re saying. However, as I know you know, command is a mindset. In my experience a rated aviator who is willing to look at multiple perspectives and educate themselves on all the crew positions under their charge as well as take care of airmen and safely execute the mission will be successful...regardless of the wings on their chest. Ive coached youth hockey for 20 years now. I’ve seen fantastic lifelong hockey players fall on their face behind the bench. I’ve seen complete ankle benders who are new to the game win championships as coaches. How do the benders win championships? They surround themselves with smart people, they study the game, they play to their strengths and they solicit the advice of others when they know they have a gap in their knowledge and they earn the respect of their players. While a CSO or ABM will never hold an A code, any one of them worth their salt SHOULD have the experience and perspective after years of flying the line in their given airframe as an instructor in their crew position to effectively lead a squadron. Now, when we take a shiny penny, fluff and buff them, make them an exec and then ship them off to every non-flying school and special duty assignment known to man, or in the MAF ship them from airframe to airframe to “broaden” them, one may never gain that perspective or experience within their community to fully understand the cultures and challenges. Maybe it turns some of them into that coach who played hockey all his life and won’t take inputs from others because he thinks he’s that good. I dunno. My rambling $0.02 I guess.

You think AFPC thinks ahead?

And that's how you end up with everyone wearing a mask, because the anti-vaxx people are too selfish and dishonest to follow the guidance without enforcement. I'm looking forward to mandatory vaccination for the military. Then we can put a stop to these asinine policies.

So in Danger’s situation...weather is above mins. Low, but above mins...go fly the damn airplane. If the dude isn’t comfortable shooting an approach to mins, there’s something amiss with him, IMHO.

Seems like valid questions to me. Were there any extenuating circumstances? Long story, but as an OPS SUP on a recent deployment, I found myself cancelling lines when the weather was "technically" legal. Things like lack of reliable weather reporting, lack of support at diverts, PR grounded for weather, zero Americans outside the wire, all lead to those decisions. We were never questioned by anyone in our chain of command...well anyone with wings on their chest and AF on their name tag.

No, Hacker was making the point that if you lead a squadron tasked with going into combat, or a wing, etc. you better be qualified in the primary mission otherwise you lack credibility. WSO leading a strike Eagle unit, absolutely. SOC douche leading a unit that constantly needs IP supervision? That’s what Hacker is talking about.

That was an easy call in May of last year when we crested five weeks into “two weeks to flatten the curve”. This was at its essence, a $30T behavior modification exercise. And it has been successful beyond anyone’s wildest imagination. Expect all of our learned vocabulary and behaviors to be trotted out on a regular basis. I was expecting “a particularly bad flu season 😳😰😱”, but COVID19-2 is also a reliable plot device.

I gotta say I have a lot of complaints about the modern Air Force but this isn't one of them. It's pretty cool that commanders can be held accountable by the people with nothing more than a few memes and a cell phone recording. This is what accountability looks like. And I especially like that the wing cc is having to address it rather than being able to sweep it under the rug like what could have easily happened in the past.

Where did the Bad Chief touch you?

I'm always on alert and constantly thinking about options should I lose an engine in my experimental single engine. Sounds like this guy was paying attention and managed to set it down safely. Pilot makes emergency landing on O.C. causeway The plane landing was quickly captured by OCNJ Drone, which is based nearby. A banner plane pilot brought merging into traffic to a whole new level Monday. Landon Lucas, 18, was flying for Paramount Air Service when he started having engine trouble as he was flying near Steel Pier in Atlantic City, Ocean City spokesman Doug Bergen said. Lucas released his banner into the ocean and was attempting to reach Ocean City Municipal Airport when he spotted a gap in traffic in the westbound lanes of the Route 52 Causeway between Ocean City and Somers Point. He successfully landed at 12:38 p.m., with no damage to the plane and no injury to himself or any motorist. Investigators are on the scene, and crews are working to remove the wings and tow the plane away. Both inbound lanes to Ocean City are open, and a single lane of outbound traffic is now open while the investigation continues. https://breakingac.com/2021/07/airplane-lands-on-ocean-city-causeway/

Or Grand Forks AFB. That base should have been shuttered when the tankers left. Especially now that the Global Hawk is gone.

Why is the E-9 lapdog opening his mouth at all about an aircraft commamders decision? STFU.

My case was 5 days of getting my ass kicked completely. After that it was fine. I’m a healthy person with no real health problems and a physique that I would describe as “godlike”. Medical science would probably describe me as balding mid-30’s dude that could lose 15 lbs. I don’t know about the other people, the antecdote just stood out to me. I don’t really care to join in on either side of this but I do find it interesting the number of vaccinated folks getting sick. If I hadn’t been vaccinated, I guess I would’ve died since I was sick for so long.

Yeah but I think his point was survivorship bias. You are only deciding the best criteria for selecting students based on the criteria currently used to select students.

I didn't say they were false. Your personal experiences aren't a good way to make policy. It's like me mandating that the speed limit on the highway is 35 MPH because I know someone who got killed in a car accident doing 65 MPH. We have reams of data that show what safe speed limits for highways are...my anecdote doesn't invalidate those reams of data. Similarly, we have a dataset of over a billion people vaccinated, with a very low rate of breakthrough infections and side effects. Someone telling me their buddy had side effects doesn't undo the millions of people who didn't. Someone telling me they know a few people who got Covid after getting vaccinated doesn't undo the huge drops in cases where vaccination rates are high. Here's my data. https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-941fcf43d9731c76c16e7354f5d5e187 https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/06/14/covid-cases-vaccination-rates/ Love to see the data set on 40% of hospitalizations in the UK being vaccinated.

UK reporting 40% of COVID hospitalizations are from double vaccinated. Maybe we can at least agree that more is going on than headlines reveal, and more data with less censorship will help the public be informed. ”your actual experience means nothing because I have government figures indicating otherwise” has proven to be an unconvincing tactic. But I see you will continue using it regardless.

The HQ I work in put out guidance about two months ago: "vaccinated = no mask. not vaccinated = mask." Since they legally cannot ask, it is on the honor system. I had a good laugh the first day this policy was effective, 90% of the people there were not wearing masks....to include the most anti-vac conspiracy tout'n folks I've ever met. Fast forward to this past week when the chief of staff puts out an email that says "while we cannot ask if you have had the vaccine, we do know what the vaccinated rates of the staff are. We have noticed a large discrepancy between the vaccinated rate and those not wearing masks inside the building." Oh no shit? Didn't see that coming.....

No, def not toxic. I’ve been in shoes similar to you in a deployed environment. At a certain point we are appointed with executing the mission. I’d look at any of my ACs sideways if they cancelled due to WX being 300-3/4 when mins are 200-1/2. Just go out there and get er done dude. However, like you, I was sensitive about having my AC’s backs if they did make the tough call even if I disagreed with said decision. Tinker, different story. Crews were not safe to fly and got their butts chewed for ORM. Not to mention it was a training environment. That’s a huge foul on part of said OG. Let’s cultivate a climate where ACs are empowered but at the same time are willing to lean forward and get the mission done in the grey zone.

When I canceled a sortie, I fully expected to have to explain the decision with actual facts in addition to my general intuition of the situation…sounds reasonable to me.

What truly is the difference between toxic and intrusive? Putting my former CC hat on I’m sure that the OG was assured thru multiple briefings that there was no cause for alert or concern on the part of anybody for the inbrief for the exercise. Roll around to the next day and he is completely flabbergasted by the reality of cancelled sorties. I’m sure he was disappointed. He was disappointed in the wrong folks. In no time in my 17+ years was I denied no go pills to meet an operational need. If I am him I am asking why the med group denied ambien for the crews? If you want folks to act like it’s night one of world war 3 you have to organize, train and equip them as such including giving them an ambien to switch their sleep cycle so they can fly around the flag pole. In the meantime. Let this be a reminder that anyone can record anything outside of a Vault and take the time you need to talk to your squadron commanders about what happened and do so from a humble place. If your convo is nothing but venting you are not ready. No bad situation gets solved thru frustration. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’ll take that feedback with a HUGE GRAIN OF SALT

Max's social media post was also pretty whiny. I'm pretty put off at how they bitch and whine, Toto isn't much better. Was discussing with the frau during the England/Italy game what it would be like to be a woman married someone who flops around and pretends to cry, or whines on social media about a first lap crash...from Max's Instagram "Watching the celebrations after the race while still in hospital is disrespectful and unsportsmanlike behavior but we move on" thats some passive aggressive high school girl stuff right there.

Tinker AFB 552 ACW Update: Hitch kicks out Group level leadership (Donovan wasn’t present to start with) Starts the conversation saying it will be a listening meeting versus a chatting meeting, with the intent to clarify the situation, and where the Gp/CC was coming from. Makes some jokes about if anyone has seen the social media feeds, and says he’s seen the memes. “I Don’t Mind Memes”, adds a comment along the lines of if that’s your means for expression go for it. Starts with the misconception that ABMs don’t understand the struggles flight deck has, and says it’s not true, and that “We” trust you to make the decision/on safety. “I expect you to tell us when things aren’t right”. Jokes that he has good ideas, particularly like a 48 hour exercise. Clarifies that his expectation was to launch within 48 hours, and didn’t expect the 12 hour swap from day to night lines to occur during the exercise. He was expecting to stay within the same cycle, and seemed to also have been surprised as much as the crews were. “Pills are not the answer”. He explains that he doesn’t want a dependency on drugs to be our solution to getting the rest we need, and he expects “discipline” to fix our circadian rhythm without drugs. 7 minutes in, takes the first question for a “listening meeting”. From the crowd, former AMC pilot, explains how he used to swap circadian rhythms constantly, but that the use of no-go pills was a decision that should be left up to the individual and not taken away, since it is an approved option within regulations. Real world, it’s not just showing up ready to fly, but being prepared to have a 20 to 22 hour duty day, and by removing an available tool you’re limiting our capability. “Trust us to make the decision”. No real response from Hitch here. Wing staff Lt Col, suggested alternatives to running these exercises would be the utilization of pause ex in order to prove that the crews were able to show and maintenance was able to deliver the jets, and then restart the mission back on the same circadian rhythm or flight windows the crews were already having. Especially for a self induced exercise. Hitch, response was, “why do we do exercises, to show that we can do it”. Defends with the the transition from day to night wasn’t expected and normally crews are given 48 hours to make that change (i.e. the weekend). Mentions that it didn’t “compute” for the exercise, and it was an “unfair assumption”. “You guys made the right choice, the Vice was right.” “We backed you up on that right call”. Someone from the crowd mentions that wasn’t the tone they received from the Gp/CC during the berating session. Hitch, “I think your Gp/CC is an emotional guy, and he is invested in you”. Random Co-Pilot mentions that the biggest concern was if there was going to be changes to the AFI (11-202v3) due to the Gp/CC mentioning he would be making the cancel decisions for ACs. Hitches response, “the only changes that would occur would be to bring the Gp/CC in the loop, in order to assist with the notification process to HHQ”. He blames the exercise plan again for issues with rest. FE from one of the crews reiterate that the tone from the Gp/CC wasn’t simply disappointment or looking for answers to report up the chain, but had pushed a “No Fail” perception for the exercise, and the only reasons that the crews weren’t ready to execute could’ve been one of two things. 1). They were poor leaders, 2). Weren’t taking the exercise seriously. FE continues to explain that he had zero doubt that was the case for anyone he worked with, and they were taking the exercise seriously. Hitch responds, “I’m certainly not here to defend the Gp/CC”, “Disappointment is one thing, but there are some things that are not appropriate for the Gp/CC to let out”. Later in the brief he equates this to questioning the leadership abilities of the crew members. Hitch mentions, that sometimes stress and pressure is good, you need a fine amount of pressure. “I want to know if you were receiving good or bad pressure”. No one really wanted to respond to this specifically. Female AC from the crews, “No one questioned why?” Regarding why they were not well rested to execute the mission. “What about the timeline”. Explains the min turn times, and last minute changes during the exercise that left the crews blindsided and without time to adjust from day to night. Reiterating the required 48 hours to change, and that no-go pills were needed. Hitch responds, “I appreciate that, and that’s one of the many things we’re going to look at during our hot wash”. Copilot from the crews adds on that part of the concern that wasn’t addressed was his lack of currency. That he was on this exercise flight to get current, and with that mix of tiredness and having not seen a jet for at least 30 days are factors. Hitch responds, “we do need to address a FD currency issue, it’s a conversation we need to have”. Someone from the crowd, “I want to know if he’s (Gp/CC) being told he was wrong”. Hitch responds, “He is, and whether or not that leads to an apology I don’t know, but I can tell you he cares about you and trusts you. He’s been texting me at all hours of the night, asking what should I do about this?”. “I told him to be honest, and be humble with them, admit when you’ve made a mistake. I’m not afraid to fail, I fail everyday.” I wasn’t quick enough to get every bit of conversation. Sorry some things seem disconnected. Some other items discussed - SOF program isn’t where it should be, and the decision for cancellations is a telephone game where the real story doesn’t seem to get translated accurately by the end - Reiterates that leadership trusts their flight crews for the ORM assessments, but will ask questions, mostly because they need to report that further up the chain. He didn’t get an exact reason why the 3 crews canceled from the Gp/CC. - Mentioned the Gp/CC was interested in talking with everyone after the meeting, but left it up to us to bring him in or not. He (Gp/CC) did not get a chance to address everyone. - Mentioned multiple ways of addressing lack of flight crew currency. Crowd member mentioned currency is not proficiency. Continued to talk about other options ranging from like-aircraft just for flight deck training (other 707s), dedicated tankers, moving people around and/or trickling down the PFT pipeline, even turning off a squadron. - Mentions 4 + 2 on station timeline. 4 years on station, +2 more if you’re a “shiny penny” and are picked for the 966th. Someone retorted with based on 50 - 100 hours a year for co-pilots at the moment, it would take 7+ years to have the hours for AC upgrade, let alone IP/EP. - Tells us to ask COMACC some of these questions, since it is seriously being looked at for our platforms replacement, etc. Lastly, big ticket item. Someone mentions how he’s going to handle social media, and whether or not the Gp/CC will get fired, saying it may not be the best decision since it will prove to people that social media has that kind of power. Hitch responds with, “How do you think I should do it?” *laughs from the crowd* “I think I gave it a shot, and it didn’t quite work out”. *more laughs*. Leaves it up in the air on his decision whether the Gp/CC will still be around the next day or later on. Says he will not be addressing social media on this matter any longer. “I’ve got plenty of positive stories to tell, and I ask you to do the same”. Closes out with we’ve open the flood gates of communication, and asks for help to make the Wg better. Says to make sure to talk to your Sq/CC first, and then we can talk to him.

You can blame the officers who allow E-9s to act like E-9s. A true Chief is worth their weight in gold.

Every WO returning from WIC