pitts2112

You should try an Air Guard base. o.O

I'll offer a few points, in no particular order: A leader's job is to Direct, Unite, Inspire, and Support. If you're doing anything that's not in those categories - stop doing it! Be the Group Commander, not a Super Squadron Commander. In the MSG, for example, it's common for the MSG/CC to try to be the super-SFS/CC or super-BCE or whatever careerfield he came out of - over-managing that squadron while giving the other squadrons in the group too little direction. Don't do that. Ever. Seriously. You probably didn't like it when you were a sq/cc, so don't do it to your people. Be willing to tell the wing commander "I don't know, but I'll find out." We have an MSG commander who is simply the biggest control freak and data hog I've ever met. His squadron commanders literally spend 30-50% of their work week managing HIM instead of doing their jobs. He creates the very chaos and inefficiency he professes to try to cure. This is driven by, I think, 2 things, which a good group commander will avoid: 1. He needs an enormous volume of information before he feels like he understands an issue or activity. No matter how much you try to provide the answers up front, he'll still come back at you with more questions. Providing more detail to allay his insatiable need for info merely provides more avenues for enhanced questioning. 2. He's afraid to be caught not having the answer to every question he might ever be asked. As a group commander, you've got to know what's generally going on in your squadrons and the rest of the wing, but you're not paid to know everything in detail or do your squadron commanders' jobs for them. If you don't know, man-up and admit it. And also give yourself a break because it's neither feasible nor reasonable for anyone to expect you to know everything. As a general rule of thumb, think about the things that provide job satisfaction for you in a leadership position - having authority, being held responsible, encouraging and facilitating teamwork, solving complicated problems, developing the people under you to help them grow professionally and personally, etc. Then make sure you do nothing that deprives your subordinates of enjoying that same job satisfaction.

And it helps that our Readiness FAM used to be our squadron UDM.

Thanks, guys. My UDM is great, but Functional Area Manager isn't giving him any info. Our Personnel Readiness aren't too swift, however, so they can't offer much.

Well, that alone tells me something. I'm actually a ground-pounder. Literally. Civil Engineering officer. Not sure if I'll be base CE or expeditionary. Trying to get that from my FAM now, but nada so far. Not so much asking for operational or OPSEC sensitive stuff as much as quality (?) of life, like where's the best strip club? Is life different for rated versus non-rated guys?

I'm deploying to Bagram in a few months for the first time and was just wondering what life is like over there. What should I expect for accommodation and what essentials do I need to bring with me that a person wouldn't normally think about? Also, what's the leadership/chickenshit atmosphere like? Any info would be helpful. Thanks!

Aaaannndd Personnel is now running the show... me, what has the USAF become?

You didn't go through this in the 90s, did you? (sarcasm mode on)

Ugh. The USAF is more amped up about inclusiveness and other HR stuff than any other organization I've ever worked for. We might still a sexual harassment problem, but more mass briefings, Kumbaya song circles, and telling everyone how soft and fluffy a warfighting force we are is not going to solve that problem. I hope, for my desire to really think he's going to make a difference, that CSAF made this under duress. I kept looking for a code in his blinking...

I stayed in the UK for 15 years because it met almost all of HeloDude's requirements (which were mine also), the beer is better, and the US doesn't have pubs. Everything's a trade-off. UK taxes are higher but then there are no healthcare costs so, all-in, I was actually better off. I came back because it was getting more expensive for everything and then the economy tanked, which hit the UK much worse than it did the US. Oh, yeah. And the climate. Not the weather; the climate. It never gets too hot or too cold. The downside is it'll drizzle on your sorry ass for a month at a time and some years summer doesn't show up at all, but 85 degrees was unusually hot and I only saw snow about 5 days in 15 years. edit: climatology.

I stayed on in the UK as a civilian for 12 years after getting out. Had a great time there. Got dual citizenship just for the convenience factor.

So we're now having to fly manned escort for drones?

Use the Tube as your primary mode of transport and you'll get the full London experience. But, take a taxi at least once because that's an experience as well. Ask the driver about "The Knowledge" and how long it took him to learn it. That conversation will blow your mind!

Hit The Salisbury pub near Leicester Square. It looks exactly like you would expect Victorian London to look. And don't tip the bartender in a pub. Ever. http://www.pubs.com/main_site/pub_details.php?pub_id=206 As regards money, don't do the conversions in your head. You will drive yourself into a depression of irrelevancy. A pint costs what it costs, don't try to figure out what it is in dollars, just accept that London is ######ing expensive but is still the best city on the globe. Speaking of the globe, take in a play at The Globe Theater - an accurate reproduction of the theater of Shakespearean fame. Free Sunday morning tours at the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square are well worth taking in. A guide picks a theme then uses a half dozen pieces to demonstrate that theme. Very educational. Do Buckingham Palace. It's worth every penny.

And, according to the ones in a strange green-colored camo uniform that I've talked to in the Coast Guard mess where I have lunch most days, these guys are deployed to Afghanistan and doing some pretty serious shit over there. DHS or DoD, any folks that do that AND go out to rescue people in the exact weather everyone else watches from the squadron bar have earned huge respect.