Cell Dweller

Brick is right. If you are a top-tier, then you are perceived as being more valuable. Now, of course, one could question what are the latest criteria of "top-tier," but in general, the meritocracy favors the golden children. That being said, high strats also need to come with top-cover from leadership. I know a more recent example of someone who got a public drunkenness citation at UPT, burned bridges due to it, washed out, re-cored to a non-rated field, got great strats and a top notch record, but got the axe in a RIF. He never really had the top-cover from his senior rater or someone with access to his senior rater. Also, most of the "DUI and salvaged career" stories that I hear are from old hats who knew of other old hats from back in the day (nothing newer than early 2000's, post 9/11). I would say at this instant in time, a DUI is going to be a career killer until the manpower situation turns around, and the service starts talking about increasing manning. Right now, even if units are crying for bodies, the flesh-peddlers at AFPC are cutting because the money is not there.

Once heard a comm (aka cyber) Colonel say something almost exactly the same. Something about putting AMRAAMs on Predators to replace F-15s. I was scared because he was deathly serious.

Um, as mentioned previously, the 2005 year group's board is in Dec. The results will be released around March. Odds are the schedule for the 06 board will be released somewhere in there.

As usual, gov't sh*ts complicated: OGE Laws

The only law out there prevents the whole "I scratch your back, you scratch mine" scenario. See the current CEO of SAIC to see how far that rules does not reach.

Ooooh, too soon?

Works every time. Also remember to scan in the highest resolution possible and e-mail it to the greatest number of people possible. Don't want any white space on the e-mail exchange server.

For someone who has weathered the past few force management activities, I think AFPC was actually trying to be transparent. In FY11, they didn't even publish numbers, all they did was show the blue/red chart and say "RRFs are due at this time", and boom, that was it. Now they tried to be more open and get out actual number, but like all good attempts to be open with their 'customers', they were not done with the ups and downs. Plus they changed the timeline halfway through the VSP process, so that left all of you who put in hanging out there. Expect the next boards (mayby 15, probably by 16) to be more like the 11 boards. Or, God forbid, they actually don't try to be business-as-usual when they are making these sort of drastic cuts, but that's not going to happen since the ice cream cone still needs to lick itself (sts).

Don't worry y'all, we have SMC to make the rest of USAF acquisitions look good.

Acquisitions? I figured the guy was ops.

Bump With all the talk about force management, has there been anything going on with the Major board that's supposed to happen at the end of the year? It seems like every year prior, the promotion board to O-4 has been a hot topic around all the bases, but with the Force Mgmt fiasco going on, it seems like the intel on the promotion boards has dried up.

McS**t rockin' the V, and the vijay-jay cap.

Heard that during three Blue Bedroom speeches and from the Flt/CC when I was at Sause. There was always a few of us who had that same reaction. That being said, some of those speeches were just stating the facts. At least twice thought it sounded like they were trying to make a point (a'la CZ). The only thing that I got out of that was that there is no guarantee that the 'best' 20% of those in the room would be back later in their career.

Every time I hear things like some command or center is being conniving or doing something with an ulterior motive, I remember that if they can't get the simple stuff right, then there is no way they could coordinate something that clever. Now, if lower levels of leadership, such as one's chain of command, did something like this, then I would be suspicious.

That ADO needs to be less clever, and more effective.

If it'd be done, it'd be done, that's for sure.

If doing what Whiskey said does not turn out to be successful, you may have to bargain with your unit that the metal flashes are a waste. If it is a slow and expensive process with crappy products, leadership may be amenable to switching to wood (sts). If you had a shit-hot boss that deserved it, then I would go to the local picker/flea market supplier and see if they have any aircraft parts. If you are in a location that has a long history with your airframe, then you might be able to procure an actual part that could be made into an awesome going-away gift. Of course if you did that for a great boss, then every knuckle-dragger in a supervisory position might want one.

ONE masters that relates to your job is a good thing. Three gratis masters degrees, and what is basically have of one's career spent exclusively in school, is a joke.

You want to hear the biggest example of why the culture needs to change? I just heard from an engineer that went to school with me and commissioned in '08. First assignment was LA, where he warmed over at SMC, got an online masters asap, applied to AFIT asap and was accepted. Went to Dayton and got his second masters (both in engineering), then applied for and was accepted to a management program at NPS in Monterrey. So now this homeboy has his third masters and is stationed in Colorado, warming over for what I assume will lead to a PhD program of some sorts. Less than six years in, three masters degrees, and less than three years of time assigned to units that actually do something. The whole attitude of getting a Masters as soon as you can didn't really bother me, but this self licking ice cream cone of a career is really ridiculous.

Nope, not pissed at all. This was at the AFA symposium, so its not like there was anything of substance talked about anyways. Better for the CSAF to use the stump to try and rally the troops than to try and justify bloated, politically driven programs.

I can't speak for 13S, I just work with them, but the "couldn't cut it" attitude exists everywhere. There are flyers, doctors, and pro athletes that walk around like they screwed something up and their life sucks. They need to deal with it, and work hard at what they do. Every job has sucky parts, so hack it at what you do, or do something else.

The more I have to deal with folks at Peterson, the more I see opportunities for ADSC waivers and SERBs.

I read a sample of "Skunk Works", and it basically sounded like a self-congratulatory account of Ben Rich's life at Lockheed. I have heard that "More Than..." is more well written, but because the subject is Johnson and not Rich, the focus is less on Lockheed and more on Johnson's life and times. It is very difficult to find a good book on DoD acquisition programs that is not very academic or very self-promoting (think "I worked at Company X on the F-69 program, and we did awesome, until the government got in our way.")

Would not show up in your record explicitly, but anyone you tell would know, and potentially someone like an exec would know, and it could end up travelling with you if you remain in your community. It also could end up being known through those sorts of unofficial channels by a person in a position (sts) to rate on you or otherwise recommend you for something like a promotion. Lots of hypotheticals, but nothing that you could probably legally point back to if you think that you were treated unfairly.

AFPC opened the curtain a little with the TERA/RIF table recently released. Back in the '06/07 timeframe, there was a demand to meet manning quotas in the old 13S (space and missiles) AFSC. Washouts/SIEs with no appreciable discriminators (specialized degrees, prior service) or who just wanted to stay in the service, but had no particular goal in mind, were generally funneled to 13S. Now that same pool has gotten reclassed, or is getting put on the chopping block. With the FSB reaching all the way back to 3-year officers and with ROTC folks being offered free-outs instead of commissioning, it is pretty obvious where the majority of the washouts/SIEs are going to end up. That being said, UPT washouts still have the opportunity to apply for UNT, ABM school, and I think UAVs. Therefore there are still opportunities if you want to stay in the rated fields.