joe1234

I am really at a loss at what the hell you expected when you decided to read a thread titled "Promotion and PRF Information".

I'm sure even talking about this will lead to a ban. I would say that my experience has not been as positive as yours. Everything was fine (I would cross the line once every couple of years or so but nothing too terrible), until I began asking questions about your positions, because I honestly didn't understand, and was trying to learn something in a thread about guns (aka the one personal hot button pet issue), and dude seriously flipped out on me on the board and through PM. The PM's were rather threatening and...emotional, and I took this to mean I'm not allowed to talk about guns, ever. While PYB kind of screwed himself by going too far, I wouldn't call this place a bastion of free speech, either. But, it is what it is.

I agreed with most of your points, but this one is bullshit, because there are plenty of people who do every bit of work that you do, all without a family at home. You need to use first person language when saying this in the future. Your personal shortcomings don't apply to the entire military.

Look, the issue here is that the attitudes of junior officers are a direct reflection of the leadership and command climate that they experience. A lot of flyers are jaded and pissed off because they're in a climate that produces it. It's not as if people just became this cynical on accident. Imagine if we took the combined man-hours spent in one year on checking boxes for a promotion board, and spent it improving processes directly related to our missions just because we actually wanted to do our jobs better. Imagine if a motivated fast burner type spent his time guiding FNG's and showing them the ropes instead of pissing away that sheer amount of time and energy chasing group exec positions, masters degrees, and awards packages. Imagine if we sent guys to SOS because they genuinely wanted to become better leaders and officers, not because it looks better on a PRF. Dudes aren't bitching about this stuff because they don't want to do the work. They're bitching about it because they probably joined to be part of something greater than themselves, and were told to start working on their masters instead. Don't you think it's kind of curious how "mentorship" consists primarily of figuring out which boxes need to be checked, instead of how they could contribute and be a part of something important? But the things that have meaning, things that should be a source of pride, are completely discounted. Guys who put it all out there-- flying the line on deployments, or grinding out the mission all across the world, are told that they're fucking shitbags compared to this dude who spent most of the war writing themselves up for awards packages and checking the boxes. And when the cold hard reality of careerism crushes that idealism, well, you end up with a bunch of cynics. But, like I said, I've made my peace with it. This is how the Air Force is, and this is all I can ever expect it to be.

I think your take on this is wrong. You call this mindset spineless, but in reality, it's the opposite, and brutally honest. The simple fact is that a lot of guys here have opinions on how they think the Air Force should be run, how promotions should work, and what they think they deserve, but that is bullshit. You don't get what you deserve, you get what you get, and with the Air Force, this is what you've got. You can get out, and they WILL replace you. If everyone votes with their feet, well, I guess anyone left is going to get 2 BTZ to O-5 and just skate to 20 because there's literally not enough people left. The Air Force is a massive government bureaucracy that does a lot of shit and will go on with or without you. And that bureaucracy can and will fuck you over. You can say it is like a family, or that it's a calling, or it's your life's passion, profession of arms, whatever, but that's your problem, not theirs. Oh sure, general and colonels will say all that shit to get you to commit to putting your life on the line to sacrifice for God and country, but then they'll turn around and hang you out to dry when the numbers don't match up next FY and your ass gets force shaped. That's the truth. Look, I criticize this thing as much as anyone else, but I've made my peace with it a long time ago. It's a transaction, and if you attach more significance to it than that and get burnt, well, don't say you weren't warned.

Get married when you want. Divorce when you want. Just sign a prenup, and it's a get out of jail (almost) free card. But definitely don't have any kids until after 30, because then it gets messy.

To better answer your question from before, learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist. The honeyed words I speak on the radio are like crafting a beautiful painting for all to enjoy. I apologize if you've never gotten the chance to experience it firsthand.

Yes, and my point is that you can't take one community's issues and assume a standard across the board, hence the bubble comment. The military especially has a wide variety of flying where painting broad strokes is ill advised. It's not so much having good hands for routine occurences, it's more like not having terrible hands for the challenging ones that inevitably come up for the planes that demand it. Resigning yourself to managing automation is fine once you're actually in C-17 FTU, but that kind of attitude is poisonous coming from instructors at UPT where the final destination is yet to be determined.

I'm just curious of which airframe, exactly, you're basing this opinion off of. Because you seem to completely neglect the fact that a huge number of jets in he USAF inventory are old as shit and aren't capable of the level of automation or ease of ap off a/r that you're implying. So really, I'm just trying to tell you that you're ignorant of the world outside your bubble, and giving you the chance to redeem yourself. Have fun.

Well, estimate the past and future amount of money wasted on wx diverts and compare it to the total life cycle cost of adding that capability, and you'd have the final answer.

The ability to fly a GPS approach is latest and greatest cutting edge stuff now? It's like we broke the bank so much on outfitting radical new alien technology such as transponders and strobe lights that there's literally no room left in the budget without taking away from WARFIGHTING, OORAH.

I'm pretty sure a FAIP that thinks KC-135s are always home, and always use the autopilot, is in for the most hilariously rude awakening ever seen.

It's only a felony if you get caught....

Yes, but there is some value to letting everyone know exactly where you stand on things and to not bother you about stupid PME stuff.

I think the main source of outrage that everyone seems to miss with GO's overturning the verdicts is how completely fucked the military justice system is, that convictions can be handed down without any real evidence, and that a dude with stars can simply erase everything that happened. It's the idea that a GO can literally just look at a conviction and say "he's a good bro HE WOULDNT DO THIS" and then wish away any conviction they want. It doesn't help that it also looks like cronyism because of officers protecting officers and fighter jocks protecting fighter jocks, meanwhile some E-4 could have the exact same case brought against him, and that guy would be serving time with a dishonorable discharge. To be frank, it seems like the vast majority of people (who actually care about the AF) have generally lost faith in the judgment of our general officers, but there's no outlet in which to bring down the hammer. And honestly, I really can't blame them. We constantly complain about poor leadership at the top, but there's not much you can actually do until someone dies, or we go get our asses kicked in a conflict that reveals the deep rot going on in the service. There have been numerous scandals and firings with GO's over the past 10 years, and it doesn't seem to be getting much better.

The last 10 years have probably seen, hours-wise, more flying than at any other time in the Air Force's short history. It's not an experience issue, it's a focus issue. Even the most experienced aviators get in trouble because they can't focus on their primary duties. Honestly, this all starts at the squadron level. Commanders are willing to throw flying ops under the bus so that they can enhance the careers of people that they like. Now, these commanders and the people they hook up see it "taking care of your people", but in reality, they're putting the needs of the few over the needs of the overall crew force. I don't even know if that's a factor with this mishap, but I will say that from what I've seen and heard, the C-17 community has always been notorious for putting career progression over flying.

I believe they do insist on it, however, for those Congressmen, the benefit of keeping then base around in their district outweighs the benefit of, say, overall adequate military readiness. And that reflects the will of the voters in their district. For all the lip service given to "supporting the troops", there's not a single constituency in the nation that will sacrifice their jobs and associated economic activity for the overall defense of the nation right now. That's America for you. Love it or leave it, I guess.

You're right, there is a bias. That's because the media bias is reflecting a larger society bias in favor of gays and (less so) with secularism that certain people don't seem to recognize shifting around them. And then eventually, society will have shifted in such a way that they wake up and find that they're on the ass end of history, like that crazy old grandparent who says shockingly racist shit (see: the interview of that Alaskan Congressman), or lives in fear of Soviets, or buries cash in their mattress, because they're stuck in the past and in their old ways.

You're an idiot. I can tell this because you're conflating skill at the 5 with PPG, which is what idiots do. Collins at this point is obviously a 34 year old 3rd string center who just exists to fill out a 12 man roster because he's old as shit and can't play like he used to, but still has enough talent to make a team. He came out as gay knowing it won't affect his career that much since he is a reserve player. Honestly, I don't really even care to defend the record of a has-been, but you obviously don't know shit about NBA basketball.

Wait, how are you going to say Collins sucks when he actually helped take the Nets to the Finals in '03, but Tebow is good because he won -one- playoff game and the Heisman (which is probably THE worst argument for NFL skill, ever). Tebow doesn't even have a team right now and it's only his 3rd season. And I don't see a lot of teams climbing over each other to sign him either. Hell, Tebow wasn't even fit to be in a contest with 5 other terrible QB's for the Jets, and they couldn't even get a 7th round draft pick for him. I'm sorry, but if a team won't give up a fucking 7th round draft pick, you know, the picks they reserve for backup punters and kickers, he sucks. It's kind of funny how this wholesome Christian boy has way too much pride to switch positions to tight end (which many other players have done in the past), when clearly nobody is that interested in his QB ability.

And he'd still be a shitty QB. At least Jason Collins was good for a while.

I just read this article (a bit late, yes I know), but it was very eye opening regarding leadership failures in Iraq/Afghanistan. I think the biggest take away is how much the skill and talent at the junior officer and NCO level makes up for such horrible leadership. Tactically, guys at the ground level make the mission happen, but it ends up hurting us strategically because terrible leaders aren't exposed for what they are. Sort of a Catch-22 there.

My bad. Somebody in the world seems to care. Let me revise my earlier statement to "nobody who actually matters cares about this". We're talking about it because you created a fucking thread about it. You might possibly be the world's most oblivious hypocrite. The Air Force also says proper uniform wear is mission critical. And sexual assault prevention is mission critical. And getting a degree from TUI is mission critical. The Air Force says a lot of things because there's like 300,000 fucking people in the Air Force, and some guy can get task with writing a reg that says _____ is mission critical. I don't know about you, but somehow my base has managed to weather the storm of diversity regs and manages to continue generating and flying sorties without incident. Is your base having a race war that's grounding jets that the rest of us don't know about? I'll be honest, I really don't give a shit about this topic. But I just can't help but skewer terrible arguments. It's like dropping blood into a shark tank.

Holy shit, the AIR FORCE created a WEBSITE? And a REG? Clearly these are unprecedented actions that can only mean the immediate worldwide deployment of thousands of diversity kommissars that will start shutting down bases and shooting women and children. Maybe we need to start burying jets in the dirt to save them like the Iraqis did so that we can keep the diversity office from coming and destroying them all! That was a great anecdote from roughly 20 years ago. I really enjoy these history lessons. However, since anecdotes from what a random guy kinda remembers what it was like 20 years ago is completely irrelevant to this issue today, so I'm sure you'll forgive me for using actual real facts to make my point. http://diversity.defense.gov/Resources/Commission/docs/Issue%20Papers/Paper%2045%20-%20Officer%20Promotion%20by%20Race%20Ethnicity%20and%20Gender.pdf Ironic how this comes from the "diversity department" or whatever. Anyway, they clearly found no correlation whatsoever between officer promotions and race. In fact, whites outperformed minorities in almost every category. But I really do like how everyone's instant reaction is to become the victim to an perceived, yet imaginary slight. And yes, I'm sure it was so terrible 20 years ago, but using numbers from 20 years ago to make a point today regarding discrimination is about as illogical as using numbers from the mid 70s to make a point about racial discrimination in the mid 90s. Yet here you are, doing that right now. Oh, who am I kidding, logic and facts have no place here. Bring on the ad hominems and hyperbole. It's all anyone really has left to argue with. p.s. I think it's hilarious we're talking about a diversity reg harming combat effectiveness in the middle of a one of a kind budget sequestration that is actually harming combat effectiveness.

Undermine mission effectiveness, weaken us as a fighting force. You're spouting a lot of hyperbole, but it's empty words. Nobody seems that particularly concerned about color, ethnicity, and sex except for you, your O-6, and maybe a couple of guys in the Pentagon who got tasked with writing an AFI that really has no teeth or power to speak of. What in this reg, specifically, is heralding the destruction of the most powerful military force in the world? Because it reeeeaaaallly sounds like you're some dude who created an account a week ago trying to get everybody spun up about something completely benign.