Karl Hungus
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Posts posted by Karl Hungus
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So... how many of you are going to pay out of your own pocket (or blow your GI Bill, while that still exists...) for a bullshit, worthless masters degree to get promoted in this sinking ship of an organization? LOL
DoD urges ‘significant’ tuition assistance cuts
The Air Force is considering whether to curtail tuition assistance after the Defense Department told all of the services to consider cutting funding for the program, officials said.
The Army and Marine Corps have both decided to suspend their tuition assistance programs. Soldiers and Marines can finish the current semester, but the services are not allowing new enrollments.
Each service is responsible for funding and administering its tuition assistance program, said Defense Department spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Nathan Christensen.
“This week, DOD’s comptroller issued guidance indicating that the services should consider significant reductions in funding new tuition assistance applicants, effective immediately and for the duration of the current fiscal situation,” Christensen said in an email.
The Air Force has not yet decided whether to make any reductions in funding for tuition assistance, said service spokeswoman Capt. Candice Ismirle. Officials expect to have a decision in the next week or so, she said.
The Navy has also not yet decided whether to reduce its TA funding.
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You can get mandatory fraud, waste, and abuse advanced academic degrees!
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Surprise: The Boehner/GOP Alternative to Sequester is... More Spending!
http://reason.com/blog/2013/02/20/surprise-the-boehnergop-alternative-to-s
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C-17 IP, late to rate, passed over for Major, no derogatory info, 38 months on ADSC...Palace Chase denied.
Interesting. I've heard of up to 24 months approved. Try again in a year?
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The military retirement is awesome...All you have to do is get to 20 years and you get paid for life.
Tick, tick, tick....
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“Would you have confidence in the airworthiness of a commercial airliner if you saw peeling paint or torn seats or unfastened rivets? … In the same respect, the American public, inspector general or any other airman might wonder how a base is addressing large issues when they observe an apparent disregard for ‘small’ things,” Bergdolt wrote.
Sigh. Counting down the days.
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4. Then, on the issue of why people may stay in and deal with the BS, perhaps they like some of the cool shit they do. Hence, why I alluded to the mindless airline life a pilot might take while protraying a dude in a white shirt, getting the ATIS, and monitoring George fly the ILS. Whoopee, real exicting.
That's the thing... a lot of what we do these days is endless OPRs and EPRs, award packages, PRFs, Christmas Parties, "Warrior" Runs, Change of Command planning, PME TDYs, etc. Whoopee, real exciting.
There's a way to minimize the bullshit, and still have an "exciting" mission. It's called the guard and reserve.
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I have to agree with our Army brother. If you really want to fly the line and you hate the way leadership is mismanaging shit, the best way to fix things is to be a DO or Commander. You get to fly and lead from the front and change things as you see fit. Yes, AAD/PME is insanely stupid but that's the way the game is rigged. If you can suffer through the game, you really can make a difference.
We've castrated our DOs and CCs, especially at the SQ level. They can't make any decisions without running it by the OG and WG. The "stay in and tough it out and change things!!!!!1" mantra is a joke.
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Anyone know what happened to the crew? Q-3s for all my friends? Or were there downgrades.
Can you land a Pred at the wrong airport?
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Masking the masters for promotion boards is great, but we've been through this cycle before. The story ends with good dudes getting screwed because they trusted big blue to not change its mind a year prior to their board meeting. I think it would take something drastic, like stopping TA, to make it stick.
TA's days are numbered. Only a matter of time.
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You take your -10 mafia and go back to Andrews!
What?
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The Air Force promotes from the entire pool of officers, vice setting a percentage rate for each career field. Strats and achievements that put you above officers from all careers are highly-valued by the promotion board (i.e...DG from your commissioning source or PME), as its difficult to compare certain achievements across different careers. How easy is it to compare a fighter IP to a Sierra-Hotel Big Safari program manager? That said, commissioning-source DG is looked at less than PME DG for O-4.
This is exactly why we need to separate rated and non-rated promotions at the major's board, as well as mask stupid stuff (AAD) on the SURF until after you've pinned on O-4. It's this type of thinking (how do I compare apples and oranges?) that leads to new LTs worrying about their masters over their primary duty.
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Damn, and here I thought professional bitching was reserved for well-to-do pylets with an inflated self-assessment of labor market value. These docs make pylets look like selfless leper-cleaning nuns.....
How many AF doctors are M.D.s? How many are D.O.s? Big difference when it comes to civilian hiring...
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Anyone read this one? Sounds interesting, and it seems to echo what a lot of us have been saying on here.
www.nytimes.com/2013/01/06/business/bleeding-talent-sees-a-military-management-mess.html
The Military Machine as a Management Wreck
IT was once a wry joke that the military was designed by geniuses to be run by idiots. Not anymore, Tim Kane writes. As an all-volunteer force, the young men and women who serve these days are top drawer; it is the institution that is idiotic, he argues. And he has a drastic remedy in mind: a dose of classic economics.
In “Bleeding Talent” (Palgrave Macmillan, $30), Mr. Kane gives us a veteran’s proud, though acutely critical, perspective on the American military. He offers an illuminating view of the other “1 percent” — not the privileged upper crust, but the sliver of Americans who have accepted the burden of waging two of the longest wars in our history.
The military is perhaps as selfless an institution as our society has produced. But in its current form, Mr. Kane says, it stifles the aspirations of the best who seek to serve it and pushes them out. “In terms of attracting and training innovative leaders, the U.S. military is unparalleled,” he writes. “In terms of managing talent, the U.S. military is doing everything wrong.”
The core problem, he argues, is that while the military may be “all volunteer” on the first day, it is thoroughly coercive every day thereafter. In particular, it dictates the jobs, promotions and careers of the millions in its ranks through a centralized, top-down, one-size-fits-almost-all system that drives many talented officers to resign in frustration. They leave, he says, because they believe that “the military personnel system — every aspect of it — is nearly blind to merit.”
Mr. Kane knows whereof he speaks. An Air Force Academy graduate, he worked in military intelligence for five years before resigning, in the mid-1990s, after the Air Force declined to send him for graduate studies in economics. He is now chief economist at the Hudson Institute, a conservative research group. In the years between, he helped start a couple of small companies and picked up a taste for entrepreneurship.
He finds a natural hero in Milton Friedman, the libertarian economist and intellectual father of the all-voluntary military. And Mr. Kane suggests that today’s Pentagon is ignorant of Adam Smith, whose “Wealth of Nations” taught that society’s interests might best be served by every individual’s seeking his or her own self-interest.
In 2005, Mr. Kane made a mark with empirical studies demonstrating that the “myth of the stupid soldier” is indeed a myth. His data showed that the enlisted ranks were brighter and better educated than their civilian counterparts.
He looks at today’s military and sees suppressed entrepreneurs among officers and enlisted ranks alike. “America’s armed forces are a leadership factory,” he writes, saying that former military officers are three times as likely to become corporate C.E.O.’s as their raw numbers would suggest.
In surveying recent West Point graduates, he found that only 7 percent believed that most of the best officers remained in the military. It is not the combat, the low pay or the pull of family life that is the top reason they quit in surprising numbers, Mr. Kane writes, but rather the “frustration with military bureaucracy.” One study found that young officers left because they wanted a sense of control over their careers. In short, they wanted what the rest of us want.
The exodus of young officers means that promotion to lieutenant colonel is taken for granted in a career trajectory. Yet the step beyond colonel, to general, is subject to a rigid and stultifying screen. A thousand colonels a year are considered; only 35 or 40 make the cut, he says. The mavericks, the innovators who rock the boat, usually do not.
ACCORDING to Mr. Kane, “the root of all evil in this ecosystem” is the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act, enacted by Congress in 1980 to standardize military personnel policies. But the system has defied efforts by successive defense secretaries to bring about change.
That act binds the military into a system that honors seniority over individual merit. It judges officers, hundreds at a time, in an up-or-out promotion process that relies on evaluations that have been almost laughably eroded by grade inflation. A zero-defect mentality punishes errors severely. The system discourages specialization — you can’t expect to stay a fighter jock or a cybersecurity expert — and pushes the career-minded up a tried-and-true ladder that, not surprisingly, produces lookalikes.
In the subtitle of his book, Mr. Kane declares a radical intent: “How the U.S. Military Mismanages Great Leaders and Why It’s Time for a Revolution.” The revolution he has in mind would turn the military inside out by creating an internal labor market for job assignments and promotions.
Need an assistant commander of an airborne regiment? If an officer has the training and the credentials, why shouldn’t he or she be allowed to apply for the job? Let the commander, not the Pentagon, choose a sidekick from a stack of résumés, Mr. Kane says. Sounds a lot like civilian life, doesn’t it?
By the same token, a talented 33-year-old colonel could command a 40-year-old major, an age reversal that is commonplace in the civilian economy. The ranks would also be open to lateral entry. Why not readmit a former officer who wants to re-enlist after a stint in logistics for Walmart?
Mr. Kane is taking on an institution whose sheer size boggles the mind. There are 1.1 million men and women in the United States Army, including the National Guard and Army Reserve. The regular Army alone has some 82,000 officers, 15,000 above the rank of major (but only 300 generals). Can it rely on a military Monster.com of the kind the author is proposing to put all those people in the right jobs?
There are skeptics, even among Mr. Kane’s supporters in the military, who say his quest is quixotic, an attempt to dent a stone wall that has defied all efforts to change it. But it might not be hopeless. Our military is part of our society. It has bent before to provide greater opportunities, first for blacks, then for women, and most recently for gays and lesbians. If the demand now is for greater personal autonomy, how long can the military resist?
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Your current STRD should be a shifting date that is x number of days after your entry to active duty date (I forget the acronym). For every day that you're TDY from CONUS to OCONUS, that date should shift to the right. Deployments, trips, whatever... if you were TDY CONUS to OCONUS it changes the date. So, say you've been OCONUS TDY a total of 365 days... it would read whatever date exactly a year after your entry to AD... basically the start of your AF clock.
Next to your STRD you'll see a (*) type thing. The parenthesis will get a "1" or "2" or whatever for every short tour you do. I believe this will be whether or not you do the 300 days in 18 months or the full year short tour thing.
The way the system is "supposed" to work, every time you file a travel voucher your vMPF updates with your TDY duty history, and your OCONUS days TDY get updated as well. Via magic, this somehow eventually makes it on your SURF. In reality, the system doesn't work and MPF doesn't do their jobs, so you have to force them to update it using proof of travel vouchers, etc.
You're right in that prior-E folks get hosed under this system. Yep, the difference in STRDs, even not having a number in the parenthesis, might be the discriminator between you or someone else getting a 365 to a shithole. Yep, the odds have never been higher that you'll get a 365 to a shithole if you decide to make the AF a career these days, especially if you sign the bonus. FAIPs and OCONUS PCS'd folks are especially nervous... it's only CONUS to OCONUS TDYs that change the STRD. Those exercises in Thailand or wherever for Yokota folks don't count as far as I know. Maybe that's changed.
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Thought this was interesting from the CSAF latest letter:
"In a couple of weeks, I’ll send you a CSAF Vector for 2013. In it, I’ll let you know where I think we’re headed in some key areas and also lay out a few things I think I owe you over the next year. Things like what the AF values for promotion (hint--the list starts with Job Performance!); my thoughts on performance reports and any required adjustments; etc."
AADs masked for Major's boards? Rated and Non-Rated promotions separated? Rooting for Welsh to un-fuck this organization...
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AF told to study rate of UAV pilots’ promotions
The 2013 National Defense Authorization Act requires the Air Force to tell Congress why unmanned aircraft pilots get promoted less often than pilots of manned aircraft and what the Air Force can do to fix the problem.
The Air Force has 180 days from when the legislation is signed to report on the disparity.
Congress also wants the Air Force to submit a plan to increase promotion rates for unmanned aircraft pilots that includes near- and long-term actions needed.
In August, Air Force Times reported that promotion data since 2007 shows that unmanned aircraft pilots are less likely to advance than fighter, bomber and mobility pilots. Through five promotion cycles, only two officer boards promoted pilots of unmanned aircraft at a higher rate than their counterparts in manned aircraft.
One reason for the disparity is that unmanned aircraft pilots miss out on activities that enhance chances for promotion, one pilot told Air Force Times.
“The sacrifices demanded by the brutal and unending shift work, the common six-day work week which often includes upwards of 40 flying hours alone (daily briefings, training and administrative responsibilities must be accomplished on top of this), and the minimal chances at leadership responsibilities … are not rewarded by [promotion] boards,” said the unmanned aircraft pilot, who did not want to be identified.
On Sept. 27, two Senate leaders asked the Government Accountability Office to review promotion rates, mental health and working conditions for airmen in the unmanned community.
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Generally I'm a little unhappy with AMU in that they've raised tuition to make my out-of-pocket costs quite a bit more per class since I started
AMU isn't the only one doing this. They've all figured out that promotion in active duty AF has become pay-to-play, and there's a huge audience of folks who will pay out of their own pocket above TA to check a box. Just wait until TA is cancelled soon... lots of folks paying out of their own pockets, or blowing their GI Bill, on useless masters degrees.
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Co-Pilot’s CM is still on the books because the paper work has not caught up yet. She will be separating soon.
Is she at the end of her 10 year UPT ADSC? If not, how can she just separate? Does a CM erase an ADSC? Did she palace chase?
No I'm not. I sat there and heard it first hand from Safety Center reps. They teach that SIBs should not offer privilege to everyone (makes sense as not everyone needs it) and second that SIBs should try to conduct interviews without offering privilege at first. However, each SIB is different. So, if any of you get involved in a SIB sitting at the unfriendly side of the table, think about whether you need privilege. And if you think you want to talk to counsel before hand, tell them. True, SIBs don't care about counsel so don't be surprised if you ask for it first and they say its not necessary. There, fruit salad.
Out
Yep. Always get a lawyer, and a civilian one at that.
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Being airdrop qualified sounds really appealing.
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I don't know anyone that I work with that feels that they're underpaid. We make damn good money and enjoy great benefits. Comparable civilian pilot jobs make far less initially, and take a while to catch up. The biggest difference is improved quality of life in the civilian sector, or at least the freedom to have some sort of control over your life.
Start cutting/ delaying the pension and benefits (it WILL happen) and suddenly putting up with multiple 365s to shitholes and a PCS to Cannon as your wife and kids leave you doesn't sound so appealing.
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4 AF/CC said no more blues on Monday; I haven't seen anything directly from AFRC.
The reservists I knew all collectively ignored Blues Monday since it's creation.
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Maybe he thinks the CSAF shouldn't have to waste his time on what uniform people wear at every base...that's what I think. I'd rather he spend time on figuring out how to unfvck the acquisitions, how to market the USAF as well as the USN does to congress, and figuring out just what exactly we're going to lose with sequestration. But if you'd prefer he spend his time micromanaging the MAJCOM and WG/CC's, fine. We'll just disagree.
Oh Jesus tittyfucking Christ.
If rescinding a policy as retarded as Blues Monday is so difficult that it prevents Welsh from focusing on bigger problems then we are really fucked.
Some things are worth "micromanaging" to be sure the correct message is sent from the top. Others are not. Anything is better than the previous clown though.
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No, that's not what he said. He said MAJCOMs could make their own call. Not the same thing.
Welsh had the ability to squash this entire thing, without any of this stupid ambiguity. But he didn't.
Perhaps we need some more USAFA speeches!
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Masters information (MBA/GRE)
in General Discussion
Posted
Which is why it shouldn't be tracked at all by the AF until after you make O-4. Eliminate the entire degree section on an officer's SURF up to O-4.
Won't happen, of course. And management (not leadership) will continue to be perplexed at why everyone is leaving.