What's wrong with the Air Force?

[brabus]

@frog You’re not wrong, but also being a truly mission-focused wing/cc who calls out failure and demands ops-like performance out of the MXG/MSG gets shitcanned in 6.9 sec in this AF. So they ask about the grass instead. Ultimately your rated leadership failure is happening at the O7+ level. Of course there are careerist douche wing/cc who stand on their own lack of merit, but hard to be a stand out warrior leader at the O-6 level and not get fired when you’ve got the crop of GOs that exist today.

[Danger41]

Another example of the frozen middle, in my opinion. The GO’s are pushing ACE, empowering junior Airmen, etc and then young bucks want to run with it, but they get stymied with the aforementioned crap. I hate it and personally have never bought into the narrative that support functions are so inept and only aviators are worth a crap. It’s nature vs. nurture where as young pilots you’re constantly bludgeoned to make decisions, be the HMFIC, meritocracy via performance with assignments, etc. Support O’s are told to follow regulations and not fuck up, all while in a very resource constrained environment. It’s going to produce different outcomes.

Ive always been a fan of the Marines TBS. I don’t think the AF needs to go that extreme, but even something cheesy showing how a days frag is filled in a combat environment and how all the various pieces tie together. Get the young Finance O out on the flight line for a day helping the hydro guys in an MC-130 in 100° heat for 12 hours and that’ll help contextualize why pay issues are important.  Have the rated guy go around with a CE crew fixing random shit and how they prioritize while under strength in personnel to fix what will help launch those sorties etc. 

And don’t make it ASBC 2.0
 

[CaptainMorgan]

I thought about this before. Every airmen a pilot. Voluntary, but give every airmen $5K-$10K towards PPL costs. Bring back Aeroclubs. Too bad none of this will happen. I completed my PPL at the aeroclub on base and was selected for UPT on an active duty board.

Double edged sword. It might make some have an appreciation for what Winged pilots do. It also might make some think “I’m a pilot too, what they do is nothing special that I can’t do just as well!”


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[brabus]

8 hours ago, Danger41 said:

Get the young Finance O out on the flight line for a day

I did have a wing/cc once who said everyone who gets an incentive ride will shadow the entire 12 hr day prior for mission planning, etc. And on execution day would be there the entire 12 hr day. For all the time they couldn’t be with the pilots due to lack of vault access, they would shadow the SARMs, AFE, go out on the flight line with MX, etc. 2x 12 hr “average days” was a massive eye opener for everyone who went through. 

[Biff_T]

9 hours ago, Danger41 said:

And don’t make it ASBC 2.0

Dude, I loved ASBC.  As a prior E with 9 years AD under my belt, 6 of which were spent as a boom.  ASBC gave me a chance to restart the liver after my stay at OTS. Lol.  I taught my class what was important, binge drinking through the non flying bullshit TDYs lol.  

[Biff_T]

1 hour ago, brabus said:

I did have a wing/cc once who said everyone who gets an incentive ride will shadow the entire 12 hr day prior for mission planning, etc. And on execution day would be there the entire 12 hr day. For all the time they couldn’t be with the pilots due to lack of vault access, they would shadow the SARMs, AFE, go out on the flight line with MX, etc. 2x 12 hr “average days” was a massive eye opener for everyone who went through. 

This.  Especially shadowing mission planning for a fighter sortie or something else as complex.  

They learn you just dont hop in a jet and go fuck around...unless its on a Friday XC day or something lol.  

 

[FlyingGasAttendant]

It's hard to believe that the Air Force is facing a pilot shortage when promotes to major have been abysmal. My squadron was at 50%, a friend of mine in AWACS had 33%, and a friend of mine in a KC-135 squadron had 25%. Base wide, our promote rate for the guys hitting the board a second time was 0%. AFPC what are you smoking and can I have some? 

[dream big]

22 hours ago, FlyingGasAttendant said:

It's hard to believe that the Air Force is facing a pilot shortage when promotes to major have been abysmal. My squadron was at 50%, a friend of mine in AWACS had 33%, and a friend of mine in a KC-135 squadron had 25%. Base wide, our promote rate for the guys hitting the board a second time was 0%. AFPC what are you smoking and can I have some? 

The Air Force doesn’t really have a pilot shortage, it has a rated staff shortage…as well as a rated 0-6s qualified for Gp and Wing/CC shortage. Once one connects those dots then everything else, to include your statistics, makes sense. 

[CaptainMorgan]

It's hard to believe that the Air Force is facing a pilot shortage when promotes to major have been abysmal. My squadron was at 50%, a friend of mine in AWACS had 33%, and a friend of mine in a KC-135 squadron had 25%. Base wide, our promote rate for the guys hitting the board a second time was 0%. AFPC what are you smoking and can I have some? 

The Air Force forgets that to get those pilot wings in the first place you had to be in the top 69% (I’m sure the actual number is higher) of your ROTC class (or get into the Academy, or however OTS works). Bottom 1% of the 69th percentile is still the 69th percentile. When I got passed over for O-5 I was pissed but shrugged it off. I had figured I was a coin toss to make it. When I saw the list and saw some of my more deserving friends missing from it, I realized the whole system is fvcked. The Air Force does not value its pilots; Welsh and Goldfein made that much clear, and CQ has done nothing to reverse course.


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[08Dawg]

On 6/18/2023 at 8:17 AM, ClearedHot said:

Slife the non-combat knife now doing extreme damage to the Air Force Writ large instead of just AFSOC.

 

New Vice Chief: Slife Nominated for USAF’s No. 2 Job (airandspaceforces.com)

 

Saw this in the morning news blast

[SurelySerious]

What could go wrong?

[herkbum]

Is this the dude you guys from AFSOC have slammed here at bo.net?


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[Danger41]

1 hour ago, herkbum said:

Is this the dude you guys from AFSOC have slammed here at bo.net?


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He’s definitely not well liked/thought of by the majority of AFSOC.

[Danger41]

Slife to me is a textbook case of the importance of referential power and reputation. He was a hardass when he was the wing commander at HRT and didn’t make any friends. Fast forward when he came back as AFSOC CC, so many people that knew nothing about him had negative views of him based purely on WOM from his earlier tenures.

I understand the man in that everything is black and white and you need to follow those processes or face the consequences.  He handles business harshly which also doesn’t make many friends. He had some good ideas and some bad ideas but based purely on that reputation, it didn’t matter what it was the force was resistant. 

[nsplayr]

To me he was like Emperor Palpatine. It's not that he wasn't smart, capable, committed, etc. It's just the small problem that he was evil 😂

[Trogdor]

5 hours ago, 08Dawg said:

New Vice Chief: Slife Nominated for USAF’s No. 2 Job (airandspaceforces.com)

 

Saw this in the morning news blast

I learned two things as a young CGO under his tenure. 
 

1. from his one slide PowerPoint, 10% of people need groomed, 10% need mentored, and the rest of the 80%… you’ll figure it out

 2. From one of his hand picked subordinate commanders, you’re an officer first and pilot second. Your time priorities should reflect that reality. 
 

Everyone loved it and his leadership. They all signed the bonus as soon as they could….. as long as they didn’t get RIFd after having their VSP denied 2 months prior. 

[ClearedHot]

12 hours ago, herkbum said:

Is this the dude you guys from AFSOC have slammed here at bo.net?


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Slife is one of two in AFOSC that provide slamdunk proof the supposed USAF interest in climate and culture is nothing but lip service. 

He is a well known narcissistic megalomaniac.  Many believe he is on the spectrum and it manifests in the way he treats people including his wife.  At a commander's event at his house his wife said something he didn't like so he took her down the hall and verbally ripped her in a tone and volume that the officers under his command could clearly hear.  I should be shocked that nothing came of that...but alas I am not given the dysfunction in AFSOC. 

His command philosophy was summed up to me by another three star...when it comes to Jim there are "DOJ's" (Disciples of Jim), and Clydesdale.  If he picks you as a DOJ you will be cared for and protected.  If you are a Clydesdale you are expected to work and pull the wagon until you fall over dead.  On a CSB he argued we should not put Lt Col's on the Eagle list unless they were BPZ...yes his metric for command was being below the zone.  He did it again for the O-6 CSB and argued against making Farrell the OG at Cannon because he was an on time guy and would never be a GO.  For the record Farrell was just nominated for his third star.

There are so many other incidents and stories but it doesn't matter.  Evil prevailed and sadly a lot of damage will be done.

[MechGov]

I'd never heard DOJ and Clydesdale, but the story checks out. Having worked for a few Disciples of Slife, they had their priorities in a much different place than the rest of AFSOC.

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[Dogs-N-Guns]

[BashiChuni]

"you guys wanna know the difference between a light bulb and a AFSOC CGO? there is none. we're gonna screw you in tight, you're gonna burn bright, then burn out...we're gonna screw you out and plug in another light bulb in your place"

- unknown HRT COL

slife is not well liked or well thought of. the only "compliment" i can give him is that he is "smart". how he treated people under his command was piss poor. the stories are almost endless.

[Danger41]

6 hours ago, ClearedHot said:

 

There are so many other incidents and stories but it doesn't matter.  Evil prevailed and sadly a lot of damage will be done.

Preview of confirmation hearing:

 

Edited September 7, 2023 by Danger41

[wikz]

 

[O Face]

1 hour ago, wikz said:

 

Probably had nothing to do with the guy being a douche. It’s way easier to say “nobody likes me because everyone is racist.”  Sad part is we’re all going to have to sit through more briefings because people are stupid enough to guzzle down this river of horseshit. 

[Danger41]

This came out a few years ago and then there were 3 subsequent article written by a black ENJJPT grad that claims he was targeted for wanting to fly heavies and being black (https://www.airforcetimes.com/opinion/commentary/2020/07/12/the-consequences-of-implicit-bias-at-euro-nato-pilot-training/).

https://www.drnathandial.com/
 

^Author’s personal page. Looks like he’s done very well.

I don’t think there will be any more “white people bad” meetings in the near term as a result of this video.

[Clark Griswold]

7 hours ago, Danger41 said:

This came out a few years ago and then there were 3 subsequent article written by a black ENJJPT grad that claims he was targeted for wanting to fly heavies and being black (https://www.airforcetimes.com/opinion/commentary/2020/07/12/the-consequences-of-implicit-bias-at-euro-nato-pilot-training/).

https://www.drnathandial.com/
^Author’s personal page. Looks like he’s done very well.

I don’t think there will be any more “white people bad” meetings in the near term as a result of this video.

Hmmm...

From the article:

Specifically, whenever students fail a ride, they should have the opportunity to pick their next instructor. This policy will help the Air Force ensure every student pilot who struggles does so because of a flying issue, not bias-based factors outside of flying.

I don't know about this... who's in charge at SUPT then?  IPs or Studs?