What's wrong with the Air Force?

[Azimuth]

44 minutes ago, matmacwc said:

OK, I gotta ask, what do you do for them.  I grew up in NORCAL and got my EE degree just to work for them, but then I discovered flying.  

Technical Specialist. I work on iOS devices and some networking hardware.

[Bergman]

Now THIS is what's right with the Air Force.  Finally. This guy gets it.

 

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Bring on the Revitalization

By Lt Col David Knight, 21st Security Forces Squadron / Published July 18, 2017

 

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PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. - Lt. Col. David Knight, 21st Security Forces Squadron commander, took command of the 21st SFS on May 31, 2017. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Anthony Nelson Jr)

 

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PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- A few weeks ago, I took command of the 21st Security Forces Squadron. It is an incredible honor to lead such an extraordinary group of people. Prior to my arrival at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, I served as the Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein’s legislative advisor in Washington, D.C. In that position, I was able to personally witness the development of his three focus areas, one of which is revitalizing squadrons.

For over 15 years, the major focus on America’s armed forces has been on countering violent extremism. That necessity has resulted in considerable trades across many Air Force portfolios, especially our manpower accounts. Many tasks that were once completed by Airmen have been relegated to self-help links or checklists, however, security and law enforcement are two functions that are not easily automated. As a result, Security Forces – the Air Force’s largest enlisted career field – has had to bear an incredible deployment tempo, manpower shortages and long working hours. Goldfein’s focus on revitalizing squadrons could not come at a better time for my Defenders.

I recently sat down with one of my flight chiefs, let’s call her “Kelly.” Kelly’s day begins at 2:45 a.m. Her husband and four kids are still asleep, so she quietly showers and gets dressed. At 3:30 a.m., she leaves her home on U.S. Air Force Academy and commutes to Peterson AFB. She arrives at 4:15 a.m. and begins her pre-posting tasks while the rest of her flight begins arming up for duty. At 5 a.m., the flight is formed-up for guardmount; a formal roll-call where announcements are given and the day’s events are briefed.

Guardmount breaks at 5:30 a.m., and the Airmen are driven out to their posts – their home for the next 12 hours…no medical appointments, no personal errands, etc. – all the things I, and many of us, take for granted every day. There will be no easing into the day either because in the next three hours, over 13,000 vehicles will traverse through Peterson AFB’s gates. With three gates and 17 base augmentees to manage, Kelly scrambles between each gate to ensure traffic flows as smoothly as possible.

The day presses on following the morning rush, and after 12 long hours, her relief arrives. She conducts a changeover and finishes up the day’s paperwork. By 6:15 p.m., her 14-hour day is complete and she races home. She arrives around 7 p.m., just in time to give her little ones a bath and read them a story. That single hour is all she will have with her kids today. At 8 p.m., she tucks them into bed, reheats her dinner, and crashes – sometimes too tired to take off her uniform. She is exhausted in the truest sense of the word. And in six hours, she has to do it all over again.

As she walked me through her day, it broke my heart. As leaders, we try to promote balance – striving for symmetry with work, family, spiritual and personal needs. While we all understand there are going to be days when the job comes first, 14-hour days have become normal operations for the unit over the past three years. This leaves my Airmen with very little time for family, pursuing education, volunteering, working out or personal time to just relax.

Needless to say, my number one priority is finding ways to provide balance for my Airmen. Until the manpower gains from Goldfein’s revitalization are realized, I have to take a hard look where we can gain some efficiencies. We recently reduced the hours at the North and East Gates to free up our manpower. While not a popular decision, we found the manpower required to keep those gates open into the evening was not worth the costs.

I appreciate and sympathize with the fact it is inconvenient to have to drive around to the West Gate after a commissary run or when returning to housing from an off-base trip, but I hope you will focus on the bigger picture. I want Kelly to see her kids today, and someday soon I’d like to hold my first commander’s call without having to call my Airmen in on their day off.

With this in mind, I thank you for your compassion and support for those who work very long hours to keep us all safe.

 

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21st SFS 21st Space Wing 21st SW Peterson Air Force Base

 

 

[GlassEmpty]

Ah the quintessential passive aggressive commander, my favorite.  Tell him to get the dildo out of his behind and express his words like a real man.  Seriously, is a little bit of light hearted sarcasm that offensive these days?

Probably a tanker squadron, or at a minimum a Heavy unit. Am I right?!


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[Hacker]

6 hours ago, MooseAg03 said:

To be more specific, it teaches you how to deal with a member who may no longer want to possess their member. Or who may want to surgically add a member.

It doesn't really matter which -- the penis is a concept that is a social construct:

https://www.skeptic.com/downloads/conceptual-penis/23311886.2017.1330439.pdf

SOCIOLOGY | RESEARCH ARTICLE

The conceptual penis as a social construct
Jamie Lindsay and Peter Boyle

Abstract:
Anatomical penises may exist, but as pre-operative transgendered women also have anatomical penises, the penis vis-à-vis maleness is an incoherent construct. We argue that the conceptual penis is better understood not as an anatomical organ but as a social construct isomorphic to performative toxic masculinity.

Through detailed poststructuralist discursive criticism and the example of climate change, this paper will challenge the prevailing and damaging social trope that penises are best understood as the male sexual organ and reassign it a more fitting role as a type of masculine performance.

[Bender]

Good try, Bergman. This thread is off the fvcking jacks.

...going to take a whole hell of a lot of poststructuralist discursive criticism to get us back to somewhere recognizable at this point.

In the meantime, my penis and I will be over in the NSFW threads...

Bendy


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[dream big]

2 hours ago, GlassEmpty said:

Probably a tanker squadron, or at a minimum a Heavy unit. Am I right?!


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Likely, but could also be a fighter, bomber, recon, helo squadron...toxic leaders are everywhere.  AMC does seem to have a special breed of CYA managers though.  

[Holden]

8 hours ago, matmacwc said:

OK, I gotta ask, what do you do for them.  I grew up in NORCAL and got my EE degree just to work for them, but then I discovered flying.  

He works retail at an Apple Store.

A typical day at work as a Technical Specialist at Apple consists of helping customers with Genius Bar appointments, creating/checking people in for their appointments, or delivering completed repairs.

It is basically working any other retail job except instead of getting $10 a hour you get $15 a hour.

[FUSEPLUG]

Christ... here we go again. 

[Azimuth]

1 hour ago, Holden said:

He works retail at an Apple Store.

A typical day at work as a Technical Specialist at Apple consists of helping customers with Genius Bar appointments, creating/checking people in for their appointments, or delivering completed repairs.

It is basically working any other retail job except instead of getting $10 a hour you get $15 a hour.

And instead of doing that I'm fixing iOS devices in the back and I make more than that. There are other folks that do the stuff you listed. I'm also a full time student.

 

Edited July 23, 2017 by Azimuth

[matmacwc]

4 hours ago, Holden said:

He works retail at an Apple Store.

A typical day at work as a Technical Specialist at Apple consists of helping customers with Genius Bar appointments, creating/checking people in for their appointments, or delivering completed repairs.

It is basically working any other retail job except instead of getting $10 a hour you get $15 a hour.

Not funny, try again.  The civil air patrol is calling you…..

Edited July 23, 2017 by matmacwc

[GKinnear]

12 hours ago, Holden said:

 

Seriously dude, WTF!? You've got zero street cred to support your personal beef with Azimuth. He's given some value-added posts on this forums, and right or wrong, he's already served his punishment for his past actions.

Move on and stop the insanity. Lets act like the professionals we are instead of a bunch of passive/aggressive, bitch-ass teenagers.

[Truman08]

4 hours ago, GKinnear said:

Seriously dude, WTF!? You've got zero street cred to support your personal beef with Azimuth. He's given some value-added posts on this forums, and right or wrong, he's already served his punishment for his past actions.

Move on and stop the insanity. Lets act like the professionals we are instead of a bunch of passive/aggressive, bitch-ass teenagers.

This. You make a new account (assuming you used to have one to begin with) to spew your personal vendetta against azimuth in front of an audience that could care less about your beef with him. Take a hint, STFU, and move on already. You've been fed enough. 

[Guest LumberjackAxe]

On 7/22/2017 at 11:00 PM, Bergman said:

Now THIS is what's right with the Air Force.  Finally. This guy gets it.

 

 

Man it's easy to bitch about gates being closed, but goddamn, Knight said it in a way that makes me feel okay about it. Now if only Beale could fix that fvcking bridge...

[HuggyU2]

1 hour ago, LumberjackAxe said:

Now if only Beale could fix that fvcking bridge...

Well... it's only been a year.  At least you can come down the road with a sign that says "Danger:  EXTREMELY Dangerous Turn!!"  BTW, I personally know 3 pilots that have gone off the road there.  

I swear... Beale has the worst gate setup I've seen.  

[Fuzz]

10% rule applies especially given the source but wouldnt surprise me.

[brabus]

The word important should never be used in the same sentence as SOS. And the above sound par for the course.

[RTB]

If that description is true, that Squadron Commander displayed total and complete incompetence. That kind of decision clearly displays a lack of qualification for the job.  Big picture people, it's not hard...

 

[VMFA187]

40 minutes ago, brabus said:

The word important should never be used in the same sentence as SOS. And the above sound par for the course.

At least it is only 6 weeks in residence and not a year like O-3 PME in the Marine Corps... Or two years via Distance Learning.

Edited July 31, 2017 by VMFA187

[HuggyU2]

This guy?

 

[LookieRookie]

1 hour ago, HuggyU2 said:

This guy?

 

Link no work for me

 

https://www.airuniversity.af.mil/Portals/10/SOC/documents/Bios/SOC_Commander_Bio.pdf

[GKinnear]

2 hours ago, HuggyU2 said:

This guy?

 

Ugh, rather have the 200 lbs of gas...

[17D_guy]

In SOS now and we were discussing this whole thing.  

Same thing happened to me when I received faulty treatment from a major surgery.  Wing CC approved waiver, SOS denied it for same reasons.  Now I'm still broke, but have to grit through it since it's the absolute last class I can do before my board.

[MDDieselPilot]

Yea, 10% rule is strong with that one.  Why did the dude not call his Sq/CC immediately to get the Wg/CC to call AU directly and hash it out.. If the wing king already signed the waiver, they felt strongly about sending the guy so would certainly make a case for him to stay.

But hey, it's a facebook post and here I am expecting logic and rational thinking to apply.... silly me.

[LookieRookie]

Good thing I skipped this SOS class to start flying again.

Edited August 1, 2017 by LookieRookie

[HuggyU2]

The man I am today was forged by my time in SOS.