What's wrong with the Air Force?

[Prosuper]

7 hours ago, matmacwc said:

I hate that, if it’s code 3 first go then it’s code 3.

Used to work transit alert, when a Sq of Navy jets came through just off a 9 month cruise, if I could get the engines started and serviced hydraulics they were a go. 

[Bigred]

17 minutes ago, Prosuper said:

Used to work transit alert, when a Sq of Navy jets came through just off a 9 month cruise, if I could get the engines started and serviced hydraulics they were a go. 

From personal experience, the willingness to take aircraft that would otherwise be a hard down, just to get off the damn boat, is pretty high.

[Lawman]

3 hours ago, Bigred said:

From personal experience, the willingness to take aircraft that would otherwise be a hard down, just to get off the damn boat, is pretty high.

Same thing coming out of the field for the Army.

Every call to the boss just goes ”I need a one time flight approval....” and 2 hours later there is a flight of 4 outbound from Irwin/Polk/etc where only is FMC and 1 should be flat out red X. 

[17D_guy]

More for the Army - their new PT is fucking stupid and we need to guard against some fat-GS moron at HAF thinking it's a good idea to protect "their" force.

Had a bunch of soldier going through it here in the gym one day and watching them go through it was just...insanity.

[Lawman]

More for the Army - their new PT is ing stupid and we need to guard against some fat-GS moron at HAF thinking it's a good idea to protect "their" force.
Had a bunch of soldier going through it here in the gym one day and watching them go through it was just...insanity.

The only person happy about this new PT test is whatever A hole created it and got the Above Center of Mass rating on his OER.

I give it 2 years before they issue a waiverable status to is where units can “in case of necessity” just use the old APFT.


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[ThreeHoler]

But the Army Times article says soldiers hate the current test!


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[Lawman]

But the Army Times article says soldiers hate the current test!


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They’re still upset we finally bought an M9 replacement so now they can’t just run that story every 4th issue.


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[HarleyQuinn]

8 hours ago, ThreeHoler said:

But the Army Times article says soldiers hate the current test!


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The AF will follow suit, just watch and see. We don't like to be left out of buffonery concerning uniforms or PT. We will one up the Army by going to a cross fit style fitness test. Until the AF realizes cross fit causes more injuries than any other workout routine.

Big blue will always be a part of the "Me Too" movement with the Army.

Edited December 2, 2018 by HarleyQuinn

[ThreeHoler]

https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1422779/air-force-to-enhance-physical-fitness-test-standards-for-select-career-fields/

Already in the works. AF “enhanced” Tier 2 PFT test.


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[Right Seat Driver]

33 minutes ago, ThreeHoler said:

https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1422779/air-force-to-enhance-physical-fitness-test-standards-for-select-career-fields/

Already in the works. AF “enhanced” Tier 2 PFT test.


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Gotta be fit to fight...

[FLEA]

Funny thing is if you talk to the ASOSs most of their Airmen can't even pass the new PT test. 

I do see some benefits though. People will practice what they test on. Given the science correlating muscular strength to fat loss and overall health putting a deadlift on was a good move. Is it dangerous? To the idiot yes. But you can make the argument that the military was already insufficiently giving training on physical fitness. Everything I knew about exercise I gained from sports. I saw tons of dudes who never did anything athletic and really had no idea how to meet a baseline fitness. So many people that think you have to run ungodly mileage to stay lean and pass test and that is just not true. 

Edited December 7, 2018 by FLEA

[Hacker]

On 11/28/2018 at 5:15 PM, MooseClub said:

^I remember when Ops, not MX, ran the flying schedule. 

You must be quite an old graybeard, then.  When was that?

[HarleyQuinn]

Mattis Erupts Over Niger Inquiry and Army Revisits Who Is to Blame

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/07/us/politics/niger-mattis.html

So anyone can drive onto Nellis AFB and security forces will not report it to anyone? I wonder who will be fired for this blunder. And these are the folks you want going outside the wire in combat...smh

https://www.businessinsider.com/nellis-investigating-base-security-breach-alleged-kidnapping-2018-12

 

Edited December 8, 2018 by HarleyQuinn

[IMUA]

Yooooo...that NYT article is bomb diggity.

😳

Everybody has a boss.

[FLEA]

4 hours ago, HarleyQuinn said:

Mattis Erupts Over Niger Inquiry and Army Revisits Who Is to Blame

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/07/us/politics/niger-mattis.html

So anyone can drive onto Nellis AFB and security forces will not report it to anyone? I wonder who will be fired for this blunder. And these are the folks you want going outside the wire in combat...smh

https://www.businessinsider.com/nellis-investigating-base-security-breach-alleged-kidnapping-2018-12

 

Whole situation (Niger ambush) is an ethical knot of responsibility. At stake, is the fact that staffs continue to issue tasks to subordinate units without adequate time to prepare a quality representation of facts. The higher leadership wants to blame a Captain for misrepresenting a situation when the Captain argues he did the damn best he could for a tight suspense and limited resources. 

To top this, SOCOM as a whole has been negatively portrayed in the media far too much recently and I think Mattis is looking to take some heads for the organizational culture that seems to be faltering. 

Edited December 8, 2018 by FLEA

[Bigred]

6 minutes ago, FLEA said:

Whole situation (Niger ambush) is an ethical knot of responsibility. At stake, is the fact that staffs continue to issue tasks to subordinate units without adequate time to prepare a quality representation of facts. The higher leadership wants to blame a Captain for misrepresenting a situation when the Captain argues he did the damn best he could for a tight suspense and limited resources. 

To top this, SOCOM as a whole has been negatively portrayed in the media far too much recently and I think Mattis is looking to take some heads for the organizational culture that seems to be faltering. 

I was in Africa when this happened and there were a lot of cultural issues that had become accepted norms, that, once this happened made everyone step back and go ‘wtf?’.

 

That said, the Captain was getting scapegoated and we all saw it happening. I’m glad Secretary Mattis recognized what was happening, but it’s sad it took the SecDef to do so. 

[FLEA]

Reminds me of the AC-130 crew that hit the doctor's without borders hospital. There are still facts of that case that make me uneasy. 

[HarleyQuinn]

8 hours ago, Bigred said:

I was in Africa when this happened and there were a lot of cultural issues that had become accepted norms, that, once this happened made everyone step back and go ‘wtf?’.

 

That said, the Captain was getting scapegoated and we all saw it happening. I’m glad Secretary Mattis recognized what was happening, but it’s sad it took the SecDef to do so. 

Because we don't have leaders anymore. Just yes men. I think you have to know when to stand up for people and when to shut up. It's a fine line because if you go against the norm, you put your career at risk. 

[Day Man]

On 12/7/2018 at 9:44 PM, HarleyQuinn said:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/07/us/politics/niger-mattis.html

Quote

"Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was livid last month when he summoned top military officials to a video conference at the Pentagon to press them about an investigation into a 2017 ambush in Niger that killed four Americans on a Green Beret team."

"More than a year after the ambush — the American military’s largest loss of life in Africa since the 1993 “Black Hawk Down” debacle in Somalia — top military leaders continue to battle over how to apportion blame and who should be held accountable."

Oh really?

https://www.hurlburt.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/204913/four-hurlburt-airmen-die-in-u-28a-crash-in-djibouti/

[17D_guy]

My guess is they're going for "combat related?"

[Hacker]

Or maybe they just don't consider Big Blue Inc to be part of the "American military" anymore?

[ygtbsm]

What’s wrong with the Air Force? Why can’t the Air Force change?

I spent a lot of time soul searching this question: What is wrong with the Air Force? I spent countless hours wondering why the Air Force has a “pilot crisis”. I think about my fellow officers who separate at 11 to 12 years of service who are only 8-9 years away from retirement. Is active duty Air Force really that bad to prevent a pilot from continuing to retirement? Especially considering that pilot at the end of a UPT commitment is over half way there. Why can’t Air Force leadership change policy to snap us out of the rut we are in? I think I know the answer.

Air Force has "Officers who happen to be Pilots" and "Pilots who happen to be Officers." Those two don’t understand each other. There are individuals who join the Air Force to fly airplanes. The “pilot who happens to be an officer” is only an officer because that’s what the Air Force requires of them to fly airplanes. If the Air Force required its pilots to be a warrant officer, the “pilots who happen to be officers” would all be warrant officers.  This is a majority of the Air Force pilots. They will leave the organization because of the leadership responsibilities placed upon them at the end of their UPT commitment.

There is also a group of "officers who happen to also be pilots". Those officers are excellent officers but  would have been just as content to be a maintenance officer, or an intelligence officer.  Those officers are here to be officers and lead men. The “officer who happens to be a pilot” doesn’t care about flying. He doesn’t have a true passion for aviation. The officer who happens to be a pilot will not retire or separate after their commitment ends and become an airline pilot. He or she will continue service to 20 years and beyond.  The “officer who happen to be a pilot” will become a senior Air Force leader. That officer will make the rules and values for the organization. They will continue in service and say "officer first, pilot second"

The "officer who happens to be a pilot" will drive the pilot who is an officer to separate at 10 years or 20 and join an airline. 

[ThreeHoler]

Deep thoughts by Jack Handy.


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[hindsight2020]

1 hour ago, ygtbsm said:

What’s wrong with the Air Force? Why can’t the Air Force change?

I spent a lot of time soul searching this question: What is wrong with the Air Force? I spent countless hours wondering why the Air Force has a “pilot crisis”. I think about my fellow officers who separate at 11 to 12 years of service who are only 8-9 years away from retirement. Is active duty Air Force really that bad to prevent a pilot from continuing to retirement? Especially considering that pilot at the end of a UPT commitment is over half way there. Why can’t Air Force leadership change policy to snap us out of the rut we are in? I think I know the answer.

Air Force has "Officers who happen to be Pilots" and "Pilots who happen to be Officers." Those two don’t understand each other. There are individuals who join the Air Force to fly airplanes. The “pilot who happens to be an officer” is only an officer because that’s what the Air Force requires of them to fly airplanes. If the Air Force required its pilots to be a warrant officer, the “pilots who happen to be officers” would all be warrant officers.  This is a majority of the Air Force pilots. They will leave the organization because of the leadership responsibilities placed upon them at the end of their UPT commitment.

There is also a group of "officers who happen to also be pilots". Those officers are excellent officers but  would have been just as content to be a maintenance officer, or an intelligence officer.  Those officers are here to be officers and lead men. The “officer who happens to be a pilot” doesn’t care about flying. He doesn’t have a true passion for aviation. The officer who happens to be a pilot will not retire or separate after their commitment ends and become an airline pilot. He or she will continue service to 20 years and beyond.  The “officer who happen to be a pilot” will become a senior Air Force leader. That officer will make the rules and values for the organization. They will continue in service and say "officer first, pilot second"

The "officer who happens to be a pilot" will drive the pilot who is an officer to separate at 10 years or 20 and join an airline. 

An AD OG not so many moons ago was yet again faced with that question as we BS'd amongst each other in the bread van on our way to the parking row. His response to the collective question about that proverbial technician/pilot track inquiry was : "We already have that, it's called the Guard/Reserves". As the sole Reservist in that van, I just quietly shook my head. They don't get it, and never will. 

For those who fell off the math bus, it is increasingly difficult to attain an Active Duty retirement by that metric. Not impossible, just laborious to a non-starter degree, given the nuances of double commuting and the pay/QOL deltas of major airline flying work. 

Furthermore, that second class treatment of the flying track disincentivizes the retention of tactical combat corporate knowledge, and dilutes the value of it  (80 cents on the dollar by my last count, in the ARC), if one is to suspend disbelief for one second and assume 100% experience retention of separating members into the ARC component. And Lord knows it isn't...hell we have people quitting with no 20-year letters over ¡flu shots! I shit you not. Airlines are that frothy.

A true technician track would allow someone to attain an active duty retirement while remaining in ops for the duration, with the recognition that O-5 may be just as scarce as it is in the FTS component of the ARC flying unit ecosystem. But recalcitrant AD just won't barter with their human property as a matter of principle, so we have what we have today. A completely fraudulent and gratuitous apathy toward point blank hemorrhaging of the experienced demographic. It is terrible stewardship of the People's money, and completely uninspiring as a fellow "pilot who happens to be an officer". 

This particular iteration of the see-saw has convinced me that nothing will change. If they are unwilling to stem the loss in this environment, there really isn't a single additional variable that would compel them to do so. They'll stop loss and then allow it to get worse, while they continue to run the clock offense until the next airline hiccup. The only people who could take them to task would be Congress, and they seem aloof as to the criticality of this manning deficit if we were to get mouth-punched with a peer fight today.

So do your 12, fly your ass off, then punch to make whatever life and vocational priorities are the center piece of your life. We managed to pull ourselves out the ropes of Pearl Harbor like Rocky in the fourth movie, so I guess we can keep winging it like that when China sucker punches us. "Late to the melee...", the American Way it seems. LOL

 

[di1630]

The real way to fix this would be to have pilots simply fly and do minimal qweep, which would instead be done by dedicated support personnel embedded in the sq.

Imagine flying, studying and if not on the schedule, free to hit the gym, go home etc with no guilt or fear that just doing your job is going to get you and your family screwed over come assignment time.

That’s how it should be.












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