What's wrong with the Air Force?

[tac airlifter]

On 1/16/2025 at 2:00 PM, Day Man said:

BG Palenske seems pretty well-liked from what I glean on social media

Palenske is the real thing, if anything he's better than his social media "fun boss" persona; he actually likes/enables mission hackers and killers.  He is a real combat leader.
But he's been a 1 star for a long time.  I'd be surprised if he continues upwards.  

[Springer]

On 1/16/2025 at 12:57 PM, HuggyU2 said:

Then you never met Gen Kevin Chilton. 
 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_P._Chilton

Not bad for an ex brother Recce puke.

[DirkDiggler]

8 hours ago, tac airlifter said:

Palenske is the real thing, if anything he's better than his social media "fun boss" persona; he actually likes/enables mission hackers and killers.  He is a real combat leader.
But he's been a 1 star for a long time.  I'd be surprised if he continues upwards.  

I think I saw on LinkedIn a couple weeks back that he was taking a job at HTeaO so I think he may be retiring.  Not 100% sure though. 

[contraildash]

Quote

Palenske is the real thing, if anything he's better than his social media "fun boss" persona; he actually likes/enables mission hackers and killers.  He is a real combat leader.

But he's been a star for a long time.  I'd be surprised if he continues upwards.  

Dude is certified legit. Talk to the Osprey boys about his motivational speeches for deployments. The missing finger knife hands are missed.


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[tac airlifter]

3 hours ago, contraildash said:

Dude is certified legit. Talk to the Osprey boys about his motivational speeches for deployments. The missing finger knife hands are missed.


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lol, the universe doesn’t want you quoting me!

[LookieRookie]

17 hours ago, contraildash said:

Dude is certified legit. Talk to the Osprey boys about his motivational speeches for deployments. The missing finger knife hands are missed.


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What in the TikTok gen z did you do?

[contraildash]

This app randomly decides that numbers are some emoji code. No f’n idea why it is doing it.


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[Biff_T]

13 hours ago, contraildash said:

 No f’n idea why it is doing it.


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Too much 160th talk

[Pooter]

On 1/14/2025 at 9:14 PM, tac airlifter said:

One of the most pertinacious and wrong ideas which senior Air Force leadership has embraced is this: every standard is equally valuable therefore if your zeal for all standards isn't equal you are unprofessional.  They believe a lack of rigidity about seemingly 'small' rules, like Friday patches, will result in negligent fratricide or crashing aircraft, etc.  They see (based on faith) a direct link to extreme outcomes for overlooking small infractions.

The idea you might ignore trivialities to prioritize important things like victory or safety is anathema and their minds are unable to process this situation.  Those of us outside their bubble intuitively understand prioritization is a natural human phenomenon and should be embraced rather than shunned.  We want young Captain ACs making decisions keeping missions on task & timeline rather than stopping a joint ROC drill because someone's sleeves are rolled up.  But these cultists are like celebrate monks looking at sex, convinced it's the source of all ills and endlessly devising rules to guardrail us from it... not understanding it's literally necessary for the species.
 

 In combat prioritization is essential to success; even a cursory examination of military history would prove as much.  Look no further than the Taliban and NVA for recent examples proving uniform compliance isn't tied to battlefield objectives; examples are numerous proving the absurdity of their core idea but they can't have the discussion.  I've tried.  Ask them for proof that selective standard enforcement will result in mission failure and they might have anecdotes but zero data.  There is zero data supporting their belief.  Ask them if standard compliance is so important, what is our process to test new standards before instituting and what is the process to repeal if data proves it isn't required?  No answers.  You'll go to SDE and study works from historic military minds, who all sported beards, then be told beards are incompatible with military success.  Then you'll go on an exercise with Allied nations who have beards, call them our indispensable partners, then with a straight face tell ourselves beards are unserious for military professionals.  This example is just beards but uniforms are the same.  Go find paintings of the continental army defeating forces of the tyrant King George and tell me which military has the most standardized uniforms, lol.  

The answer to your question is the moment you embrace ideas asserted without proof, cannot rationally convince those who ask for proof, trust only those who share your idea and ignore your own obvious intellectual hypocrisy... that's the moment you've gone full retard in pursuit of rank.  At that point even losing multiple wars is insufficient to free your mind, you've been captured and are unfit to lead despite what rank or position you hold.  This is the unfortunate state of our Air Force.  

 

I think it's actually really simple. The GOs see that the air force is falling apart and they know real solutions will be painful and risky to their career advancement/political ambitions. So they focus on things they can easily control like uniform nonsense, and pretend that's the "real" root cause of our issues.

Same thing happens in politics.  Can't solve any of our real problems.. just do some dumb shit that makes it look like you're addressing problems, like re-naming Fort Bragg or the Gulf of Mexico

[Clark Griswold]

9 minutes ago, Pooter said:

I think it's actually really simple. The GOs see that the air force is falling apart and they know real solutions will be painful and risky to their career advancement/political ambitions. So they focus on things they can easily control like uniform nonsense, and pretend that's the "real" root cause of our issues.

Same thing happens in politics.  Can't solve any of our real problems.. just do some dumb shit that makes it look like you're addressing problems, like re-naming Fort Bragg or the Gulf of Mexico

This

[Zero]

Here's a solution that I've thought on for awhile... leave the GOs in place until they solve the problem. Make tours task-oriented rather than time-dependent. Nothing gets solved because nothing HAS to get solved-- it just depends what you can "say" you've done to your boss and on your OPB. And the bloated staffs with career civilians know that they just have to mind the clock until the latest guy goes away. That's why we've been talking about the pilot retention crisis for TWENTY YEARS. Capt Zero remembers the first visit from The Bobs asking why we CGOs thought our peers were getting out-- back in 2004. 

And it wasn't a new problem then. 

Starting at DO, you should be given a task to complete. For most DOs and CCs, that will be a full deployment cycle-- 2 years. Take a squadron from reset through ready. Do a good job? Move up and on. Don't do a good job? Thank you for your service. Same for every O-6 and up. Here's your tour-- here's what I need you to do. You have four months to tell me how long it's going to take. Do a good job? Move up and on. Fail? Thank you for your service-- it's time to retire / fire. 

Make it about what you actually get done, not what you say you've done. 

Will never happen-- because most GOs have risen on their ability to say what they've done-- the system worked just fine for them, so why would there be an impetus to change?? There are some out there who can walk the walk and have the stories to prove it. Too many are just paper tigers, with their accomplishments being as thin as the OPBs they're printed on. 

[dream big]

11 hours ago, Zero said:

Here's a solution that I've thought on for awhile... leave the GOs in place until they solve the problem. Make tours task-oriented rather than time-dependent. Nothing gets solved because nothing HAS to get solved-- it just depends what you can "say" you've done to your boss and on your OPB. And the bloated staffs with career civilians know that they just have to mind the clock until the latest guy goes away. That's why we've been talking about the pilot retention crisis for TWENTY YEARS. Capt Zero remembers the first visit from The Bobs asking why we CGOs thought our peers were getting out-- back in 2004. 

And it wasn't a new problem then. 

Starting at DO, you should be given a task to complete. For most DOs and CCs, that will be a full deployment cycle-- 2 years. Take a squadron from reset through ready. Do a good job? Move up and on. Don't do a good job? Thank you for your service. Same for every O-6 and up. Here's your tour-- here's what I need you to do. You have four months to tell me how long it's going to take. Do a good job? Move up and on. Fail? Thank you for your service-- it's time to retire / fire. 

Make it about what you actually get done, not what you say you've done. 

Will never happen-- because most GOs have risen on their ability to say what they've done-- the system worked just fine for them, so why would there be an impetus to change?? There are some out there who can walk the walk and have the stories to prove it. Too many are just paper tigers, with their accomplishments being as thin as the OPBs they're printed on. 

Promote this guy ASAP! 

[Motofalcon]

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/air-force-curriculum-tuskegee-airmen-cut/
 

So even though they fought against prejudice, discrimination, AND Nazis, if it ain’t white males it’s not worth talking about and there’s no lessons to be learned. 

[uhhello]

56 minutes ago, Motofalcon said:

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/air-force-curriculum-tuskegee-airmen-cut/
 

So even though they fought against prejudice, discrimination, AND Nazis, if it ain’t white males it’s not worth talking about and there’s no lessons to be learned. 

The govt is incapable of precision. Giant actions only.  Same with the fed hiring freeze.  Lots of needed positions not being filled currently.  It’ll work out. 

[brabus]

59 minutes ago, Motofalcon said:

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/air-force-curriculum-tuskegee-airmen-cut/
 

So even though they fought against prejudice, discrimination, AND Nazis, if it ain’t white males it’s not worth talking about and there’s no lessons to be learned. 

What you’ve done is taken a headline and happily perpetuated the emotional clickbait without context. So here’s some context since I took the 6.9 min you did not to look into this:

1. What uhhello said - cut with an axe, the details will get sorted out afterwards (standard govt)

2. Per AF: “the videos themselves were not targeted for removal, but BMT classes that include diversity materials were pulled and are now under review to make sure they are in compliance with this week’s executive orders…historical videos were interwoven into Air Force curriculum and were not the direct focus of course removal actions.” Par for the course and relatively reasonable by big govt standards. These topics are not an issue at all and will happily be discussed in AF PME for decades to come - the specific videos/materials will need to be reviewed and will either be found to have no issue, or if they are some radicalized bullshit version, then they will source better material on those topics.

3. Trump honored Tuskegee airmen at his 2020 SOU, having Gen McGee (who Trump personally pinned his star on) as a personal guest. He is clearly a supporter and not anti-Tuskegee/black.

Just a few injections of taking a breath and doing some quick “research” before maxing out seeing red. Try it some time, you’ll like it.

 

[uhhello]

Also, someone who is about to lose their job said, “yeah cut it, this will get em riled up”

[Motofalcon]

Valid.

However, in my defense, I had to read through 5 different news agency’s articles before I found the AF’s quote that you wrote. What I did find in the task and purpose article was this:

” An Air Force official said in a statement that “Historical videos were interwoven into Air Force curriculum and were not the direct focus of course removal actions.” However the memo specifically notes three videos, one each on the Tuskegee Airmen and WASP, as well as another titled “Breaking Barriers,” as reasons for the removal of the airmandedness course. “

  The way this reads to me is that the “Airmandedness” course (that word is also a “what’s wrong with the AF”) was removed because it had those videos in it, not the other way around.  And the next paragraph says that the 37th TRW would not comment on the videos falling under the DEI stuff as opposed to history, which I take to mean the article is accurate and the AF does not see a need to correct it, or they would issue a statement. 

So maybe it did just get wrapped up in the great purge, but the words I’m reading indicate that those videos are the reason the lesson is being purged. 

[ItnStln]

5 hours ago, Motofalcon said:

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/air-force-curriculum-tuskegee-airmen-cut/
 

So even though they fought against prejudice, discrimination, AND Nazis, if it ain’t white males it’s not worth talking about and there’s no lessons to be learned. 

Are they still pushing the false narrative that they never lost a bomber?

[M2]

On 1/18/2025 at 7:03 PM, tac airlifter said:

lol, the universe doesn’t want you quoting me!

ADMIN NOTE:  Not sure WTF happened with all the emojis, but it's been fixed!

[M2]

6 hours ago, ItnStln said:

Are they still pushing the false narrative that they never lost a bomber?

https://www.tuskegee.edu/Content/Uploads/Tuskegee/files/EscortedBombersLosttoEnemyAircraft12.2011.pdf

https://www.dafhistory.af.mil/Portals/16/documents/Studies/AFD-141118-047.pdf

On March 10, 1945, the respected and widely read Liberty magazine published Dark Angels of Doom, an article by influential black journalist Roi Ottley about the 332d Fighter Group in combat. Ottley wrote “in more than 100 combat missions in which the Red Tails have given escort cover to their "Big Friends"--the long-range heavy bombers--they haven't lost a single ship to enemy fighters!”

By then the 332d Fighter Group had flown more than 130 bomber escort missions, and had lost bombers on only six of those missions.

But the group did not fly 100 missions before losing a bomber. In fact, the group had lost bombers within the first few missions.

Despite that fact, readers might have falsely concluded that the 332d Fighter Group had flown more than 100 bomber escort missions and that it had never lost a bomber on any of them, when in fact it had lost bombers on at least six of more than 130 bomber escort missions by March 10, 1945.

The “never lost a bomber” claim already circulated before a War Department press release dated June 21, 1945, announced that Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., who had commanded the 332d Fighter Group, was taking command of the 477th Bombardment Group. 

Undoubtedly based on the preceding newspaper article, the press release claimed that “On February 28, 1945, Colonel Davis‟ group had completed 200 missions with the 15th Air Force and had served as escort to heavy bombers without losing a single bomber to enemy fighters.” 

This was probably the first time an official Air Force document repeated the “never lost a bomber” claim.

[lloyd christmas]

The idea that the AF is trying to erase the history of or not teach about the Tuskegee Airmen is one of the most ridiculous stories I’ve ever read.  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at the number of people I know that have bought into this garbage.  The amount of laziness it takes to fall for something like this is astounding.  The AF literally has at least two current units that I know of that have a direct lineage to the Tuskegee Airmen.  The Alabama Air Guard F-35 unit has a tail painted red.  Those units represent and honor the service and sacrifice of the Tuskegee Airmen every day.  And we all should honor them. Their story is one of the most powerful and inspiring stories in the history of our USAF.  

There is a huge difference in getting rid of DEI curriculum that discussed the Tuskegee Airmen and trying to erase their history.  It’s not hard to understand with just a minimal amount of effort.  

[brabus]

SECDEF is all over it (per his recent X post). Agree with everything above, but now I'm starting to wonder beyond the cut with an axe reasoning I stated earlier, if there was some politically motivated decision making going on, hoping to draw the type of out-of-context/no critical thought reactions we've seen. It is very clear erasing any of this history is not remotely the intention or goal of the DEI EO, nor DoD or AF leadership. I hope it's simply just classic govt bureaucrat action (immediate wide-spread action without thought) that will get resolved quickly, but it wouldn't surprise me if there was a bit of subterfuge at some lower level going on. The rot is everywhere.

Edited January 26 by brabus

[HuggyU2]

It would be hard for me to imagine AF leadership putting new programs into place... making drastic cuts based on what they perceive is being changed... and getting something wrong in the process. 

They don't make mistakes.

That's why they are Generals.

[reloder]

7 hours ago, HuggyU2 said:

They don't make mistakes.

That's why they are Generals.

Sure...that and a 3 ER is promotable.

[McJay Pilot]

21 hours ago, HuggyU2 said:

It would be hard for me to imagine AF leadership putting new programs into place... making drastic cuts based on what they perceive is being changed... and getting something wrong in the process. 

They don't make mistakes.

That's why they are Generals.

Oh shit, did Chang hack Huggy’s account?!