What's wrong with the Air Force?

[Waingro]

1 hour ago, IMUA said:

Towing the party line. Typical...

Toeing. Not towing. 

 

[HU&W]

6 hours ago, ThreeHoler said:

Well there go all the gains that Fingers said to make. I’d like to know more about what happened.

 

A few other gems from the article to consider.  AETC seems to be working hard to keep the retention crisis going.

Quote

In focus groups, enlisted airmen said they didn’t think the drinking culture was professional, moderate or responsible, and most said officers drank more than enlisted personnel. They also characterized student pilots as “frat boys," 

Interesting that the investigators did these focus discussion groups with people that did not have first-hand knowledge.  It makes me question what they were trying to prove.

Quote

Two instructors also said they felt pressured to drink, and three instructors believed Air Force leadership encouraged the alcohol culture.

Out of?  This statement is completely meaningless without a denominator.

And this one made me laugh...

Quote

The report also identified “an environment of hostility and toxic leadership” among a few simulator instructors at Laughlin, which had lasted for years, was occasionally severe, and didn’t do anything to improve their student’s performance.

Especially after this post on TPN a few days ago

Quote

I need your help! 
I’m looking for an honest and open answer to an Open ended question for members of TPN. What would it take to get you to accept a job as a civilian simulator Instructor Pilot at Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio Tx? Starting pay is appx $74k with government benifits and there may be recruitment and relocation bonuses authorized for highly qualified individuals. Qualified individuals have 1500 total hours, 500 hours of IP time, 75 night hours and can pass a drug test. If you wouldn’t take this offer, what would it take to get you to apply?

 

[Hacker]

Reading that news coverage of the CDI makes me incredibly glad I am off that sinking ship.

Warrior monks everywhere, pandering to the feelings of the lowest common emotional denominator.

Edited December 22, 2018 by Hacker

[war007afa]

Almost as good as the article shitting on a piano burning, because God forbid anyone be memorialized in a traditional fashion...

[Fuzz]

Also apparently the term "bro-culture" is now social recategorization and using "male-centric terminology to describe team comradery" are a micro-aggressions. So better find a new term because it looks like "being a bro" is now banned.

Edited December 22, 2018 by Fuzz

[Majestik Møøse]

A great example of the “single storyism” that wins the influencing battle in modern culture. One airman says “pilots act like frat boys”. One person is offended by a name that didn’t stick. An IP feels like he is pressured to drink. Each story is only one of a possible 4,300 human experiences at Laughlin (0.02% of the total base population), but that single story will rule the narrative if a report writer can spread it to the masses.

The tyranny is that, if one hundred people are interviewed, any conclusion can be cherry picked from the pile of words. It’s not scientific, and it’s not democratic. It’s reminiscent of Pravda or China Daily, where the approved messages are sitting on shelves waiting for the right anecdotes to flesh them out.

”Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person.”

 

[Homestar]

1 hour ago, Hacker said:

Reading that news coverage of the CDI makes me incredibly glad I am off that sinking ship.

Warrior monks everywhere, pandering to the feelings of the lowest common emotional denominator.

That's probably fair.  But students can hardly fly themselves out of a paper bag sometimes and often don't deserve to be off formal release, let alone throwing keggers in the squadron bar.

[BFM this]

1 hour ago, Hacker said:

Reading that news coverage of the CDI makes me incredibly glad I am off that sinking ship.

Warrior monks everywhere, pandering to the feelings of the lowest common emotional denominator.

Ironic pandering.

Everything I’ve read indicates that the female student in question is straight pissed that leadership has taken it upon themselves to be offended on her behalf.

...can’t say that I would blame her.

[BashiChuni]

Once again why anyone would strive to become a commander in this environment baffles me

[Hacker]

2 hours ago, BFM this said:

Ironic pandering.

Everything I’ve read indicates that the female student in question is straight pissed that leadership has taken it upon themselves to be offended on her behalf.

...can’t say that I would blame her.

She is most certainly not who the PC leadership is pandering to.  They are more likely pandering to some non-existent politically correct standard monster that leadership is afraid is going to come gobble them up and get them fired.

Asking a bunch of enlisted folks who are entirely unrelated to the events being discussed, about how they feel about actions that don't pertain to them in any way and which they didn't experience, is a nice touch and a great way to evaluate behavior, though.

Edited December 22, 2018 by Hacker

[av8tor55]

So Kwast fired Velino for the same UPT shenanigans that have been happening since the inception of the Air Force? Guess what, the same $h!t happened when he was the 47th OG/CC 15 years ago, and he was a willing participant!

[Hacker]

28 minutes ago, av8tor55 said:

So Kwast fired Velino for the same UPT shenanigans that have been happening since the inception of the Air Force? Guess what, the same $h!t happened when he was the 47th OG/CC 15 years ago, and he was a willing participant!

This has been taking place for decades.

[av8tor55]

This has been taking place for decades.

True, but the hypocrisy is even more highlighted when you fire someone in the exact same command billet that you’ve held.

Sorry we broke the AF boys. At least the grass is greener on the other side.

[08Dawg]

If I had any ambition to be a commander (which I did not) after the last couple of months it would be well and truly dead. 

[Lord Ratner]

Ironic pandering.
Everything I’ve read indicates that the female student in question is straight pissed that leadership has taken it upon themselves to be offended on her behalf.
...can’t say that I would blame her.

These crusades always hurt the normal women the most.

[matmacwc]

4 hours ago, av8tor55 said:

So Kwast fired Velino for the same UPT shenanigans that have been happening since the inception of the Air Force? Guess what, the same $h!t happened when he was the 47th OG/CC 15 years ago, and he was a willing participant!

You don't name a student that, you don't name anybody that.  Me thinks VBF would be more tame than what they did.

[herkbum]

I don’t remember having namings during UPT. Does this happen during Tones/-38 or T-6’s?

 

 

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[Right Seat Driver]

8 minutes ago, herkbum said:

I don’t remember having namings during UPT. Does this happen during Tones/-38 or T-6’s?

 

 

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We had namings in T-6s at the solo party. No families were invited, just IPs and the students. It was a great party and IIRC the OG/CC showed up for it, at least for awhile.

[Guardian]

You don't name a student that, you don't name anybody that.  Me thinks VBF would be more tame than what they did.

Agreed. However you don’t also force your will others. Since when can be offended for someone else? That just seems very weird.

[Bender]

Agreed. However you don’t also force your will others. Since when can be offended for someone else? That just seems very weird.

The trick is to spend a few extra minutes after having a few drinks to ensure we use all of the words we intend to make our point. Leaving out words, in general, hurts our credibility.

Trust me, I know about these things.

~Bendy

[herkbum]

We had namings in T-6s at the solo party. No families were invited, just IPs and the students. It was a great party and IIRC the OG/CC showed up for it, at least for awhile.

Don’t ever remember it happening in Tweets


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[Homestar]

Had a naming party in Tweets. It was stupid. 

[Hacker]

41 minutes ago, Homestar said:

Had a naming party in Tweets. It was stupid. 

Yup, my UPT class in the late 90s had a post-solo "naming" too.   Meh.

[ThreeHoler]

Post solo naming and not a lot of alcohol used. Lame and no one really wanted to be there. Not lame because of lack of alcohol. Just a lame concept overall.


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[Majestik Møøse]

Had a T-6 solo party/naming, T-38 transition party, T-38 naming. Our class were all friends, most of the IPs seemed to give a shit, so everybody had a blast. We had a few prior WSOs/radar navs in our class, so we were read in on “this isn’t a real naming, but we’re going to act like it anyway.” The couple of classes before us didn’t really like each other, so they probably hated all those parties, if they even had them at all.

YMMV. Never force a party. Also don’t be the asshole that’s too cool for a party if everyone else is into it.