afnav Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 Here we go again... WASHINGTON — Sen. Claire McCaskill is holding up the nomination of Air Force Lt. Gen. Susan Helms, tapped to serve as vice commander of the U.S. Space Command, until the Missouri Democrat gets more information about Helms' decision to overturn a jury conviction in a sexual assault case. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/25/claire-mccaskill-susan-helms_n_3157084.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gravedigger Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 I don't agree with the Senator, but it would be nice if she didn't move to the AFSPC/CV position. Her tenure as 14 AF/CC and JFCC-Space has been...interesting. As a side note, we haven't had a US Space Command since 2002. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuzz Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 wait a female overturned decide against the accusser? I thought it was males that were oppressive misoginists? Sen McCaskills brain can not conprehend this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Napoleon_Tanerite Posted May 8, 2013 Share Posted May 8, 2013 wait a female overturned decide against the accusser? I thought it was males that were oppressive misoginists? Sen McCaskills brain can not conprehend this. It's clearly just more evidence of the pervasive culture within the Air Force-- she was brainwashed by her surroundings! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afnav Posted May 8, 2013 Author Share Posted May 8, 2013 My personal experience with her was positive, but there are stories a-plenty of a strange thought process when it comes to real world ops and planning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gravedigger Posted May 8, 2013 Share Posted May 8, 2013 strange thought process when it comes to real world ops and planning. This. She's a nice enough person, but she makes some very questionable decisions when it comes to ops. Just because she was a satellite once doesn't mean she understands satellite ops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
17D_guy Posted May 8, 2013 Share Posted May 8, 2013 Did her support when she came to JFCC-Space/14 AF. No positive experiences. Lots of frustration, twisted thinking, and wanting the best but not willing to pay for anything. The support staff loved Gen James, and within a week looked ragged and beat down. Now that I'm at her old assignment, same stories are passed around here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LookieRookie Posted May 13, 2013 Share Posted May 13, 2013 Did her support when she came to JFCC-Space/14 AF. No positive experiences. Lots of frustration, twisted thinking, and wanting the best but not willing to pay for anything. The support staff loved Gen James, and within a week looked ragged and beat down. Now that I'm at her old assignment, same stories are passed around here. Stories? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FallingOsh Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 and wanting the best but not willing to pay for anything. Well, that explains why the higher-ups seem to love her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
17D_guy Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 Well, that explains why the higher-ups seem to love her. Made the AF pay for her phone line in her residence... because she could/would receive work calls on it. She actually wanted us to run a DSN line to it, but that would've violated contracts w/ the local provider. Blackberry, SME pad, and a red phone weren't enough apparently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
contraildash Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 This. She's a nice enough person, but she makes some very questionable decisions when it comes to ops. Just because she was a satellite once doesn't mean she understands satellite ops. I was curious and looked up her bio...didn't do anything USAF ops related from 1984-2002 (grad school, USAFA prof, TPS, exchange engineer, astronaut). Then right into the mix. Interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
17D_guy Posted May 15, 2013 Share Posted May 15, 2013 (edited) I noticed that about her bio as well. She has some pretty cool pics from her time in space. Professional looking collages and posters. However.. don't look at them if you're in her house installing a phone or computer. She won't tell you, she'll have her enlisted aid call you and inform you it's unprofessional to look at the posters/pics in the same room as your equipment. Also, did she miss all the fuckery of the mid-90's on the AF? From that.. Mc.. guy? All that said the guy who was her Vice was an aide to Pres. Bush on Sep-11. Think he flew F-16s and was really cool and would talk to me about his experiences and stuff. He got moved out of that duty quickly. Edited May 15, 2013 by 17D_guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gravedigger Posted May 15, 2013 Share Posted May 15, 2013 All that said the guy who was her Vice was an aide to Pres. Bush on Sep-11. Think he flew F-16s and was really cool and would talk to me about his experiences and stuff. He got moved out of that duty quickly. Her vice was Brig Gen Thomas Gould, and he was awesome. He did fly F-16s, but he was first an engineer, and was great with the technical aspects of space operations. His fighter pilot background helped cut through some of the bullshit and he provided a great ops focus to the space world. The few VTCs I was in that he was part of, I left with a feeling that we were heading down the right path. With his boss, not so much. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAMInated Posted May 15, 2013 Share Posted May 15, 2013 Her vice was Brig Gen Thomas Gould, and he was awesome. Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zach braff Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 Made the AF pay for her phone line in her residence... because she could/would receive work calls on it. She actually wanted us to run a DSN line to it, but that would've violated contracts w/ the local provider. Blackberry, SME pad, and a red phone weren't enough apparently. Class A DSN line in residence is pretty standard for senior leaders, Wg/CC and above. That really ticked people off there? There has to be better stories, or more to this one... zb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M2 Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 Class A DSN line in residence is pretty standard for senior leaders, Wg/CC and above. That really ticked people off there? There has to be better stories, or more to this one... Yep, when I exec'd for a two-star I had a STU-III at home. I don't know how that would have pissed anyone off, except myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
17D_guy Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 Agreed, a Class A line shouldn't have been a big deal, however we couldn't run one due to some contractual agreements with the on base providers. We were set to go when one of the oldtimers raised a small stink. JAG had to review the request and turned it down. This situation is perhaps unique to privatized housing and/or Vandenberg. We did provide DRSN, however she still wanted a STE/STU-III as Gen James had. No big deal. Then started raising hell as it wasn't installed...after we told her it required a commercial phone line she would have to order. As Gen James did. I told her staff multiple times, yet the Comm Sq got repeatedly slammed for not supporting. Finally the 614th decided to pay for the phone lines since she wouldn't. Approx 3 weeks with no immediate secure voice at home because she wouldn't order a phone line, or didn't think she should have to pay for one. I had all comm ready for install day 1. Not a huge FWA, or anything. But it seems to go along with the vein of decision making that some others had mentioned. Gen James wanted some dumb shit too, but when it came time for his portion he did it instead of flailing about uselessly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuzz Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 (edited) Gen James wanted some dumb shit too Yeah a friend that's a comm officer complained to me the other day that their leadership went to a conference and some of the SQ, GP & WG/CCs from other bases had iPhone 5s and came back and demanded the comm squadron replace their Blackberries with iPhones. Edited May 19, 2013 by Fuzz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gravedigger Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 Why didn't you guys just use BITLs? So much cheaper and easier. That's what our Wg/CC, Group CCs and even some Sq/CCs have in their residences (privatized housing too). With the amount of control she wants over every aspect of her ops units, it's no surprise she needed secure voice. Every satellite anomaly, test event, software change and much more seem to be worthy of 3-star action/decision. In some cases to the point of delaying ops events. When she travels, she has a list of high-fiber items that must be supplied, no shit, pun intended. She stopped by for a 5-hour visit and we had to buy $50 worth of fiber-one, activia, etc. Compared to the two previous AFSPC/CVs, who were two of the most laid back, personable and likeable guys around, the HQ building is in for quite a change...assuming she gets the approval from Congress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
17D_guy Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 (edited) Yeah a friend that's a comm officer complained to me the other day that their leadership went to a conference and some of the SQ, GP & WG/CCs from other bases had iPhone 5s and came back and demanded the comm squadron replace their Blackberries with iPhones. Story of my life... there is little appreciation for the work that goes into support side-Comm. Gen Shelton said we weren't going to be spending any $ on excess unnecessary things, then AMC CC (I think) rolls in to CORONA with an iPad configured for briefings.. so that they didn't have to print the slides. Gen Helms demanded the same thing. Figured out it cost them $5K to even get that working, and it has no network access and isn't approved for classified (at the time). Pretty sure my Sq CC took it on the chin with a, "no", on that. Why didn't you guys just use BITLs? So much cheaper and easier. That's what our Wg/CC, Group CCs and even some Sq/CCs have in their residences (privatized housing too). When she travels, she has a list of high-fiber items that must be supplied, no shit, pun intended. She stopped by for a 5-hour visit and we had to buy $50 worth of fiber-one, activia, etc. I don't remember why we didn't. Because of the relationship we had with the 614th we might not have been able to. They provided all hardware, we provided all support. Got my nuts in a vice over that many-a-time. Perhaps they didn't have any, or she didn't want it. Read fiber and was thinking cabling, no shit-food. Seems about right. Edited May 20, 2013 by 17D_guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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