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He started at Ramstein, simply cause he lives here already. Started by talking about why he asked the question, and why specifically he asked fighter pilots. It all started with a slide he got at Corona showing the severe undermanning of fighters in the next several years. He pointed out that he cares what MAF guys think, too, but since MAF manning is healthy, he wanted to find out first from the CAF what their thoughts were. He got about 200 responses. Only about 50 were from Fighter guys, and another 50 from MAF guys, all from both within and outside USAFE. He also got 50 from retiress, and another 40 from spouses, parents, even fiancees. He is personally reading them all. He divided the issues that the replies addressed into about 7 categories, I didn't write them all down. He put quotes from some of the replies on screen, and then put up his thoughts and where he and the AF are going on the issues. Honestly, there wasn't anything earth-shattering here. PME, Masters, deployments, assignments, morale, etc. The usual gripes, and honestly, the usual answers from leadership. With one big exception. He said it twice, including in his closing remarks, "Your priority is to be the best aviator, not do PME or get a Masters." How will he express that to the Wg, Gp, Sq leadership? But it's what he wants us doing, it's his priority, and we'll see if that translates to the field.

Welcome to nine years ago...

Your method is absolutely moronic because you will never be in a position to actually make a difference. That is what I'm saying.

FML, I was privileged to go through the extended ASBC 6 week course, now I get to go through the extended SOS 8 week course in a few years. Hopefully the AF will self destruct or something before that time comes.

I can fly this one...

I don't want to be rude, however, your post fills me with an overwhelming urge to murder a baby seal, step on a kitten, shake a baby, or untuck my PT shirt in front of a Chief. Instead of induldging those options, I'll simply tell you that I totally disagree. I DO want people working for me who do the absolute minimum amount of queep to get by. Why? Because I want to fly into combat with dudes who are in the vault, know their systems cold, understand capabilities of every platform they'll work with, know CDE, understand the LTA process, have the confidence to assault a target in any weather, and most importantly: are filled with a burning desire to hunt and kill the enemy. Because at the end of the day, battles are won by a handful of dudes with the diligence, persistance and passion to fight despite the myraid of obstacles they face. Maybe you don't have this kind of job, I don't know what you fly. But I'll tell you point blank there are terrorists alive today because the people persuing them were young captains focused on their masters whose minds weren't in the game the night an opportunity presented itself. 100%. We are smothering our combat forces with bullshit. The majority of guys around me have accepted we'll likely burn out as career Majors or LtCols for the chance to be on the line in the fight. And people like you question their place because they've only done "the minimum?" See why I want to step on a kitten? The AF recently retired a guy who logged the most combat hours of anyone in any service. He retired as a Major after 17+ deployments. That should tell you the system is fucking broken; instead you ask if I really want to fly with someone like him who only did "the minimum." The answer is yes, he was a warrior and I'd fly with him into the worst.

Fantastic book! I am reading "Brute" by Robert Coram and it is a fantastic read.