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One, A major flaw with your logic is that in order to make it to Lt Col so you can be a squadron commander so you will be in the position to make the changes you posted about, YOU HAVE TO PLAY THE REINDEER GAMES in order to make it to O-5 in the first place! Very rarely does a post make me want to physically hurt the poster...but one part of your post did: What the hell makes you think that your five years in Intel (of which the first 1.5 years was ASBC and Intel schools, so 3.5 years of actual "experience") make you think that, and I quote "so maybe I am just more conditioned to dealing with this bullshit than any of you. I am sure I dealt with more bullshit like volunteering for squadron parties and taking on needless additional duties than anyone at a flying squadron" Well my 15 years in the USAF with 12+ flying fighters makes me qualified to say this: "GO FUCK YOURSELF" Not sure what type of flying squadrons you deal with (for all i know you could be giving daily intel briefs at a Space Base and not even have an aircraft at your location), but I have worked directly with Intel bubba's at the squadron (CONUS and deployed), Wing Level, and at the CAOC level, so I feel confident that I can talk about your duties, but not convinced that you can talk about mine. Just my $.02....take it...leave it...I don't give a shit Cheers, Cap-10

I'll chime back in, since it was my NCO's situation that started the CCAF, etc discussion. First off, this dude won the "best" in his category not in the wing, but in the entire MAJCOM. He truly is a hard worker, puts in 12 hour days on a regular basis...he's our "go to" guy. For what it's worth, he's working on his CCAF (he's not a Tech as someone stated, he's a Staff that didn't make the cut for Tech last time around) and he's close to finishing. But all of you morons that put so much stock in his CCAF non-completion...he's got a FULL day, every day. He works hard...he teaches tobacco cessation classes. He volunteers on base ALL THE TIME. And yes, he's taking CCAF classes and getting it done, although slower than some kid who works 6 hours a day in some staff office. I really don't see how he has time for his family (married with two kids) but he hacks it. He adds more to our USAF than most of the ass-munches that get promoted do...and some of you (and our CMSgt) seem to be hung up on this ing CCAF "requirement" that's not a requirement for STEP promotion. More to my original point...why the hell is the wing command chief "approving" who gets STEP promoted? Why can't the officers be leaders and say "we're promoting this guy because we feel he deserves it...however, thanks for your input, Chief". It used to be that command chiefs were there to speak for the enlisted force to the commander. Now they've been elevated to some surrogate Vice Commander position...I've even seen cases where the CMSgt was in the approval chain for OFFICER decorations....WTF? It's getting out of hand, and it's getting that way because our leadership culture is allowing it to be that way. When I first entered the military, and E-9 was to be respected by all ranks because they did serve and they've managed to get to the top of the enlisted food chain. But they didn't have the power and fear that they have now. My last boss, a Lt Col, allowed a Chief to chew his ass in front of the entire office over something minor. Granted, we were doing something the wrong way...but it was a minor issue, and if it had been me, I would have pulled the chief aside and said "hey, you hammer people over customs and courtesies. Well...where the are your customs and courtesies? Last I checked I outrank you and you yelling at me is a major breach of this Holy Grail you always harp on..." Instead our O-5 stood there and said "sorry Chief". UFB. Anyways, time to get back to my deployed Christmas...y'all have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. -Huey

If it's so easy and a piece of cake to finish, then why do you think it matters so much? It's the same argument people make for requiring a masters. If it's so extremely important for officers to have a masters, why the fuck do they allow free online degrees? It either matters or it doesn't. Our Check-the-container mentality is a major contributing factor in the current state of our force.

Had our Flight Safety NCO win an annual award (FSNCO of the year for the MAJCOM)...participated in numerous community events (tornado rescue/clean up, etc). He's done a TON of stuff in the office to improve the program. He's made a lot of progress on his CCAF degree. Went from a high 70s to high 90s on his PFT in the past 6 months. Started teaching tobacco cessation classes...I could go on. Anyway, my boss and I recommended him for a STEP promotion. The wing command chief shot it down, saying he doesn't have CCAF complete...and we're trying to promote him to Tech. My question to my boss...why the hell is the chief making the call? Why can't the wing commander make that call? Next example...here in the AOR, we submitted someone for a medal. The chief out here shot it down and said he won't approve it because a couple years ago this individual failed the PFT. Despite the fact the past year or two this individual has consistently scored in the 80s and 90s (last test was mid-90s)...and the rest of their record is exemplary. But because they screwed up 2-3 years ago and failed, they can't get a medal. You know what I think that says to our airmen? it. Don't try anymore. No reason to improve or get better because if you failed once, you're ed and you'll never get another pat on the back. Doesn't matter that this medal would have acknowledged your stellar performance over the past half a year...you screwed up many moons ago so it's all for nil. Not to mention...why can't the officers in our leadership chain say "sorry chief, but I'm giving this person a medal...it's deserved". I wish I could raise more of an issue about this, but it seems everyone else (O-5s, O-6s and O-7s) seem to just roll over and say "well the CMSgt said no". So I realize a junior FGO like me is standing at the base of a cliff with no rope...so vent and bitch on baseops.net it is!

There's your disconnect right there.

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Copy, you're against people being recognized soley on the basis of their job performance, and favor instead of whole person concept. Problem is, that route ALWAYS leads to awards for the guy who is ok at his job but has checked all the required boxes while the few who study and practice to be great at their jobs are overlooked. That is ALWAYS the outcome. Sometimes the rockstars get noticed, the few who get a degree from Harvard while also being superstars at their job. These guys are few. How about we send a message to our airmen that job performance counts? After all, what good is education unless it leads to individuals being better at their jobs?

For the record, I am against over inflating OPR/EPRs with fodder, but if someone exceeds the standards for whatever area they are being evaluated during a particular reporting period, why can't the evaluator state "clearly exceeds standards?" Like Toro said, the story is a little vague so I don't know when the PT test failures happened, but an EPR/OPR is supposed to evaluate a member's performance for a specific reporting period. Previous PT test failures outside of the reporting period in question are irrelevant and the individual was probably already penalized for those failures with either a downgrade if the member failed but had a passing PT test score at close out or a "does not meet standards" if they had a failing PT score at closeout. Either way, PT test failures cannot be documented on performance reports unless the failure is current at the time of close out. All that being said, putting "clearly exceeds standards" on a performance report for just getting a 90 or above on a PT test is a little inflated. If the individual failed a PT test and then scored 100% during the same reporting period, it would be wrong to put "clearly exceeds standards" on the EPR and the shirt was spot on. My point is that penalizing someone (twice) for previous test failures outside the reporting period is wrong (if that was the case here).

Any objection to looking up tail numbers afterwards? Tails are needed to uniquely identify a certain jet. Callsigns on a specific day do the same. 1. Boom writes down 20k @ time X to Mudhen69, 10k to Viper69, etc, etc. along with whatever tails him or the copilots can deduce on some type of daily flight log. Completes A/R without needing to clog up radio asking for tail numbers. 2. Hands log to ARMS with rest of paperwork on landing, ARMS calls receiver ARMS and says "what tail flew Viper69 on this day"? 3. Tanker ARMS sends log with tails and fuels to WRDCO. Big Blue can track fuel flow by tail # and everyone is happy.

There have been lots of suggestions, but they require a lot of work and significant financial investment on the AF's part. That's not the simple answer you're looking for, so you've dismissed the suggestions. What you're asking for simply isn't possible without some major improvements to the jets (RFIDs, accurate fuel counters, etc). If you (or the AF/DoD) really wanted to save fuel and money, you'd take a long hard look at the blank check AFCENT receives. Having 600k-900k pounds of extra, unspoken for gas and 6-9 extra tankers over the AOR at any given time is complete overkill. But that would require some tough decisions be made and some painful prioritizing of resources, things you and your comrades at the pentagon are unwilling to do.

Making up a mail number is a dick move.

here's one for you...our group shirt just kicked back an EPR because the rater marked "clearly exceeds standards" on the military bearing section, because he (the shirt) saw two previous PT failures in this guy's fitness history. Oh BTW, this guy achieved an Excellent on his most recent PT test (in the rating period) after working his ass off. Fuck you shirt, it's not for you to decide, it's for his rater.

A few questions for my upcoming departure for AMS in January: State ribbons.....the uniform list on the AMS says bring ribbons (State and Federal) - however the Air Force regs say that state ribbons will not be worn while on active duty. To be safe, can I wear JUST federal ribbons? There's a rule "All or none" also, so I'm not sure. Secondly, my orders end March 3rd, I'm trying to provide information to my wife on when she needs to be in town for the dinner/graduation, can anyone offer any insight?