Leaderboard

Why, again, do I want to work so hard? I'm having more and more trouble remembering what it is exactly I'm working towards. I'll be a tactical expert so I'm able to serve my country in a time of war. I have no idea what a masters buys me (retirement? more deployments? less flying?).

He is referring to a very small percentage of CGO (at least from what I have seen) who are truly tactical experts (good and credible) AND are also very exceptionally smart academically. I can count on one hand the numbers of CGOs that I know who fall into this category, and I'm missing two fingers (not really). The problem is that no one really cares about the level of tactical expertise someone has, they distinguish these guys based SOLELY on AAD and PME completion...that is it! I've seen it first hand where the "piles" for P and DP were built based ONLY on AAD/PME completion before they even knew who the people were let alone their level of expertise. Again, I do believe we have a lot of smart and talented officers in the Air Force, this isn't directed at them, but some of the tools we keep promoting don't have that balance he's talking about. Some of the ones I see who are your "fast burners" at the CGO level are far from tactical experts. Rather, they tactfully pull themselves off deployments, off the schedule, etc to get those Masters classes done or the job that will make them "look" good. Somehow these people shine (at least on paper) in front of those who make the decisions to promote, send to school, etc. Put put them in a room with their peers to lead a simple task and they fail miserably not just because they have no LEADERSHIP or social skills, but because none of their peers respect them enough to listen to anything they have to say. People like that have to get promoted and rely on their rank to "lead". Use a peer rating system and see how well they shine. How many commanders have you had in your career that motivated you simply by their natural leadership style and not just because they were a Lt Col or an O-6 and above? We all know the difference. From what I can see, we are promoting more and more of those tools I've described above and less of the ones who are truly tactical experts who don't really need to go to "school" to learn how to lead. I think education is important, especially when the degree directly contributes to the organization, but I will never understand how just having a degree makes anyone a leader. I don't think anyone can ever convince me...mainly because I've seen outstanding leadership on the enlisted side of the house by senior members without Master's degrees. To be an effective leader, you need to have credibility in your organization and part of that means being the expert. I'm certainly not good enough to just look at someone and determine if they have a Masters degree or not, but I can sure as hell determine who the experts are and who I trust. We can beat this dead horse into glue, but unfortunately I think this is the new culture and it is not likely to change anytime soon. Young bubbas, just get your Master's done, stay in the books and be a real expert in your MWS, and expect to work a lot harder and do a lot "more with less" for the foreseeable future.