Leaderboard

I think everyone agrees that the mission is first...when the flag goes up you grab your bag and deploy, child's graduation / wedding anniversary be damned! The reason people get ( I got) out is when, in their opinion, the pro's of the job / hacking the mission no longer outweigh the con's of being gone and the effect it has on the loved ones who stay behind for 6 months / 365 at a time. For me, it was the easiet choice I've ever made...guess that makes me a quitter! Cheers, Cap-10

The big thing at Nellis for 16s were 365 to SW Asia. After multiple people 7 day opted, the CC got smart and started finding people who were close, but couldn't opt out. Talk about a shitty way to thin the forces. It is mind blowing that we spend millions in training and right when we have "experts" in their respective field, we run them out. Creech does the same thing. The OG/CC has a board of everyone's ADSC / TOS / and calculates who can and can't opt out. As Porkchop said, it's all about building the machine. AF Leadership needs to get their heads out of their asses and look at the Guard / Reserve model. AND / OR create two tracks for aircrew. One in which you grow Generals and the other where you grow Aircrew Experts. Exempt all aircrew from bullshit queep like school via correspondence followed by in-residence all while being gone 200+ days a year. Oh and checking a stupid box for a worthless Masters. If we want our Generals to be smart, then send them to AFIT and other prominent schools. Not a shit hole school formally known as Toro / TUI / Trident. If we respect our Aircrew Experts, they'll want to stay in and serve longer. Theres no reason we shouldn't be getting 30 years of great service out of Aircrew. Pay and treat them well and we would save Billions in training cost alone. Not to mention, be able to kick anyones ass in the world. I wouldn't mind capping at Major or Lt Col if I was justly compensated for time in service. I would love to fly the line / be a work horse for 30 yrs. Just let me do my job and be a Pilot.

The difference is that those of us in the MAF never operated under the misconception that any one gave a shit about us; that's why you don't see any of these letters from the tanker/airlift side of the house.

What's interesting is that, even though the "Dear Boss" letters deal with an individual symbolically tellling the leadership why he, personally, is not staying in, the letters have ultimately not been inspired by pilots who suddenly realized that Big Blue did not give a shit about them. Although we're all sold this bill of goods about how well we're going to be taken care of when we're in our commissioning sources, I think that anyone who has been around the block long enough as the authors of these letters have has all ready long since lost faith in their romantic notions the the AF cared about taking care of them as individuals or as part of the team. From my perspective, these letters have always been about losing faith in the AF's execution of the mission and not what it was doing for the people attempting to execute that mission. These letters are from pilots who once believed that the AF cared about the mission, and are realizing that, via the actions described in the letters, that Big Blue really doesn't. The letters complain about the symptoms of a service that is losing it's ability to execute combat airpower, and furthermore doesn't really care that it is. I obviously can't speak for the MAF guys, but as a fighter dude I can say for me personally that the realization that the AF organizationally doesn't actually prioritize execution of combat airpower is heartbreaking. It's a huge letdown. It creates a lot of serious cynics. Now I know why, when I was a punk Lt and Captain, all of the Majs and Lt Cols running around the squadron were perpetually pissed off and crusty. I can see for some folks, that realization would cause them to write letters like this out of frustration.