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Just read a very interesting article that talks about this... "Top 10 ways to Ensure your Best People Will Quit" https://www.ragan.com/Main/Articles/Top_10_ways_to_ensure_your_best_people_will_quit_47779.aspx By my count, the USAF is guilty of at least 7 of these on a regular basis...

Fun. Our WG/CC's guidance to the SQ/CCs was "There is no guidance, fuck it up and I'll fire you".

Joe, that is perhaps the most intelligent post you have ever shared with this community.

Completely agree, although I really think this will start to change when the younger generations (2003+ year groups) who've known nothing but Big Blue stupidity, endless deployments, 365s, UAVs, MC-12s, fraud/waste/abuse masters degrees, etc start hitting the end of their commitments. We will see. It's funny to me how cheap it is for the AF to do this. The $25k/year bonus is the same as circa 1999. To match for inflation, the bonus would have to be just under $35k/year in 2014 dollars to match the same purchasing power. Considering that the bonus comes out to around $18k/year after taxes, that's a damn good bargain the AF is getting for people to sign away control of their lives. That's not at all worth it in my opinion, but to each their own, and I can't blame the AF for taking advantage of people's risk aversion.

Why would he be drunk? he could just be stoopid.

The PSDM got revised, but the mathematical explanation for the sep payment calculation is still wrong. There's nothing in the PSDM that says different, so I'm going with the idea that the commissioning year group is what they're going to look at for medical. That will get very interesting, as we rarely use those year groups because the constructive service credit puts people who commissioned in the same year into several different YGs for promotion purposes. It's possible to come in as high as Lt Col in medical, so there will be some O5s and CGOs in the same commissioning year group being boarded against each other.

Sad how scared some leaders are to do the simple stuff. On a related note, as soon as the new AFI was released, our Sq/CC said PRESS!!! with the colored shirts on Fridays. Our squadron enlisted and pilots all wore our colored shirts to the 0800 OG Call yesterday and while there was some initial 'concern' by the Group Chief and Shirt (directed at the 1COs, not the pilots), once they were informed of the changes all was GTG. Pretty much the entire Ops Group was wearing the full compliment of shirts, patches and pen tabs so at least that's a small win in our little corner of the AF.

We don't keep ICBMs around to actually use them; we keep them around as a deterrent. Part of the deterrent is that they are dispersed enough to make destroying them all in a strike essentially impossible. Leaving Malmstrom open doesn't cost THAT much more than the other bases, we are talking gallons of gas, really not a huge expense. It does maintain enough geographic dispersion to ensure a credible deterrent.

Take note, Liquid.

But can you really flip a guy shit for waiting outside the dressing room when he passes the time tackling robbers? That takes the situation and flips it. Bonus - the store help couldn't wait to tell wife the story. If he didn't get some later that night, there is no justice. "I though he might hurt you babe and I just snapped.." Cue 1970s funk music.

I understand the Air Force wants to have "an extremely important measure of stability in the personnel planning process," but guess what? So does your workforce. We've been talking about "stability" with personnel cuts since 2009...5 years later we are still making personnel cuts. I got it...we are in a fiscal crisis, no one saw these levels of cuts coming. But if you want stability, give stability. Even CEOs of companies realize that...especially when they want to retain the best of their best. That bold quote is part of the reason why you have a stability problem...you might not care, but people care. The pilots you're trying to retain (for the most part) know you don't care about anything other than power point slides that show we are where some number-crunching bean counter says we're supposed to be. But you'd better start caring about how many people you cut, and more importantly how you cut them. Don't think people are stupid and forgetful and don't remember the same shit that came with the last VSP, or RIF or non-continuation board. Big Blue had better start to at least act like they care...don't take my word for it though. I don't have the 'big picture' obviously. Yes, a mere $25k/yr. Watch what you say...those pilots you're trying to retain are starting to realize it is "a mere $25k/yr" and probably not worth it anymore...it is why we are still having this converation. If the AF doesn't feel "it has to offer a bonus" then why are they offering a bonus. I'd love to see someone explain that one to a congressional committee... BT

Was reading this and thought of this: Here are 10 ways to guarantee that your best people will quit: 10. Treat everyone equally. This may sound good, but your employees are not equal. Some are worth more because they produce more results. The key is not to treat them equally, it is to treat them all fairly. 9. Tolerate mediocrity. A-players dont have to or want to play with a bunch of C-players. 8. Have dumb rules. I did not say have no rules, I said dont have dumb rules. Great employees want to have guidelines and direction, but they dont want to have rules that get in the way of doing their jobs or that conflict with the values the company says are important. 7. Dont recognize outstanding performance and contributions. Remember Psychology 101 Behavior you want repeated needs to be rewarded immediately. 6. Dont have any fun at work. Wheres the written rule that says work has to be serious? If you find it, rip it to shreds and stomp on it because the notion that work cannot be fun is actually counterproductive. The workplace should be fun. Find ways to make work and/or the work environment more relaxed and fun and you will have happy employees who look forward to coming to work each day. 5. Dont keep your people informed. Youve got to communicate not only the good, but also the bad and the ugly. If you dont tell them, the rumor mill will. 4. Micromanage. Tell them what you want done and how you want it done. Dont tell them why it needs to be done and why their job is important. Dont ask for their input on how it could be done better. 3. Dont develop an employee retention strategy. Employee retention deserves your attention every day. Make a list of the people you dont want to lose and, next to each name, write down what you are doing or will do to ensure that person stays engaged and on board. 2. Dont do employee retention interviews. Wait until a great employee is walking out the door instead and conduct an exit interview to see what you could have done differently so they would not have gone out looking for another job. 1. Make your onboarding program an exercise in tedium. Employees are most impressionable during the first 60 days on the job. Every bit of information gathered during this time will either reinforce your new hires buying decision (to take the job) or lead to Hires Remorse. The biggest cause of Hires Remorse is the dreaded Employee Orientation/Training Program. Most are poorly organized, inefficient, and boring. How can you expect excellence from your new hires if your orientation program is a sloppy amalgamation of tedious paperwork, boring policies and procedures, and hours of regulations and red tape? To reinforce their buying decision, get key management involved on the first day and make sure your orientation delivers and reinforces these three messages repeatedly: A. You were carefully chosen and were glad youre here; B. Youre now part of a great organization; C. This is why your job is so important. https://www.tlnt.com/2013/04/08/hiring-wisdom-top-10-ways-to-guarantee-your-best-people-will-quit/

I'd say, "no." For the majority of officers, the senior rater has about as much understanding as a random board member. Thus, they have to use discriminators like SOS in-res, AAD, Wing Holiday party planner, etc etc etc. From my experience, even the Group CC doesn't have a clear picture of all the officers in their group, depending on the size. I know for certain in my Ops Group, one of the SQ/CCs was pushing for CGO Group strats for officers that would be in the bottom third to bottom quarter in my current squadron. Yes--Group Strats for officers who wouldn't sniff a top 50% squadron strat in another squadron in the same Ops Group. The system is broken, which is what Zach Braff was hinting. IMO, strats should stop at the SQ level, because at the Group level and higher, you are simply comparing apples and oranges.

www.baddude.com I worked with these guys a few years back. Not the cheapest but they do good work and they work quick. Chuck

How many do we need? Well, since we have launched exactly zero missiles with a nuclear warhead at another country, then I would say we need...probably a lot less than we have now.

Glad you guys are enjoying an alternative lifestyle over there in Europe!