Leaderboard

Or.... He took the time to demonstrate to those making the decisions at the board that they were focused on the wrong things, in an effort to show the next generation of leaders that they need a course correction, thereby establishing his credibility via example - which would have been impossible had he kicked in the door and started telling people they are wrong. Think bigger. Chuck

I know, crazy talk! Mine was earned. I was going to write a defense of my community, but after a dozen years of being good enough for our receivers to consider us 'admin' I really don't feel the need anymore. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

here

AFSOC policy memo prohibiting mustaches in 5, 4, 3...

Shack. Don't be using your logic here bro. It takes away the sport bitching! Chuck

That may be too much brevity for a "tanker dude" to understand what you're asking. Bendy

This. He's on point with all of it. https://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/473391/csaf-taking-care-of-airmen-future-roadmap-key-to-af-success.aspx Specifically: Thank you. This is the kind of thing I've been waiting years to hear a senior leader say. I am hopeful he will be able to make the changes necessary.

I'll take that one. Ready? Here goes... You have got to be fucking shitting me. There are so many dissimilarities between what this idiot did and what I wrote that it's ridiculous. I'd be glad to spell them all out for you if you care to PM me, but the most important is that I told a cadet directly what everybody else was thinking and bitching about, and my email went "viral" before "viral" even existed. This idiot posted multiple "joking" images to social media accounts that directly contradicted the core function of her duties to properly respect and honor fallen military members. If you think those two are even remotely in the same ball park, you need some calibration.

Point taken, but if only Gen Jumper signed the "practice bleeding" memo... He did push the changes, but he left it to Gen Brady his A1 to sign the practice bleeding memo. And people took it for what it was worth, a memo signed by someone other than the Chief. How many times, on this board, have people bitched about a squadron CC coming in and making changes without consulting with his people? Without buy-in, none of these changes will stick. Hell, many of them may not stick anyway, but at least he may get some buy-in and they may stick around for longer than one CSAF. I see his changes as common sense changes but not all people do. Over my career, I have watched this issue come full circle and back again. There are always the one or two dudes that will see it the other way, but at least he is making changes and using data/ real experience to back up his changes. Maybe they will stick this time...time will tell.

Dude its the weekend, aren't you supposed to be working on your golf game with the other geriatrics ?

I sensed a great disturbance in the (air) Force. As if a million shoe clerks cried out at once... And then were silenced.

Not directing this at anyone in particular, as I am guilty of this as well, but Gen Welsh has actually made moves to increase morale in spite of the Air Force's dismal outlook (budgets/force shaping, etc.) Yeah things aren't perfect and we got a long way to go, but thank God Skeletor II is done destroying our Air Force and we got someone who seems to genuinely care.

I trust Boomer. It is most other senior raters/leaders whom I do not trust.

Nope, not pissed at all. This was at the AFA symposium, so its not like there was anything of substance talked about anyways. Better for the CSAF to use the stump to try and rally the troops than to try and justify bloated, politically driven programs.

I love how Robin Olds is the poster child for the new USAF sanctioned mustache March but absent is the real history behind it. "It (mustache) became the middle finger I couldn't raise in PR photographs. The mustache became my silent last word in the verbal battles I was losing with HHQ on rules, targets and fighting the war. -Robin Olds Count me out. I'll be damned if I'll take part in one more diluted "we are all equal" USAF tradition. 12 yrs was a good run but the new MM for me is not growing one at all and calling out the people who don;t even understand the real non-censored history behind it.

From Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthompson/2014/02/20/u-2-vs-global-hawk-why-drones-arent-the-answer-to-every-military-need/

I believe this would be the one? From: Sondecker George R IV C3C USAFA To: XXXXXXXX xxx FS/Casual Subject: Cadet Request for F-15 ride Lt. XXXXXXXXXXXXX, I am a cadet at the Air Force Academy trying to arrange a flight with the xxxrd Fighter Wing between 21 December and 5 January. I have my Secret Clearance and Physiological Training Card and can coordinate any AOC approval or necessary medical clearance (Form 1042). My presence does not impose any limitations on the mission; Im just along for the ride. Any further guidance or authorization you can provide on this matter is much appreciated. Email is the best way to contact me, but my cell phone number is xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Thank you for your time and consideration. Very Respectfully, C3C George R. Sondecker IV CS-20 Tough Twenty Trolls United States Air Force Academy From: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 2dLt xxx FS/Casual Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 5:01 PM To: XXXXXXXXX Maj xxx FS/ADO; Subject: RE: Cadet request for F-15 ride Heres the guy who keeps calling up and bugging the scheduling shop about getting a flight. From: XXXXXXXXX Maj Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 6:09 PM To: Sondecker George R IV C3C USAFA Subject: RE: Cadet request for F-15 ride Youve got some brass balls on you, cadet fourth class George Sondecker HIV (seriouslyis that your real name, lose that IV crap, it just sounds stupid). Let's break down your message and maybe we can educate you on a thing or two. Im a cadet at the Air Force Academy. This message should be over right here. Period dot. Cadets dont troll for rides, they EARN them through the proper channels just like everybody else. Weve got a long list of maintainers who have earned awards through this wing to get incentive rides. These guys bust their asses in the freezing cold and blistering heat and only the lucky few get the privilege of having a ride. Name me three things you think youve done to earn a Strike Eagle ride. Seriously. And by the way, Ive read about all the hard work here - https://www.gdsalumni.blogspot.com/. And I quote The learning curve was very steep this past year as I learned about military culture and doctrine in a pretty stressful environment. Brother, you have no idea what a stressful environment is. trying to arrange a flight with the xxxrd Fighter Wing Sweet mother of pearl, I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. We are the xxxrd Fighter Squadron, and we are a division of the xxth Fighter Wing. If you want to snivel a ride from us, you ought to at least get your facts straight. This is the foreshadowing of your ignorance, lets continue. I have my Secret Clearance Your secret clearance doesnt mean f*** all to us. You think were going to take you up on a tactical sortie? You think were going to let you sit in on classified briefings? You think were going to hang out and talk tactics with you? YGBFSM. and Physiological Training Card Your physiological training card doesnt mean f*** all to us. Remember all those hard working maintainers I mentioned earlier? Not one of them has a physiological training card - dont try to impress us with that crap. and can coordinate any AOC approval Last time I checked, the AOC didnt run the flying schedule of the 4th FW or coordination of our incentive flights. Apparently youre not familiar with chain of command and proper channels. Let me tell you what this does NOT consist of; it does NOT consist of going VFR direct to the 333rd Fighter Squadron scheduling shop and bothering our hard working schedulers. This consists of you talking to your commander, your commander talking to our commander, somebody in between giving the approval, and then in the middle of your pipe dream you will be denied your flight. My presence does not impose any limitations on the mission; Im just along for the ride. You couldnt be more wrong. What exactly is it you think we do here? Do you know anything about the F-15E? Do you know anything about xxxxxxxxxx? Do you know anything about the xxxrd? Since it would seem the answer to all of the above is a blatant No, Ill clue you in. In the F-15E, while we do have two seats, the second seat is not an empty seat that only gets occupied when goobs like yourself call up looking for a ride. Its a seat for qualified aircrew we call them Weapon System Officers. He is an essential part of our mission and we dont give him the boot for guys who are looking to bum a ride. Also, the xxxrd is a Formal Training Unit. That means that we train young pilots and WSOs, so to give you a ride, we would either have to boot a student WSO in aforementioned formal course, or an instructor WSO trying to teach said student WSO. Get the picture? Any further guidance or authorization you can provide on this matter is much appreciated. and Im spent - Hopefully this will serve as all the guidance you need. Gents, if there is something I have left out of this mentoring session with young cadet third class citizen Sondecker the HIV, please feel free to chime in. Maj XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Chief of Stan/Eval, xxxrd FS

That's Ok. Whatever they lack in integrity and excellence, you can make up for in service.

This happens more than you think. Less than 50% of Infantry types even given the option to stay in after their first tour, and for every 4 or 5 Lts in a rifle company only one will become a Company Commander. After their first tour they go do such grunty jobs like recruiting, they are in charge of platoons of Marines at OCS, or TBS or they are series commanders at boot camp. Have 3 combat tours, one as a line platoon commander, second as a weapons platoon commander and third as a Company XO? Sounds great 1st Lt, why don't you go into officer recruiting, or teach at an ROTC unit, or go work in an H&S company. If you get your ducks in a row and complete Expeditionary Warfighting School first as a correspondence student, then do it again in residence you might go back to command a MARSOC platoon or perhaps a line rifle or weapons company. Oh, you did that anyway? Sorry, we don't have a company for you, instead we have this great MAGTF staff job for you. I hope you enjoy living on a small deck carrier/LHD/LHA/LPD for 6-9 months at a time, just like if you were in the Navy. Then as soon as you become a senior Captain or Major you're back in a B billet, then off to work on more staffs. Oh, and as a Marine hope and pray you stay with the Marine Corps. If you get a joint tour and you aren't the #1 performer and don't have FITREPs that say you are a water walker you're going to be treated like you did something wrong. Why? Because Marines are supposed to be better than EVERYONE else at EVERYTHING. Period dot. Yut yut, ooh rah, devil dog, semper fi.... The infantry world chews guys up and spits them out worse than the aviation world does.

Policy attached (Masking of Degrees - Practice Bleeding was a different message reminding Commanders to follow the attached). I actually thought the AF got this one right - until they changed their mind. And now we find ourselves in the situation we have today. Funny how both the Navy and Army have different views on PME and Masters. I understand Army sends 100% to in-residence IDE. And when at Leavenworth and want a Masters you have to take a ###### load of extra classes through an off site school - ie its not part of their JPME Level 1 program like our ACSC. The Navy doesn't really care if you go in-residence to Navy War College or not (IDE or SDE) - in fleet experience is more important for progression and command (imagine that). I heard a rumor Army was 100% promotion to O-5, no masters - doesn't matter - their retention sucks. Unfortunately the attached policy never really took hold, probably because senior leaders (as low as OG and Wing CC) never got behind the idea - despite being told to do so and reminded thru the follow on 'stop Practice Bleeding' by LGen Brady. Hell, when I went to Shoe Flag their wasn't a DG program and talk was they were going to do the same for ACSC. Mindset being a DG at PME was over inflating careers and you should promote and progress based upon performance outside of a ######ing DG at a PME course. Don't know it its still true but there was a point when 100% went to SOS - if you didn't go in your 3 years of eligibility it was because the Wing screwed you - not because there wasn't slots. Policy resending the attached had something to the effect of 'we didn't realize how many people were going to stop pursuing advanced education" as a reason to bring it back. Which should have told you how many people were square filling. Verse what Jumper said for how we promote: "Promotion is, and will continue to be, determined by your performance and demonstrated leadership potential to serve in the next higher grade." I like that. Too bad it doesn't seem to be the case. The practice bleeding policy was eventually overturned as well - essentially admitting that the AF can't develop officers properly so you may get ######ed even if a select and Commander's should encourage all officers to get correspondence PME done ASAP. I know a guy who got Ops Deferred to IDE because of instructor manning at the WIC - not because of a deployment to war - because they couldn't manage IP manning properly so they Ops Defer a guy to stick around and teach a syllabus - what a joke. We seem to have gone off the deep end - Lts signing up for SOS (WTF!!!), Captains thinking they won't get promoted if they don't have a Masters, etc. Talk about having your tactical level experts (or those who should be devoting all their efforts to same) wasting brain bites on the wrong things. Give it a bit - 5 bucks this policy will come back cause the current situation and trend is worse than it was before. Meanwhile you might get screwed at a promotion. But life if about choices - and you have to decide what is important - the classic Boyd - do you want to do something or be somebody? I had a CC who used to say - its not a difficult game - but its still a game. And the absolute best argument I ever heard about doing correspondence PME when told you're going in residence -- or getting a Masters when you'll get it at same in-residance PME -- is you might actually learn something. Which is great - till you're missing time with your family or the rest of us are picking up your slack in the squadron because 'ever Tues after 1500' you're at class. For what its worth - here's my example and where it got me with this game. I didn't do SOS by correspondence but did sign up and put the books on my desk - went in residence. Don't have a Master's or ACSC by correspondence - currently sitting at German General Staff in Hamburg, Germany after spending a year at DLI in Monterey, CA attempting to learn German. 3 years as a student (German IDE is 2 years) means I won't be complete by my IPZ look at O-5 and have the same Narrative Only PRF meeting 3 promotion boards from summer 2009. I'll let you know how the O-5 promotion works out - but it really doesn't matter - if I don't get promoted I might actually be able to get back to flying quicker and stay flying longer. Do a kick ass job in your current squadron/mission - work to be on the short list when the Boss puts together the line up for night one. The rest will take care of its self. If it doesn't your leadership sucks - which is unfortunate for all of us - but the bros know who does it right (sts) and who doesn't - if you have your priorities right you won't care. And remember being a bro doesn't mean you're a slug that only drinks beer and plays 4,5,6 - it means you know what is important and what is bullshit and are an asset not a liability in the air and in the squadron. As others have said on these boards, you should know how the process works and then you can make informed decisions about what is important to you in life. E Force Development - Changing the Education Mindset.pdf

I'd venture to say 99% of the AF engineers are usually just project managers. The hardcore "stuff" is done by civilians and/or contractors. An MBA might help you become a better bean counter in that career field, but what matters more is to get that hands on experience early on so as you progress in rank you can make sound technical and programmatic decisions. My opinion is that this philosophy applies to any AFSC. If you have an undergraduate technical degree, the biggest advantage you have is you learned how to learn. You don't really need another technical Masters or PhD unless you just want to smoke a pipe (STS) and write theoretical papers all day long. Why do we keep pushing/sending junior folks to get multiple advanced degrees in the era of reduced budget/manning. This idea of PhD = smart leader is comical. Let's see how many A1 and AFPC managers have Masters and PhDs. I agree that unless Gen Welsh's speeches are translated into the AFIs then nothing will ever change.

I don't mean to interrupt the lynching party, but... Has anyone here ever made a macabre joke? I've folded flags at funerals in -20 weather: it's not easy, and yeah, they weren't as pretty or crisp as those folded in 60 and sunshine. I'm sure we joked about it amongst ourselves, but thankfully we never had a global audience for our conversations like this young woman has... Social media is dangerous shit. Especially for someone too young and inexperienced to know when to hold back the thoughts they might share with close friends. As anyone watching GWB's old speeches will notice, it's easy to find flaws when everything a person says is recorded, and the context is easily missed. Was it stupid for her to write what she did? Yeah. But you were children once, too. That's what kids do. It's called "growing up."

People make mistakes: it's called life. What's with the sweeping judgments? If only there was someone on BODN who has also sent an "email heard 'round the world."... A moderator, perhaps... Who flies (flew?) Strike Eagles... If only...

The problem is that the AF already has the institutional memory of the "practice bleeding" debacle. Gen Jumper was before my time, but issuing the practice bleeding memo and laying it on the line for Schwalier give him a lot of cred in my book. I'd wager the average crew dog was fired up about him back then. Without overhauling the system and setting the example by crushing a wing king or two that don't take the message to heart about forgetting about masters degrees, nothing will ever change. In a 4 yr tenure as CSAF, I'd bet it could be done with enough horsepower. Laying the groundwork sounds like bullshit. None of this is to say everything is ed. The AF will go on just fine, but these things could be made better on his watch.