Leaderboard

No, married to one so I've seen the work, but being a glorified secretary was never my goal when joining the AF. I've attended a few worthless USAF schools but not ACSC in res as I presume you are inferring. All my knowledge of the happenings are from friends and colleagues who have. I'm not sure why my attitude seems the exception but I could think of nothing worse than spending a year of my life at Maxwell. The only good thing I've heard is its a year long vacation from the CAF and it's easy. But I don't hate the CAF so I'm fine sticking around. I fly my lines, do my work and go home to my kids while the careerists slug it out with extra work and politics for the same paycheck. While they take on an extra meaningless project to impress the boss, I have a jack and coke in the bar. Someday their hard work might pay off with a sweet Pentagon staff tour or being a generals aide. Good for them if that's what they want. Climbing the big blue ladder by being an exec and doing school was never a dream of mine. Getting paid to fly jets and have a family was. And I'm succeeding. Cheers

When you and Dirk say "Mission Commander" I'm fairly confident you're not talking about the same things.

I gained more "leadership" experience from leading a crew in combat and MSN/CCing TDY ops in multiple countries than I ever did in my exec job. To each his own I guess.

Being an exec has NOTHING to do with leadership potential. My wife was an exec, and damn good, much better than the pilots (all top notch people) she was an exec with. Guess why? Because she had worked in college as a secretary. An exec position is nothin more than a glorified secretary. Sure, you are asked the occasional input by your boss, but that could come from anyone else, you are just the easiest to ask. In the end, being an exec, DS etc, is nothing more than a secretary job where you get the education of watching a dysfunctional bureaucratic organization like the USAF work its magic thanks to hardworking tactical operators and gobs of cash and resources. If the USAF started promoting people it needed to be leaders instead of the bullied high schooler who finally got a taste of power in ROTC and learned if he kissed enough ass and filled squares he could someday be in charge. We'd have less Chang's, less people making exec and worthless schools a goal and more warrior minded leaders who gave a shit about things other than their rise in the ranks of big blue.

Chill the fuck out. Absolutely false. My precious sq/cc has never had an assignment outside of flying. Dealing in absolutes is a dangerous business from both sides.

Image of said retrofit:

WTF has now been redefined. How in the holy did you stumble across that?

FWIW, the best C130 instructor I ever had WAS the guy teaching tactics in the bar to LTs, he was also the wing exec yet one of the most proficient pilots I've met. He's a school select now and a U2 driver. Not sure why being tactically proficient and getting promoted/checking boxes is mutually exclusive.

I was an exec for two commanders. Not by choice. One was the best commander I ever had and one was the absolute worst. Both of them at the end of the day would pour a glass of scotch and mentor me. Throughout the week they would also call me into their office tell me what they were thinking and ask my opinion. Occasionally I had the opportunity to save the squadron from a morale busting mandatory morning formation run (etc). Bottom line I learned just as much about how to not be a commander from the bad one as I learned how to take care of people (promotions, assignments, etc) from the good one. I also learned that while I was just flying the line I didn't always have the big picture (and sometimes neither did they as the CC). The good commander got tired of the BS and left for the airlines. The bad is now an O-6 school dude.

Somebody please tell me these super awesome exec duties that I missing? Granted, execs do more than the GS-6 secretary, I get that. But in the end, proofreading OPRs, writing eSSS' for staffing, making schedules, organizing paperwork... That's what a good secretary does in the business world. The sad part is reading on here how many people are buying the "become an exec, get a strat, go to school, guaranteed O-5, don't rock the boat, make your bosses goals "your" goals to succeed" bullshit. And we wonder why many of our current leaders can't speak with credibility, can't identify with the masses and why a ton of good leaders go guard/reserve and say f-you to the system that promotes mediocrity instead of actual leadership. Because the guy slugging it out on line, doesn't get stratted because while he's teaching tactics in the bar, talking with the young guys, the careerist pussy is hobnobbing with leadership knowing that hard work only matters in the USAF when seen. That's the issue.

Obviously the President needs a new plane in order to continue to supervise the execution of our flawless foreign policies...

We are, after all, Warriors each and every one. (Off to collect my participation trophy)

No, that sounds like what the squadron/group/wing secretaries do. If your units have used execs solely to perform secretarial work, that's a shame. Not the point, but I'll bite. I'm also fairly confident we're talking about different things, but the common ground is leading a group of Airmen conducting ops that directly contribute to national security and saving lives. If you think that only happens in the flying world, you're mistaken. Our mission commanders lead crews of young Airmen operating multi-billion dollar satellite constellations that the DoD, President, and entire world depend on. Do you know what would happen if we lost GPS, even for a minute? How many other Air Force missions do billions of people depend on every day? I don't think leading a crew from the safety of an ops floor in Colorado is the same as being a flight lead, especially in combat, but it's not any less important.

I was an OG exec. It was a shit ton of work, but I gained more "leadership" experience from that job than from any other job I've had. Giving direct feedback to squadron commanders as a Captain can be a challenging leadership experience. It's also interesting to see how decisions are made and implemented at all levels. My former boss is now a GO, so that doesn't hurt either. I don't know how other organizations work, but I've never seen an exec picked for secretarial experience. In my experience, squadrons typically nominate quality people for execdom. I know that's not the case everywhere, but damn people sure are cynical about execs around here.