Leaderboard

I’ve never understood the reluctance to use medicine to improve performance. If I have an infection that makes me DNIF, I take antibiotics. If I have a sleep schedule that needs to be shifted to operate safely, I take ambien. Need to be awake? Go pills. (Edit to be clear for OSI: I’m describing the ideal, not what I do or current practice. Also to be clear for OSI: get fvcked.) You’re asking me to strap into a fuel-laden tube, filled with fire but balk at altering body chemistry? Thanks Nancy. Smarter, stronger, and better at our job… of killing and not getting killed. Give us the pills. Can you imagine how great the MPF could be if we gave them Dex and locked them in for 12 hour days twice a month?

Young young crew chief uhhello was at PSAB for start of OIF. Waiting on pilot to show up and was surprised to see the WG CC's SUV pull up to spot. Was surprised and asked ignorantly what he was doing. "I'm leading the package in".

Bad counterpoint. SOF units wouldn't be caught dead with a non SOF commander. Also, the dude leading the guys on horseback was an operator. He wasn't some logistics dude that said "peace out, tell me when it's done".

I've had both pilot and WSO Commanders, and there were good and bad out of both camps. I consider it a good thing that there are some who I'd really have to sit down and stretch my brain to remember if they were front seaters or back seaters. That being said, I remember being at SOS and having one of those "senior leader seminars" with my flight. The guy who led the seminar for my flight was one of the original CROs, a big burly dude who was emphatic that any "leader" could command any unit, regardless of specialty. I offered that such a thing would not work in a fighter unit, to which he scoffed and told me I just wasn't evolved enough in my thinking about leadership to understand that I was wrong. I said, "in my community, our Squadron Commander generally is the lead pilot of the first formation to cross into badguy territory on the first night of the war. How are you going to inspire your warriors if on the first night of the war you're sending them into the IADS while you're going to watch them all take off into the night, then stay behind in the office and watch it on CNN?" His only response was, "that's not a fair question."

No, Hacker was making the point that if you lead a squadron tasked with going into combat, or a wing, etc. you better be qualified in the primary mission otherwise you lack credibility. WSO leading a strike Eagle unit, absolutely. SOC douche leading a unit that constantly needs IP supervision? That’s what Hacker is talking about.

ACSC masters program. Easy, set your own pace, moderately interesting material, very attentive instructors, and free.

The MDG/CC is not the authority to approve or deny Ambien in AMC…it is the Sq/CC. I had an O-6 Flt Doc call me for Ambien approval when our exercise crew requested them. Short version: I said yes. But I also talked to the AC about all the ways to mitigate before going straight to the pilot’s little helper and made sure I understood why they felt the no go pills were needed. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

What truly is the difference between toxic and intrusive? Putting my former CC hat on I’m sure that the OG was assured thru multiple briefings that there was no cause for alert or concern on the part of anybody for the inbrief for the exercise. Roll around to the next day and he is completely flabbergasted by the reality of cancelled sorties. I’m sure he was disappointed. He was disappointed in the wrong folks. In no time in my 17+ years was I denied no go pills to meet an operational need. If I am him I am asking why the med group denied ambien for the crews? If you want folks to act like it’s night one of world war 3 you have to organize, train and equip them as such including giving them an ambien to switch their sleep cycle so they can fly around the flag pole. In the meantime. Let this be a reminder that anyone can record anything outside of a Vault and take the time you need to talk to your squadron commanders about what happened and do so from a humble place. If your convo is nothing but venting you are not ready. No bad situation gets solved thru frustration. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looks like “mainstream” got ahold of the story: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/07/23/scrubbed-awacs-flights-lead-toxic-leadership-allegations-tinker-air-force-base.html

That is a very valid point. That’s not “MAF standard” but there is a lot to be said for that.

Hoss I get what you’re saying. However, as I know you know, command is a mindset. In my experience a rated aviator who is willing to look at multiple perspectives and educate themselves on all the crew positions under their charge as well as take care of airmen and safely execute the mission will be successful...regardless of the wings on their chest. Ive coached youth hockey for 20 years now. I’ve seen fantastic lifelong hockey players fall on their face behind the bench. I’ve seen complete ankle benders who are new to the game win championships as coaches. How do the benders win championships? They surround themselves with smart people, they study the game, they play to their strengths and they solicit the advice of others when they know they have a gap in their knowledge and they earn the respect of their players. While a CSO or ABM will never hold an A code, any one of them worth their salt SHOULD have the experience and perspective after years of flying the line in their given airframe as an instructor in their crew position to effectively lead a squadron. Now, when we take a shiny penny, fluff and buff them, make them an exec and then ship them off to every non-flying school and special duty assignment known to man, or in the MAF ship them from airframe to airframe to “broaden” them, one may never gain that perspective or experience within their community to fully understand the cultures and challenges. Maybe it turns some of them into that coach who played hockey all his life and won’t take inputs from others because he thinks he’s that good. I dunno. My rambling $0.02 I guess.

All righty. Going to breakup the monotony of this thread and just say. I survived command on a 365. One of the best experiences in my life probably because I wasn’t a shiny penny. There may be some wrong in the USAF but not in the deployed environment where the mission hackers make it happen. There are a lot of eager and aggressive Airmen out there who are only limited by the system they exist in. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Two of the absolute worst commanders I’ve had were pilots. Two of the very best were navs. The radiator shield does not automatically qualify one to be a good commander.

Just as a pile-on to the previous post on this, my two close friends from the fighter world who have been doing RPA contractor gigs for the last 5+ years are both having to tighten their belts as re-bidding has steadily reduced pay year over year. One of them -- a retired O-4 who has been riding the contractor gravy train -- is having to sell his house in Vegas and move into an apartment because he's worried his job is going to go away entirely and he's going to be left holding the bag with a big mortgage.

I gotta say I have a lot of complaints about the modern Air Force but this isn't one of them. It's pretty cool that commanders can be held accountable by the people with nothing more than a few memes and a cell phone recording. This is what accountability looks like. And I especially like that the wing cc is having to address it rather than being able to sweep it under the rug like what could have easily happened in the past.

This is why you don’t let non-pilots run flying organizations

Regardless of the OG/CC’s actions, wtf was the exercise white cell team thinking planning that exercise that way? That is some piss poor exercise planning.

Can’t fly a non-combat dangerous mission if you can’t get the jet to taxi

Every WO returning from WIC