Leaderboard

Just increase the flow from Texas A&M, problem solved.

Ahhh USAFA... like Big Blue, never passes up an opportunity by throwing money at problems in the attempt to get someone else to clean their house... What the Academy never seems to comprehend, or maybe even just acknowledge, is that a major contributing factor to many of their "problems" is that the place is full of cadets. (Yes, Edward Longshanks 'Braveheart' reference for the other grey-beards in attendance). Cadets are going to make mistakes-- a population demographic of 17-23 year olds, under intense pressure daily (debatable-- it was FAR tougher back in the day!), with limited and regulated pressure-relief options, suddenly given the anonymity of social media and intense social issues streaming around them-- some are going to make bad choices. If you read the referenced articles that came out of VMI back in 2020 (there are free ones that can be found other than the Washington Post's paywall), you can see the genesis of this issue-- apparently it's not relegated to the East Coast, but USAFA believes they have a problem. So, what would this silverback recommend? Lean into it. Get ahead of it. Build a center specifically to address these types of things-- call it the Character and Leadership Center. Build an old-school sundial to mark the location. Wait, they already did that? Seriously though-- I'd direct AOCs to get on the app and OBSERVE. DO NOT INTERACT! Look for the leadership lessons and get to the root causes of the statements rather than taking a comment purely at face value. Publish the quotes internal to your organizations and get your cadets talking about them. It has to be a conversation-- cadets will tune out a lecture. They're experts at it. All college students are. Like the Dodo of old, the cartoons we published were generally attacking an issue that we had at the time. E-Dodo, in some ways, made things worse by removing the oversight of the official publication. There were times that we pushed the limit just for the purposes of pushing the limit-- the kid in the back of the classroom who yells "F#CK" just because he knows he'll get a laugh and the punishment will be worth it. But does it contribute anything meaningful? But we also dealt with serious issues through humor and wit. Our idea was that if you could laugh at something, you could address it and move on. Unfortunately, the expletives for laughs ruined some of that credibility. Not all-- not every artist went down that same rabbit hole. Like the best instructors know-- look at what the student asked, then look at what they DIDN'T ask in that question. Same with statements made via this social media outlet-- look past the words and look at the issues that they're really commenting on. They're tough issues-- EXACTLY the kind of thing I want officer candidates working through in an ACADEMIC environment. Realize that some are going to take it too far-- it's a given with that age group. Expect it-- lean into it. Get ahead of it and show them where the off-ramps are before they run themselves too far in the heat of the moment. Some will no matter what you do. The ones that exhibit TRUE toxicity can be shown the door before they end up on the COMMANDERS ARE DROPPING LIKE FLIES thread. It's hard-- leadership is hard. Contracting out a solution will seem easy-- it's specific, measurable, and will seem attainable as printed on OPBs that get people promoted and off to their next assignment while the true problem still festers. Cadets will go deeper underground once the contractors show up on the threads. They'll spoof and move on. And contracting out leadership will only make the problem worse. But Zero, isn't your idea what they're trying to get at? Provide the examples so the Character and Leadership Center / AOCs can do their job? Maybe. But why use a middle-man then? And the worst part of the contract is the direction to de-anonymize the users. That's going to push them further underground and make your problem a maneuvering target. They're YOUR cadets. And guess what? This solution works for ROTC. It works even if there ISN'T an actual problem! It gets our future officers talking about what's going on around them. Too many instructors think that such discussions are a third-rail that carries the potential as career-ending suicide. Maybe. Maybe not if you do it right. Doing nothing or ignoring it is FAR worse in the long run. Lead them. Teach them. Cut the ones who don't make the grade. Remember that they're kids, and their vectors need to be adjusted. Mine sure did. I'm thankful for the mentors I had at the joint and every assignment afterwards who took the time to keep the engine running, but in a constant and consistent state of adjusting that thrust.

1. Sex with the wrong person. 2. Money 3. Offended the wrong person. It's usually #1. I've long thought that Big Blue should publish leadership mishaps like we do for aviation, with the same level of privilege protections and the overall intent that we can learn from the mistakes of others. You don't have time to make them all yourself, so might as well learn from others. One could make the argument that the information eventually comes out, but I'd counter with the same "links in the chain" that safety discovers. How many times in a leader's past did we have a chance to avoid the catastrophe waiting in the wings? How can we learn to break that chain earlier in the sequence? If you fire someone, I think you should have to write that report. Might keep a Bob busy enough to cancel one of the BS meetings that we love so much.

I was an O-3E.. I have an excuse. I knew my aircraft and could fly that mother fucker better than most.. Ask someone. I'll get the mission done but I wasn't the guy to send to the staff meeting in place of the CC. They only made that mistake once lol. COLs didn't like me because I told them the truth. They liked me as a pilot though. Especially on shitty missions. I like being a toddler. I like to argue with my 👊 . If they ever call me out of retirement to go kill more bad guys. I'll be ready. Just don't expect me to act like English royalty while I wear the uniform. Break Break. Russsia sucks.

Sorry dude, you communicate like a frustrated toddler. If I had to bet on who's just the random person on the forum, and not an educated officer with leadership experience, you are probably my top guess. And considering we have Biff here now, that's saying something 🤣😂.

Damn, fired to be retired in a rank that most officers never reach. Thoughts and prayers.

As long as we don’t increase the flow from the Citadel. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

How else are you going to create socially awkward officers, with an overwhelming sense of superiority, who wear huge rings and tell Academy stories for the first 10 years of their careers [emoji51] Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

I’m currently on mil leave finishing up my retirement but looking at the January Bid lines out of Orlando they varied from 60-80 hours, some of them with 18 days off for the month. Since I’ve been gone for a couple years, I’m not sure what the high time flyers are getting, so I’ll leave that question for an active guy. Before I left though, the sky was the limit and as long as it was legal and you could put it on your board, you could bank $$$. Personally, life is great. I ended up having to take my ex back to court and won full custody of the kids (hence the reason I am putting the airline life on hold temporarily and finishing up the mil career). We are all extremely happy. I did end up getting remarried and she has been amazing and my kids all call her “mom”. My older two have pretty much nothing to do with their birth mom, and my youngest is the only one that goes for any sort of visitation. It’s funny what a little bit of wisdom, maturity and life experience will do for the second time around. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Nice 3 star officiating…. Don’t see that too often for a LtCol promotion. I guess everyone gets to see where the 3 star stands on the subject.

The lack of nuanced analytical thinking about the complex and highly dynamic subjects addressed in this thread is palpable. Biff, I'm pretty sure you're the most even keel here.

And for Biff...

Wait, are you suggesting leaders at an academy that is supposed to develop leaders should demonstrate good leadership rather than contracting out their responsibilities? What a novel concept.

Lotta good words here. Last couple CCs and SELs I’ve seen get canned in AFSOC have come with zero explanation from the higher ups. It would kill the gossip chain quite a bit and possibly let people learn from other’s mistakes if we implemented the recs above. Not to mention maybe giving the rank and file a little restored trust in the system.

This. My point in asking for a source is that one doesn’t exist for black knight’s simplistic claim. The idea/claim that there was a concerted effort to extract government members and cede the entire country does not equate to an attempt to save 400k lives. It ignores the reality that “saving 400k lives” (mostly Russian aggressors, BTW) would have meant allowing Russia to annex all of Ukraine. If China were to attack Guam and Hawaii, would we “win” by ceding them both to save lives? I’d argue 1M lives lost to defend them would be a worthy cause. By black knight Bashi Chuni’s metrics, that defense would be another L in the win/loss column. God forbid there were a ceasefire at some point during that hypothetical conflict, he’d probably count it as two losses.

We were trying to extract the legitimate government of Ukraine with use of non conventional assets and they refused to come out in the opening hours of this war. What exactly is legitimate that Ukraine was seeking a negotiated peace while Russia was driving on Kiev from Hostamel’s failed air assault and the Belarus convoy and somehow we convinced them to just keep rolling the dice? This sounds like more of the same bullshit blame the “western globalist,” nonsense he’s been pushing this whole thread. Somehow this is “our fault” for this war and not acknowledging Putin for exactly the threat he is. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Bashi the Black Knight

For a very good reason! Because that’s the way we’ve always done it. The end.

Why does the USAFA even exist anymore? It’s an expensive way to make an officer and I can’t see any notable difference in quality between the rotc/ots/academy grads. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

How could someone disapprove of an Eleanor Roosevelt quote!

As long as the cadets just have a bunch of minority trannies and pedophilia (sorry, I mean minor-attracted) shit on their page, maybe a 69 colors/shapes flag, and perhaps a shared link to Biff’s website selling unicorn fart-powered dildos, it’ll be smooth sailing and not a leadership eyebrow will be raised. Unless they’re a white male, then they’re fucked no matter what they do. So, who’s up for USAFA!?

So someone at USAFA thinks anyone under 30 is still on FB?

I'd like to get that job and do it remotley from somewhere nasty. Like Songtan? @brabus I'd prefer somewhere more towards Thailand, the PI, Spain, Germany or Ireland (Fuck Enlgland). STAFF MEETING: GEN Buttlove: "Biff, how are the zoomies doing on the internet?" Biff: "What?.. .I mean. Great Sir"

Studies have shown, it do be like that sometimes. “I do not envy you the headache you will have when you awake. But for now, rest well and dream of large women.”

He wasn't dumb. He saw what his superiors valued, and he put on the mask. Just another "great dude" as a captain who only ever wanted to be a general, at any cost.

Callsign SHED, Super Huge Enormous Douche.

True story. On a Nellis trip, a new OG (from off station) was standing in the lobby of the casino/hotel, when two girls walk past with lots of skin showing. He says to the D.O., "Oh look, the working girls are out already." D.O. says, uh sir, that's two of your 1CO's... 🤣.

Dude there are complications to EVERY military conflict. South Korea is still independent and flourishing. Libya was stopped from pursuing nukes. Kosovo like you said ultimately got our way. GW1 and the liberation of Kuwait was a clear success. I view GW1 separately from events after 2002. My point stands, “zero success” post-ww2 is hyperbole. If we’re going to have an honest discussion, it starts with being objective.

You know there is still a South Korea, right? You have the most curiously simplistic view I've seen in a long time. That's not to say the argument against Ukraine aid is necessarily simplistic. It's mostly just you.