Not doing the PME will certainly be frowned on by leadership and the promotion board. I think every person with wings and a pulse is getting the maximum continuation right now, so you'll probably make it to retirement.
We're seeing something similar base-wide here. We've got a few Lt Cols rapidly approaching 20 (mostly WSOs) aside from SQ/CC and SQ/DO positions. Which, aside from the obvious lack of experience in the squadrons, also creates a problem when it's time to pick the next round of DO/CC/DS/OGV chief positions. There just aren't enough Lt Cols in the LAR left to fill the leadership positions.
I'm unclear. Is THIS an example of good PR and the story of a hard-working individual who has had success? Or is it the exploitation of a woman for her looks because she's posing in a bikini? I can't tell under the current guidance anymore.
Found a thoughtful piece on the whole thing over at War on the Rocks. It goes beyond the knee-jerk reactions (from both sides) and encourages some reflection that the military comes from the larger society, and as the things that society accepts change, so do the things the military is willing to accept. There's also quite a bit of condemnation for the USMC's mentality that only men should be on the front lines.
We've been regularly sending guys to SERE after completing the B-1 B-course. Mostly it's the WSOs who show up without it, but there's the occasional pilot.
We were all told that because we had the requisite electronic warfare training, we would be EWOs if we signed up. And that the BUFF does not train people to be both EWOs and RNs.
So, no alcohol in OG controlled buildings or on-base by OG personnel...so all the parties move off-base, out of sight from OG leadership. No way that can go wrong.
They had to force the B-1 dudes to go to BUFFs. I don't know how thrilled the BUFF guys were to come over to the B-1, but they seemed pretty motivated.
Everything Disco_Nav said about BUFFs applies to Bones as well. We're also undermanned and looking for more pilots and WSOs. As far as I know, we haven't had problems filling our WIC classes, but that's going to start changing as we take more and more late-to-rate folks and folks who flew something else (so far mostly FAIPs and MC-12 folks, but I anticipate some other options as the fighter pilot shortage puts the squeeze on rated manning across the board). Bonus - Rapid City is a way better place to live than Minot, and you won't have to deal with PRP or nukes.
And working 14 days in a row. A couple of my reservist brethren keep trying to sell me on it, but then they're in the office all week, through the UTA weekend, and all the next week. No thanks, the Air Force has already taken enough of my weekends without my complicity.
Plus, they would have my final medical paperwork from when I left the Air Force...so, all that hearing loss, back pain, etc that qualifies you for 10-20-40% disability would all get brought up, in excrutiating detail.