panchbarnes

The White House is probably cursing 42 for signing the treaty. This is nuts, I bet the lawyers are reviewing the wording to find a way out of the treaty. This whole thing probably won't end well for everyone involved. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2570335/Former-British-Ambassador-Moscow-warns-Russia-invaded-Ukraine-difficult-avoid-going-war.html Revealed: The forgotten treaty which could drag the US and UK into WAR with Russia if Putin's troops intervene in Ukraine The agreement sees signatories promise to protect Ukraine's borders It was signed by Bill Clinton, John Major, Boris Yeltsin and Leonid Kuchma in 1994 Ukrainian parliament has now reached out directly to all the countries who signed the treaty Putin currently has 150,000 troops on Ukraine's borders and it is reported some have crossed into the country President Obama says he is 'deeply concerned' by the news The US and Britain have both made 'crisis calls' to President Putin to warn him to respect territorial boundaries

Extracted from comment section of Tony Carr's blog... https://twitter.com/GenMarkWelsh/status/439743732322009089/photo/1

This article is what I was referring to a few posts ago. https://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj04/fal04/foglesong.html It was required reading for SOS when I took it. I wonder who thought it was a good idea to put it into the syllabus?

Thread revival!!! https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/03/02/kerry-says-russia-is-going-to-lose-if-putins-troops-continue-to-advance-in-ukraine/?hpid=z2 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ukraine-crisis-tests-obamas-foreign-policy-focus-on-diplomacy-over-military-force/2014/03/01/c83ec62c-a157-11e3-9ba6-800d1192d08b_story.html So I guess: 1. A-10 is off the chopping block 2. Force Management Program is on hold indefinitely 3. Stop loss! 4. BDU is coming back (added) /sarcasm (maybe?) oh and...

Yet, Air Force CGOs are required to learn about leadership theory from this guy Doc Foglesong... Edited for clarity

Just call the base comm squadron and tell them to execute their CTOs

https://www.airforcetimes.com/article/20140227/CAREERS03/302270013/Welsh-Master-s-degree-required-soon-colonels

It's really the battle of Plant 42. Winner gets all the engineers in the hi-desert.

here

Immediately following the speech, Chief Cody was dragged outside by the other E-9s and beat senseless for not correcting Gen Welsh on the spot.

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.

Strato2g1c

Raise your hand if you were forced to play the Boeing-sponsored Tanker Acquisition board game from back in the days where the winner (everyone) had to choose the buy/lease option.

https://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/473377/af-announces-change-to-reduction-in-force-board-schedule.aspx "Changes to the scheduled RIF board date will result in changes to the eligible population. Some officers initially eligible to meet the June board will no longer be eligible as adjustments are made to year groups. Likewise, some officers who were not initially RIF eligible could now be eligible." Nice, another 12 months of uncertainty. This whole thing is dragging into 2015 and it will probably change a couple of more times along the way.

Sorry, but the "sorting" should have occurred in the planning stage and not the "execution" stage.

Not PMP but there are a bunch of free online courses/certs here: Defense Acquisition University https://www.dau.mil/default.aspx

It's been a while but I want to say the "Air Block" instructors (CGOs/NCOs) all came from fighter squadrons. They probably want the students to learn to be confident and aggressive, or run the risk of losing street cred in the briefing room. I just think the comments were over the top, the emphasis should be placed on technical competency and not bravado. I'd say most of the instructors (CGOs/NCOs/contractors) that I've encountered were great, they want to see the students succeed in the course. It's just unfortunate a lot of them went along withe the absurd intimidation routine as encouraged by the leadership team.

Unfortuantely these leadership issues are not limited to the 13N career field. I hope whatever fix they put in place gets adopted AF-wide as much as practical. 'It has become a self-perpetuating caste. “It’s command incest—you get a bad leader who finds a subordinate who’s just as bad as he is, and he promotes that subordinate, and on and on. It’s been going on for four decades now and so you mostly get a crop of leaders who are more interested in their careers than they are in actually leading,” he says. “Leadership is a human endeavor, and the Air Force takes the humanity out of it.”' I've met an O-6 who believes if your sole purpose in life is not going after O-6 then you are not AF "leadership" material. He likes to say "Oh you won't make O-6 if you took that assignment" to junior officers filling out the ADP and will it hold it against them if they don't take his advice and follow his path.

Ugh, you guys made me remember something ridiculous associated with the 29B. One day the cadre decided to include duty hours (# of hrs in class) as part of the consecutive 8-hr rule for the 29B. So that means, if you wanted to drive to the nearest major city on a Friday after class, you better be showing carpool on that 29B, otherwise you'd be too fatigued to make the trek from San Angelo to Austin. And if you don't have the 29B in by Wednesday you ain't going nowhere for the weekend (stuck in San Angelo cage dancing at the local club w/ enlisted students). To get back on topic... There was this one particular job drop at the local park by the base. The SQ/CC was invited but the class wanted someone else (class leader?) to announce the drops. The SQ/CC would have none of that, took over the microphone and started announcing the drops. Because this was at a park and there were kids playing, legend has it the commander told the kids playing to shut up so everyone can hear the said commander speak.

That's a great line.

oh, but he can 1. complain to leadership and get you washed back. or 2. find a reason to wash you back from one of the briefs.

The 29B talk is making me nauseous. There is a retired E-9 turned contractor instructor that roams the school house. Performs belt checks, checks out the classrooms room by room every weekend and take mental notes to see who's studying (depending on who you ask, he's in there on weekends because he cares or because he wants extra $$). Highly opinionated and can't accept the fact that he is no longer AD (insisted people call him by Chief last name, a Mr. would be an insult to him). Complained once to the leadership that students weren't in the classroom on-time and a new policy came out mandating everyone be in seat 5-till or you are late and the whole class is subject to punishment. They even had instructors waiting by the main entrance taking down names every morning. On one occasion, one of the NCO instructors asked him to chill out about minding everyone's business and reminded him that he's a contractor now and that earned the NCO a good tongue lashing by the said contractor. Funny thing about him is when the tyrant leadership was around he went along with the buffoonery. As soon as the investigation started he was searching for answers like the rest of us. Added: He also found time to enforce a phantom parking policy. If you were a student then you are not allowed to park in one of the parking lots because it is close to the school house even though there is no such policy and no other instructors cared. if he sees a student driving near the parking lot, he would flag the person down (regardless of rank) and asked if the driver was planning on parking there. Ah, good times...

This is from Tony Carr's article back in January. Good read. Gen Welsh needs more airmen to speak up (in a respectful way of course) about what's wrong with the AF. The commentator's bio is here: https://www.grandforks.af.mil/library/biographies/bio.asp?bioID=14412 https://www.jqpublic-blog.com/?p=641#comments Don Shaffer | January 26, 2014 at 11:53 pm | Reply Anonymous – On the process perspective – all I can tell you is from my experience having gone through it numerous times – that is the way it works. Now anyone can argue all day that the way the candidates get on the command list in the first place is far from perfect and I would agree. Is the system perfect? Not by a long shot. Do some of the “wrong folks” get past the screen? Yes they do. Are there competent leaders who don’t make the cut? Absolutely. But it’s not for lack of effort on the part of the Wing CCs. Trust me – you don’t want an incompetent buffoon running one of your squadrons – or groups for that matter. It just makes your life a living hell. You don’t have time as a Wing CC to be watching over every move a squadron commander makes. It’s their job to #1 get the mission done & #2 take care of their people. You have to trust them. If you don’t trust them you HAVE TO FIRE THEM. And that is no fun. On square filling (making the grade) – I agree 1,000 percent. We place far too much emphasis on meaningless squares and less on actual mission effectiveness (and LEADERSHIP ability). Who gives a crap that you were a “DG” at a meaningless 6-week SOS course? Does that qualify you to command 170 airmen executing worldwide tactical airlift and combat airdrop? How about that Masters degree in aviation science from ERAU? Being a Sq/Gp/Wg Exec? Why do we make our CGOs do SOS in correspondence before they can go in residence? I recently recommended to a very senior level GO that we mask not only the Masters but also the method of PME completion – and then eliminate SOS in residence entirely. Make the board READ the package instead of just scrolling down the surf checking off items. Next up get rid of BPZ promotions – yeah I’m one of those – but they become perpetual almost by default. And everyone knows it. Here’s an earth shattering idea – why don’t we base the command selection criteria on how well you perform as a leader – under pressure? But the real question is how do you quantify that into a process that allows the AF enterprise to effectively? Also, how do you do it in such a way that someone – a Wing CC – who’s never served with you, doesn’t know you, doesn’t know how effectively you can lead will know that you are the right guy/gal to hire as a new Sq/CC? Can we come up with that process? I’m not so sure. I’m fairly certain I’m the only former Wing/CC willing to stick his neck out and take the shots on this blog and so be it. I’ll be a civilian soon enough. I like what Tony writes – even if I don’t always agree with it 100%. I usually weigh in on the opposing side – but not always. Tony knows it too – but I respect what he writes. It’s always thought provoking. I’ve been through the command track and I’m very familiar with all the ills our “leadership development” system has. And right now I have the an uncommon opportunity to work personally with our current Chief every day. I would say I think I know him – and what he thinks about leadership pretty well. So at the risk of being called a boot-licking conformist by another anonymous poster you have my take. And I am more than willing to give you the other side of the argument. This place is like 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon. Every thread leads back to what's wrong with the AF.

In his defense, it's about time a CGO came out (STS) and said it in public, because his "leadership" probably doesn't give a damn. I applaud him for having the balls to use his real name and stating something that many of us agree with. He's the opposite of Col (s) Tater Tots.

It was way beyond hazing... Ask your local 14N CGO about it.