Liquid

Rotations, not basing. At least for many years.

I'm not easily offended, but my tolerance for inappropriate sexist behavior at work is very low. Words games based on sex jokes or traditions should go. So should saying sts after every double meaning, deliberately making a sexual reference where one did not exist. And yes, I think the call sign Beaver is stupid and inappropriate no matter how fond of mammals you are. Look up the rape songs on your own time. I know of at least ten. And to be clear, I don't give a shit what you anonymously post on the internet or do off duty. I'm talking about at work and in uniform.

This is true for IDE and will be for at least a few years. DTs have met or will soon. Each MAJCOM can send only one candidate and as many selects as they can. Will likely be the same next year. Like GC said, not enough seats for all the selects, so very few candidates will go. More latitude on SDE. This IDE limit will hurt us. The ability to identify candidate talent after the O-4 board is critical to develop future leaders. Not sure how this one will work out. It will mean more commanders, colonels and generals won't have IDE in residence complete. Some may see that as a good thing. Good point. I don't really understand force management policies and I'm not involved in making them. If we are going to RIF certain year groups in certain AFSCs, it makes perfect sense to approve Palace Chase for them. They should use all force management tools to meet their objectives. Yes, TFI is a good thing. Most career fields I am familiar with are undermanned so I'm not a huge fan of ADSC waivers without overages to support. Nice ERAU shot, asshole.

41 pages of good discussion on the ACP topic. Even if we did have a too many pilots, why would we regularly approve early release from ADSC? Serve your time, payback your training, then do whatever you want. Just don't complain when the request for a ADSC waiver (Palace Chase) is disapproved.

Thread transfer the hard way. g2s said: "1. I agree 100% we don't need stupid sexist shit to be a warrior. I'm just not sure which stupid sexist shit you are referring to. You speak very well in generalities, but I have yet to hear specifics. 2. The AF has not changed how I nor 99.69% of AF officers act at work because we DO NOT and HAVE NOT condoned or taken part in sex jokes or rape songs in the work place...EVER. Singing and joking that some might deem inappropriate in the workplace, if and when it happens, is done on people's personal time once the J-O-B is done. Again I say, and as you also point out, what we do outside of work (without breaking the law) is our business. 3. It seems the upper officer echelons think there is a sexually perverse (i.e. sexist) mindset across our officer corps that has led to a serious wave of sexual assault and/or mistreatment of women in the workplace. Does sexual misconduct happen in the workplace? Yes, but very rarely! Do I consider this part of the culture? ABSOLUTELY NOT. In fact, I would say women have more opportunities and equality now than ever before in the DoD! It certainly doesn't help that there are high profile cases in the news, displaying certain AF officers as the poster boys of all that is sexually deviant. But I would argue that, by and large, the vast majority of us comply with, accept, and promote equality and professionalism in the workplace. 4. Sexual assualt is not a disease that has all of a sudden infected us wholesale, but rather a few idiots have been highlighted for their very poorly timed improper sexual actions. Political points are now being won in the legislative branch of the Federal government and all DoD members are getting their diapers changed with a new scent of Gold Bond so we can "rid ourselves" of "sexist thinking." BONUS ... For Pete's sake, the whole .69 thing...take a joke and smile man. If you shut me off at .69, then I would say you have bigger issues to deal with. Just smile, it will make you feel better. Mods- Sorry for the thread jack. I believe this would be more appropriate in the SARC thread." Ok, I used stupid sexist specifics earlier but I'll clarify again. Sexist call signs. Word games based on sex like box, head, sts and 69. Doofer books. Songs about raping women. Groping and grabbing women. Playboy bunny patches on flightsuits. Naked women on the wall in the office. Porn clips in crew briefs. Again, nobody really cares what you do on off duty time, but when you wear the uniform or are in a government building or are being paid per diem to be somewhere or are deployed, the above specifics are wrong. Don't tell me AF officers have never condoned sex jokes or rape songs in the work place. That is bullshit, it happens all the time. Maybe not in your current world, but it happens. I've seen plenty of it and I've taken plenty of formal UCMJ and informal action against it. The former TSgt Smith case alleging misconduct at Kunsan and Shaw is an example of our AF officers doing it at work. And it isn't just the flyers or fighter community. Sexual harassment and hostile work environments exist in ammo, maintenance, ATC, security forces, etc. Argue all day about the correlation of hostile work environments and sexual assault. It doesn't matter who is right, the hostile work environments need to go. Be on the right side of getting rid of these stupid traditions. It shouldn't matter, but I swear like a sailor, drink like a fish, gamble, enjoy violent entertainment and laugh at offensive humor, so ease off on the high horse or religious attacks. It isn't sexist thinking we care about, it is the sexually offensive and harassing actions taken in the workplace.

No doubt I will be outed soon. I say these things in public all the time so it shouldn't be too hard to figure it out. I do like having the ability to post without officially representing the AF. That will change when my rank and name are associated with my observations and opinions.

Not saying anything about killing songs, drinking stories or warrior ethos. Just the sex jokes and rape songs at work. Don't care what you post here, think, or do off duty (obviously unless you are breaking the law/UCMJ). The AF will change how you act at work. No more nudge, nudge, wink, wink, it's ok because it is tradition and makes us better fighters. I'm more warrior minded than you think. I just know you don't need this stupid sexist shit to be a warrior.

Nope, I mean those childish and sexist idiots who use the number 69 and word games to make sex jokes at work. It shouldn't matter in this discussion but I am a pilot. No high horse syndrome, I've been saying this about the inappropriate sexist culture for my entire career.

Sexist call signs are wrong. Balls, Fingers, Crab, Porno, Nasty, Lick, Woody, Hung, Banger, etc, etc. Funny in the 8th grade. Embarrassing and unacceptable in a professional fighting force.

You know what ADSC stands for right? Palace Chase is a force management tool used when supply exceeds demand. Not just to allow the disgruntled and under performers the opportunity to get out early.

Because after almost twelve years of combat you still think we will have a draft in the next war? Will it make you feel better to pass a law that forces all young women to register to prove a point that women that do serve shouldn't be treated equal? Call your congressmen and let them know you want women to register for a draft. Let us know how that goes.

Not true

Head, box, rape songs, call signs, 69 and sts. Moronic, with a shelf life. Say goodbye to this dumb ass culture. Bitch all you want, we won't miss it.

You said nameless slide jockey. WTF did you mean then? What is the false premise? You guys and your stupid ass infatuation with the number 69. F*ing retards.

Slander, same result, fewer hurt feelings. CCs and raters should give honest feedback. They don't because people are too sensitive. They get butt hurt and quit. Many on this forum can't grasp the concept of not promoting everyone, using 1 to n strats and the AF not valuing people who don't give a shit. Go get your trophy somewhere else, we have wars to fight and not everyone gets promoted. Fire away. Happy 4th.

Monkey, Mav is not a slide jockey at JSOC. Not all staff jobs are useless. For every experience you have with staffs and support sucking and wasting taxpayer dollars I can counter with crew dogs who min run it, contribute little and waste the taxpayer investment in their training. Don't be so naive to think you don't need quality AOs in the staff to get shit done. And don't think getting rid of all staffs will solve our problems. Senior raters discriminate with push lines so help the board identify the bottom 10-20%. Surprise.

JCS/OSD is the best, then joint staff, then Air Staff, then MAJCOM. I've seen some recent speeding on OPRs and PRFs with push lines so MAJCOM next stands out as low performer. Too many top pushes (speeding) and the senior rater loses credibility at the board. Sq//CC push is good, usually a top third performer. The words "definitely promote" are better than "promote" on the push line. All CCs should know this, not a big secret. Mav should get promoted if there is no derogatory info in the record. LORs, referrals, NJP are killers. Good strats and pushes early with regression is worse than steady improvement. Top performers start as mid Capts and sustain.

Maverick, you will most likely get promoted. Depends on your PRF push line and how well your OPRs read. If you are not a top half performer in your field, your supervisors and commanders may have put things like "potential" and "continue to challenge" and "MAJCOM staff next." Those would hurt a bit. You have a solid record, you are in a good job and you have plenty of combat/deployment time. With the AAD/PME easy kills done, and no real derogatory info in the record, you should get promoted. Commanders and bosses can't always tell you because they don't know. I scratch my head at some board decisions, but they get it right most of the time.

From the same CY2012 Maj board: 1014 pilots eligible, 658 had AAD (65%). 1014 pilots eligible, 356 no AAD (35%), 75% (256/356) were promoted 356 pilots without AAD, 209 got DP, 100% promoted 356 pilots without AAD, 147 got P, 88 promoted (60%) 111 pilots passed over, 84 had no AAD 84/111 passed over pilots without AAD all 84 had Ps, 37/84 did not do SOS in res Total officers 1926/2574 had AAD (75%) Total officers passed over 287/2574 (11%), 82 had AAD (29%) 11% of pilots were passed over (111/1014). Most of those did not have AAD (76%). Many of those passed over have an over inflated sense of how good they are and tend to blame no AAD, no Christmas Party planning and no exec time. The bottom 11% pilot records at a board are not strong. It sucks that they may be great dudes that fly well, lead well and get the mission done, but for the most part their raters, additional raters and senior raters didn't write good performance reports or PRFs on them. Blame the system or the senior rater, but the bottom line is when you rack and stack all records, the bottom 11% records really are the bottom 11%. The board gets that right. Letting passed over dudes with poker hands and beers pick the bottom 11% will still result in around 111 pilots wondering why they were passed over and questioning the system.

Bitte, I agree with everything you just said.

No directive I've heard. Spreadsheets with values are wrong. Rack and stacks I've seen and been a part of are founded first in Flt cc and sq cc inputs on how good they are a their primary job, and how talented they are, period. Ask your CCs to explain the spreadsheet, then give them direct feedback if your unit uses them. Hopefully, AAD masked at the next Maj board. Sorry for the ass comment, sometimes I'm a sensitive bitch.

General Condition, I can't get the quote function to work. I'm not naive enough to think I can reblue anyone here. I'm also not impressed with your authority to ask me to leave. You think we should take actions to help people but not the institution? False choice. You can do both, but you can't promote everyone. We can't take care of everyone equally when it comes to promotion. We obviously need to make some significant institutional change to make it better for people, no argument there. About 90% of the force makes Major. The bottom 10% is easy relatively easy to identify. Ft CCs, sq CCs and grp CCs help that. Spreadsheets that give points are retarded and used by the retarded. I've never seen one but they obviously exist. The top half is easy to identify. The DPs usually have much better records than the Ps. It is quite obvious when you look at thousands that sr raters and MLRs stratify the record consistently. And I get it, many of you say the criteria is flawed and too much weight is given to box checking. I disagree. From what I have seen, those passed over had the weakest records. Not saying they were all dirtbags, they weren't. The boards look at job performance, breadth, depth, stratification, combat, distinction (major awards and decs) to assess past performance and demonstrated capability to perform at next grade. They rack and stack, then draw a red line. You got a better way, let me know. I didn't start the sports analogy, but ok the top 50% of a football team are the starters on the field. The bottom half is on the bench and special teams trying to get a starting position. I fully aware of the value of 30 seconds, precision and not making mistakes during combat. Don't assume you are the only warfighter here. The pendulum on strats needs to come back, but the ultimate strat is the promotion board. The Air Force will be fine. Post Afghanistan, drawdown and budget cuts will suck, but we have a good Chief and we are making good progress. Not all of the senior leaders, commanders and BTZ Lt Cols are careerists. All the ones you know may be, but you live in a small world. If your community values the wrong shit, change it. Typing here with half a buzz doesn't really get much done. I've been bashing and changing the bullshit policies our AF has been dishing out for 20+ years and I'm not retiring any time soon. You guys are wrong on this promotion rant. The bottom 10-25% (depending on which board) is the bottom based on their record. Some good dudes get passed over but most have something in their record or not in their record that ranks them lower. No upgrade, no breadth, nothing other than "did a decent job at the position we hired and pay him for." Some just have shitty bosses. And if you think the AF is the only institution or business that has shitty bosses you are wrong. ######, I don't know how you guys have the motivation or time to blog this shit. Last point, those who refuse to do PME should just ######ing quit. Nothing says ###### you more than refusing to learn more about war fighting, history, leadership and decision making. Arrogant pricks think continuing education is not needed in a profession. Sure it could be better, but we are talking about civilian government employees and academia, what do you expect? Make the best of it, learn something and teach someone something.

I stand corrected. I've seen the term widely used to divide ops and support. The mindset and attitude you describe should be stomped out.

Spartacus, thanks for not outing me. I've been a guest reader or "lurker"as some call it for many years, but only recently started posting. This is a great blog and I value the many different perspectives. There are a few disgruntled and toxic assholes here, but there are a few everywhere. I enjoy the humor, sarcasm and pilot centric views here. I've never been called a spineless manager or careerist. Champ is wrong for insinuating it. I completely understand that my perspective may not be popular, or even right, but I shouldn't have to post my hours, medals, job title or bio to make a point. Most here don't. And just because we spend 2 million dollars to train a Lt how to fly doesn't mean they will be good at it, be a good officer or be worthy of promotion years later. You need to earn it and the competition is tough. I've seen plenty of "shoe clerks" lead maintainers, defenders, civil engineers, contracting and comm professionals in combat and run circles around some of our three foot zipper wearing sun gods who think we owe them something for mediocre work and an elitist attitude. Those that think "shoe clerks" aren't worthy of respect and support are morons. They would get our Air Force put back in the Army if they were allowed to make big boy decisions instead of just bitch. Fortunately, these morons won't make any important decisions because our system won't let them. I guess we will just keep telling these morons they are great fifth string QBs and that they would be really good coaches if they weren't screwed out of the chance to coach by spineless managers at the promotion board.

I don't assume that at all. The AF offers continuation to virtually all rated officers passed over. When they don't, there is usually a reason, something derogatory in the record, or overmanning that requires force shaping. Congress sets the end strength numbers for each grade. Not everyone gets promoted, whether they all "deserve" to or not. The bottom 15-25% don't, but they can usually stay in and keep doing their job. Some officers think they deserve to be commanders, staffers and FGOs merely because of their performance in their primary, technical job like flying. They don't. Don't worry. Even when the airlines are hiring, enough good people stay in. The AF will be just fine without those who separate due to being passed over or because they are unhappy with the requirements and competition related to promotions. We will continue to promote those who should do well at management/leadership jobs, but don't. And we will continue to pass over some good dudes who just got caught up in the consequences of being in the bottom half of the list. I know tons of great officers and pilots who lead their people, get the mission done and will make great commanders and senior leaders. We will do just fine without the toxic, anti-authority crowd. It sucks that we have people that value volunteering one social functions more than mission. I don't see that, never have. Where it happens, it should change. We do send officers to school as an assignment. IDE, SDE, AFIT and special programs. We can't send everyone, too much money and too much mission. Reduce TA? Really? Our people aren't working hard enough to deserve education benefits if they want them?