Tumbleweed

Dude, Unless you are Goldfein himself, NOTHING is going to change. We've heard the call to cleanse the system of toxic leaders before and nothing came of it, the primary reason I ran for the airlines and a guard unit at my first opportunity almost three years ago. If you want a toxic community look no further than AFSOC. Two of the worst most caustic humans that have ever lived have risen to become General Officers in AFSOC. One gave 30+ commander directed Q-3s while commanding the 15th SOS. As a Group/CC and deployed JSOAC/CC he hammered a dude in my community for losing his weapon down range, only to lose his gun a short time later and have it covered up by his command chief. He openly hates anything outside of his realm like the Weapons School and actively fought to end the program, going as far as shaming people who wore their graduate patch, then surrounded himself with patches downrange. As the Group/CC he flew a CV-22 into a tree, almost rolling the aircraft into the dirt. That little escapade got him a commander directed Q-3 of his own from the Wing/CC which would have ended any other officer's career, his punishment was to be there Wing/CC at Cannon where I hear he salted the earth and left a trail of destruction. Through all of this and multiple IG complaints from people I respect, NOTHING happened and he is now a two star select. Until you fix assholes like him, NOTHING will change. When I dropped my separation papers there was some doubt, the brothers and sisters I fought with were incredible people who shaped my life, now I look at the decision as the best of my life because I don't have to watch toxic leaders destroy the Air Force I love.

It depends.

Beerman, I know you've been here for a while and your comments are usually spot on, I guess we just see things differently. I am not looking for "epic job satisfaction", I joined to serve my country and I know that comes with sacrifice, but I can tell you what I have been doing and the pace I've been doing it at it for the past five years has very little satisfaction. It was not hyperbole to say my 15th deployment and the 1:1 bog dwell for years on end has taken a toll on my family. I am sure others have been working just as hard and I can keep running at this pace, but it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when you see a double standard with some of our leaders. As for the footnote, I was serious, I am not sport bitching just because my community is having a tough time. Look around, 750 Eagles to 189 Raptors, the F-35 will never be purchased in they numbers we want, our overall fighter numbers are at an all time low and going lower, TAMI 21, VSP X 2, a nuclear enterprise that can't stay out of the news, a nuclear enterprise that is old and worn out, general officers getting plastered in Moscow, a broken CSAR fleet, 60 year old tankers, sexual assault in the news every other week, Force Shaping to pay for more F-35s, our shit is broken and worn out and we are replacing about 1/3 of what we have. Our adversaries are investing and while they may not be there yet, they are building fast. So yes, at the current rate I think we are in trouble. As for the airlines, flying the 320 from Newark to Chicago does not sound like a life fulfilling adventure, but I can't see doing what I have been for the next 12 years.

Combat Liberty

Sadly, I am with you. I so badly wanted to serve and make a difference, but I find myself on the road for the 15th time with no regard for my future or that of my family. From leadership, to opstempo, to equipment, we are losing on all fronts. We were once the greatest Air Force on earth, but sadly at the rate we are currently going we will be nothing more than a sad footnote of failure.

If we use it to hold shitty leaders accountable. Right now there is some traction because the press is reporting just how bad we have let it get. It appears the Navy and the Army are taking a serious look, but based on what I've seen, we seem willing to tolerate tyrants, we even accelerate them. Odds are we will water it down, share the feedback with the caustic leader who will then change his or her surface behavior only to remain a cancer in the system. If USAF wants to seriously make an effort, it needs to start with firing a few poisonous leaders that are in command right now.

Taking odds on just how badly the Air Force will water down the coming fad that will be 360 leadership. Given all the recent press about GO/FO misconduct and mistreatment there is a lot of chatter about 360 leadership coming to a base near you. I predict it will be an epic fail unless the real seniors put some teeth in it. 360 Leadership is supposed to be feedback that comes from members of an employee's immediate work circle. Most often, 360-degree feedback will include direct feedback from an employee's subordinates, peers, and supervisor(s), as well as a self-evaluation. I have two questions for those in charge; why aren't we doing it already and why do we have to wait for a formal program? There is an absolute chasm of perception on how some of our leaders are actually doing. I am not talking about sport bitching, that has always happened and always will. I am talking about malignant leaders that are rewarded for creating caustic environments. There are Category Five leaders that sweep an organization clean of any motivation and leave a trail of devastation. Somehow they have been rewarded for this destructive form of leadership rather than be held accountable, because those above refuse to listen or take any action. Reading some of the recently published DoD reports made me nauseous, not because it happened there, but because the problem has metastasized, I can think of other organizations where it is happening RIGHT NOW and the powers that be refuse to take action. We have so much potential, it is sad to see it squandered. I am sure there will be a grand roll out of the program, but unless the real leaders are willing to step forward and put everything on the line to stop these corrosive tumors, the program will slowly fade away and it will be business as usual. God I hope I am wrong.

Tell them the truth. Tell them we have a great Air Force full of extremely brave men and women who thanklessly protect this nation day and night around the world. Tell them to serve fearlessly, love with all their heart, to stand should to shoulder with the other brave ones that stepped forward to serve. Tell them to love life and never take it for granted, it can all end in an instant. Tell them our Air Force is far from perfect, in fact, in some places is has malignant leaders who would sell their soul to reach next level. Tell them to read your quote below and that we are broken, if we really wanted it to be fixed we would not wait for 360 feedback. As you are very much aware there are MAJCOM commanders who know they have shitty toxic SOBs currently sitting in command, so toxic that when a wing secretary filed an IG report against her own boss, the MAJCOM did nothing to the douche. Honestly tell them how a MAJCOM commander lets the cancer persist while a community slowly dies. Tell them that despite our current failings, we are still the most capable, most respected, and most fear Air Force on the planet. For years to come they will be asked to do more with less, to work long hours with little thanks other than self satisfaction, to hold back a tide of hate and envy for the life we have in this great country. Most of all, tell them we are counting on them to carry us forward. Tell them we are jealous we can't do it all over again.

Screw with people for no reason, you will go far in the USAF...I bet you are really good at measuring sock height. I guess we see life and service differently, everyone is working hard these days and I think if you woke up 600 CGOs at 0400 on a Saturday night to search their room, we might hear some bitching.

I am not trying to blow anything out of proportion and they did in fact taze a Airman. He was underage, drunk, and asleep in his bed. When leadership attempted to wake him up he did not respond. They called in SFS and he became belligerent and went after the SFS dude so they tazed him several times. I was not trying to say they randomly tazed someone, it sounds like he had it coming. The bigger issue was waking up several hundred people at 0400 to search their rooms.

Good times continue at Cannon. Rumor is Wing leadership woke up every dorm resident at 0400 early Sunday morning for an impromptu room inspection. They tazed an Airman several times who was drunk and asleep in his bed, he must have reacted negatively when they came into his room.

You must be new to gunships. The targets are Melrose are FAR better, add the urban setups and it blows A-77, A-78, B-7 away... The targets at Eglin are beat up rusted hulks that are in the same arrangement they were 15 years ago. Again, you must be new or uninformed. AFSOC did spend the money and moving targets are now in use on Melrose (<a https://www.afsoc.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/2013/02/130204-F-AX764-446.jpg). They actually have two moving target set ups, one a large sled towed by a truck and the smaller setup that is like a battle bot which simulates a human. The airspace restrictions you mentioned were self-imposed, just like the orbit limitations we had on Eglin for 15 years. Cannon DOES own and HAS owned Melrose for a while, it just took a while to get the funding to make it a gunship range. Both impact areas are open and they are turning joint users away. What Koolaid? For gunships, I agree, the terrain is not as good as it was at Hurlburt, there are no Antioch churches to go shoot on a Dry Fire, but for the rest of the community it is VERY good training. Your "plow an LZ anywhere in the work and do brownouts is well, ignorant. There is a tremendous difference doing LVA's in the sand at sea level at HRT versus real dust at 4300' at CVS. I don't think you read what I wrote, I said the purpose of a west coast base was supposed to reduce the time to deploy to the pacific. With the ACH that will not happen, a lot of folks said that up front. The temps in the summer make it a poor choice, but the ACH is going to the boneyard soon (the first one in a few months), and the ACJ will have the performance to overcome the told considerations. Again, not perfect and not defending the choice of Cannon, but it is not the doom and gloom you hear. ABSOLUTE NONSENSE, you might truly have no clue. Cannon (Melrose), is turning people away. Agreed, I said those thing were there along with other things. Plain and simple if you joined the military to live on the beach, well AFSOC and Cannon are not for you, but if you joined to serve then every assignment is what you make of it. I have no knowledge of corruption on the part of military folks buying property before the announcement, if true I hope they go to jail. What I do know is DoD closed the privatized housing deal with Belfour Beatty and they took over the housing on 1 Aug. They have 60 days to begin construction on the new homes and they have a very good track record. I forget the exact numbers but they are going to build 600+ new units to modern size and amenity standards, bulldoze current Joe Cannon Homes, and renovate all of the homes in Chavez West. They have three years to complete the entire project which will bring 1,000 new homes to Cannon. It is a huge step in the right direction that will put some pressure on the locals to lower the absorbent prices downtown. Perfect, nope, but a step forward. No talking points, just the reality of the situation. AFSOC always wanted a west coast base to make it easier to get to the pacific and yes they wanted another wing. At the end of the day, it is what it is and it is what you make of it. If you sit around and bitch rather than try to make it better then you will likely be miserable no matter where you are.

What planet are you living on? Say what you want about manning and the way big blue is feeding Cannon, but the airspace, routes, and range are far better than anything else in AFSOC. Eglin range is just that "Eglin", AFSOC is far lower on the priority list. Are you really trying to tell me A-77, A-78, and B-7 are better than what they have built at Melrose? By the way, Melrose belongs to AFSOC and they set the priority. Hornet and Osprey are great routes with far more terrain than anything I've seen within 300 miles of Hurlburt. Two impact areas, tow dirt LZ's, LVA pads, and the terrain looks like where we fight. As for a west coast base, it was NOT to be closer to users, it was supposed to reduce deployment time to the Pacific. One of the great benefits of Melrose is you can bring the users to you, more head on pillow time while still getting high end training. I wonder how many of the folks that 7 day opted out of Cannon have actually been to Cannon? I heard a few Einsteins who had more than two years of remaining ADSC (including once with 4 years), are in that group. Way to make a statement and burn your bridge, you are still going to Cannon. If you been to Cannon and you hate it, so be it, but to burn a bridge on word of mouth is simply dumb. Believe it or not there are a lot of folks that actually like Cannon. Is it on the Emerald Coast, nope, but if you like camping, hunting, hiking, and an overseas unit feel then it is not a bad place to be for a few years. They just signed the privatized housing deal and 1,000 new homes are on the way over the next three years, that will make a huge difference. I fully understand no one wants to stay at Cannon forever, (actually some do, a lot of folks move their against their will and have now retired there), I hope they find a way to rotate folks around, but to bitch about it or burn a career when you've never been there is just plain stupid.

15 and counting U-28 guys in the past few weeks, over an assignment to Cannon.

Fail, no other words.