Fiver

People make choices based on how they are incentivized. The Air Force incentivizes people to be 'yes men'. Think Christmas parties instead of flying sorties. To capture true leadership, you need 360 degree feedback. A leader must build relationships with his boss, peers, and subordinates; all while improving the organization. We are incentivized, by OPRs, strats, promotions and schools to burn our peers and subordinates to please our boss. The previous SOF commander is an example. We get rewarded to do so. We get taught, from early on, to not be 'yes men' and to conduct 360 degree feedback, but we are incentivized to do the opposite. Your incentive remains: please your boss, fvck everyone else. Until the incentive changes, i.e. your school, strat, OPR and promotion is based on inputs from your boss, peers, and subordinates, you will continue to get the same result. The ones that have relationships with everyone around them and continue to drive the organization, will see the problem and leave the Air Force; they're too smart and talented to tolerate the toxicity. The ones that do whatever their boss wants, at the expense of the people around them, will be just like you Chang and lead our Air Force.

I'm a free market guy. Recruiting a problem? GI Bill bennies increased Retention a problem? GI Transferability easier If not, make us pay and see where the market goes. My opinion, recruiting isn't swayed - retention is already fvcked

All I know after reading through that link is that if I ever commit rape, I am glad I am in the Air Force and an officer, jail for a couple weeks (maybe) and I walk free? Those punishments are disgusting. Especially the ones involving children, sometimes their own. Punishments of 6 mos, 40 mos, etc? If I was the JAG, those motherfu**ers wouldn't make it out of the courtroom before they were lethally injected. I thought the UCMJ was supposed to be tougher on us because we are held to a higher standard. I am truly disappointed in every single one of those punishments. My daughters are no longer allowed to be in the military.

What's the incentive for the Air Force to change the personnel system? We put bombs on target, provide air superiority, and move a ton of shit through the air and we do it better than any nation ever has before. It's all because of the people. Maybe..just maybe..the Air Force gets it right. Maybe the people that leave AD for the Reserves or the corporate world would provide too much chaos to the system that achieves its objectives better than everyone else. In the end, box checkers and ass kickers that are toxic leaders climb the ranks (Rhat, CZ); however, so do a lot of really good bros (maybe Welsh?). Is that any different than Exxon Mobile, Goldman Sachs, Amazon, or Coca Cola? I don't know. People/systems change because of the incentives available to them. For now, we are all incentivized with job security, pay, retirement, and authority. The personnel system is incentivized because it is still an all volunteer force that, contrary to popular belief, does not have an attrition problem. Until those incentives don't align with the goals, there is no reason to change. Now, I don't agree with any of that but it is certainly worth noting. I hate Chang more than my mother-in-law but if you can look through his pompous bullshit there is some value. The people I have found that I enjoy working for and have made me better, do not always get stars on their shoulder. Instead, the "mentors" that "mentor" me by telling me how make Colonel, even though that's not my goal, are the ones that make rank. It's mindless but I could do it for 20 years and drive nice cars, own a nice house, and have a solid retirement check, A1 does that for me so thanks. I have little to no stress and it is an easy paycheck if I can tolerate TDYs and deployments. The biggest losers do get kicked out as they should (great job A1). The next group of losers are able to stay because some of the top tier of leaders bail voluntarily because they do not feel valued. They in-turn give up their slots to that second group of losers that are now allowed to stay. That's where the Air Force can improve. It would be great for the all the best leaders to stay because they feel they are valued. They feel the decisions they make influence the direction of the organization. They trust the system. Until the Air Force is incentived to keep all those great leaders, the current system works and it works damn good. All that being said, I'm headed to the Reserves and the corporate world. Thanks AD for the opportunities, but I am tired of being a faceless ADSC, DOR, SSN, etc.

It's because we're too stubborn to trade requirements for cost, regardless of all the acquisition reforms and 'bending the cost curve' BS. The one thing we lack in acquisitions is accountability. The AF-1 "must" have 4 engines for reliability purposes. The only other option is Airbus 380 and the Pres ain't flying around in a French plane. I think it would be much easier to trade a ridiculous and unfounded requirement of 4 engines for a couple parachutes for the Pres and Secret Service if somehow the engines failed, which given historical reliability rates is slim to none. We're too dumb to learn and no one has the authority to make a decision. Hence, we buy the last 2 747s, shrink wrap them until we can mod them, and run into the same problem of no supply chain to support parts. Win for Boeing, loss for AF acquisitions...again. It's a bunch of yes men running the show. The thing that chaps my ass about or our organization is that our leaders must know this, they're a helluva lot smarter than me. Yet, there is no incentive to stop the train wreck. Shut up and color and you won't get fired. The F-35 is going to end up costing the same amount per tail as the F-22 with less payload, range, and maneuverability, but regardless of every business professional in the world that says you can't make decisions on sunk cost, we continue to plow funds into this program that was supposed to cost 1/5 the cost of an F-22 per tail. Too many stakeholders to quit now. Sorry for the rant, where's my scotch.

You smell that? Someone's lawyering up!

VSP approval/disapprovals have started. I got 2 buddies that have received e-mails to their work accounts. 1 approval and 1 disapproval. Unfortunately those are the only friends I have...except for you guys, of course! We will all know a little more by the end of the day between the matrix and people's approvals. Stay tuned

You're right corrections made; however, out of all the info in the post the only comment is on the spelling of Welsch's name? Welsh is a tough one; it would be easier if it were Nebuchadnezzar. You're destined for 0-6. Pull that TERA app! Just kidding. I appreciate it, accept for the cussing at me about spelling errors. I am much better on a team than by myself.

- 6 year ADSC means they are waiving 6 years, so you only have to have served 4 years of UPT commitment to be eligible - they are extending/doing another round of programs in FY14/15 which will include ADSC waivers...this program will push VSP separation window to 30 Apr 15 and TERA window to 1 May 15. Why? because they have done very little with the first two programs Why? because they have no accountability and can do what they want for the sake of doing "what's best for the air force" and you can't do anything about it. - I think we will hear something this week or next on some officers getting approved/disapproved for VSP/TERA, but no where near the amount needed to reduce the force by 18K peeps over the next 3 years; hence, more force management programs. - You have to remember too that 10k applications of 327K total people in the Air Force is 3.1% of the total force. Relatively speaking, not a whole lot of people care about approving these voluntary applications - The question that we will never get answered is, "why are we turning down thousands of voluntary applications if we have to do involuntary programs in 15?" This ineligible bullshit is nonsensical. - I bet they had more applications in some overages than needed and less applications than needed for other AFSCs/yeargroups. Which ones, we may never know since they don't even know what matrix to use. - I don't think they know what to do with pilots due to A-10, KC-10, U-2 and the reshuffling of planes to the reserves, but they will have to let a lot of pilots go, they just don't know exactly where yet. Why? No one can make decisions in the AF without an eSSS signed by 74 other people. - But there is no doubt, VSP/TERAs will get denied and then people will get RIF'd. Not for the sake of money, but for the sake of incompetence and too many bureaucrats involved in the process. - They are slow rollin' this beast until FY15 NDAA comes out...they just wanted to, "give you and your families enough time to think about it" but that really means give them more time to figure out how to execute these programs given the ever changing budget - I think we will get an answer for the missed deadline and delays in processing of something like, "the continued balance of readiness, force structure, and modernization has caused us to make strategic decisions to reevaluate the appropriate force management timeline" blah, blah, blah - I bet we hear more of nothing on MyPers in the form of an article that continues to tell us nothing of any substance and further distances us because we cannot believe what he says because he continues to over promise and under deliver. Any date they post, any criteria they list, any matrix will be worthless information. - We will not get solid answers to tough questions...ever. - because I don't like to b**** without offering a solution... All voluntary applications approved. I have 8k more people to get rid of through involuntary measures and potentially less than 10k more to cross train if necessary (Aug 2013 done). Sept 13 - Mar 2014, RIF boards complete, verify my end strength numbers with congress, 1 Apr 2014 I'm chuckin' deuces to 8k peeps. I got my cash for FY16 and I'm throwin' benjies at F-35 delays, RQ-4s I don't want, pilots are flying again and not working at habitat for humanity, and the reserves are flying any plane built before 1990. 2 Apr 2014, I'm lookin' for my follow-on consulting assignment at SAIC thanks to Deb.

I feel like I'm in an AOL chat room circa 1996. Back to business... UPT waiver is 6 years and aviator retention pay is waived too. Only thing that looks like it won't get waived is weapons school. Get yo popcorn ready... Bullies

Were all of the enlisted VSP applications processed? There should be about 1,100 enlisted VSP approvals based on the old matrices.

"Transparency" new 13-65 and matrix must be coming out "soon" since they updated 14-08 and not 13-65, but they have stated they are waiting on Rated and Health Professional clearance before starting application processing AND they are allowing people to resubmit if they have disapproved. Remember, Cox said they have now gathered the data and know how they can maximize their voluntary programs (so wrong to do it that way). Therefore, they know how many pilots submitted and they know how many years of UPT they have to waive to reach their 415 number by platform. My guess is they have to waive part of UPT ADSC, maybe 2-6 years if they are going to VSP any pilots. They are obviously considering letting docs get out, which is shocking. I don't think they are going to come anywhere near their target and are going to hit the involuntary option pretty hard in FY15 if they are letting their most expensive personnel bounce. I don't foresee a lot of pilots eligible for involuntary. I bet they reach their target with voluntary since they already know what they have to do to achieve their objective. Opinion: don't break my balls. It's bar talk.

D.C. is shutdown today, due to weather. People are teleworking on St. Patty's Day. I wouldn't expect a whole lot of movement today as I am sure AFPC needs some official guidance on how to proceed given the announcement was not made until Friday evening/Saturday morning.

I don't think Big Blue is going to let pilots VSP and probably not a lot of TERAs. We are transferring a ton of planes to the Reserves and Guard. I think they are going to open up the ADSCs to allow/encourage pilots to take the Palace Chase option--not VSP/TERA. Pilots are too valuable. Regardless of the sunk costs of pilot training, we can train pilots in a short time span to be MSG officers. We can't train MSG officers to fill the Reserve/Guard pilot positions that are opening up when we move planes to the Reserves. Read the Force Structure articles and FY15 PB out there. MQ1/9s replacing U-2s and moving to the guard. F-16s moving to A-10 Reserve bases, tankers doing the same, C-130Js, etc. all moving to the Reserve/Guard. All the publicity about Total Force and increasing the role/responsibility of the Reserve/Guard. We can't let pilots go, we HAVE to let pilots go to the Reserve/Guard. I don't think the current PSDMs allow pilots to go Palace Chase if they have an ADSC, I could be wrong as I usually am. We have to let folks out by 1 Oct to afford all of the Force Structure movement and large acquisition programs in FY15 but our hands are tied. The leadership keeps saying it, without saying it. That's what Big Blue calls transparency. It would take a pair of nuts to explicitly say it and stand by what you say, and Billy Mitchell is long gone. If you hear the lawyers are holding up this program, it's because the FY14NDAA that came out only allows us to cut 2K people. That is a far cry from the supposedly 25K we plan to cut over the next 5 years. We have to ask for permission from Congress, OSD and CJSC to go below the FY14NDAA level. Plus, there is USC10 which says you can only get rid of a certain percent of officers based on what the FY14NDAA authorizes. Therefore, we wouldn't be able to get rid of as many people as we want to this year. We are better off waiting until next year to see what next year's FY15NDAA authorizes our end strength (hence the RIF delay). So, when you hear leadership say they are trying to designate who has authority, they are trying to clear these things up. In addition to that, there are a lot of people with ADSCs that are not waiverable based on the current PSDMs , therefore those people are eligible for the RIF but not VSP/TERA. That greatly reduces the amount of people that can apply and voids the statement that they will maximize voluntary applications before doing the involuntary measures. They have to open up the ADSCs, I just don't think many pilots will be allowed to go. I think they are trying to see how many people and which people they should let go this year because they are limited by the FY14NDAA. Hopefully, the approval they get allows them to process all of the voluntary applications but who really knows how many applications they received. I bet they slow roll this program. That's why some TERAs with 19 are approved and nothing else. They are going to chip away at the 2K-3K people that we are allowed to reduce. It is a complicated problem that has changed since the Force Management announcement with the FY14 NDAA coming out and it is tough to blame Welsch and Cox (who I have heard are Dudes) for not being able to predict what Congress would publish. Plus, once real lawyers (not JA) get involved nothing good can happen. That's a shot at JA, but I am sure they have been involved this whole time and never saw this coming. It is NOT tough to blame leadership for the lack of communication and lack of accountability. It's the 21st century. Tweet some sh**, make a Facebook page, make daily (not bi-monthly) posts on MyPers/vMPF. You might even get valuable feedback from the peasants you are trying to get rid of; however, you might be held accountable too and that is something we can't seem to get right in the AF. In the end, these dudes can't and won't get fired. Deadlines spur action and they control the deadline. There is little to no incentive for them to get it right the first time, any other belief is romantic. Hopefully these dudes grow a pair and let us know what's up. It's really not that hard to communicate. I have cancelled 2 interviews, my bosses hate me, and I haven't done anything productive at work in 6 weeks; unless you call checking MyPers, BO, and vMPF every 10-15 minutes productive. Go to church, hug your families, and tell them you're sorry for putting them through this emotional rollercoaster. Good luck.