Lack of rated dudes for staffs

[Square]

A PowerPoint brief from AFPC trickled down to us junior folks today regarding the number of rated officers in the AF and the various "bills" that AFPC needs to pay with our warm bodies. The bottom line of the brief was that going to staff was probably not going to be in the cards for the vast majority of folks as due to the number of other obligations (UAS, ALO, RAS, etc, etc) that take priority.

I don't really have a dog in the fight as to what these priorities are, but I could help but wonder what happens to these staffs without the rated people. I assume (maybe incorrectly) that these are staffs that impact the employment of airpower... and the folks that do the employing aren't involved in the staff, and instead the seats will be filled with officers who may have no idea about how this stuff really works. This thought becomes even more disturbing when Ithink about joint staffs... it seems like we're not going to be sending out people with the right expertise to be advocates for the Air Force.

I'm not trying to rehash the support vs ops or shoe vs not debate, but I'm honestly curious as to how this works. If all of the ops guys (and girls) are out flying, are the weather and intel and personnelists forming AF policy?

[afnav]

A PowerPoint brief from AFPC trickled down to us junior folks today regarding the number of rated officers in the AF and the various "bills" that AFPC needs to pay with our warm bodies. The bottom line of the brief was that going to staff was probably not going to be in the cards for the vast majority of folks as due to the number of other obligations (UAS, ALO, RAS, etc, etc) that take priority.

I don't really have a dog in the fight as to what these priorities are, but I could help but wonder what happens to these staffs without the rated people. I assume (maybe incorrectly) that these are staffs that impact the employment of airpower... and the folks that do the employing aren't involved in the staff, and instead the seats will be filled with officers who may have no idea about how this stuff really works. This thought becomes even more disturbing when Ithink about joint staffs... it seems like we're not going to be sending out people with the right expertise to be advocates for the Air Force.

I'm not trying to rehash the support vs ops or shoe vs not debate, but I'm honestly curious as to how this works. If all of the ops guys (and girls) are out flying, are the weather and intel and personnelists forming AF policy?

As a rated guy at the joint staff, I can give you some perspective on this subject.

I was a late-rate, and really late escaping the cockpit for a staff tour. I was going to an ALO command tour, but nepotism prevented it, and instead I ended up at STRATCOM. It ended up being worse than if I had gone anywhere else, or had stayed in the cockpit.

When I got to Offutt, airplanes were "out of vogue" with the leadership. Obviously, computers can do as much damage, if not more, than a fleet of aircraft. Therefore, non-rated types ran the creation of LeMay. I was thrown into a poorly-managed shop that did not call for any rated expertise whatsoever, and I was promptly passed over, while two overweight non-rated females were given DPs. I was then sent to an area that needed bomber experience and knowledge, but was never given any work to do. Individuals in leadership positions made crucial staffing decisions whose only flying experience was on Midwest Airlines flying to Reagan.

After the Minot nuke screw-up, anyone that had ever even seen a nuke became a hot commodity. With bomber and ICBM experience, I was in demand by organizations inside and outside the building, except for the directorate I was residing in. I made up for the lack of nuke experience everywhere else.

An internal shakeup has sent me to deal in nuke ops full time. Being the first AF rated officer assigned in over a year, I am constantly bombarded with questions and staffing requests. A navy S-3 NFO and navy E-6 pilot are writing critical nuke documents governing a huge chunk of our forces, and admit they don't know anything about bombers and tankers. Back in my old shop, they hired a civilian comm guy and a retired weather guy to handle BOMBER requirements. One of them called me up and asked me, "what do bombers use their radios/BLOS systems for, and are they really important?" These are the guys that will be staffing the global strike requirements for STRATCOM. No, really. I couldn't make that shit up.

From my experience, the other COCOMs are not much better. The FORCE APPLICATION (blow shit up) guy at EUCOM had no idea what a JASSM was. Seriously. He said he only dealt with the "non-kinetic" area, and they didn't have any rated guys in their shop.

There are non-rated guys making decisions about airplanes that have no knowledge on the subject, and are either too arrogant or too stupid to seek out the truth. I could go on and on, but you probably get the picture. If you are assigned to the staff, unless you know someone at the HQ, you very well may be thrown in a broom closet and forgotten. If you come early enough, you might be able to leave prior to your O4 or O5 board. If you are coming up for promotion, you could very easily get screwed by people (civilian and military) that do not care about you, and don't care that they ruin someone's life.

For the guys still in the cockpit, be careful about wanting a staff job too much. I no longer have the retainability to fly, and may have to stay here for a six-year tour instead of three. People die in this building. I'm not kidding. There are defibrillators everywhere. You might get passed over at the wing, but at least you will be able to go into the guard or reserve after you're done. I wanted to go be an ALO after I retire at 20, but if I never leave STRAT, they have already told me they will not hire me. If you like flying, stay away from the staff. Plenty of people have made O5 without it.

Just my two cents...

[disgruntledemployee]

The application of rated dudes to staffs is deplorably managed (if there is a more worse adjective, I'd use it). I've asked the question, "How does staff experience make a dude a better DO or CC?" It doesn't. If anything, I believe that some of our more mediocre leaders out there were able to wow their bosses with "mighty skills o' Powerpoint" while in the staff and earn DGs and primo follow-on assignments.

They will say, "But as an officer, you need career broadening in order to be a good leader, etc." I retort that rated dudes, if required in a staff, should go there to apply their rated expertise, not to learn the bazillion, self-licking processes that constitute a staff. Yet, that is what most staff dudes end up doing.

Square, you are correct. Dudes die in the staff. Its a soul sucking entity. I've wondered if staffs have ever done anything meaningful that makes its way down to the squadron.

I've told the AF that the days of sending people to the staff because "its better for your career" must end now. If a staff job calls for a rated dude, they had better be doing 100% rated-type work. If not, hire a civilian. Oh, and thats another thing. Staffs are way too heavy in the civilian pay scale. You can't spit without hitting a GS-15.

Dudes at the top of their game need to stay in the wing, and get promoted, and get the schools. That is where our best DOs and CCs will come from.

BTW, if you can't tell, I HATE the staff. Worst decision I ever made.

Out

[sputnik]

I saw the same brief, or a similar one. Here's what I'll tell you, if they're underfilling them to the point they say they are....well AF standard is rob Peter to pay Paul. Which means in about a year or so every swinging dick on the VML will end up with a staff RIP.

Can't answer your larger question about who is making those decisions.

Nav and Disgrunt, thanks for validating my decision making process. I took a long look and decided to forgo staff, accept the consequences, and go fly. It won't make you feel any better, but at least you're helping me rest easier with my decision.

[Hacker]

AFNav, thanks for your words about STRATCOM. As a fighter dude with lots of N-word experience, I was thinking about trying to peddle it somewhere that it might be valued.

I'll be right back after I scratch that off my ADP worksheet.

[Herk Driver]

They will say, "But as an officer, you need career broadening in order to be a good leader, etc." I retort that rated dudes, if required in a staff, should go there to apply their rated expertise, not to learn the bazillion, self-licking processes that constitute a staff. Yet, that is what most staff dudes end up doing.

What??

But you have to have someone on the staff to decide which airshows to send the components to.

[dmeg130]

All staffs are not created equal.

Perhaps it's merely the confluence of events and people, but there are some amazingly good things going on at AFRICOM. It may all come to a jaded crashing halt in the near future, but right now, there are a lot of seriously squared-away dudes leading across the board. As a rated guy on the staff, I am regularly pinged by all directorates for SME input by people who actually seem to give a rat's ass about the output of their work. I feel fully confident walking into my O-6 boss or 2-star Director's office and saying "we need to do this" that they will back me because they know what I'm talking about.

I would much rather be flying the line; however, I got a great location for a staff job. I feel I've learned a lot about the big picture way that COCOMs set themselves up to fight, rather than my squadron-level view of "why is my squadron STILL deployed?" Sorry to hear that there are so many with negative experiences, but I know that if I wasn't in the spot I'm in, there would be somebody who knows a lot less about this job trying to do it, and they'd make all the same mistakes I bitched about as a junior guy. I have the actual ability to make a difference in how stuff is employed, and how PR in particular is viewed here, so yeah, there are some good deals out there on the rated staff.

[Square]

An internal shakeup has sent me to deal in nuke ops full time. Being the first AF rated officer assigned in over a year, I am constantly bombarded with questions and staffing requests. A navy S-3 NFO and navy E-6 pilot are writing critical nuke documents governing a huge chunk of our forces, and admit they don't know anything about bombers and tankers. Back in my old shop, they hired a civilian comm guy and a retired weather guy to handle BOMBER requirements. One of them called me up and asked me, "what do bombers use their radios/BLOS systems for, and are they really important?" These are the guys that will be staffing the global strike requirements for STRATCOM. No, really. I couldn't make that shit up.

From my experience, the other COCOMs are not much better. The FORCE APPLICATION (blow shit up) guy at EUCOM had no idea what a JASSM was. Seriously. He said he only dealt with the "non-kinetic" area, and they didn't have any rated guys in their shop.

There are non-rated guys making decisions about airplanes that have no knowledge on the subject, and are either too arrogant or too stupid to seek out the truth. I could go on and on, but you probably get the picture. If you are assigned to the staff, unless you know someone at the HQ, you very well may be thrown in a broom closet and forgotten.

The bit in bold is really what I was getting at... and answers my question. I was hoping you'd say, "don't worry, those folks on staffs who don't know anything are not in any position to make any decisions or influence policy."

It worries me that this is how business is done.

[JarheadBoom]

...there are some amazingly good things going on at AFRICOM.

Could that have something to do with AFRICOM being new, and therefore hasn't had time to become a self-perpetuating juggernaut like some of the other _____COM staffs?

[BigFreddie]

Our CC and DO were talking about this as well. Their briefing was that staff positions over the last two assignment cycles have been 37% and 9% filled. The upcoming cycle will only be 3% filled. They said if you have wings on your chest you'd better plan on being in a flying job for at least the next 4 to 5 years. Not all bad in my book...

BF

[afnav]

Our CC and DO were talking about this as well. Their briefing was that staff positions over the last two assignment cycles have been 37% and 9% filled. The upcoming cycle will only be 3% filled. They said if you have wings on your chest you'd better plan on being in a flying job for at least the next 4 to 5 years. Not all bad in my book...

BF

That will be good...as long as they brief the promotion boards on the restrictions placed on the rated force. Non-rated creep into more and more command positions will be inevitable. I'd say there will be a non-rated squadron commander of a UAV unit within the next five years.

On my primary O5 board, the non-rated officers had a ten-point promotion percentage advantage on navs, and a five-point on pilots. That will probably increase, since rated guys will be stuck in the cockpit with limited command opportunities.