What's wrong with the Air Force?

[Biff_T]

25 minutes ago, Bigred said:

SDAP is taxable. 

Ok.   

[Blue]

On 9/3/2022 at 10:24 AM, pawnman said:

This should help retention during the strongest job market in decades. 

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2022/09/02/airmen-brace-for-special-duty-pay-cut-in-2023/?fbclid=IwAR2wIGPCTD6WJroaKeB3bD9Cnn_4dRWBcfMXPdmUlPA3QfiHxQaJHLVqLBY

 

21 hours ago, pawnman said:

Can't afford all those F-35s AND the personnel budget.

Guess which one brings in more money to congressional districts? 

"They're cutting our pay/manning/etc. so they can afford more F-35s!!!" has always been a common refrain.  However, I always felt it was challenging to draw a real clear line between "more F-35s" and "personnel getting shafted," due to the inherent complexity of DoD budgeting

That article however has this gem from Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin:

Allvin acknowledged that officials do “lose touch” with the needs of everyday airmen in the process of crafting future budgets.

“We carve out little bits of money here and there to afford that next F-35, or to be able to do that development and testing here. But that doesn’t resonate very well,” he said. “We all have work to do to understand the impact on recruiting and retention.”

Ultimately, Boeing, Lockheed, Northrop, et al, all have highly paid lobbyists on Capitol Hill, looking out for those companies, working to keep the money flowing.  There is something like 325k people on active duty in the Air Force.  Who is their lobbyist?  Who is looking out for them on Capitol Hill, to ensure they get a fair piece of the budgetary pie?  The answer is no one.  Absolutely no one of consequence is going to stand up on Capitol Hill and argue for less funding to F-35s and more to personnel.  Folks complaining about cuts to things like Special Duty Assignment Pay need to recognize these facts, and act accordingly.

On 9/8/2022 at 10:13 PM, di1630 said:

My estimate….You can cut 30% of the people with zero mission detriment.
Most of the people complaining are lucky they aren’t rotating tires at Walmart.

Some truth to this.  The old Charlie Beckwith quote “I’d rather go down the river with seven studs than with a hundred shitheads” comes to mind.  There are a lot of studs, and a whole lot of shitheads.  Would be great to better support and grow the studs, and weed-out the shitheads, but the entire personnel system isn't really structured to do this.  Probably more accurate to say the existing personnel system is designed to coddle the shitheads, and hope enough of the studs stay in to keep the wheels from coming off.

[StoleIt]

3 hours ago, Blue said:

Ultimately, Boeing, Lockheed, Northrop, et al, all have highly paid lobbyists on Capitol Hill, looking out for those companies, working to keep the money flowing.  There is something like 325k people on active duty in the Air Force.  Who is their lobbyist?  Who is looking out for them on Capitol Hill, to ensure they get a fair piece of the budgetary pie?  The answer is no one.  Absolutely no one of consequence is going to stand up on Capitol Hill and argue for less funding to F-35s and more to personnel.  Folks complaining about cuts to things like Special Duty Assignment Pay need to recognize these facts, and act accordingly.

Service Secretaries and Chiefs should be advocating for their personnel. Buuuuuut, those people also want a high paying job from one of them fancy defense contractors when their stint is over...

[CaptainMorgan]

SDAP is taxable. 

Flight pay and the bonus aren’t subject to Social Security. I imagine the same is true for all bonuses.


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[di1630]

Some truth to this.  The old Charlie Beckwith quote “I’d rather go down the river with seven studs than with a hundred shitheads” comes to mind.  There are a lot of studs, and a whole lot of shitheads.  Would be great to better support and grow the studs, and weed-out the shitheads, but the entire personnel system isn't really structured to do this.  Probably more accurate to say the existing personnel system is designed to coddle the shitheads, and hope enough of the studs stay in to keep the wheels from coming off.

Trust me…I volunteer my time on the support side of base to make sure they actually support ops. I walk into offices daily and wonder why we pay 5 people to do the job that one ops capt could do. I actually told the base commander he should cut 30%….he laughed.

It’s pretty much welfare disguised as govt employment

[ImNotARobot]

Reminds me of my favorite quote from Starship Troopers -

So what is this so called “Federal Service”? Parasitism, pure & simple. A functionless organ, utterly obsolete, living on the taxpayers. A decidedly expensive way for inferior people, who otherwise would be unemployed, to live at public expense for a term of years, and give themselves airs for the rest of their lives.

[ClearedHot]

Air Force colonel who called suicide a ‘chickensh-t way to go’ has been nominated to become a 1-star

The Air Force has given nothing but lip service to removing toxic leaders.  Nothing but fake interest in the well being of Airmen.  Funny how they quickly rolled out testimony from others who said he is a great guy and not toxic.  His statement revealed his true character and I am glad I am no longer in a service that promotes sycophants like this clown.

[FLEA]

31 minutes ago, ClearedHot said:

Air Force colonel who called suicide a ‘chickensh-t way to go’ has been nominated to become a 1-star

The Air Force has given nothing but lip service to removing toxic leaders.  Nothing but fake interest in the well being of Airmen.  Funny how they quickly rolled out testimony from others who said he is a great guy and not toxic.  His statement revealed his true character and I am glad I am no longer in a service that promotes sycophants like this clown.

I'm going to start poking Congress about this one. It's unacceptable. By the way, last week was suicide prevention awareness week. 

 

Edited September 11, 2022 by FLEA

[HU&W]

3 hours ago, ClearedHot said:

Air Force colonel who called suicide a ‘chickensh-t way to go’ has been nominated to become a 1-star

The Air Force has given nothing but lip service to removing toxic leaders.  Nothing but fake interest in the well being of Airmen.  Funny how they quickly rolled out testimony from others who said he is a great guy and not toxic.  His statement revealed his true character and I am glad I am no longer in a service that promotes sycophants like this clown.

Nothing surprises me anymore.  
 

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2019/06/01/afsoc-one-star-falsely-claimed-flight-hours-disrespected-subordinates-ig-found/

[CaptainMorgan]

Nothing surprises me anymore.  
 
https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2019/06/01/afsoc-one-star-falsely-claimed-flight-hours-disrespected-subordinates-ig-found/

Navs behaving badly.


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[Danger41]

That was from 3 years ago. Also, the circumstances of that one are very weird with somebody with an axe to grind. I had two very good friends that had been her execs and worked in her directorate and had nothing but good things to say.

 

[dream big]

2 hours ago, CaptainMorgan said:

Navs behaving badly.


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She needed those navigator hours for the airlines!! 
 

Back to SDP cuts, it sucks for the Airmen, but it’s simply supply and demand.  Many of those career fields are overmanned so retention is not a concern at the HAF level.  I will say, they are overmanned at the A1C-SSgt level, at least on the loadmaster side we are struggling to retain experienced crew dogs…but I don’t expect the Air Force to reach that level of analysis. 

 

[arg]

16 minutes ago, dream big said:

She needed those navigator hours for the airlines!! 
 

Back to SDP cuts, it sucks for the Airmen, but it’s simply supply and demand.  Many of those career fields are overmanned so retention is not a concern at the HAF level.  I will say, they are overmanned at the A1C-SSgt level, at least on the loadmaster side we are struggling to retain experienced crew dogs…but I don’t expect the Air Force to reach that level of analysis. 

 

A lot are overmanned on paper. Friend of mine was told by the "Chiefs group" that you need to forget about the airplane. He's like "but that's my job" they wanted to move him to a minimal flying billet to increase chances for promotion. So who takes up that slack? The on paper overmanned dudes. 

[ClearedHot]

8 hours ago, Danger41 said:

That was from 3 years ago. Also, the circumstances of that one are very weird with somebody with an axe to grind. I had two very good friends that had been her execs and worked in her directorate and had nothing but good things to say.

Sorry brother but I 1000% disagree.  One of the most careerist people I have ever met.

As an O-6 she made the Grp/CC list but no one bid her, not a single bid for a command in the entire Air Force...the  community knew she was toxic so they purposely didn't bid her.  At that point she had weaseled her way to be Dempsey's Speech writer.  One of the three stars in the SOCOM chain showed me the email from Dempsey ordering USAF/SOCOM/AFSOC to bid her to a position.

The circumstances of the toxic claims at ABQ may be around someone with an axe to grind, but the claim about falsifying flight records for pay was substantiated.  Hard to fire someone who was just on the cover of AF Magazine with her wife just as Don't ask Don't tell ends.

[Biff_T]

15 hours ago, ClearedHot said:

Sorry brother but I 1000% disagree.  One of the most careerist people I have ever met.

As an O-6 she made the Grp/CC list but no one bid her, not a single bid for a command in the entire Air Force...the  community knew she was toxic so they purposely didn't bid her.  At that point she had weaseled her way to be Dempsey's Speech writer.  One of the three stars in the SOCOM chain showed me the email from Dempsey ordering USAF/SOCOM/AFSOC to bid her to a position.

The circumstances of the toxic claims at ABQ may be around someone with an axe to grind, but the claim about falsifying flight records for pay was substantiated.  Hard to fire someone who was just on the cover of AF Magazine with her wife just as Don't ask Don't tell ends.

She flew on the Huey with us at Fairchild in 2016.   Prior to flying with us, our HARMs troop discovered she did not have a current form 8.   I was the CCV chief and had to let her know she couldn't log flight hours on the Huey.  Prior to that, she had been logging flight hours in the MC at ABQ and nobody noticed.  She was flying without a current form 8 and logging primary hours (in the MC at ABQ) as the SOW/CC.  Before somebody says she can fly on whatever she wants as the CC, she can't log hours unless she has a current form 8 (in any platform).  

I think the SOW/CC should know a little better.  

I flew with the previous SOW/CC during that same time period.  He had a current form 8 in the MC.  He logged flight hours and I let him land on the top of a mountain.  Good times.  

Edited September 13, 2022 by Biff_T
My bad coach

[ClearedHot]

6 minutes ago, Biff_T said:

She flew on the Huey with us at Fairchild in 2016.   Prior to flying with us, our HARMs troop discovered she did not have a current form 8.   I was the CCV chief and had to let her know she couldn't log flight hours on the Huey.  Prior to that, she had been logging flight hours in the MC at ABQ and nobody noticed.  She was flying without a current form 8 and logging primary hours (in the MC at ABQ) as the OG/CC. 

[Sua Sponte]

1 hour ago, Biff_T said:

She flew on the Huey with us at Fairchild in 2016.   Prior to flying with us, our HARMs troop discovered she did not have a current form 8.   I was the CCV chief and had to let her know she couldn't log flight hours on the Huey.  Prior to that, she had been logging flight hours in the MC at ABQ and nobody noticed.  She was flying without a current form 8 and logging primary hours (in the MC at ABQ) as the OG/CC.  Before somebody says she can fly on whatever she wants as the OG/CC, she can't log hours unless she has a current form 8 (in any platform).  

I think the OG/CC should know a little better.  

I flew with the 58 SOW/CC during that same time period.  He had a current form 8 in the MC.  He logged flight hours and I let him land on the top of a mountain.  Good times.  

The Altus CV did that around 2013-2014. He had a meeting with the AETC/CC and abruptly retired. Now he's a dipshit that flies for FedEx.

[SocialD]

1 hour ago, Sua Sponte said:

The Altus CV did that around 2013-2014. He had a meeting with the AETC/CC and abruptly retired. Now he's a dipshit that flies for FedEx.

 

 

Sounds like things worked out pretty well for him lol.  

[skibum]

19 hours ago, Danger41 said:

That was from 3 years ago. Also, the circumstances of that one are very weird with somebody with an axe to grind. I had two very good friends that had been her execs and worked in her directorate and had nothing but good things to say.

 

Saw her naked as an Lt -- I've nothing but good things to say.

[ClearedHot]

1 hour ago, skibum said:

Saw her naked as an Lt -- I've nothing but good things to say.

🤮

[CaptainMorgan]

Saw her naked as an Lt -- I've nothing but good things to say.

Pics or it didn’t happen.


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[McJay Pilot]

9 hours ago, Biff_T said:

She flew on the Huey with us at Fairchild in 2016.   Prior to flying with us, our HARMs troop discovered she did not have a current form 8.   I was the CCV chief and had to let her know she couldn't log flight hours on the Huey.  Prior to that, she had been logging flight hours in the MC at ABQ and nobody noticed.  She was flying without a current form 8 and logging primary hours (in the MC at ABQ) as the OG/CC.  Before somebody says she can fly on whatever she wants as the OG/CC, she can't log hours unless she has a current form 8 (in any platform).  

I think the OG/CC should know a little better.  

I flew with the 58 SOW/CC during that same time period.  He had a current form 8 in the MC.  He logged flight hours and I let him land on the top of a mountain.  Good times.  

You guys are talking about two different females 😂

[Swizzle]

1 hour ago, McJay Pilot said:

You guys are talking about two different females 😂

As in age? Or…should expect two sets of @CaptainMorgandemands!? 🤔 

not sure where this is going

[Biff_T]

2 hours ago, McJay Pilot said:

You guys are talking about two different females 😂

Shit,  I just remembered she WAS the SOW/CC at the time.   I will fix it 

[SnafuTofu]

Not to move away from the commander logging flight hours. Just my perspective on what’s wrong with the Air Force. Two things the mindset and expectations(or lack thereof) they build in ROTC, and the discrepancy between mistakes in MX/OPs versus Support.
I’ve got people commissioning from ROTC, awaiting their EAD and almost missing their EAD/RNLTD because the NCOs at their detachment failed to update them on the EAD moving up. Only reason they made it was another one from their class went into Force Support, recognized the name and contacted the LT. No idea they were moved up by over a month. Same NCOs messed up their entire commissioning class certificates, wrong year, not full name and other issues. The NCOs both left getting decs.
Cadets and newly minted LTs are continuously told to take it on the chin and “be flexible”. We’re actively teaching the next generation of leaders that it’s ok to do subpar work, in fact you’ll get rewarded for it. I don’t know if it’s a lack of motivation, a lack of seeing the bigger picture, or what. But I’ve had multiple LTs from ROTC tell me they actively recommend people NOT go to AFROTC because of the BS they’ve been put through. I was prior E when I went through ROTC, so it’s hard for me to have an unbiased opinion on what’s BS when 17 year olds were telling me about “in the real Air Force”.

In my own experience I tried to go reserve pilot through AFROTC, and didn’t get put up to the board because my NCOs tried arguing I couldn’t go because of my type of scholarship. After emailing HQ, sitting on that email for two weeks, they informed me, a week after the deadline, that I could apply. When I went to the commander and Education Officer it was basically “tough shit, sorry it happened”. They proceeded to just not send applications for the next guy trying to do it.
I was MX before, if I lost a screwdriver I got in exponentially more trouble than the NCOs who potentially costs two people their dream careers. I’ll never understand the discrepancy between support mistakes and subsequent admin actions versus MX mistakes and admin actions. I get the life or death scenarios involved with mistakes in MX, I’m not arguing we should be more lenient. I don’t understand how jacking someone’s pay, not out-processing, not doing your job doesn’t result in the same leve of “punishment”.

Rant over


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