What's wrong with the Air Force?

[17D_guy]

2 hours ago, GKinnear said:

If you have questions, make the effort to make an appointment and ask the boss. Strive for the honest feedback and put yourself in his shoes and do an honest comparison against your peers. Ask questions from that point of view. Find out what factors (both subjective and objective) are important to your boss, your boss's boss, etc and how you improve. 

I'm probably in the minority here because there's facets of the strat process I really like.  I'm a simple dude, and the simple number makes it an easy goal for me to shoot for.  It's a common language I can share with every level of leadership above me.  Generally every boss has an idea of what their #1 looks like, for better/worse.

When I don't get the #1, or am not the #1 clearly, I do what GKinnear has said and talk with my boss (or bosses boss).  I've gotten great feedback (leadership focused, not bake sale/CGOC) and it's led to one of the best jobs I've ever had.

I'm old enough now to know how I work, what I value and what I'm willing to do to "succeed" in a given position.  The discussion with the boss will make it clear if this job is worth it.  

For example, I do like my peers and leadership but the current job is not "worth it."  I still work just as hard as I would any other job, and that's generally harder than a lot of fellow CGOs.  When OPR time comes around I don't care what's on there because there's levels of insanity to Staff that will not be mitigated by anyone working supremely hard to get the mission done.

[Weezer]

3 hours ago, GKinnear said:

 

IMO, the problem with the strat process, in the AF as a whole, is a lack of transparency. I'm not saying its nefarious as Commander's schedules are busy and they might not always have the ability to speak to officers on why Capt Snuffy got X and you got Y strats. If you have questions, make the effort to make an appointment and ask the boss. Strive for the honest feedback and put yourself in his shoes and do an honest comparison against your peers. Ask questions from that point of view. Find out what factors (both subjective and objective) are important to your boss, your boss's boss, etc and how you improve. 

 

 

I wish I'd had the benefit of this advice 8-10 years ago.  I went 4 years in a unit, and the only stray I got was "#X/XX as group CGOQ."  The one time I asked what it asked to actually get a strat, my boss, who had been the CGO assignments officer for my career field at AFPC, lied and said "X/XX as award winner IS a good  strat."

I didn't figure out how hard I'd been screwed until three years later, when an O-6 sat me down and told me I was a good officer and a hard worker, but I was probably not going to able to make Lt Col and was very likely to get RIFed because of those non-strat years.

Super bad on me for not better knowing what it takes to get promoted and even worse on me for not asking harder.

[hatedont]

47 minutes ago, Weezer said:

I wish I'd had the benefit of this advice 8-10 years ago.  I went 4 years in a unit, and the only stray I got was "#X/XX as group CGOQ."  The one time I asked what it asked to actually get a strat, my boss, who had been the CGO assignments officer for my career field at AFPC, lied and said "X/XX as award winner IS a good  strat."

I didn't figure out how hard I'd been screwed until three years later, when an O-6 sat me down and told me I was a good officer and a hard worker, but I was probably not going to able to make Lt Col and was very likely to get RIFed because of those non-strat years.

Super bad on me for not better knowing what it takes to get promoted and even worse on me for not asking harder.

Some people in AF are biased as hell. There will always be a cool kids club in the AF. Bros taking care of bros. I take care of everyone, especially the dudes people tend to kick to the curb because they might be strange.

Don't beat yourself up when people claiming to be leaders, ultimately failed you.

[olevelo]

The biggest problem with the strat game is my #1 is not necessarily anywhere near your #1, and in fact, my #15 (which doesn't even show up on the OPR) might have been in your top 3. We have this problem in the TPS grad community, and I'm guessing there are WIC communities as well, but not as likely since those grads get spread out to other units.


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[Weezer]

4 hours ago, hatedont said:

Some people in AF are biased as hell. There will always be a cool kids club in the AF. Bros taking care of bros. I take care of everyone, especially the dudes people tend to kick to the curb because they might be strange.

Don't beat yourself up when people claiming to be leaders, ultimately failed you.

Are you calling me strange?

[hatedont]

7 hours ago, Weezer said:

Are you calling me strange?

Hell no. Just speaking in general terms that I take care of everyone. This is why the AF is in trouble.

[sqwatch]

This thread is as painful to read as the WNBA is to watch, but it gives me something to do while I take a crap.


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[Guardian]

So if you were the AF in the middle of a pilot crisis would you be passing majors over for continuation? My buddy was just let go.


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[Guardian]

And paid him to leave too.


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[Weezer]

16 minutes ago, Guardian said:

So if you were the AF in the middle of a pilot crisis would you be passing majors over for continuation? My buddy was just let go.


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Is there more to the story?  MyPers strongly implies everyone "determined by the board to be fully qualified" will be continued.

Pilots (11X) are listed as a critical skill that will be offered continuation to 24 years.

[Chida]

Unless the guy was a criminal and given a dismissal thru a cm, given that we are supposedly in crisis, he should have been offered continuation. If he was not a criminal and not offered continuation, there's your evidence that the AF doesn't truly believe they're in crisis.


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[LookieRookie]

2 hours ago, Guardian said:

And paid him to leave too.


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Perfect he can go to a reserve unit, get a twice passed over waiver, and then be an airline pilot and keep his TR job.

[Guest]

Is there more to the story?  MyPers strongly implies everyone "determined by the board to be fully qualified" will be continued.

Pilots (11X) are listed as a critical skill that will be offered continuation to 24 years.

 

This. I don't know a single guy passed over for Major, let alone Lt Col, who wasn't offered continuation. I'm guessing the guy must have had a current UIF or a referral OPR or something to find himself in this predicament.

 

 

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[Guardian]

Not the shiny penny type but no criminal.


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[Motofalcon]

I know of two - the data is slightly old (right around fall '15 or spring of '16, can't exactly remember). One was an 11F, one was an 11B, both in white jets. Neither wanted to get out, and I bet that even if the AF had told them they were never going back to their MWS's but would just bounce around AETC (so very little money out of uncle suckers pockets, no T-X courses/requals) they would've been totally happy with that. Instead we lost two dudes and had two more slots to fill from somewhere else. 

I realize the shortage discussion has somewhat picked up since then, but even back then everyone I knew at afpc was talking about it and saying how it was about to get really bad - and then they kicked out those two guys.  

[17D_guy]

46 minutes ago, Motofalcon said:

I realize the shortage discussion has somewhat picked up since then, but even back then everyone I knew at afpc was talking about it and saying how it was about to get really bad - and then they kicked out those two guys.  

AFPC - "Look, I realize it's going to get bad soon, but our process says we've got to kick these guys out.  So that's what we're going to do, because here in AFI 69-8008, flowchart 2 it says to kick them out unless we waive them.  Waivers can take...like...weeks.  So we'll just follow the process."

[Hacker]

It wasn't that long ago that there wasn't any such thing as a strat on an OPR...and somehow people still got promoted and had cool jobs (oh, and flew airplanes providing combat airpower too).

[Duck]

Good news guys! The pilot shortage is over, or at least that's what I am assuming as all my buddies with "P"s got passed over! UFB!

A couple of my non-rated friends with "P"s got promoted though...
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[jazzdude]

Good news guys! The pilot shortage is over, or at least that's what I am assuming as all my buddies with "P"s got passed over! UFB!

A couple of my non-rated friends with "P"s got promoted though...
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Nah, it's just cheaper to keep pilots as continued captains. Plus they can fix the glitch again once there's no more shortage by stopping continuation since it's only a yearly extension up to a specified max. It's not like pilots have any better job opportunities outside of the military right now...

[Guest]

8 hours ago, Guardian said:

Not the shiny penny type but no criminal.


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Gotcha, I'm still guessing there's something your friend isn't telling you.  I've known one passed over for O-4, and one to O-5, and neither was exactly eager to advertise the why.  It's a shame, really, because both of them were great bros and mentors to the younger guys, and informally provided the leadership the AF is sorely lacking.  The one mistake Air Force still exists; unless you're an HPO (in which case you can phuck up as often as you like).

[VMFA187]

7 hours ago, ihtfp06 said:

Gotcha, I'm still guessing there's something your friend isn't telling you.

Do you guys not get automatically passed for not doing PME? Our distance PME, EWS, is a two year program and a number of guys who are not complete - Purposely or not, despite being great in all other aspects, have been and continue to be passed over for O-4.

[Champ Kind]

13 minutes ago, VMFA187 said:

Do you guys not get automatically passed for not doing PME? Our distance PME, EWS, is a two year program and a number of guys who are not complete - Purposely or not, despite being great in all other aspects, have been and continue to be passed over for O-4.

Simple answer:  lack of BVR PME all but takes you out of the running for a "DP" on your PRF to O-5 (LAF), which automatically takes you down to about a 50/50 chance of promotion.  

[Weezer]

1 hour ago, VMFA187 said:

Do you guys not get automatically passed for not doing PME? Our distance PME, EWS, is a two year program and a number of guys who are not complete - Purposely or not, despite being great in all other aspects, have been and continue to be passed over for O-4.

Even passed over he should have been offered continuation...

[BFM this]

1 hour ago, Champ Kind said:

Simple answer:  lack of BVR PME all but takes you out of the running for a "DP" on your PRF to O-5 (LAF), which automatically takes you down to about a 50/50 chance of promotion.  

It takes you a lot lower than that.  P without IDE is a rare select indeed.

[Guest]

Any idea if continuation stats will be released? How in the holy hell can we have gone from leadership hinting at stop-loss to non-continuing Majors??? Did somebody not get the phucking memo that we are short, and only going to get shorter, on pilots?


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