Longest Serving Airman in the History of DOD, Retiring Tomorrow

[Finance_Guy]

Sent on behalf of SAF/FM

ALCON,

After more than 46 years of service, Maj Gen Alfred Flowers is retiring on Wednesday, 16 November 2011 as the Air Force’s longest serving active duty member and the longest serving General in U.S. military history. For those unable to attend in person, the ceremony will be broadcast live via Defense Connect Online (DCO) webcast. Please join us for this historic event!

Date: Wednesday, 16 November 2011

Time: 1000 EST

Location: https://connect.dco.dod.mil/mgflowers

When prompted for your guest name, please enter your name (First, Last, Office Symbol).

Thank you!

[Ram]

Bio: https://www.af.mil/information/bios/bio.asp?bioID=7833

It's rare to see someone with two silver clusters on their longevity service ribbon. Respect.

Sad to say, this is the ONLY guy who can figure out why I have a voucher that's gone unpaid for 7 months...and he's retiring. Looks like I'm screwed.

[Bluto]

Masters degree complete 4 years prior to going to SOS - a true warrior.

He had his Masters while he was enlisted and 2 years prior to OTS.

[Slow-Smooth-Fast]

I believe he was the one that got rid of "physical discipline" at ROTC field training.

[Seriously]

I believe he was the one that got rid of "physical discipline" at ROTC field training.

What do they do now? Sit the cadets in the corner? Not let them participate in ultimate frisbee?

[murdocjxx]

Must have planned a ton of Christmas parties to be able to stay in that long.

[brickhistory]

Must have planned a ton of Christmas parties to be able to stay in that long.

Winner!

[sky_king]

What do they do now? Sit the cadets in the corner? Not let them participate in ultimate frisbee?

That was right after I went. From what I heard, they just did impromptu PT sessions.

[HU&W]

That was right after I went. From what I heard, they just did impromptu PT sessions.

I heard they made them do PT in humiliating outfits... Oh wait...

[Beaver]

It only took him 42 years to get a job title with "Commander" in it.

[zach braff]

Wow, a lot of you guys are dicks. Can't let go of AAD and PT bitching for one thread and show some respect to a guy who served our nation for 46 years?

Congrats and thank you Maj Gen Flowers!

ZB

[Guest CAVEMAN]

So does he then get a job in the same office as an SES?

[Danger41]

I can salute a man who served 46 years in the Air Force without a cheap shot comment. However, those comments are pretty damn funny.

[Majestik Møøse]

Flowers was the guy who helped son get through OTS.

The father e-mailed the colonel again two days later — this time copying Brig. Gen. Alfred Flowers, the commander of Air Force Officer Accession and Training Schools — to voice his concern that “some junior officers may be driving this train down a track that is irreversible.”

“Isn’t the goal to try and graduate these kids?” Poulin wrote, later saying “a bit of leadership could have allowed for glide slope adjustments on the scene.”

The colonel wrote Flowers that he was “feeling some pretty serious undue command influence.”

Two weeks after being pulled from school, Poulin was back in OTS. Flowers had ordered him reinstated.

Poulin graduated from OTS and received his commission in the fall of 2007.

When questioned about his decision, Flowers told investigators the documentation — including discrepancies in scoring sheets — didn’t support Poulin’s dismissal, and he believed the OTS leaders acted subjectively. Flowers was steadfast that he was not pressured by Maj. Gen. Poulin to reinstate his son.

The OTS leaders, according to testimony from the OTS commander, brought all the paperwork they could find, and “the documentation, as extensive as it is, wasn’t perfect. It rarely is.”

“But the bottom line was,” the OTS commander said, “we’re paid to make these subjective decisions on who should be commissioned officers.”

Otherwise, one of my fellow OTs got lit up by Flowers one day after walking by without saluting. We got some good laughs out of that one for a while.

[Splash95]

I got lit up by him, in front of everyone, in Q&A after the "General's Perspective" OTS class. I realized soon enough that I deserved it (my question implied that OTS had little to no applicability to a flying career), and during the course of the ass-chewing he even made a point of how the leadership/mentorship side really could apply to me (pilot-crew chief relations or some such), so in all he handled my brave-but-stupid behavior very fairly.

to MG Flowers for most of a lifetime of service.