Return of Friday shirts / patches

[Cell Dweller]

I think that Air Staff was thinking that moves like this would show respect and trust to the leaders in the field. The problem is that Air Staff/SECAF also have to make difficult decisions on manpower, and that AFPC is expected to implement. Whether or not there are Force Management activities, I welcome the changes to the uniform reg to remove some of the ridiculousness and honor some of the more heritage-like aspects of the service. It just sucks that it could be perceived that Air Staff has lost touch and thinks that Friday/morale patches might soften the impacts of the FM program and the other cuts that have occurred or are on the horizon.

Now let's not screw this one up by thinking that just because a WG/CC says it's OK to wear collegiate-related morale patches, that it is OK to have a patch that says "F##k dem' Aggies"

[sputnik]

You sound like an awful, miserable person.

He (Rusty) may be, but I'm kinda with him on this.

[Bender]

This is all very interesting to me...only my 2 cents: How Morale Tab Patches are a Leadership Challenge

Prior to this change being published, tab/morale patches have been authorized on a case-by-case basis for wear (even in the AOR, gasp, amongst our coalition partners). How can this be? These patches were not allowed by AFI. There is a difference between enforcing rules and leading, and they often only have an indirect, and occasionally direct, connection to one another. Sadly, when direct connection is necessary, it is not ever a good day (for anyone involved). Buddy Spike's email suggestion is actually fine to me (although I would suggest some minor word-smithing) from the wing level straight down to the squadron level (this is where this issue belongs; wing commanders out and about looking into tab patches is laughable). However, from the squadron commander's purview, it really isn't that simple...not from a perspective of leadership.

A commander/leader does not need to express his expectation that officers act like officers. However, he does have the responsibility to ensure that each officer knows what that means. Morale patches are a very minor wave in what should already be a riptide of influence a commander has on each officer in his unit. A "my door is always open" policy is essential, but it is far from leadership. He must actively engage every person and challenge them to think a step or two farther through each issue. Some issues do not have many steps, as may be the case here. If this is not done, those that follow in their foot steps will be forced to think farther later, making the same mistakes over again when it is their turn to lead; nothing will ever improve.

Those who mostly understand already lead their peers, this is most difficult. Those who truly understand lead their leaders, and the good ones encourage this. This must happen more often now than before if we are to fix whatever leadership deficiencies are believed to exist. As it stands, the majority of tomorrow's leaders will be no better and no more successful than the leaders drawing criticism today nor are they any more capable (they will succumb to the same pitfalls already in play). There is a deep rooted lack of understanding in the CGO corps that initiative and leadership is expected of them. It has nothing to do with burger-burns, Christmas parties, or morale patches. If you don't understand, seek out the right person to ask (sadly, you'll need to look hard). There was a reason the AFI was changed, removing the things that were now reinstated. Squadron Commanders will set expectation, they may or may not follow through...CGOs will decide when it's time to change the AFI back to it's more restrictive version.

There are many people who want to lead. There are many more that only want to follow. The Air Force is unfortunately currently over manned in the followership career field. There are almost unlimited possibilities for sharing what morale, pride, confidence, initiative, and character are, by both CGO and FGO alike (commander or not)...it does have something to do with morale patches, but not if the Chiefs logo specifically is appropriate or not. The ability to wear a Chief tab on your flight suit will not improve your morale, nor anything else about you.

Bendy

[Ram]

^ Great post, Bendy.

[Liquid]

I think it shows a profound lack of trust in your people if you automatically believe they won't do the right thing.

When I fly, I usually wear a baseball cap under my headset. Am I stupid enough to wear it outside of the airplane? Hell no. As soon as the squat switch in my ass opens up as I get out of my seat, the hat comes off. Shockingly, the hat even stays in my bag if I happen to have a VIP onboard. It's scary how smart I am sometimes.

When I was a young LT, I wore a subdued tab patch with a silhouette of a Herk. Most everyone else in the squadron wore some variation of that. I didn't have to be told not to wear a patch with a stripper on it, or even one with my school's logo. I knew damn well that if I did, I was going to get the stink eye from someone in the squadron, or worse yet from the DO or CC. I didn't need it written down, nor did anyone else. We had enough sense to know where the line was and policed ourselves in those rare instances when that line got crossed. SQ/CC's rarely, if ever, got involved, much less WG/CC's.

Put a little trust in your people, you might be surprised at how they respond.

I hear you. When I flew I wore a baseball hat and a crew patch. I also knew when to take it off and so did my crew. As a Sq CC, we standardized our Friday patches, wearing a heritage patch, but we did not allow individual pencil pocket tabs outside the aircraft or TDY. I believe in the value of squadron morale patches and traditions, but squadron commanders need to be responsible for the content.

As a group commander, I saw more and more instances of crews not getting the discretion part you described above. After an Afghanistan deployment, one of our crews arrived home to families and media, and the MAJCOM commander. Most of them stepped off the aircraft wearing their baseball hats, black fleece jackets, handlebar mustaches and chops to the jaw. They had 7 days to transition from the AOR to home station, but didn't. The MAJCOM CC and Wing CC looked at me and basically said, "WTF, why don't they know when to take that stuff off?" The argument from the crew and many in the squadron, including the sq cc was, if it is ok in combat, it is ok at home. Their lack of SA was startling. We also began to notice the crews that couldn't be disciplined enough to enforce the easy standards, also failed with the harder ones. Banged up airplanes, shitty planning, sloppy missions were becoming the norm. The trust was violated too many times, so we focused on standards and stopped tolerating the sloppiness. There were no Article 15s, or LOR/LOCs, or firings, just good old fashioned mentoring with occasional full up ass chewings. We noticed a difference in mission performance when we tightened up on the little shit. In my experience, there was a correlation to the attitude towards baseball hats and mustaches and mission performance. YMMV but I've seen it.

I do believe that in a well-disciplined, combat effective unit, little things matter. Unit pride and cohesiveness, enforcement of standards, high expectations and trust up and down the chain are all important. I've given many safety down day briefs as a commander, and it is not difficult to find recent examples of discipline failures that lead to death or mission failure. Failure to meet standards and failures of discipline are direct leadership challenges. Our HHQ guidance should be written vaguely to allow judgement and enforcement informed by the environment and mission. Commanders at all levels have a responsibility to ensure the standards are appropriate and that they are being enforced adequately. CSAF did us a solid by relaxing some stupid uniform standards so we can focus on more important things. We became distracted by enforcing or complaining about minor standards like sock/shoe colors, reflective belts, and colored t-shirts.

I think the Friday morale patches should be unit and mission related, not pop culture and sports. It is a military uniform after all. It will be interesting to see how we implement this new guidance across the AF.

[Bender]

When I flew I wore a baseball hat and a crew patch. I also knew when to take it off and so did my crew.

I don't understand why you feel you need to do anything different. Did you feel like you were doing something wrong?

I agree with you that there is a "correlation to the attitude towards baseball hats and mustaches" and mission performance. (Not sure about the correlation of the attitude towards baseball hats and mustaches though.) What I don't understand is how this mission performance is somehow tied to a some measure of leadership. The Geico caveman can enforce the standards to ensure hats are not worn, mustaches are all trimmed...even he will understand this will prevent aircraft mishaps. Naturally, he will be at the standard disadvantage of not knowing you wear said baseball cap...just like your commander was, as were you.

It's not about wearing the baseball cap in the aircraft, it's about why you think it's okay to wear the baseball cap in the aircraft. It's about why you take it off when someone is watching you.

I do not follow every rule to a tee. But, I will not change my behavior because you are watching me. I welcome the discussion about it, then we can share with the others.

For frame of reference, I do not wear a baseball cap in the aircraft, but do not stop others from doing so.

Bendy

[panchbarnes]

This thread went from good to bad. Makes my head want to explode.

[BitteEinBit]

Serious question...do you really think the "banged up airplanes, shitty planning and sloppy missions" are the result of people not enforcing the "easy standards?" (I assume you are talking about the mustaches, fleeces and tabs) or is it more that leadership is distracting them by making them focus on the wrong things? I only ask because in your post you say this:

.... We also began to notice the crews that couldn't be disciplined enough to enforce the easy standards, also failed with the harder ones. Banged up airplanes, shitty planning, sloppy missions were becoming the norm. The trust was violated too many times, so we focused on standards and stopped tolerating the sloppiness. There were no Article 15s, or LOR/LOCs, or firings, just good old fashioned mentoring with occasional full up ass chewings. We noticed a difference in mission performance when we tightened up on the little shit. In my experience, there was a correlation to the attitude towards baseball hats and mustaches and mission performance. YMMV but I've seen it.

but then you close with this:

.... CSAF did us a solid by relaxing some stupid uniform standards so we can focus on more important things. We became distracted by enforcing or complaining about minor standards like sock/shoe colors, reflective belts, and colored t-shirts.

The logic I get from your post is (in my words) that we are sloppy because we focus too much on the wrong shit. I certainly don't think the bent metal or sloppy missions are because dudes are wearing tabs and have mustaches...I think it is because focus isn't where it needs to be and it goes well beyond the "easy shit" like morale patches, Friday shirts, and mustaches....

[ElLoco]

I usually bring a selection of at least seven baseball hats to choose from when I fly...

[TacAirCoug]

I hear you. When I flew I wore a baseball hat and a crew patch. I also knew when to take it off and so did my crew. As a Sq CC, we standardized our Friday patches, wearing a heritage patch, but we did not allow individual pencil pocket tabs outside the aircraft or TDY. I believe in the value of squadron morale patches and traditions, but squadron commanders need to be responsible for the content.

I've got no beef with that. But once again, though, if your automatic default position is that everyone will screw things up if you don't micromanage every aspect of our lives, then that's a problem. If we put people in command who earn their position and the respect of their followers through actual leadership, not just checking boxes, then situations like this won't come up:

As a group commander, I saw more and more instances of crews not getting the discretion part you described above. After an Afghanistan deployment, one of our crews arrived home to families and media, and the MAJCOM commander. Most of them stepped off the aircraft wearing their baseball hats, black fleece jackets, handlebar mustaches and chops to the jaw. They had 7 days to transition from the AOR to home station, but didn't. The MAJCOM CC and Wing CC looked at me and basically said, "WTF, why don't they know when to take that stuff off?" The argument from the crew and many in the squadron, including the sq cc was, if it is ok in combat, it is ok at home. Their lack of SA was startling.

During my time on active duty, I never saw a situation like that. That scenario, to me, seems like the exception not the rule. I'm in the Guard now, so I'm dealing with a whole different animal, but in my former life I can tell you I would have been very shocked to see that happen at any of the units I was in.

Wait...you fly eagles? I thought you were a herk driver.

Touche.

[C-21.Pilot]

This entire thread is why I cannot wait to get out. If people equal leadership with patches, fvck this sh!t….

We got much bigger fish to fry.

[WABoom]

I'm glad they're officially back. I will leave the rest to What's wrong with the AF thread. I hope our sq goes with a good color, heck I wouldn't even take black, got a shit ton of those tees still hiding in my dresser.

[PropWash]

I think it shows a profound lack of trust in your people if you automatically believe they won't do the right thing.

When I fly, I usually wear a baseball cap under my headset. Am I stupid enough to wear it outside of the airplane? Hell no. As soon as the squat switch in my ass opens up as I get out of my seat, the hat comes off. Shockingly, the hat even stays in my bag if I happen to have a VIP onboard. It's scary how smart I am sometimes.

I wish everyone was as smart as you, like the idiot who decided it was probably a good idea to wear his baseball hat when flying with the AFCENT/CC. You know what that earned us? AFCENT/CC guidance on the wear of baseball hats: don't do it ever.

I also like to believe that most of us have the SA to know what is and isn't appropriate, but there always seems to be an idiot out there ready to ruin it for everyone.

[Liquid]

Serious question...do you really think the "banged up airplanes, shitty planning and sloppy missions" are the result of people not enforcing the "easy standards?" (I assume you are talking about the mustaches, fleeces and tabs) or is it more that leadership is distracting them by making them focus on the wrong things?

The logic I get from your post is (in my words) that we are sloppy because we focus too much on the wrong shit. I certainly don't think the bent metal or sloppy missions are because dudes are wearing tabs and have mustaches...I think it is because focus isn't where it needs to be and it goes well beyond the "easy shit" like morale patches, Friday shirts, and mustaches....

No, I think the little things slipping were a symptom of a bigger problem (lack of discipline in mission planning and execution). Failing to enforce easy standards does not necessarily cause larger discipline issues. There are plenty of units who may look undisciplined (uniforms, mustaches, attitudes) but have skilled aviators and great mission hackers. In this case, the lack of discipline and lack of SA were only parts of a larger leadership problem. Fixing the little stuff helped, but it was the focus on all standards that worked. We should enforce standards, but we need to make sure we aren't making up unnecessary standards (the wrong shit), like the color of your athletic shoes or requirements to wear reflective belts during the day or with PT gear.

[WABoom]

That post makes sense to me Liquid.

[Tulsa]

Life is a contact sport, it takes SA to play. If people don't know when or how to choose what is or is not out of line, then educate them. This doesn't mean that we need a list, like the commandments from down on high to micromanage each and every aspect. Leaders should educate and allow their subordinates to make decisions on their own with a basic commander's intent/direction specified. This should be the main reason we have people doing this job, if it was black and white, robots would do it.

[Azimuth]

Some of the people I've seen bitch the most about queep were the ones with multiple Q-3's and downgrades in their FEF's, thrown to the bottom of the list to upgrade during Sq TRP, and in some cases downgraded a crew position because they overall sucked and have no business flying.

The ones who were shit hot at flying had enough SA to tell their crews to do the "right thing" (i.e. shave, tab/morale patches off, etc) before they left to go fly that day so no one pissed wing leadership once they landed, and everyone went on their way. Hated the queep, but knew to play the game and everyone would be happy and press on.

Edited January 20, 2014 by Azimuth

[B.M.]

This thread is why we can't have nice things.

[Colokent]

It's the way staff workers think. Assume it's OK because he's "leadership"….

That's painting with a pretty broad brush. So let me get this straight...

Staff workers and leadership = automatically stupid, unenlightened

UMB wearer who passed his eye test at age 20 but has next to ZERO developed leadership skills = automatically brilliant, enlightened

Somehow, I don't think so...

Friendly prediction/advice: You're headed for a great big surprise once you leave the AF, unless you lose your attitude and start showing other people respect in a hurry. Discounting others' opinions and ideas because you come across as a "legend in your own mind" will prove to be a quick path to the door for you. Final thought: Remember that life outside the AF is not optimized for pilots, and they are pretty much a dime a dozen (translation - MANY more applicants than positions)-- it's how well you are able to work with others that will determine whether you remain employed, or end up an unemployed blowhard.

Best of luck...

K

[Homestar]

Two years ago on BODN: "Man, I can't believe the spineless leaders that took away our black shirts, friday patches, and morale meters."

Two days ago on BODN: "Man, I can't believe that the spineless leaders think that giving us back our morale shirts and patches is leadership."

Edited January 21, 2014 by Homestar

[Champ Kind]

Two years ago on BODN: "Man, I can't believe the spineless leaders that took away our black shirts, friday patches, and morale meters."

Two days ago on BODN: "Man, I can't believe that the spineless leaders think that giving us back our morale shirts and patches is leadership."

And it's why I keep coming back.

[JarheadBoom]

I think the Friday morale patches should be authorized by all Wg CCs and the Sq CCs should approve patches that balance unit pride, humor, cleverness and professionalism. I think Sq CCs should standardize the morale patches worn in their unit and not allow the freestyle expression of individual taste and humor.

I've got news from the trenches for you: standardized morale patches are not morale patches, they're just one more piece of flair we're required to wear and maintain. The morale comes from the small "freestyle expression of individual taste and humor" within the required conformity to the uniform that we all get to wear.

No one is saying we should be able to wear a "morale" SQ patch with, for example, photorealistic genitalia on it, or a pen tab patch that says "FUCK _______". The vast majority of us get it; those things are in poor taste, regardless of how funny they may be in a specific situation/location. Let those of us who "get it" police the ones who don't - THAT is leadership.

Is the thought of allowing someone to choose to wear a pen tab patch with their college logo, or a silhouette of their jet, or has "IHRB" embroidered on a piece of disco belt, or some other patch that hasn't been run through the SSS chop chain, truly that offensive to the current AF management?

[raimius]

I didn't disagree until the "chickenshit" comment. So, here's a GREAT idea: We should have CGOs and junior FGOs (preferably those who haven't supervised more than a 3 to 5-person space, missile, or aircrew in their career) give presentations to AWC, NWC, and CAPSTONE classes so that Lt Cols, Colonels, and Generals will understand the "correct" way to command. Wish I would have thought of that...

K

Might not be a bad idea, if only to get senior FGOs and GOs to remember what seems important to LTs (heck, bring in some A1Cs and SrA, too.)

I think Sq CCs should standardize the morale patches worn in their unit and not allow the freestyle expression of individual taste and humor.

So then, "morale" is defined by the Sq CC and freestyle expression shouldn't be included? I get that we REALLY value our image, but isn't a little personality and personal display of pride the main point of a morale patch? Edited January 21, 2014 by raimius

[Fuzz]

That's painting with a pretty broad brush. So let me get this straight...

Staff workers and leadership = automatically stupid, unenlightened

UMB wearer who passed his eye test at age 20 but has next to ZERO developed leadership skills = automatically brilliant, enlightened

Somehow, I don't think so...

Friendly prediction/advice: You're headed for a great big surprise once you leave the AF, unless you lose your attitude and start showing other people respect in a hurry. Discounting others' opinions and ideas because you come across as a "legend in your own mind" will prove to be a quick path to the door for you. Final thought: Remember that life outside the AF is not optimized for pilots, and they are pretty much a dime a dozen (translation - MANY more applicants than positions)-- it's how well you are able to work with others that will determine whether you remain employed, or end up an unemployed blowhard.

Best of luck...

K

I don't think anyone is saying CGOs always know better, however, sometimes they do. Thankfully my commander actually solicits the opinions and suggestions of their junior officers for solutions to problems. Also echo chambers and group think among leadership isn't helpful in solutions either so maybe that guy that new Lt who's only qualification is having 20/20 vision might hold an idea. The leader that doesn't listen to his subordinates because he has more experience is probably a "legend in his own mind", history has proved time and again that age and experience isn't the key to being a great leader or having good ideas.

[busdriver]

I've got news from the trenches for you: standardized morale patches are not morale patches, they're just one more piece of flair we're required to wear and maintain.

I think he's saying he's ok with Friday patches, not with morale patches.