What should the Air Force be if it is so broken now?

[BFM this]

1 hour ago, Rudy the Rabbit said:

Expand the TFI concept to allow 1-2 AGR spots in AD SQs. Sure, not a lot of true ANG/ARC guys would want to spend their days in an AD Sq, but if they all reported to a regional ARC commander instead of the AD SQ/cc then the AGR would have top cover from his boss on queep/infighting. This could kill many birds with one stone if you got someone that worked well and wanted to homebase there for a decade or so. It would Help manning at a cheaper cost, keep pilots in, and provide some continuity to AD squadrons that often need it.  While I'm sure there would be one or two CCs that would feel threatened by someone with a long term relationship to the SQ, most would absolutely love to have someone on hand that could talk about past history, bad ideas that didn't work, projects that failed and were buried, and someone to help him with conflicts/relationships with other orgs and long-timers (civilians) on base. The guy would probably end up as a ridiculously experienced graybeard in the unit mission as well.  Might also help calm/balance those rare 1/100 commanders that roll through and absolutely end up destroying a SQ. 

This is already the business model at Classic Assoc TFI locations.  And at least in the ACC corner, it's a fucking abortion.

Its seemed to work better in UPT, FTU, and RPA communities.  Combat coded FS?  Yeah, not so much.

Active assoc also seems to work a lot better.

[NKAWTG]

I'd tweak the way our PME and promotion systems rely so heavily on each other.  Eliminate SOS to start with.  The networking opportunities will be missed; the education certainly won't.  And it eliminates the DG easy button for commanders ranking their people.  

Also, stratify everyone.  Make it public.  Force commanders to make decisions they have to justify both up and down the chain. 

Cut IDE in half, and open it up to 40% or more.  Have it coincide the O-4 board and give people a choice.  Opt for a technical track and know you'd max out at O-4/O-5 and won't need to worry about school or command.  Or aim for the command track with the ability to jump back to the technical one when it doesn't work out.       

[Clark Griswold]

4 hours ago, raimius said:

1. Read and implement some of Bleeding Talent's recommendations.

2. Tech/leadership tracks for appropriate AFSCs.

3. Tracks will likely necessitate ending "up or out."

4. Properly man, train, equip, and fund support functions.

5. Move support activities to support organizations.

6. Try to breed professional pride and competency in both ops and support.  (AKA finance doesn't win the war, but we still expect professional work and pride in a job well done.)

7. Empower JOs/NCOs to make decisions--both in the regs and in practice.

8. Fire/reassign people who do not contribute or work to make things work.

Raimius beat me to the punch but this a pretty good summary of the ideas posted so far, will add add two more to the running tally

1 hour ago, Rudy the Rabbit said:

Expand the TFI concept to allow 1-2 AGR spots in AD SQs...

Continuity / Homestead opportunities 

10 minutes ago, BFM this said:

Active assoc also seems to work a lot better.

More of AA units.

Taking some of the comments, suggestion, COAs, etc... and trying to distill them to more general ideas...

At 50,000' - the view is that the AF needs a more mission focused culture with a infusion of professionalism and active elimination of the "corprotization" that breeds queep, box-checking careerism and a DGAF attitude from some of the support elements/organizations.  

I am not sure how to do this, hence the reason for this thread but, how do you imbue an esprit de corps in a military organization where most members are not in operations and many will not go outside the wire / cross the fence during their careers?

Also, quell the "gotcha" aspect of PC culture, witch hunts - guilty until proven innocent - emasculating or embarassing training / policies / events to be eliminated.

At 30,000' - the view is that the AF (thinking Total Force but mainly focusing on AD) needs to address 

Career Development:  It is fool hardy to pretend every officer will become O-6 or above so there needs to be new vectors, specifically codified that will allow individuals to remain in or compete for assignments or career tracks that allow them to pursue excellence in technical or operational skills without being marked as inferior as these tracks will likely not rise above Company Grade or O-4.

Promotion:  Separate promotion boards for Line and Support Officers.

Locations:  Eliminate several AD bases that are retention poison.  

Pay:  Change the bonus and incentive pay structure to increase with higher tenure vice being flat static payments per year.

TDYs:  Loose the AEF construct, get tougher with the COCOMs to eliminate worthless requirements, honor deploy to dwell with greater integrity - call on more ARC support to as little as possible violate deploy to dwell for AD for QoL.

PME: Update material for relevancy and value, shorten to reasonable lengths, de-emphasize the effect on career, encourage but don't make mandatory all but in name.  

If I missed something, put it on top of the woodpile.

At 10,000' - at the Wing and unit level:

SNCOs: Respect the experience and wisdom but encourage standards enforcement in professionally appropriate ways.

JOs: Empower and expect higher performance, maturity.  Just an Lt is not an excuse any longer, nor should it ever have been.

Civillians (contractors or DAF GS series): Neutralize the growing cancer that they are stymying military personnel for laziness, incompetence or just obfuscation for empire building.  Reemphasize the relationship that they work for the unit, not vice versa.

If I missed something, put it on top of the woodpile.

[raimius]

By insisting that everyone should compete in promotions, we  too often revert to metrics that apply across AFSCs...Which ends up meaning you are not actually rated on your primary duty.  That needs to end.

See the AFBlues cartoon about Luke Skywalker's OPR...

[HeyWatchThis]

7 hours ago, No2bonus said:

Have you gone through Lackland BMT? BMT when I went through was setup a certain way for a particular reason.  Just because you turn AF BMT into Army basic training isn't going to change a thing. AF BMT is almost like what ASBC was until the AF got rid it. ASBC was useless and the same crap I did at ALS and in AFROTC. 

In my day, the AF required a substantially higher ASVAB score than the Army. AF wanted the more intelligent kids out of high school. You change that dynamic to more of a physical aspect and we might as well merge with the Army. I don't see a reason for group PT like the Army. I am glad the AF at times treats us like adults. Above a 90%, no group PT required because you are obviously self motivated to excel on your own.

My point is leaders and mentors shape our enlisted force, not BMT. I just remember folding socks, underwear, and learning how to march in BMT. Oh, and the great food. You could be a DG because you did well at PT, scored above 90% on your testing, and folded your socks well.

Yes I have......hence why I said ALSO changing PME at AU......but thanks for the re-hack on BMT

Edited April 14, 2017 by HeyWatchThis

[ViperMan]

18 hours ago, FlyinGrunt said:

This is complicated, and I don't claim to have the full picture, but here is what I think it really takes.  TL;DR: Congress, the Joint Staff, and the USAF all have a role to play.  All must take unprecedented steps to fix this, but the potential gain is beyond anything we've ever known.

Congress:

2.  Bring pilot pay up to 75% of airline pilot pay with similar seniority/qualification.

3.  BRAC Cannon yesterday, everywhere else tomorrow, and mass forces at superbases near major metro areas.  Build a DFW-worth of runways to support and make the airspace Class B if needed.

JCOS:

1.  Inform COCOMs that their staff requirements will be combined (Navy flyer for USA/USAF/USMC/USN rated job, etc) or eliminated, to the scale or 50-75% or more.

2.  Annihilate 179s as a thing.  One fvcking day?  Are you kidding me?  Give people the credit for their service.  This is one example, but i think the trend is clear: shorter deployments, where the service pays a premium to get people home to their families, and if not credits the time served, rather than allowing a cowardly bureaucrat to steal that credit.

USAF:

1.  Divorce rated promotions from non-rated.   Separate boards, with separate quotas.  To make a long story short: you can replace an MPF 0-3 with about 30 grand.  To replace a (good) pilot is 100 times that amount.  Time to recognize return on investment, kids.

2.  Make the non-verbal signals clear: stop the anti-ops "you're all officers and equal" jihad.  I won't rant about why.

5.  Inform COCOMs that their "rated requirements" will be manned at about the 10% level or lower.  And see [JCOS] part.

And the take-away, folks: trust.  This will require huge risks by leadership to change the paradigm, but if they can restore trust, then the rest will follow.  Their biggest challenge now is that no one trusts the leadership, even if they make valid arguments and really want to change the culture.

Yeah, most of what he said.

Congress (#2) is a great idea, and one that I think would go a long way to proving the USAF cares about the capability provided by aviators. Establishing trust (and maintaining it) is multidimensional and takes years. Why the bonus and flight pay have been allowed to languish for the last 20+ years is criminal, and sets a clear non-verbal subtext that we are not important and/or that the AF has become complacent.

Congress (#3) is probably the most important factor I see as going towards dudes bailing out. No one wants to live in Cannon, Creech, anywhere else in BFE New Mexico, or wherever TF else there are powerful politicians who are allowed to keep certain communities alive by sucking off of the DOD tit. This alone causes millions of $$$ of AF assets to walk away every year for greener pastures.

JCOS (#1) and USAF (#5) are also valid. The boils down to proper utilization of resources, which, given the AF's proclivity towards buying up big-screen TVs like they're going out of style, gives me little hope that it will change.

I always put the 179 idea in the AF responsibility bucket. Maybe that idea was/is by direction of the JCOS, but I think even if it is, the AF should be much more verbal about a service-level requirement that only exists for one reason: to not give people their due credit for service provided.

Edited April 14, 2017 by ViperMan
readability

[General Chang]

I am going to address the younger people reading this forum who are scared to death.  Ladies and gentlemen, there is nothing wrong with your Air Force.  We are leaner, meaner, & more powerful than at any time in history.  If you are thinking of joining, please join; this is a great time to join, and you will feel the rush of patriotism every day you put on the uniform.  If you are already in and worried because of these threads, ignore the negativity.  There are pessimists in every day and age.  Unfortunately, because of social media, it is far easier to see what's on their minds as they hide behind avatars.  The people here are not your friends and truly don't care about you & your family.

I am proud & honored to lead the men & women under my command each & every day, and I have full faith and confidence in the highest levels of leadership.  You should as well.  You will know I am right when the vultures on this thread immediately attack this position.

Stay true to yourselves, look for opportunities within your career fields to better yourselves (see the AFPAK Hands thread), and go out there and lead!  Thank you for your service and sacrifice.

[GKinnear]

2 minutes ago, General Chang said:

there is nothing wrong with your Air Force.  

 

Dude, after you said that, your credibility was shot. At a minimum, what about the looming pilot shortage? Yeah we'll get through it with some bumps and bruises, but I wouldn't classify it as "nothing wrong". Start crafting intellectually honest arguments. Figure out how to get steely-eyed killers to stay in...that's leadership.

To quote Richard Branson "Train people well enough that they can leave, treat them well enough that they don't want to."

[ViperMan]

13 minutes ago, General Chang said:

Ladies and gentlemen, there is nothing wrong with your Air Force.

6.9 second google search suggests otherwise:

Fall 2015, 11F shortage: 511 (https://www.airforce-technology.com/features/featurekeeping-them-flying-the-us-air-forces-struggle-to-retain-fighter-pilots-5776168/).

Spring 2016, 11F shortage: 723 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/08/10/the-air-force-fighter-pilot-shortage-is-already-a-crisis-and-it-could-soon-get-even-worse/).

Aug 10, 2016: "Air Force Secretary Deborah James said that the service could be short about 1,000 fighter pilots “in just a couple years,” prompting the service to ask Congress for the ability to boost financial incentives to recruit and keep pilots." To me, a "couple of years" suggests 2018 - at the earliest. Six months later...

Spring 2017, 11F shortage: 1211 (https://www.airforcetimes.com/articles/the-air-force-is-thinking-about-paying-pilots-up-to-455-000-to-stay-in-uniform).

No issue there? That didn't take long.

Finally, last time I checked, when Congress is "probing" your organization, it's usually because you're not nailing it (https://www.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/1135200/congress-probes-military-pilot-shortage/).

[Torch09]

10 hours ago, No2bonus said:

A certain community was spinning up a different branch to fly their platform. Someone thought passing around a dildo and placing it into flight bags was hilarious. Reach for your thermos only to pull out a dildo. Well, those professional officers of a different branch didn't think it was funny and filed a complaint.

The only appropriate AFE-related use for said pleasure device is insertion into a bro's helmet bag, near the bottom so it is not discovered until just before engine start.  

[TreeA10]

Let's see.....you sort through scads of people looking for both mental and physical attributes that will make them among the best aviators in the world.  Once you find these people, you train them to use their mental and physical talents to operate high speed, sophisticated machinery.  Among these skills is the always functioning, never ending risk versus benefit cost analysis.  Is the weather good enough to get in?  Can I get to my alternate? Do I have enough energy left to put my nose on the bandit and kill him?  Does the AF really care about my future?   How do the hoops required to get a shot (but no guarantee!) at that future weigh against the hoops required for an alternative path outside the AF?  I find it rather rather amusing that the AF management (notice I didn't say leadership) is surprised at the departure of their prized masters of cost benefit analysis.

So, as opposed to Chang's happy talk pile of BS, I would suggest that the AF needs to make the path to a successful AF career very transparent.  You want to fly?  You can fly.  You want to drive the bus?  You have a drive the bus path.  Rated and non-rated are not equal.  Hence, the terms "rated" and ""non-rated."  Not everybody gets the same trophy.  Move the risk versus cost benefit analysis further towards the benefit side of the equation, make it easier to get there with fewer hoops, i.e. BS, and fewer unknowns. 

[Kenny Powers]

 

Dude, after you said that, your credibility was shot. At a minimum, what about the looming pilot shortage? Yeah we'll get through it with some bumps and bruises, but I wouldn't classify it as "nothing wrong". Start crafting intellectually honest arguments. Figure out how to get steely-eyed killers to stay in...that's leadership.

To quote Richard Branson "Train people well enough that they can leave, treat them well enough that they don't want to."

 

 

Agreed. Chang, I'm a Guard dude, in a good guard fighter squadron, loving life flying fighters.

 

I partially agree with your comments about the pessimists on this forum; I think they make up ~50% of the people complaining here. However, I think the other 50% are good dudes who are sick of getting boned by the AF and have decided to take their talent elsewhere.

 

I say that to let you know that I don't have a dog in the fight (yet, hopefully it doesn't trickle down and infiltrate my guard unit). Your posts on this forum come off as nothing more than ignorant and one sided, almost scripted.

 

You have the opportunity to truly hear out the exact population you're trying to retain and you could be having genuine conversations with them, on this forum, and just talk like humans who give a shit about fellow humans, but you don't.

 

WTF?

 

 

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

 

 

[herkbum]

Unfortunately, because of social media, it is far easier to see what's on their minds as they hide behind avatars.  

Is this not what you have done since your 1st post on this forum? As stated earlier, go with quals.


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[war007afa]

2 hours ago, General Chang said:

I am going to address the younger people reading this forum who are scared to death.  Ladies and gentlemen, there is nothing wrong with your Air Force.  We are leaner, meaner, & more powerful than at any time in history.  If you are thinking of joining, please join; this is a great time to join, and you will feel the rush of patriotism every day you put on the uniform.  If you are already in and worried because of these threads, ignore the negativity.  There are pessimists in every day and age.  Unfortunately, because of social media, it is far easier to see what's on their minds as they hide behind avatars.  The people here are not your friends and truly don't care about you & your family.

I am proud & honored to lead the men & women under my command each & every day, and I have full faith and confidence in the highest levels of leadership.  You should as well.  You will know I am right when the vultures on this thread immediately attack this position.

Stay true to yourselves, look for opportunities within your career fields to better yourselves (see the AFPAK Hands thread), and go out there and lead!  Thank you for your service and sacrifice.

Spoken like someone who doesn't have to project combat capability and has the luxury of being able to shut down the organization on a whim because it's the n-th Whateverday of the month. 

You and your brand of "nothing-to-see-here's" are EXACTLY the reason this organization is holding its ankles in a prison shower. Nut the fuck up and tell your boss how ugly the baby is for once in your fucking life. Quit making red squares green at the ultimate expense of the Service. 

I see this more and more everyday and it's  sickening. If you're a fucking leader, try working for your Airmen, not just your boss. Quit neutering the Service with your silence and "Yes, Boss". Your brand of leadership is how "Pretty darn good" is born. 

For you young guys reading this: tell your boss what's really broken. Demand they do something about it or get relief from responsibility. It's the only way this thing will recover. 

[raimius]

Plenty of sport bitching, sure.

BUT the AF DOES have problems.  If you don't see that, you cannot claim to be a competent leader.

Out of one side, you say everything is great.  Out of the other, you say we are in such a crisis that invoking Stop-Loss is a viable option.  Stop-Loss is for national emergencies...see an issue between those two claims?  Which claim are you going with?

Personally, I've got a good deal from Big Blue, so far.  I am quite aware that this is NOT a universal experience.  I also know that, as a professional aviator, my skills have value.  What do you think people are going to do when they realize they are not valued by their employer, are putting their family through hell, and can go find another job with 30% less time gone and a 40% pay raise?  I know several people who saw that writing on the wall and decided that saving their family, working less, and getting paid more was a good option.  I also know people who the AF kicked out because they cared about being expert pilots and flipped the bird to bureaucratic career advancement tasks that took them away from the cockpit.  

Bottom line, the AF needs expert pilots (among many other things), but those pilots won't stick around if you make their lives miserable, demonstrate you don't value their aviation skills, and load them down with non-aviation duties.  I realize those in leadership usually don't see anything wrong until a slide goes red...well, guess what, your slide is red.  What are you going to do?

 

[raimius]

Chang, 

Serious question, have you read Bleeding Talent, and, if so, what is your take?

[dream big]

3 hours ago, General Chang said:

I am going to address the younger people reading this forum who are scared to death.  Ladies and gentlemen, there is nothing wrong with your Air Force.  We are leaner, meaner, & more powerful than at any time in history.  If you are thinking of joining, please join; this is a great time to join, and you will feel the rush of patriotism every day you put on the uniform.  If you are already in and worried because of these threads, ignore the negativity.  There are pessimists in every day and age.  Unfortunately, because of social media, it is far easier to see what's on their minds as they hide behind avatars.  The people here are not your friends and truly don't care about you & your family.

I am proud & honored to lead the men & women under my command each & every day, and I have full faith and confidence in the highest levels of leadership.  You should as well.  You will know I am right when the vultures on this thread immediately attack this position.

Stay true to yourselves, look for opportunities within your career fields to better yourselves (see the AFPAK Hands thread), and go out there and lead!  Thank you for your service and sacrifice.

I've been telling young guys wanting to join to go guard/reserves.  They can still serve their country, fly the mission, for the most part without having to deal with careerists like yourself.  

The guard/reserves provide the same product to national security as their active duty counterparts (some part time and some full time.)  In fact, some are better at it because many of them prioritize mission excellence over careerist queep.  

By the way you have 328 dislikes, that should tell you something.  

[Bender]

A certain community was spinning up a different branch to fly their platform. Someone thought passing around a dildo and placing it into flight bags was hilarious. Reach for your thermos only to pull out a dildo. Well, those professional officers of a different branch didn't think it was funny and filed a complaint.

So for funnies...are you the guy that put the dildo in the bag or the Hawaiian guy that every loves so much? Only two MC-12 bubbas that would write "brah" instead of just saying it...

My bet is on the Hawaiian. In which case...slow the roll man, really...geesh. If you're the other one, hey buddy!

Bendy





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[Mark1]

14 hours ago, No2bonus said:

A certain community was spinning up a different branch to fly their platform. Someone thought passing around a dildo and placing it into flight bags was hilarious. Reach for your thermos only to pull out a dildo. Well, those professional officers of a different branch didn't think it was funny and filed a complaint.

We all know what caused leadership to come down on us. You just can't crap all over the people who support us for one. Two, we all need to know there is a time and place to be a professional. When a different branch complains about a dildo prank you have to do some soul searching as a community. 

I assume the professional officers from the other service complained because the culprits had foolishly selected a run-of-the-mill standard dildo and not a double-ender for the job?

[Bender]

I assume the professional officers from the other service complained because the culprits had foolishly selected a run-of-the-mill standard dildo and not a double-ender for the job?

"John Coffee" is no ones standard...other than your mom.

The complaint was due to unnecessary escalation. When it's larger than expected...start slow, they'll warm up to the destruction...

If that had gone in the right bags, he'd still be there..it didn't and ended up on the shirt's desk.

To call the written note laid under a dildo a "complaint" is being slightly misused...the aftermath that ensued is pure "what's wrong with the air farce".

Bendy


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[Duck]

I seldom read anything on this site that isn't true. Many complaints I have experienced myself.


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[HU&W]

16 hours ago, General Chang said:

I am going to address the younger people reading this forum who are scared to death.  Ladies and gentlemen, there is nothing wrong with your Air Force.  We are leaner, meaner, & more powerful than at any time in history.  If you are thinking of joining, please join; this is a great time to join, and you will feel the rush of patriotism every day you put on the uniform.  If you are already in and worried because of these threads, ignore the negativity.  There are pessimists in every day and age.  Unfortunately, because of social media, it is far easier to see what's on their minds as they hide behind avatars.  The people here are not your friends and truly don't care about you & your family.

I am proud & honored to lead the men & women under my command each & every day, and I have full faith and confidence in the highest levels of leadership.  You should as well.  You will know I am right when the vultures on this thread immediately attack this position.

Stay true to yourselves, look for opportunities within your career fields to better yourselves (see the AFPAK Hands thread), and go out there and lead!  Thank you for your service and sacrifice.

 

[dream big]

I'm sorry, if a harmless joke such as a dildo offends you, you have no business being in the military.  What a bunch of sissies. 

When I was serving our old OG and his wife a beer at the squadron BAR when I was a LT,  the wife noticed our bottle opener was attached to a pair of kangaroo balls.  She thought it was hilarious and kept opening other people's bottles with the balls.  No one complained. 

Then the purge of 2013 happened and they thing vanished :(. I sent my copilots on a spirit mission to find it since rumor was it was in one of the 0-5/0-6s house.   No luck.  

You don't need dildos to have a good time in the Air Force but it's little harmless fun like that that can make it bearable sometimes.

[pawnman]

20 hours ago, General Chang said:

I am going to address the younger people reading this forum who are scared to death.  Ladies and gentlemen, there is nothing wrong with your Air Force.  We are leaner, meaner, & more powerful than at any time in history.  If you are thinking of joining, please join; this is a great time to join, and you will feel the rush of patriotism every day you put on the uniform.  If you are already in and worried because of these threads, ignore the negativity.  There are pessimists in every day and age.  Unfortunately, because of social media, it is far easier to see what's on their minds as they hide behind avatars.  The people here are not your friends and truly don't care about you & your family.

I am proud & honored to lead the men & women under my command each & every day, and I have full faith and confidence in the highest levels of leadership.  You should as well.  You will know I am right when the vultures on this thread immediately attack this position.

Stay true to yourselves, look for opportunities within your career fields to better yourselves (see the AFPAK Hands thread), and go out there and lead!  Thank you for your service and sacrifice.

Well, leaner and meaner, perhaps.  More powerful is up for debate.
Unfortunately, our leanness is the result of people like Chang who decided we should pay pilots a bonus to get out, force TERA on a bunch of others, and pass over a bunch of aviators...only to be shocked two years later when the Air Force has a pilot shortage. The meanness is the result of those left behind, who watched the Air Force so casually discard their brethren, then have the gall to beg them to stay by appealing to their patriotism.

If you're a young guy, thinking about the Air Force, I'll say it's been a fun ride.  But don't be fooled by the phrase "The people here are not your friends and truly don't care about you & your family."  Because AFPC REALLY doesn't care about you and your family.  They will send you to Afghanistan or Iraq for a year to build PowerPoint slides.  They will non-vol you into a job you don't want, while the guy who works at the next desk over is begging for that job, but "the timing is wrong".  They will kick you out if the budget monkeys say so.  They will beg you to come back when the spreadsheets turn red instead of green.  

So, Chang's a little right (shocking, I know)...the people here aren't your friends, and they probably don't care about you, your friends, or your family.  But don't think that the Air Force does either.  By all means, follow your dream, go fly fighters or bombers or cargo aircraft.  Invest that flight pay wisely.  But do it with open eyes.  Understand why the people currently doing the job you want so desperately are bailing out as soon as the commitment is over.  Understand why people get out at year 18 rather than get the full retirement.  Think really, really hard about what you're signing up for.

I've had a great time in the Air Force, and I'm in the minority because I'm not really looking to leave in the near future.  But I see it every day.  Guys who get out the day they're eligible to.  Guys who laugh out loud when they get the bonus email.  Hell, my base has three O-6 selects that are retiring this month rather than pin on Colonel.  So join, have fun, hang out with the bros, kick ass in the jet...but have an exit strategy that's more robust than "I'll retire at 20".

[12xu2a3x3]

1 hour ago, pawnman said:

Understand why the people currently doing the job you want so desperately are bailing out as soon as the commitment is over.  Understand why people get out at year 18 rather than get the full retirement.  Think really, really hard about what you're signing up for.

Going guard enlisted to active duty upt stud, I feel everyday like I'm driving the sole car toward Washington in Independence Day.