Littlerock pleading session?

[BolterKing]

Saw an IG meme summarizing a recent event at Littlerock.  Sounds like leadership was down on their hands and knees pleading for pilots to stay and not go to the airlines.

 

Anyone that was there have first hand intel?  It’s a glorious event if true.  

[nunya]

Post the meme or it didn't happen.  😄

[BolterKing]

Here you go

Edited April 21, 2022 by BolterKing

[Danger41]

Hopefully this Little Rock guy wasn’t quite that pathetic but I’d rather have a commander at least try to show people they’re valued instead of “let them go, we’ll just train more.”

[BashiChuni]

no one should fall for that bull shit

the time to jump is now

[Prozac]

34 minutes ago, Danger41 said:

Hopefully this Little Rock guy wasn’t quite that pathetic but I’d rather have a commander at least try to show people they’re valued instead of “let them go, we’ll just train more.”

Showing people that they’re valued takes a lot more than talk. It’s also far easier and faster to destroy peoples’ faith that they’re valued than it is to restore & rebuild that faith. The AF should keep this in mind when airline hiring falls off (and it will….someday) and it is again tempted to treat people like garbage because it can. 

[BolterKing]

If you don’t have your airline apps in already, you’re behind the curve.  

[FUSEPLUG]

The "no sense of purpose at an airline job" line will be debunked with that first second-year paycheck.

[SocialD]

Sounds likes the 2-Star that recently told a group of pilots at Luke the quoted text below (2nd hand info).  I think this dude has put his finger right on the issue at hand, expect retention numbers to turn around any day now lol.  

 

If you looking in the mirror and say, I'm a fighter pilot first and love being in the bar, then the Guard and Reserve are for you.  If you say, I'm an officer first and love serving my country, then there's a place for you in my Air Force...

Edited April 22, 2022 by SocialD

[Danger41]

The preceding two posts sum up the entirety or retention problems to me. 
 

1. Capitalism is the cornerstone of our society. Why would people with valuable skills not pursue more money? Especially if…

2. The AF values the wrong thing in the selection of its leadership. So much time and effort is put into making the next CSAF and glosses over on the interpersonal level that ultimately plays a huge role in retention. I don’t know a single person that has ever said “the boss really has impressive academic credentials, I’d follow him anywhere.” I know plenty that feel like they can’t relate to their boss and the guy doesn’t care about them so why try anymore. 

[dream big]

3 hours ago, SocialD said:

Sounds likes the 2-Star that recently told a group of pilots at Luke the quoted text below (2nd hand info).  I think this dude has put his finger right on the issue at hand, expect retentions numbers to turn around any day now lol.  

 

If you looking in the mirror and say, I'm a fighter pilot first and love being in the bar, then the Guard and Reserve are for you.  If you say, I'm an officer first and love serving my country, then there's a place for you in my Air Force...

“My Air Force” …okay dude, it’s not *your* Air Force.  The Air Force will chew you up and spit you out just like the rest of us peons. 

[brabus]

5 hours ago, SocialD said:

If you looking in the mirror and say, I'm a fighter pilot first and love being in the bar, then the Guard and Reserve are for you.  If you say, I'm an officer first and love serving my country, then there's a place for you in my Air Force...

When I turned down school on AD, and the WG/CC made me come to his office and talk with him about it, the conversation ended something like this...

"Well, Brabus, I'm going to non-concur and you really have two options. Go to school, do great things, blah blah blah...or get out and go to the guard."

"Well sir, I guess I'm going to the guard then"

"...what? Really?" He genuinely seemed shocked at my response. Best move I made in my career...until I made an even better move by going to the airlines! And all these years later, I'm living the good life while that guy is probably a 2 star pepper grinding and getting yelled at for not having enough whip in the 4 starts mocha latte.

[Guardian]

No surprise to anyone but I blame Fingers Goldfien.

[WheelsOff]

8 hours ago, SocialD said:

Sounds likes the 2-Star that recently told a group of pilots at Luke the quoted text below (2nd hand info).  I think this dude has put his finger right on the issue at hand, expect retention numbers to turn around any day now lol.  

 

If you looking in the mirror and say, I'm a fighter pilot first and love being in the bar, then the Guard and Reserve are for you.  If you say, I'm an officer first and love serving my country, then there's a place for you in my Air Force...

Wouldn’t be Gen Wills himself, would it? He said the same thing to a group of IPs at a UPT base this last week. 

[HossHarris]

Same shit they were telling us 6-9 years ago …. Feel free to leave we’ll make more and what not. 
 

glad to see they’ve learner their retention lessons. 
 

get your foot in the door at a major yesterday. Then you can dabble in the guard until you realize your loosing significant money for every TP. 
 

For most folks, that’s somewhere year 2 or 3. 

[BolterKing]

10 hours ago, FUSEPLUG said:

The "no sense of purpose at an airline job" line will be debunked with that first second-year paycheck.

Yeah, how about I show you a summer of $30k plus paychecks month after month with 15 days off and no BS to deal with… tell me you can’t find a sense of purpose.  
 

They abused my sense of purpose,  now I’m in it for me.  Go to the show!!!! 
 

Oh and enjoy roll call in the heritage room with the boys on Sunday of drill doing the real work part time on your own terms.  

Edited April 22, 2022 by BolterKing

[BFM this]

21 hours ago, Prozac said:

The AF should keep this in mind when airline hiring falls off (and it will….someday) and it is again tempted to treat people like garbage because it can. 

We literally just watched the AF do a full grunt 360 degree bat turn on retention.

Pre-COVID: OMG we have a retention CRISIS y’all!!!  O5 for all my friends!

COVID: [180] Cut bonus, needs of the AF, same tune

Post-COVID: [180] [see meme above]

These lessons do not get learned.  They simply don’t.  

Get a line number.

[08Dawg]

1 hour ago, BFM this said:

We literally just watched the AF do a full grunt 360 degree bat turn on retention.

Pre-COVID: OMG we have a retention CRISIS y’all!!!  O5 for all my friends!

COVID: [180] Cut bonus, needs of the AF, same tune

Post-COVID: [180] [see meme above]

These lessons do not get learned.  They simply don’t.  

Get a line number.

One of my good friends and her husband both work at the NGB. Her husband handles much of the rated  management stuff for the Guard. She told me when COVID hit and airline hiring tanked, HAF predicted no airlines would hire any pilot for 3-5 years.  They seriously got their bluff called on that one…

[Guardian]

Wonder if that’s why there isn’t a guard bonus a month after the active duty already published theirs.

[dream big]

I don’t understand some active duty senior leadership’s disdain for the guard/reserves.  Most mission sets don’t happen without them and ultimately a guard v reserve v AD crew/package provides the same effect in combat.  At that point, said disdain just shows how deep rooted the self licking bureaucracy ice cream cone is.  

[FLEA]

1 hour ago, dream big said:

I don’t understand some active duty senior leadership’s disdain for the guard/reserves.  Most mission sets don’t happen without them and ultimately a guard v reserve v AD crew/package provides the same effect in combat.  At that point, said disdain just shows how deep rooted the self licking bureaucracy ice cream cone is.  

My opinion, because we actually aren't short pilots. That's the biggest myth in the AF. We are short staff officers that are required to have rated background. I can take a 10 year AD pilot and send him to some random staff. I can't do that with a guard dude assigned to a guard flying squadron. 

By the way I'm not defending the AF. The AF just needs to wake up and realize what it really wants. On paper ops squadrons are 95% or higher manned right now. (We can debate whether crew ratios are appropriate somewhere else) Cockpits are filled. But the staff billet is still at like 70% and the consistent direction from the last 3 CSAFs is that ops squadrons will be manned before staffs. 

This hits generals personally because it's their staffs that suffer. And it's right in line with what this General is saying. He doesn't need pilots, he needs officers, people to work in his staff. 

I strongly suspect the 13O career path was an attempt to make a non aircrew body of staffers that would be qualified to fill these positions but when they realized that teaching a cyber guy air interdiction in a 3 hour lecture doesn't bring the nuance of having trained for AI for years, they just cut the program. 

 

 

 

[Majestik Møøse]

No fighter pilots on staff is having noticeable effects from what I’ve experienced. The high dollar LFEs are run mostly by boomer civilians with no concept of modern tactics; the conclusions are pre-drawn and mostly centered on proving they need more billions for an acquisition. The bureaucratic requirements are through the roof, then executed horribly leading to delays and frustration.

The AOCs are run by “not my job” civilians, boomer guard ABMs, and like FLEA said, cross-trained 13Os that have no business planning or executing an air campaign.

Acquisitions have been totally handed over to snake oil salesmen, because there is no one left in staff with the talent or energy to know otherwise.

This is what happens when you take your best prospects, spend millions on them to mold their brains into the world’s best by a years-long process that only exists in mil aviation, then let them walk out the door when their commitment is up.

It is a criminal waste of taxpayer dollars.

[FLEA]

1 hour ago, Majestik Møøse said:

No fighter pilots on staff is having noticeable effects from what I’ve experienced. The high dollar LFEs are run mostly by boomer civilians with no concept of modern tactics; the conclusions are pre-drawn and mostly centered on proving they need more billions for an acquisition. The bureaucratic requirements are through the roof, then executed horribly leading to delays and frustration.

The AOCs are run by “not my job” civilians, boomer guard ABMs, and like FLEA said, cross-trained 13Os that have no business planning or executing an air campaign.

Acquisitions have been totally handed over to snake oil salesmen, because there is no one left in staff with the talent or energy to know otherwise.

This is what happens when you take your best prospects, spend millions on them to mold their brains into the world’s best by a years-long process that only exists in mil aviation, then let them walk out the door when their commitment is up.

It is a criminal waste of taxpayer dollars.

Truth. And based. 

[SocialD]

14 hours ago, WheelsOff said:

Wouldn’t be Gen Wills himself, would it? He said the same thing to a group of IPs at a UPT base this last week. 

 

The one, the only.

 

7 hours ago, dream big said:

I don’t understand some active duty senior leadership’s disdain for the guard/reserves.  

 

There has always been some level of disdain toward the ARC, but it appears to be getting worse.  Some of my friends in higher places say it's the worst they've ever seen in their careers.  Admittedly, it was probably well deserved back in the day, but this ain't your daddies Guard.  Hell, it's not even the same Guard I enlisted in 21 years ago.  

On the flip side, they have no problem sending us their LTs for an assignment to get them experienced.  This has the possibility to be a great thing for the Guard as we grow a new generation of AD pilots who gain some understanding of the Guard.  However, I'm guessing all we'll see is those guys trying to get back into the Guard as soon as their ADSC is up.  

[WheelsOff]

6 minutes ago, SocialD said:

 

The one, the only.

 

Dude is a grade A narcissist. Heard he is retiring this summer. “His” Air Force will be better off without him moving forward…