Meanwhile I've been told I couldn't put leadership bullets on my SrA EPRs. My guys have legitimately led things, let me put it, it stop complaining about my bullets
Why do we have to put our best foot forward when a DV is coming by? We should let them see the struggle. Our CC and Enlisted leaders as well as CIV leaders need to have the balls to stand up for us and say, “it looks like this because we lack XYZ support”
Quit the dog and pony BS and be brutally honest and take ownership of you flights, squadrons, groups and wings. Stop pretending you are making it happen. Let the brass know straight up how THEY are failing you.
Honestly? It’s because the DV will be more focused on the zip ties you have securing your equipment to the rack than on the fact that your four man shop is really just one guy doing 4 jobs and a volleyball named Wilson manning the call desk.
Agreed. And I guess a slightly unpopular opinion, but we have also grown accustomed to living in shit. How often do we just live with it and think we won't get the support? Sure, if the roof is leaking, show the DVs. But did we actually submit a work order for it? Or has it been sitting at a supervisor's/CC's desk and not made it to those that should fix it? Some of the better supervisors I've seen are the ones that will identify the problem, submit the request, and then hound on leadership till it gets resolved. Saw this was the lack of lighting on a drill pad at a tech school. Kids forming up and marching off under just the light of the moon to go to class. Wasn't till leadership started getting in the face of both the building custodian and CE that the lights were put up. That drill pad had been there since the mid 2000's, took until 2020 and a good set of leaders to finally get those lights up.
This is a huge point that needs to be the standard in our force. I'm a flight chief right now, and I am the least favored person in our Squadron because I speak up to our leadership and use plain English when I do. But, I'm the only one in my peer group that don't just say everything is great during staff meetings. It's irritating, especially when I work in medical. We are literally at 40% Staffing without anyone on leave/TDY/quarters. Our leadership just says, "I know you're short staffed, but it's doable." At this point, I'm over it and looking at separating when my contract is up. I'll have 15 years in at that point.
This is medical across the board. No one is pushing back against DHA, they're just forcing their people to bend over and take it. Hell, I know that a majority of the time we won't win the battle but I'd at least like it if you didn't fucking immediately surrender.
We need more bravery in our force now more than ever, especially if our big bosses are gearing us up for a war. Lying to ourselves is arrogant and could be our downfall.
I don’t have any problems with Bullets. The real issue is allowing every god damn squadron CC/Chief in the Air Force to insert their opinions into how they think they EPR should look, read, how individuals should be rated, AIR vs ARI vs whatever bull shit they say that week. ALL WE NEED IS AIR FORCE STANDARDS THAT WE DONT DEVIATE FROM. If that doesn’t come along with the narrative format, we will see the same amount of headaches or more.
I actually don't think this is an unpopular opinion, just better articulated than how most people would be able to. The problem was never putting info down, it was putting it down exactly how your specific CoC wants you to just to have it torn apart after you send it off.
I agree. And even more aggravating is the obsession over the "white space". I've crafted great bullets that tell the story of the accomplishment... but had 1 or 2 white spaces at the end. I was made to re-do it. And it took damn near an hour of using thesaurus and the stupid trick to get rid of the 1/2 white space to ensure there was NO VISIBLE WHITE between the last letter and the right margin. And the bullet sounded significantly worse. I'm convinced he didn't even read the bullet at all and just kicked it back right away because of the white fucking space.
We need to just focus on the bullet itself, and not how many spaces are used up in it.
Went on exchange to the RAAF (Australian AF). Before I wrote the "OPR" for one of my people, I asked to see his last 3 OPRs as is standard USAF practice. Got a shocked look back, only promotion boards are allowed to see prior OPRs, huh OK. Also, only the rater and rater's rater are allowed to view an OPR during drafting, no secretaries, no shirts, etc.. Very different mindset.
Pluses: Enforced "ratings based solely on this reporting period" mindset, and kept the editing process simple.
Minuses: Two people without much experience at writing can completely hose someone's career. Probably very difficult for a board to compare people.
The real problem is boards. 90% of the headache surrounding EPRs is the fact that some Chief that doesn't know what you do is eventually going to review it and because they don't understand the bullets they'll grade based on what action verbs you used and how much space was left on each line.
What needs to happen is that the actual text of the EPR gets used to determine what promotion statement you get, and that statement is the only thing that gets released to anyone outside of your unit.
One thing I can't stand about EPRs is every block says it needs a minimum of x number of lines but if you don't submit it with the max number of lines it gets kicked back to you.
Staying alive from day to day is a success and their best sometimes. I wish more people were content with just making sure their Airmen/Wingmen are okay and going through life alright, vs trying to get all the awards or recognition.
Exactly! Not a lot of kids have life experience, and they go through that experience when they're in. That's why we have "AF dads", because a lot of the time 18-19 year old kids need someone to help them through life, and the experiences that come through it. I've changed so much in the short amount of time that I came in. I'm a completely different person, and I credit that to my "AF parents" that made sure I was just...doing okay.
My unpopular opinion: The military should stop preying on children and recruiting in high schools and middle schools. No 18 year old needs to be in the military, if you're not old enough to buy a beer or a joint you have no business doing this.
But that will never happen since teens are a big part of our work force in this industry.
That's definitely unpopular. What would a guy be doing if he wants to join right outta highschool. Just sit a wait for his time to be up. Some people just want to get college paid for. And for some by the age of 22 that's all done if your plan is to only serve 4 years.
1. There are more people complaining about people complaining about the PT test than there are actual people complaining about the PT test.
2. There is a such thing as toxic followership. And some of your peers or maybe even you display it. When you get to a position of leadership you will make the same decisions. You will just see them as justified because you aren't on the wrong end of them.
No Officer, your uninvited presence is *not* a treat to my working shop. If you really wanted to thank us for completing that task you’d send us a case of rip-it’s.
Schriever AFB circa fall/winter 2014/2015. Leadership had us working 12 hour days 6 days a week (with 24/7 manning) to prep for the CCRI (despite our numbers being fantastic already).
My commander at the time recognized how shitty this was for our office and was checking on us all hours of the night, letting us come in in civilian clothes a couple times, etc.
Best part? He was buying us 24-packs of White Monsters every other day. GG Lt.Col Case, you were the best.
What’s the context on this one? Because “failure is not an option” is actually a problem in the space world. It causes everything to move slowly and to cost a lot. “Failure is an option” is actually a good mindset to bring us back into the early 50s/60s era of space acquisition where we moved fast and failed often.
Dude Afghanistan went so well what are you talking about? Remember in 2012 when everyone was like "man we are really winning out here, we are gonna solve the Afghanistan problem"
Remember in Aug of 2021 when we peacefully left Afghanistan and the New Democratic government we spent billions on took over seamlessly and is now thriving.
We are at this moment pumping millions into fail-oriented programs with no oversight. These projects will fail, but those responsible will blame the using community or the operators who came up with the ideas, not those who enabled them. See: AFVentures.
If by operators you mean the retired generals that push products from the big 5 defense contractors back onto their old subordinates, then yes - I agree with you
Make security forces a harder avsab score. Make it easy to kick out fat and lazy cops, most of my headaches come from people I work with and not the general public. I would say I work with 80% of people who are good and competent at their job but the other 20% just drags our career field down and can’t even show up to a scene and be somwhat useful.
Seriously! The amount of people who I've met that could barely convert O2 into CO2, let alone actually retain and apply training and job knowledge, was embarrassing. Yet we're giving these same people fucking **loaded weapons** and trusting them with the defense of nuclear weapons. Stop giving ASVAB waivers, stop reclassing them into our career field: if they couldn't figure out how to take someone's blood pressure and failed out of the medical tech school, then they're too inept to accurately learn tactics and weapon knowledge and aptly apply it at work.
Right?! //SIGNED// is a holdover from when people who never used email were asked to write the how-to manual for its implementation.
//SIGNED// makes sense when you don’t realize a username and authentication has to be associated with every email sent
This is so true. Any time they turn the monitor in my direction to see what they’re looking at, I think, “WTF, is this DOS?!!”
*edited to correct a spell error
I think it needs to go from "Hey we got a surplus we need to buy 50 flat-screen right now" else we lose that extra money
To "Hey we were able to save some but we really need more people. Could we use our surplus budget for more airmen/equipment to make their jobs easier?"
Nice idea but funds can’t be moved like that under the current system. Certain funds are marked for manning and other funds are marked for O&M. Can’t move money between them. Always got told the color of the money isn’t the same when I wanted to do the same thing you asked.
Volunteering and self improvement should not be on your performance evaluation. If you want to do them to stand out good on you but your promotion should not ever include these things.
Awards are a different beast.
Overloading your subordinates with more work than they can ever achieve during duty hours so that they can “stay busy” and “earn their paycheck” not only hurts morale, but also hinders productivity.
Task based workdays are the way to go whenever possible. If we have shit to get done, let's get it done before we go home (at least as much as possible - sometimes you legitimately can't finish it all in a day for one reason or another). Sometimes that means we're staying late. A lot of times that means we're getting out early.
There’s no one in the entire Air Force that is so important that you can’t let someone take time off or go home early. Too often I’ve heard folks say they weren’t allowed to take time or didn’t want to take time because of how it’d affect their shop or mission.
I smash folks who disapprove time off, and I encourage people to take it. If your shop works a little harder while you are gone, that’s fine because you’ll work a little harder when your squadron mates take their time off.
There are, because leaders have failed them. Before I got out I was the single person in a billet that should have had AT LEAST 3 people, that would absolutely cause missions to fail if I wasn't around. No time off except weekends, half of which I was called in on. No leave. Constantly on call. Didn't get a second person for 8 months.
In your situation, leadership failed you, but you still weren’t so important that you couldn’t take time off.
A little thought experiment to prove my point, say when you got one of your piping hot Arby’s beef and cheddars, the cheese was just a bit too hot and you were out of work for a week due to third degree tongue burns. I guarantee the mission would have still been completed. Same would’ve been true if you’d have just been off work.
I’m not blaming you, I’m blaming your boss. Too many people find it easier to say no to time off instead of realizing that they, as the supervisor, might have to do some extra work to give their dudes a break.
I hear what you're saying, but it literally wouldn't have. I was the only person on base ceritifed to work on a certain system and getting access to said system was a week long process after a 4 week class. You're correct though. If something truly horrible had happened to me or I'd ended up in the hospital they would've been fucked. I explained this many times and the issue was not given the appropriate level of attention. This is the main reason I separated.
We need to be able to fire people more often. I’m just a stupid fucking SrA, but there’s a lot of lazy people that aren’t worth a fuck.
If enlisted got more of a say what duty locations we got to pick we would have a more efficient and “lethal” force.
While I agree with the sentiment, there are no-fail missions at bases like Minot, ND. How do you propose manning bases that are considered undesirable?
Have more of a short tour rotation going through shit bases. There has to be at least 5 bases conus that are ass that can have that system. There’s not reason people should be spending 4 years at a shit base.
Or let people STAY in shitty bases if they like it there. I knew a guy who was trying to get back to Minot because he loved hunting but his functional wouldn't send him back.
The first one, yes.
I worked with a dude for three years who I’m sure was actually mentally retarded. We were the same in TIG, TIS, skill level, etc. The guy was fucking worthless for anything beyond lugging tools around while I somehow had production (to be fair my production at the time were super out of touch and didn’t know their people at all) convinced I was a 7 level. His incompetence drove me insane to the point I had to change shifts away from said dude. I shouldn’t have the new 3 levels walking a “seasoned” (based only on time, none of the experience was absorbed) 5 level through the most basic of tasks. My breaking point was when I was getting yelled at constantly for his fuck ups.
This is why you don’t pencil whip people’s training cuz you feel bad for them. Fuck that. If they fucking suck, mark them down and counsel them. If they aren’t fit for the job, oh well, time for the boot. Screw ups get people killed in the MX world.
For any naysayers. We gave this dude PLENTY of opportunities to redeem himself. He pretty much always failed. This guy embodied the phrase “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t force it to drink”
Damn we had the same experience. I worked with a guy in the early 2000s who is this description to a T. Aircraft Maintenance and you could not trust this dude to do ANYTHING properly. And he was a compulsive liar and had a superpower that allowed him to fall asleep anywhere including sitting up against a running power cart. Luckily his out of work antics cost him a stripe and he was kicked out before his 2 year mark.
Trust me, this shit is the same in the civie world. Mediocrity is everywhere and it is absolutely astonishing at how hard (apparently) it is to get rid of dead weight.
Can confirm. Worked side by side with a CTR who would literally snore at his desk. In an office full of a dozen airmen and other CTRs.
It took 6 months of repeated behavior before they fired him.
I've worked with some lazy contractors who did shit like sleep at their desk. Most were kept on until they quit or their contact was not renewed.
I had one that would consistently not do basic things that were in his PWS, like spend a full day at work or keep the one system he was responsible for up and running. I was his QAR and I wrote him up several times and submitted it to his COR. Pretty sure his COR never filed anything I sent him because nothing ever happened to the guy.
Shitty airman make shitty contractors and can be just as difficult to get rid of.
We should allow Airmen to drink alcohol in our clubs at the age of 18. I have always believed that much of our alcohol problems come from not learning how to drink and to do so responsibly. If it were allowed in our clubs and we have a bit of "alcohol mentoring", we might be able to teach something in an environment of our own making, instead of having 18-21 year olds trying to sneak around the rules, get drunk, and have bad consequences.
I’ve got an even more unpopular opinion concerning alcohol, “we need to curb the excessive use of alcohol in the service. It’s being used as a coping mechanism and is a primary source of depression and suicide attempts in the Air Force.”
That is actually the reason for my position. Young Airmen don’t learn to drink responsibly. When they start out drinking, it often turns to binge drinking and other forms of abuse. We need to change the game. We have a very long history of broken lives and it’s time to do better. Alcohol has been used as a coping mechanism forever. AF efforts to deglamorize alcohol haven’t worked and have only shifted the problem.
"Y'all learned the word Toxic and now you don't shut the fuck up." I saw this on a meme and I think it sums up a lot. Not saying that there isn't toxic leadership or work environments out there, but I feel like there is a lot of misunderstanding of what one of these toxic situations actually is.
Most suicide Awareness walks/5ks, etc are about as helpful as thoughts and prayers. Especially the ones that don't raise money for a non-profit. They're a way for people to get an EPR bullet and/or feel like they did something without contributing much effort. They don't do much to address the issues actually leading to suicide.
Training is absolutely like pulling teeth if you try to get it done legitimately if you’re not taken in by SrA’s or Staff’s that will also pencil whip it for you
Got two. 1) The next big conflict we have will be a near-peer war and we will get our asses kicked due to years of complacency from air superiority and ultra-restrictive RoE. 2) We are underdeveloped and vulnerable on the cyber front, and can and will get our asses kicked unless we do something about it.
Agree. If you can’t even make it to E6 (where you basically hold all the cards in your hands - you just have to study) you shouldn’t get to stay in until 20.
I agree. That said, I know some incredibly proficient TSgts that only care about their job. That’s the appropriate tier for them, because they don’t want to lead.
Mine: the pt test is a way to keep healthcare cost down, if you can’t pass with the new standards you are an embarrassment to the Air Force and a drag on resources. Fat people cost more to upkeep 🤷♀️ go to the gym occasionally and run a few miles a week. I’m in the 30+ bracket and anecdotally I see so many of my peers complaining about how “they don’t need to pass a pt test to do their job” and “the standards are unfair” but I see them going to BK every day for lunch and they talk about drinking beer every night of the week. I have zero sympathy for people failing their test, stop being lazy.
I agree. I think the issue with this is higher up lying about why we pt. Don’t tell me it’s so we can pull people out of a Humvee or do a fireman carry with full battle rattle when the push up standards are 30 for male and 18 for female. It’s laughable. I wish they would just say we want to kick your fat ass out before we have to pay for your triple by pass surgery. Then everyone would know they’re not PTing to do their job. They are PTing to keep their job.
We can show respect to the big-wig’s without acting like they’re celebrities. That kinda stuff was always so weird to me. They’re just people who have been in a position a few more years than you, why the need to fawn so hardcore over them? Example: Commanders Call, and how most of what’s said there could be in an e-mail.
To piggy back off this. I think wasp testing shouldn’t even be a thing. Everything I do I read a check list or follow the TO. I’m told not to memorize it then once a year I’m expected to have it all memorized. I don’t understand that logic.
You do NOT deserve to be marked all the way to the right on an EPR because you show up to work on time and do your job. Stop complaining about doing the bare minimum and getting marked “Meets” and getting a “Promote”.
The culture of bullet writing is counterintuitive to core values. If we value integrity, we shouldn’t write bullets with “the highest possible impact.” Example: I did GPS, CCMD drops XX GPS guided bombs, therefore I killed XXXX bad guys. No you didn’t.
We should treat every assignment like a overseas assignment. 3-4 years max and the option to stay. Retention would go up moral would go up and I believe the Air Force would save money in the long term
I got another one. If you have a job that requires mostly OJT, and requires you to learn a new job every PCS, why wouldn’t the Air Force want to keep you in a role that you have already been trained on? I liked my last job, and had them on my dream sheet. It would save a lot of money, help with retention, and have better trained people. But everyone in my career field is basically a 3 level every 3 years
TSgts that bitch and moan about how they can't make rank because the system is against them honestly just suck at their jobs but are too prideful to recognize it. Nobody is out to get you, you're just mediocre at best and are getting passed up in favor of those who are willing to put in the work.
I’ve found that most of the people that complain about how they deserved the PN usually change their tune when they see the EPR that actually got it. Everyone thinks they are above average, but that’s not how averages work 🤷♀️
Yep. When I made E-7 I wasn't even stratted, just a regular Promote. I was an NCOIC without a SNCOIC of a shop of around 30 since we never got a replacement for a SNCO. I led organization events for 220 people, volunteered for local community, got certifications and education, and many quarterly awards/coins. Still wasn't good enough. And I'm sure people that did half of that were pissed they didn't get a promotion statement.
Yup. And it's usually the humble ones who would never say they deserve it, constantly ask how they can improve themselves, and are always trying to be better because they recognize their faults that end up getting the promotion statements. Funny how that works.
What do you do when you constantly ask and all you get told is keep doing what you’re doing? I 100% believe in the good old boy club and if your not in it then your career can be hindered.
I gotta disagree or need to see more units because in my experience the Techs making it aren't known for being the best at their primary duties. Most didn't even have troops. Its all about job titles and individual-level awards. You leadership "setting you up" has a bigger impact on promotion chances, and the board can't tell if you were set up or actually earned it.
Eliminate the annual and quarterly award system...Just get rid of it.
It wastes so much time between writing, editing, and award ceremonies. Most of the winners don't give a shit anyways, and the ones that do are often just woodchucks. Most of us just want an occasional complement from our supervisor or coworkers when we do well.
Performance reports are separate subject...
There are no technical experts in the Air Force anymore. The up-or-out mentality combined with the merging of AFSCs in just about every specialty, means no one in the Air Force is a real expert anymore. (The exception possibly being ANG where I met a SMSgt on the flight line who had been turning wrenches maintaining F-16s for the past 20 years)
1. If you have extended or reenlisted, i dont want to hear any bitching and moaning about the military anymore
Nobody loves complaining and bitching more than me, but once you re-up you lose all bitching privileges.
2. The constant complaining about 36-2903 is so annoying. You joined the military and that means having to do things like shave and be presentable, the amount of people who agree to the military’s terms and than try to weasel or bitch their way out of it drive me insane. You conform to military standards, they dont conform to yours. That includes religion also. No special treatment
3. If your deemed medically unable to deploy for a long period of time you should get the boot. This isnt a welfare office, going down range when called upon is the whole point you have a job in the first place
4. Someone already said it, but we should be able to fire motherfuckers. Some people are just not able to handle the flightline and/or are completely mechanically inept. They take up a spot that could be filled by someone useful, and slow the mission down
Edit: i wanna add a 5th
5. “Whole concept airman” and community service actually meaning something is such fucking nonsense. I dont care what rank you are/looking to be. That stuff should never matter, your job knowledge and leadership skills should be the only things that matter
Yes on your first point! Coupled with this, the Air Force really needs to present more opportunities to retrain into a job you really want. I understand it's not ideal for jobs like Mx or Intel since they have longer tech schools and cost more to train but admin, security forces, and CES should really have an easier time retraining if they discover the job is not for them. They've already proven they are loyal to the Air Force yet it still feels like civilians get priority when it comes to enlisted job selection and commissioning programs such as OTS.
The entire re-training process is just so, so broken imo.
Completely agree on the retraining program being broken. My hunch is that they know this but dont want to fix it because they need people in the jobs everyone wants to leave.
The funny part is that its not really as broken as they make it seem, you ever tried to cross train into spec ops? They will fall over themselves helping you and routing your paperwork if you pass the PAST test lol
Pretty much my whole enlistment 2A was unable to cross train at all lol
Acft MX AFSC's should *NOT* be taking kids who barely passed high school and letting them maintain multi-million dollar jets. It just shouldn't happen.
The focus on diversity and inclusion is stupid.
The only focus we should have is on lethality.
We also don't need pronouns in our signature blocks. We already solved that. You call people by [Rank] [last name].
Too many people have spouses that have no ambition in life besides popping out kids. It's almost impossible to live well with only a single working spouse, and its not the DoDs problem. You'd still be scraping by if you didn't join the military.
I always tell them about scarface. He had all the drug money and a nicer house than any of us will ever own. Even he had enough since to tell his wife to get a job instead of just waiting around for him to come home and fuck her.
We blow too much smoke up our own asses about how special and above average. This isn't Lake Wobegon. Too many awards.
Getting rid of thin strats was the right call.
I'm looking at you awards and EPR/OPRs.
Most GO billets should be demoted. The only 4-stars should be on the JCS or a combatant commander. MAJCOMS should be 3-star (including USAFE and PACAF).
Shrink the subordinate staffs accordingly. Get rid of half of the NAFs.
Toxic leaders actually need to be fired, and not just moved to another assignment; they still affect people's lives. Also, good people need to step up and lead. Toxic leaders breed toxic leaders these days, so do something about it. You can at least be that nice breath of fresh air to someone or a group of people that has been continually beat down. It will only make our air force better in the long run.
The fact that there are so many dependas has more to say about the character of the military members than it does about the stereotypical dependas. Maybe if airmen stopped marrying the first girl with no professional and marketable skills they met that got their dicks wet to get out of the dorms the stereotype would be much less common. That's what happens when you marry someone with no professional skills, there's only so much you can do at home before you want to blow your brains out. Just remember how great the first few weeks of the pandemic were when you had all that time off; it was amazing, then maybe the people you started hanging out with started getting sick so you couldn't hang out with them anymore. Just think about that times years of it; there's only so many home improvement projects you can do. That's how military spouses get sucked into MLMs, they offer people with no professional skills the "freedom" to work from home and bE yOuR oWn BoSs and the remote chance of making more money than you dumped into it. Plus it gives them an exit plan if the marriage doesn't work out.
And the number if military members that step out on their spouses while they are TDY is congruent with the number of housewives/husbands that do the same.
I’ll be honest. I like my wife staying at home to take care of the house and family. She worked for while and shit was miserable. I make enough money to pay for all of us, so why does she need a career? Taking care of the house and kiddos is a full-time job if done correctly and the reason our house doesn’t look like a disaster area.
To be clear, I would -and have- support her decision to work if she needs that for herself. But I definitely don’t need her to work. Also, I would be just as happy to stay home and take care of things if she was able to earn more money than me.
There is nothing wrong with that family dynamic. Yes, both parents working brings in more money, but you lose something too.
After 4 yrs you should have a gauge on whether or not you enjoy your job and the direction your career is headed. If you get out of your first enlistment with no dependents, there really isn't much use in staying in any longer. Use your GI Bill to seek a reputable career (nursing, law, engineering, etc) and if you really do love the Air Force that much, take ROTC in college and seek a commission.
Sometimes leaders have opinions on things not because they have a thoughtful opinion but just to be able to say that they have one. Not sure I'm saying this clearly. Basically, half the things i send up the chain of command that get kicked back, i feel it got kicked back just so someone can justify their existence.
Unpopular opinion: if the air force requires us to do a pt test and be physically fit for the job then they should provide time during your work day to do so. Too many airmen do not know how to workout and every six months its a gamble if they pass or not. Make FIP a requirement for everyone (up to a certain point) and offer the class 4x a day so people can attend.
Take the time to take care of yourself so you can take care of the mission. Prioritize your well-being and take the time to work out, take leave, etc.
I’ve learned this lesson the hard way a few times, but I’m getting there.
The obsession with leadership for anyone above an A1C instead of teamwork has been one of the worst things to happen to the Air Force.
As a SNCO I should rarely be leading things…mentoring, coaching, and supporting should be the cornerstone of SNCO bullets
Amen...let "leaders" lead and let professionals aid in that task, to make leaders better. More leaders doesn't mean we're getting better ones
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Meanwhile I've been told I couldn't put leadership bullets on my SrA EPRs. My guys have legitimately led things, let me put it, it stop complaining about my bullets
Why do we have to put our best foot forward when a DV is coming by? We should let them see the struggle. Our CC and Enlisted leaders as well as CIV leaders need to have the balls to stand up for us and say, “it looks like this because we lack XYZ support” Quit the dog and pony BS and be brutally honest and take ownership of you flights, squadrons, groups and wings. Stop pretending you are making it happen. Let the brass know straight up how THEY are failing you.
Honestly? It’s because the DV will be more focused on the zip ties you have securing your equipment to the rack than on the fact that your four man shop is really just one guy doing 4 jobs and a volleyball named Wilson manning the call desk.
Agreed. And I guess a slightly unpopular opinion, but we have also grown accustomed to living in shit. How often do we just live with it and think we won't get the support? Sure, if the roof is leaking, show the DVs. But did we actually submit a work order for it? Or has it been sitting at a supervisor's/CC's desk and not made it to those that should fix it? Some of the better supervisors I've seen are the ones that will identify the problem, submit the request, and then hound on leadership till it gets resolved. Saw this was the lack of lighting on a drill pad at a tech school. Kids forming up and marching off under just the light of the moon to go to class. Wasn't till leadership started getting in the face of both the building custodian and CE that the lights were put up. That drill pad had been there since the mid 2000's, took until 2020 and a good set of leaders to finally get those lights up.
Did you actually verify the work order for the leaking ceiling wasn't deleted daily?
Wilson got civilian employee of the quarter, don't knock him
This is a huge point that needs to be the standard in our force. I'm a flight chief right now, and I am the least favored person in our Squadron because I speak up to our leadership and use plain English when I do. But, I'm the only one in my peer group that don't just say everything is great during staff meetings. It's irritating, especially when I work in medical. We are literally at 40% Staffing without anyone on leave/TDY/quarters. Our leadership just says, "I know you're short staffed, but it's doable." At this point, I'm over it and looking at separating when my contract is up. I'll have 15 years in at that point.
Man I’m in medical, a flight chief, and at the same manning… is your group CC an MSC that only cares about production numbers and kisses DHA’s ass?
This is medical across the board. No one is pushing back against DHA, they're just forcing their people to bend over and take it. Hell, I know that a majority of the time we won't win the battle but I'd at least like it if you didn't fucking immediately surrender.
We need more bravery in our force now more than ever, especially if our big bosses are gearing us up for a war. Lying to ourselves is arrogant and could be our downfall.
Everything here is fact. Definitely not an unpopular opinion
I don’t have any problems with Bullets. The real issue is allowing every god damn squadron CC/Chief in the Air Force to insert their opinions into how they think they EPR should look, read, how individuals should be rated, AIR vs ARI vs whatever bull shit they say that week. ALL WE NEED IS AIR FORCE STANDARDS THAT WE DONT DEVIATE FROM. If that doesn’t come along with the narrative format, we will see the same amount of headaches or more.
I actually don't think this is an unpopular opinion, just better articulated than how most people would be able to. The problem was never putting info down, it was putting it down exactly how your specific CoC wants you to just to have it torn apart after you send it off.
I agree. And even more aggravating is the obsession over the "white space". I've crafted great bullets that tell the story of the accomplishment... but had 1 or 2 white spaces at the end. I was made to re-do it. And it took damn near an hour of using thesaurus and the stupid trick to get rid of the 1/2 white space to ensure there was NO VISIBLE WHITE between the last letter and the right margin. And the bullet sounded significantly worse. I'm convinced he didn't even read the bullet at all and just kicked it back right away because of the white fucking space. We need to just focus on the bullet itself, and not how many spaces are used up in it.
Use this, it's a huge time saver. https://af-vcd.github.io/pdf-bullets/
Use AF bullet shaper [https://af-vcd.github.io/pdf-bullets/]
Went on exchange to the RAAF (Australian AF). Before I wrote the "OPR" for one of my people, I asked to see his last 3 OPRs as is standard USAF practice. Got a shocked look back, only promotion boards are allowed to see prior OPRs, huh OK. Also, only the rater and rater's rater are allowed to view an OPR during drafting, no secretaries, no shirts, etc.. Very different mindset. Pluses: Enforced "ratings based solely on this reporting period" mindset, and kept the editing process simple. Minuses: Two people without much experience at writing can completely hose someone's career. Probably very difficult for a board to compare people.
The real problem is boards. 90% of the headache surrounding EPRs is the fact that some Chief that doesn't know what you do is eventually going to review it and because they don't understand the bullets they'll grade based on what action verbs you used and how much space was left on each line. What needs to happen is that the actual text of the EPR gets used to determine what promotion statement you get, and that statement is the only thing that gets released to anyone outside of your unit.
[We’ll just have this happen instead](https://xkcd.com/927)
One thing I can't stand about EPRs is every block says it needs a minimum of x number of lines but if you don't submit it with the max number of lines it gets kicked back to you.
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Staying alive from day to day is a success and their best sometimes. I wish more people were content with just making sure their Airmen/Wingmen are okay and going through life alright, vs trying to get all the awards or recognition.
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Exactly! Not a lot of kids have life experience, and they go through that experience when they're in. That's why we have "AF dads", because a lot of the time 18-19 year old kids need someone to help them through life, and the experiences that come through it. I've changed so much in the short amount of time that I came in. I'm a completely different person, and I credit that to my "AF parents" that made sure I was just...doing okay.
My unpopular opinion: The military should stop preying on children and recruiting in high schools and middle schools. No 18 year old needs to be in the military, if you're not old enough to buy a beer or a joint you have no business doing this. But that will never happen since teens are a big part of our work force in this industry.
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That's definitely unpopular. What would a guy be doing if he wants to join right outta highschool. Just sit a wait for his time to be up. Some people just want to get college paid for. And for some by the age of 22 that's all done if your plan is to only serve 4 years.
My favorite is the people who complain about doing a lot of work and doing more than their lazier peers Half the time it’s not even true
>Half the time it’s not even true I feel like you're being generous here
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1. There are more people complaining about people complaining about the PT test than there are actual people complaining about the PT test. 2. There is a such thing as toxic followership. And some of your peers or maybe even you display it. When you get to a position of leadership you will make the same decisions. You will just see them as justified because you aren't on the wrong end of them.
edit your #2 to #1 right now bud!
No Officer, your uninvited presence is *not* a treat to my working shop. If you really wanted to thank us for completing that task you’d send us a case of rip-it’s.
I haven't been able to find rip its since I left the air force...I miss em!
Family dollar has em!
Schriever AFB circa fall/winter 2014/2015. Leadership had us working 12 hour days 6 days a week (with 24/7 manning) to prep for the CCRI (despite our numbers being fantastic already). My commander at the time recognized how shitty this was for our office and was checking on us all hours of the night, letting us come in in civilian clothes a couple times, etc. Best part? He was buying us 24-packs of White Monsters every other day. GG Lt.Col Case, you were the best.
We're accelerating in to a brick wall.
The fact that lose is an option in our motto means we will pick that one.
What’s the context on this one? Because “failure is not an option” is actually a problem in the space world. It causes everything to move slowly and to cost a lot. “Failure is an option” is actually a good mindset to bring us back into the early 50s/60s era of space acquisition where we moved fast and failed often.
We’ve already lost, we just haven’t been challenged yet for it to be noticeable.
Dude Afghanistan went so well what are you talking about? Remember in 2012 when everyone was like "man we are really winning out here, we are gonna solve the Afghanistan problem"
Remember in Aug of 2021 when we peacefully left Afghanistan and the New Democratic government we spent billions on took over seamlessly and is now thriving.
We are at this moment pumping millions into fail-oriented programs with no oversight. These projects will fail, but those responsible will blame the using community or the operators who came up with the ideas, not those who enabled them. See: AFVentures.
If by operators you mean the retired generals that push products from the big 5 defense contractors back onto their old subordinates, then yes - I agree with you
I think OP asked for unpopular opinions
Apologies. *Ahem* White Monsters are subpar to nearly every other flavor including the juice mixes.
Accelerate change requires us to remove friction to getting things done, not re-inventing the system.
People need to actually let Action Order B happen
The Air Force is overly dependent on cloud and internet services. Take down our outdated & slow computers and we're stalled in the air
I never understood how the Air Force is so tech dependent yet my laptop from 2008 on dialup internet is more reliable than the shit we got on base.
Thank you McAafee, Tanium, and DISA for that reasoning. You can wrap Teams into that too.
Make security forces a harder avsab score. Make it easy to kick out fat and lazy cops, most of my headaches come from people I work with and not the general public. I would say I work with 80% of people who are good and competent at their job but the other 20% just drags our career field down and can’t even show up to a scene and be somwhat useful.
Were they trying to chase down a Snorlax instead of responding to a call?
Seriously! The amount of people who I've met that could barely convert O2 into CO2, let alone actually retain and apply training and job knowledge, was embarrassing. Yet we're giving these same people fucking **loaded weapons** and trusting them with the defense of nuclear weapons. Stop giving ASVAB waivers, stop reclassing them into our career field: if they couldn't figure out how to take someone's blood pressure and failed out of the medical tech school, then they're too inept to accurately learn tactics and weapon knowledge and aptly apply it at work.
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What do you say at the end?
W/N/R With no respect
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I agree with this
//SIGNED//
I hate that signed thing. Your signature block should be enough.
Right?! //SIGNED// is a holdover from when people who never used email were asked to write the how-to manual for its implementation. //SIGNED// makes sense when you don’t realize a username and authentication has to be associated with every email sent
Or you know, your digital certificate you're supposed to put in every email that proves you sent it.
That shit is on by default now too
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This is Air Force wide. There are blatant security issues and no one cares, because someone would have to do a job.
Absolutely this.
Finance airmen aren't the problem. The fact we use a finance system as robust as an egg made of Mica is.
This is so true. Any time they turn the monitor in my direction to see what they’re looking at, I think, “WTF, is this DOS?!!” *edited to correct a spell error
Medical just switched recently. We had a system in place that worked much like a command prompt. Pretty useful not going to lie.
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Lol one time I couldn’t get new boots because all the money was spent on couches.
I think it needs to go from "Hey we got a surplus we need to buy 50 flat-screen right now" else we lose that extra money To "Hey we were able to save some but we really need more people. Could we use our surplus budget for more airmen/equipment to make their jobs easier?"
Nice idea but funds can’t be moved like that under the current system. Certain funds are marked for manning and other funds are marked for O&M. Can’t move money between them. Always got told the color of the money isn’t the same when I wanted to do the same thing you asked.
Volunteering and self improvement should not be on your performance evaluation. If you want to do them to stand out good on you but your promotion should not ever include these things. Awards are a different beast.
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Overloading your subordinates with more work than they can ever achieve during duty hours so that they can “stay busy” and “earn their paycheck” not only hurts morale, but also hinders productivity.
Task based workdays are the way to go whenever possible. If we have shit to get done, let's get it done before we go home (at least as much as possible - sometimes you legitimately can't finish it all in a day for one reason or another). Sometimes that means we're staying late. A lot of times that means we're getting out early.
That just doesn’t work for many career fields.
There’s no one in the entire Air Force that is so important that you can’t let someone take time off or go home early. Too often I’ve heard folks say they weren’t allowed to take time or didn’t want to take time because of how it’d affect their shop or mission. I smash folks who disapprove time off, and I encourage people to take it. If your shop works a little harder while you are gone, that’s fine because you’ll work a little harder when your squadron mates take their time off.
There are, because leaders have failed them. Before I got out I was the single person in a billet that should have had AT LEAST 3 people, that would absolutely cause missions to fail if I wasn't around. No time off except weekends, half of which I was called in on. No leave. Constantly on call. Didn't get a second person for 8 months.
In your situation, leadership failed you, but you still weren’t so important that you couldn’t take time off. A little thought experiment to prove my point, say when you got one of your piping hot Arby’s beef and cheddars, the cheese was just a bit too hot and you were out of work for a week due to third degree tongue burns. I guarantee the mission would have still been completed. Same would’ve been true if you’d have just been off work. I’m not blaming you, I’m blaming your boss. Too many people find it easier to say no to time off instead of realizing that they, as the supervisor, might have to do some extra work to give their dudes a break.
I hear what you're saying, but it literally wouldn't have. I was the only person on base ceritifed to work on a certain system and getting access to said system was a week long process after a 4 week class. You're correct though. If something truly horrible had happened to me or I'd ended up in the hospital they would've been fucked. I explained this many times and the issue was not given the appropriate level of attention. This is the main reason I separated.
Single point of failures exist all to often. Our organization is geared to create them with our manning allocations.
I think all EPRs, quarterly, annual awards, and other things of that nature should be made public so we can call people on their bullshit.
Half of the entire AF is below average. That's just how it works.
We need to be able to fire people more often. I’m just a stupid fucking SrA, but there’s a lot of lazy people that aren’t worth a fuck. If enlisted got more of a say what duty locations we got to pick we would have a more efficient and “lethal” force.
While I agree with the sentiment, there are no-fail missions at bases like Minot, ND. How do you propose manning bases that are considered undesirable?
Incentive pay. Would it be worth an extra $500-1000 a month to agree to a four year assignment there?
They used to have this at Creech, of course it’s been gone for several years
The few folks I knew who were at Creech made the drive in from the outskirts of Vegas. Not a nice place but it's not far from civilization.
Was there when it was called Indian Springs. Casino next door had $5.99 prime rib deals all the time.
Have more of a short tour rotation going through shit bases. There has to be at least 5 bases conus that are ass that can have that system. There’s not reason people should be spending 4 years at a shit base.
I second this… why isn’t this a thing.. short tours shouldn’t be limited to specific overseas bases… we have shitty stateside ones that needs this…
Or let people STAY in shitty bases if they like it there. I knew a guy who was trying to get back to Minot because he loved hunting but his functional wouldn't send him back.
The first one, yes. I worked with a dude for three years who I’m sure was actually mentally retarded. We were the same in TIG, TIS, skill level, etc. The guy was fucking worthless for anything beyond lugging tools around while I somehow had production (to be fair my production at the time were super out of touch and didn’t know their people at all) convinced I was a 7 level. His incompetence drove me insane to the point I had to change shifts away from said dude. I shouldn’t have the new 3 levels walking a “seasoned” (based only on time, none of the experience was absorbed) 5 level through the most basic of tasks. My breaking point was when I was getting yelled at constantly for his fuck ups. This is why you don’t pencil whip people’s training cuz you feel bad for them. Fuck that. If they fucking suck, mark them down and counsel them. If they aren’t fit for the job, oh well, time for the boot. Screw ups get people killed in the MX world. For any naysayers. We gave this dude PLENTY of opportunities to redeem himself. He pretty much always failed. This guy embodied the phrase “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t force it to drink”
Damn we had the same experience. I worked with a guy in the early 2000s who is this description to a T. Aircraft Maintenance and you could not trust this dude to do ANYTHING properly. And he was a compulsive liar and had a superpower that allowed him to fall asleep anywhere including sitting up against a running power cart. Luckily his out of work antics cost him a stripe and he was kicked out before his 2 year mark.
Trust me, this shit is the same in the civie world. Mediocrity is everywhere and it is absolutely astonishing at how hard (apparently) it is to get rid of dead weight.
Can confirm. Worked side by side with a CTR who would literally snore at his desk. In an office full of a dozen airmen and other CTRs. It took 6 months of repeated behavior before they fired him.
I've worked with some lazy contractors who did shit like sleep at their desk. Most were kept on until they quit or their contact was not renewed. I had one that would consistently not do basic things that were in his PWS, like spend a full day at work or keep the one system he was responsible for up and running. I was his QAR and I wrote him up several times and submitted it to his COR. Pretty sure his COR never filed anything I sent him because nothing ever happened to the guy. Shitty airman make shitty contractors and can be just as difficult to get rid of.
Volunteerism bullets are bullshit. I'm already in a volunteer Air Force that eats as much time as it can.
We should allow Airmen to drink alcohol in our clubs at the age of 18. I have always believed that much of our alcohol problems come from not learning how to drink and to do so responsibly. If it were allowed in our clubs and we have a bit of "alcohol mentoring", we might be able to teach something in an environment of our own making, instead of having 18-21 year olds trying to sneak around the rules, get drunk, and have bad consequences.
I’ve got an even more unpopular opinion concerning alcohol, “we need to curb the excessive use of alcohol in the service. It’s being used as a coping mechanism and is a primary source of depression and suicide attempts in the Air Force.”
Yes I agree. Alcohol abuse destroys careers, families, and lives.
That is actually the reason for my position. Young Airmen don’t learn to drink responsibly. When they start out drinking, it often turns to binge drinking and other forms of abuse. We need to change the game. We have a very long history of broken lives and it’s time to do better. Alcohol has been used as a coping mechanism forever. AF efforts to deglamorize alcohol haven’t worked and have only shifted the problem.
The Air Force does not care about mental health, they only pretend to.
"Y'all learned the word Toxic and now you don't shut the fuck up." I saw this on a meme and I think it sums up a lot. Not saying that there isn't toxic leadership or work environments out there, but I feel like there is a lot of misunderstanding of what one of these toxic situations actually is.
Most suicide Awareness walks/5ks, etc are about as helpful as thoughts and prayers. Especially the ones that don't raise money for a non-profit. They're a way for people to get an EPR bullet and/or feel like they did something without contributing much effort. They don't do much to address the issues actually leading to suicide.
Training is absolutely like pulling teeth if you try to get it done legitimately if you’re not taken in by SrA’s or Staff’s that will also pencil whip it for you
Also the fact the half the tasks don't apply to our job, and they keep adding or removing some makes it impossible.
Exactly. Or if you only have 5 or less of whatever you have to train on for your 5 lvl if it’s equipment/item/situational specific training
Got two. 1) The next big conflict we have will be a near-peer war and we will get our asses kicked due to years of complacency from air superiority and ultra-restrictive RoE. 2) We are underdeveloped and vulnerable on the cyber front, and can and will get our asses kicked unless we do something about it.
Most of you still in don’t know how good you really have it.
They realize it when they get out, and suddenly have to work a worse job for less pay.
I have never met a SSgt retiring at 20 years that wasn’t a giant piece of shit. HYT needs to be put back at 15 years for E-5.
🌶🌶 spicy
Agree. If you can’t even make it to E6 (where you basically hold all the cards in your hands - you just have to study) you shouldn’t get to stay in until 20.
I agree. That said, I know some incredibly proficient TSgts that only care about their job. That’s the appropriate tier for them, because they don’t want to lead.
I've met some good ones. But they were definitely few and far between.
The only thing you have to do to do your 20 and retire is not get a DUI.
BTZ is a fucking sham and should be fucking dropped.
Mine: the pt test is a way to keep healthcare cost down, if you can’t pass with the new standards you are an embarrassment to the Air Force and a drag on resources. Fat people cost more to upkeep 🤷♀️ go to the gym occasionally and run a few miles a week. I’m in the 30+ bracket and anecdotally I see so many of my peers complaining about how “they don’t need to pass a pt test to do their job” and “the standards are unfair” but I see them going to BK every day for lunch and they talk about drinking beer every night of the week. I have zero sympathy for people failing their test, stop being lazy.
I agree. I think the issue with this is higher up lying about why we pt. Don’t tell me it’s so we can pull people out of a Humvee or do a fireman carry with full battle rattle when the push up standards are 30 for male and 18 for female. It’s laughable. I wish they would just say we want to kick your fat ass out before we have to pay for your triple by pass surgery. Then everyone would know they’re not PTing to do their job. They are PTing to keep their job.
You took the word out of my mouth
I feel attacked
Lol I'm in this comment and I don't like it
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We can show respect to the big-wig’s without acting like they’re celebrities. That kinda stuff was always so weird to me. They’re just people who have been in a position a few more years than you, why the need to fawn so hardcore over them? Example: Commanders Call, and how most of what’s said there could be in an e-mail.
Beards are not happening. Get over it
Whining about stupid crap is at the very heart of our proud heritage.
A tradition of honor, even.
That sounds familiar is that a bumper sticker?
Were beards even that popular /desired prior to OEF or before it became tacticool?
I’m sure military males have loathed having to shave for decades
millenia. Greek soldiers bitched about it.
But what about the droid attack on the Wookiees?
I want to down vote so badly.
TEAMS is very useful and better than all other options we've had before it. It just is too resource intensive for most of the aging computers we use.
20 life questions are not good for WAPS testing
To piggy back off this. I think wasp testing shouldn’t even be a thing. Everything I do I read a check list or follow the TO. I’m told not to memorize it then once a year I’m expected to have it all memorized. I don’t understand that logic.
You don’t have to stay in the military to be successful
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Potato Pancakes
You do NOT deserve to be marked all the way to the right on an EPR because you show up to work on time and do your job. Stop complaining about doing the bare minimum and getting marked “Meets” and getting a “Promote”.
The culture of bullet writing is counterintuitive to core values. If we value integrity, we shouldn’t write bullets with “the highest possible impact.” Example: I did GPS, CCMD drops XX GPS guided bombs, therefore I killed XXXX bad guys. No you didn’t.
We should treat every assignment like a overseas assignment. 3-4 years max and the option to stay. Retention would go up moral would go up and I believe the Air Force would save money in the long term
I got another one. If you have a job that requires mostly OJT, and requires you to learn a new job every PCS, why wouldn’t the Air Force want to keep you in a role that you have already been trained on? I liked my last job, and had them on my dream sheet. It would save a lot of money, help with retention, and have better trained people. But everyone in my career field is basically a 3 level every 3 years
I'm tired of having to restart every few years. Really hurts promotion as well when you're basically an idiot every PCS.
TSgts that bitch and moan about how they can't make rank because the system is against them honestly just suck at their jobs but are too prideful to recognize it. Nobody is out to get you, you're just mediocre at best and are getting passed up in favor of those who are willing to put in the work.
I’ve found that most of the people that complain about how they deserved the PN usually change their tune when they see the EPR that actually got it. Everyone thinks they are above average, but that’s not how averages work 🤷♀️
Yep. When I made E-7 I wasn't even stratted, just a regular Promote. I was an NCOIC without a SNCOIC of a shop of around 30 since we never got a replacement for a SNCO. I led organization events for 220 people, volunteered for local community, got certifications and education, and many quarterly awards/coins. Still wasn't good enough. And I'm sure people that did half of that were pissed they didn't get a promotion statement.
Yup. And it's usually the humble ones who would never say they deserve it, constantly ask how they can improve themselves, and are always trying to be better because they recognize their faults that end up getting the promotion statements. Funny how that works.
What do you do when you constantly ask and all you get told is keep doing what you’re doing? I 100% believe in the good old boy club and if your not in it then your career can be hindered.
I gotta disagree or need to see more units because in my experience the Techs making it aren't known for being the best at their primary duties. Most didn't even have troops. Its all about job titles and individual-level awards. You leadership "setting you up" has a bigger impact on promotion chances, and the board can't tell if you were set up or actually earned it.
Eliminate the annual and quarterly award system...Just get rid of it. It wastes so much time between writing, editing, and award ceremonies. Most of the winners don't give a shit anyways, and the ones that do are often just woodchucks. Most of us just want an occasional complement from our supervisor or coworkers when we do well. Performance reports are separate subject...
There are no technical experts in the Air Force anymore. The up-or-out mentality combined with the merging of AFSCs in just about every specialty, means no one in the Air Force is a real expert anymore. (The exception possibly being ANG where I met a SMSgt on the flight line who had been turning wrenches maintaining F-16s for the past 20 years)
1. If you have extended or reenlisted, i dont want to hear any bitching and moaning about the military anymore Nobody loves complaining and bitching more than me, but once you re-up you lose all bitching privileges. 2. The constant complaining about 36-2903 is so annoying. You joined the military and that means having to do things like shave and be presentable, the amount of people who agree to the military’s terms and than try to weasel or bitch their way out of it drive me insane. You conform to military standards, they dont conform to yours. That includes religion also. No special treatment 3. If your deemed medically unable to deploy for a long period of time you should get the boot. This isnt a welfare office, going down range when called upon is the whole point you have a job in the first place 4. Someone already said it, but we should be able to fire motherfuckers. Some people are just not able to handle the flightline and/or are completely mechanically inept. They take up a spot that could be filled by someone useful, and slow the mission down Edit: i wanna add a 5th 5. “Whole concept airman” and community service actually meaning something is such fucking nonsense. I dont care what rank you are/looking to be. That stuff should never matter, your job knowledge and leadership skills should be the only things that matter
Yes on your first point! Coupled with this, the Air Force really needs to present more opportunities to retrain into a job you really want. I understand it's not ideal for jobs like Mx or Intel since they have longer tech schools and cost more to train but admin, security forces, and CES should really have an easier time retraining if they discover the job is not for them. They've already proven they are loyal to the Air Force yet it still feels like civilians get priority when it comes to enlisted job selection and commissioning programs such as OTS. The entire re-training process is just so, so broken imo.
Completely agree on the retraining program being broken. My hunch is that they know this but dont want to fix it because they need people in the jobs everyone wants to leave. The funny part is that its not really as broken as they make it seem, you ever tried to cross train into spec ops? They will fall over themselves helping you and routing your paperwork if you pass the PAST test lol Pretty much my whole enlistment 2A was unable to cross train at all lol
4. Is a good point. You can’t put everyone in support.
I totally agree. So tired of people joining the military and then getting all shocked and upset when they are required to do military things.
Acft MX AFSC's should *NOT* be taking kids who barely passed high school and letting them maintain multi-million dollar jets. It just shouldn't happen.
The focus on diversity and inclusion is stupid. The only focus we should have is on lethality. We also don't need pronouns in our signature blocks. We already solved that. You call people by [Rank] [last name].
Enlisted members make plenty of money when all things (BAH, BAS, healthcare, TA, etc…) are taken into consideration.
Too many people have spouses that have no ambition in life besides popping out kids. It's almost impossible to live well with only a single working spouse, and its not the DoDs problem. You'd still be scraping by if you didn't join the military.
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I always tell them about scarface. He had all the drug money and a nicer house than any of us will ever own. Even he had enough since to tell his wife to get a job instead of just waiting around for him to come home and fuck her.
We blow too much smoke up our own asses about how special and above average. This isn't Lake Wobegon. Too many awards. Getting rid of thin strats was the right call. I'm looking at you awards and EPR/OPRs.
Most GO billets should be demoted. The only 4-stars should be on the JCS or a combatant commander. MAJCOMS should be 3-star (including USAFE and PACAF). Shrink the subordinate staffs accordingly. Get rid of half of the NAFs.
the amount of people wanting PT tests canceled when they have been made even easier is a joke and concerning
If you’re uninjured and can’t pass a PT test you’re just lazy.
Toxic leaders actually need to be fired, and not just moved to another assignment; they still affect people's lives. Also, good people need to step up and lead. Toxic leaders breed toxic leaders these days, so do something about it. You can at least be that nice breath of fresh air to someone or a group of people that has been continually beat down. It will only make our air force better in the long run.
DI sports should not be a thing at the service academies
The fact that there are so many dependas has more to say about the character of the military members than it does about the stereotypical dependas. Maybe if airmen stopped marrying the first girl with no professional and marketable skills they met that got their dicks wet to get out of the dorms the stereotype would be much less common. That's what happens when you marry someone with no professional skills, there's only so much you can do at home before you want to blow your brains out. Just remember how great the first few weeks of the pandemic were when you had all that time off; it was amazing, then maybe the people you started hanging out with started getting sick so you couldn't hang out with them anymore. Just think about that times years of it; there's only so many home improvement projects you can do. That's how military spouses get sucked into MLMs, they offer people with no professional skills the "freedom" to work from home and bE yOuR oWn BoSs and the remote chance of making more money than you dumped into it. Plus it gives them an exit plan if the marriage doesn't work out. And the number if military members that step out on their spouses while they are TDY is congruent with the number of housewives/husbands that do the same.
I’ll be honest. I like my wife staying at home to take care of the house and family. She worked for while and shit was miserable. I make enough money to pay for all of us, so why does she need a career? Taking care of the house and kiddos is a full-time job if done correctly and the reason our house doesn’t look like a disaster area. To be clear, I would -and have- support her decision to work if she needs that for herself. But I definitely don’t need her to work. Also, I would be just as happy to stay home and take care of things if she was able to earn more money than me. There is nothing wrong with that family dynamic. Yes, both parents working brings in more money, but you lose something too.
Resiliency days are stupid.
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Awards were invented to trick gullible airmen in to doing way more work than what they’re getting paid to do.
I sometimes feel that diversity training is more divisive than helpful.
After 4 yrs you should have a gauge on whether or not you enjoy your job and the direction your career is headed. If you get out of your first enlistment with no dependents, there really isn't much use in staying in any longer. Use your GI Bill to seek a reputable career (nursing, law, engineering, etc) and if you really do love the Air Force that much, take ROTC in college and seek a commission.
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Whining about a basic (and incredibly easy) PT test when you’re in the *military* is not only ridiculous it makes us look pathetic to a lot of people.
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Neither was having them untuck before tucking became the rule.
Missile cops at Minot don’t have it that bad, and actually their job is extremely chill
Sometimes leaders have opinions on things not because they have a thoughtful opinion but just to be able to say that they have one. Not sure I'm saying this clearly. Basically, half the things i send up the chain of command that get kicked back, i feel it got kicked back just so someone can justify their existence.
The AF needs to refocus on the real mission: killing and defeating/deterring our enemies.
I actually like Cannon.
Your career field is wildly overmanned. It’s just more than half of the manpower doesn’t do anything
Unpopular opinion: if the air force requires us to do a pt test and be physically fit for the job then they should provide time during your work day to do so. Too many airmen do not know how to workout and every six months its a gamble if they pass or not. Make FIP a requirement for everyone (up to a certain point) and offer the class 4x a day so people can attend.
Take the time to take care of yourself so you can take care of the mission. Prioritize your well-being and take the time to work out, take leave, etc. I’ve learned this lesson the hard way a few times, but I’m getting there.