Sequestration and the USAF

The real question is: how large of a military do we need or want?

Art

 

Obviously a question right out of P&R.

Oh, and after you post it there can you please offer your workable solution?

 

DOD cuts have to be made, that is a fact ...when BRAC closed down the AF base i worked at for 17 years I lost my job and my career...and in the long run it worked out for the better for me. Where those cuts come from is a whole different issue, I dont want to turn this into a PR discussion but a start of DOD cuts might be getting us out of our foreign locations, and take care of our own right here.

 

Nobody is denying that cuts are required. Those of us who are resourseful and resiliant will continue onward, one way and another.

 

At least their was enough money to hold a big party at the WH yesterday...

Let them eat.....

 

Ring knockers take care of thier own. It is worst in the Navy, not as bad in the Air Force.

Dale

 

My dad who was a Navy Commander once told me that the military will always be horribly inefficient. There are no prizes for second place when it comes to national defense. For example, when you are trying to do things that have never been done before, e.g., designing the first cruise missiles, you are going to piss a lot of money away before you get it right, a lot of money.

That said, the real waste factor is the politicians. Kinetic action is bull****. Like the man said, war is all about killing the other SOB before he kills you. If the politicians cannot stand the fallout from war, they shouldn't pull the trigger.

Dale

 

no, those cuts are not required. unless you are saying that it was pure waste of tax payers money. is that what you are saying?

 

I think it's like any group of alumni from a university.... Just happens that they all work for the same company and in some ways can run the show. Some of them are dedicated patriotic Americans and some are not so much. In general if you find someone who is a hard charging Kool aid drinker they are probably a USAFA grad. A recent Wing CC here had what I think of as the hardcore ring knocker mentality, on introduction new places (i heard personally when he was both the group and wing CC) he liked to tell everyone about his proudest moment in the Air Force was the occasions when he had been able to boot people out who did not meet his standards. Some of it was valid in that there are stamdards to be upheld but it came across very badly that he was proud to be vindictive. The guy was absolutely true to the Air Force in the same way the Manson family was.... But he always looked out for his academy boys.

 

It's like racing, there isn't a second place. I know that, but when you spend more than the rest of the entire world on "defense" and you can't pay the bills, you might wish to question the logic. Especially when you nickle and dime those who got hurt fighting your wars. Especially then....

Art

 

Rob- AFA graduation is not as big a deal as it once was, nothing like being a West Point or Annapolis graduate. Recently, they started graduating with reserve commissions. Before, starting with a regular commission was a big benny for being an AFA graduate. The classmates still watch out for each other, like any other university, but being a graduate now gives you no advantage in promotions unless you were a distinguished graduate.

Big problem now is they are having a hard time filling the fighter billets with AFA graduates. More want to be tanker/transport pilots so they can be airline pilots when they finish their time. Now considered a job by many, as opposed to a calling like the old days.

Smart of Jennie to get out if she did not enjoy it. In the olden days, she would have served out 4 years as an enlisted person, so glad they got rid of that. The life of a nomad is not for everyone, especially a regimented nomad.

 

I would disagree with the promotions portion... While education is not represented on a PRF beyond annotation of an advanced academic degree you can be sure that most raters/senior raters know a little bit about where their people went to school and that can make a difference between a P and DP (promote or definitely promote for those not familiar) for some people. Just this week I was discussing this with my former boss and he expects stratification based on type of advanced academic degree to become the next big thing. No longer will a masters degree from some online degree mill be good enough for those wanting to go beyond Major.

In funny way i wonder if the ongoing debacle over the price of new fighters will be the thing that helps save the fighter manning situation. Every briefing of fighter manning presents a dismal downward spiral with no hope in sight.... Unless the number of fighters is drastically reduced. Funny thing how the C-17 manning is so fat with people for the moment. A good half of the pilots in my office are all abuzz over the airlines starting to hire again. I definitely agree that it's more of a job than about serving for people nowadays.... But even guys who want to serve are getting burnt out by the BS.

Getting back to the original topic.... I suspect that some of the sequester pain is being used as a form of force shaping as it costs nothing compaired to the RIF payouts.

 

Having a type rating is what really gets you places. A few folks I have worked with have managed to end up at the 89th AW which is a great ticket to a follow on job. A few other guys have straight up paid their own way to get a foot in the door.

 

When my B-I-L got cashiered in the 70's, he could have gone with Fed Ex or Brown. However, he took a year or so off to get private jet certified. He then flew some funky stuff where he had to circle the field to see if the troops were friendlies or not. But he ended up the Chief at Verizon, where he had a whole fleet of GS's to play with.

Dale

 

I know a SWA pilot that flew fighters in the AF. Started on F5, then F4, and finished with the F16. Never asked him how hard it was to get a rating for a 737, but just that he got tired flying a desk at the entire of his career and missed flying.

 

The Hollow Force.

During approximately 1985, I went to NAS New Orleans, to photograph the newly arrived F-15A's with the Louisiana ANG. When I went to photograph the airplanes on the ramp, I was told to not take any photographs of the front and back of the air frames.


____________


When compared to the past, I believe ROTC and OTS grads have it much better. Over the last few decades, the services have experienced an increase in general officer billets occupied by non-academy grads.

 

The Air Staff at the Pentagon, and HQ ACC, have multiple empty billets for rated officers, especially fighter pilots. They filled a lot of billets with WSOs in the past, but not too many of those are being created now, since only the F-15E now has a WSO. Rated officer management has always been a mess, feast followed by famine. Now they are RIFing rated majors.

Between my father, my brother, and myself, we had 74 years in the AF. Different times now.

 

what do you expect after driving a heavy bus, getting into a feather light that floats on zyphers at a quarter of the approach speed of a bus and is still flying at speeds long after the bus is firmly on the ground... I've had a lot of fun busting chops of airline types on check rides ... it's not with only the light singles.. it goes right through to the light jets...

 

I don't know why anyone would think the AF is any different than all the other fed depts when it comes to cuts. Every ox that gets gored is going to fight back, and they are taking their ques from the very top where it's been shown that the standing order of the day is to 'make it hurt' as much as possible.

No one wants to do the responsible thing. No one wants to look out for the welfare of the country as a whole, they are all interested in their little fief and when that budget ax falls, as it must they strike back like petulant children.

Does anyone think that the John Q Public is going to notice that some 556th fighter wing in Minot ND isn't flying as much or at all? Sure some fuel and materiel suppliers will be affected but I doubt this will be a ripple outside of AF circles. Army has their own fight back strategy, so does DHS, and all the other depts in the fed. It's all 'me-me-me-me-me, this hurts soooooo much, and look what bad things will happen if this money doesn't come through'.

Complete BS. The armed forces are so over bloated because we think we need to be the world cops. We've been farting around in the ME spending trillions for more than a decade, and what do we have to show for all our largesse? Is gas cheaper at the pump? Are the savages tamed? have we made any steadfast friends over there like Japan or Germany?

The AF can bite me. Go cry in the corner and polish your wings. I'll call you if I need you. Until then STFU and deal.

 

"...make it hurt..." maybe not so much, but more like "...make it visible, make it look like it hurts, the directive is about getting the most out of theatrics...spinning... there is no propaganda value in cleaning out the "waste"

 

We no longer need what they are selling and could have been off the stuff a long time ago. NO MORE boots on the ground anywhere. If someone causes trouble (act of war), warn them repeatedly, if no change, lob over a couple small nukes. Take the money being wasted and spend it here on permanent alternatives to fossil fuel and finish Reagan's star wars umbrella.