Enough is Enough
My fun meter is pegged. I can retire from the USAF/R next Year. I want to be an average civilian working for the USAF. I mean 20 years is enough. Its been a good run, but time to move on. Just isn't the same anymore. Too worried about PT tests than getting planes fixed and airborne. It costs more money to train an F-22 crew chief than it does to train a soldier to be infantry. It really does. That crew chief will turn wrenches to make the a sorties for 16 for 18 hours straight, do it for days on in, then they expect him to go run for an hour after duty hours. Is the USAF fucking nuts? Have they forgotten out motto to fly fight and win? Yes PT is important but to discharge someone you just spent an gross amount of money and who is a SME in his field. You know what CSAF, if we have to send crew chiefs to the front line to fight, something terribly wrong has happened to the US military. Get off this hammer of the PT program and start training your people to do their jobs right. Hold people accountable in the right areas and not in the areas that have nothing to do with getting a sorties airborne to help the grunts on the ground. Can I tell you what almost 20 years of PT got me, 4 titanium screws in my back. So now I guess I am no longer a valuable asset to the USAF. Oh and don't give me the rounded warrior airmen BS, we have been warriors since 1947! Where the hell have you been?
On to the next broken item. When are you going to get commanders that make common sense decisions? Dear god the commanders of today are more worried about their next rank than anything. They can give 2 shits about their troops anymore. What happen to the commander that leads from the front, what happen to the commander's with personality? One who said the hell with regs, we need to help this troop out. One that works for his squadron and not the squadron work for him. We rarely find those leaders anymore. It's a shame.
Ok lets talk about suicide prevention, you can beat us to death (no pun intended)about it and if a person has made up their minds they are going to off themselves, you aren't going to stop it. You can have us do all the online training, you can have commanders call after commanders call, threaten us, coddle us, the fact of the matter remains, as long as their is overwhelming and unrealistic expectations of units and families there is going to be one that can not hack it. This goes back to the commander that cares and is not a talking head. The leadership stands up in front and says they are here to help, as soon as you say you are having issues, you are done, your career is over. You will lose your clearance, and you can kiss your career good bye. Come on, lets be realistic here commanders, you have no intention on letting the person get his life back in order to go back to being a productive member of the unit. To you he or she is now a liability and you would rather get him/her out of your unit than really help this person. You will assign them to some dorm duty or detail duty until you can sign the paperwork to get rid of them. Hey that person needed help, you got them help but I don't want HIM or HER in my unit. No, I am not going to be accountable, I could lose my career over that. Its a shame, you want to prevent suicides, find out who your people are, don't hide in your office with reports, that is what XO's are for. Get on the flight line or work center with the 1SGT and TALK to your people, find out their kids names, find out their wives names. Get to know your people and genuinely care. Talking heads don't lead. Leaders do.
Well I have said my piece, I have more but later.
