Why Our Best are Leaving.

[McGillicutty]

I totally disagree with this article. When did merit ever count for anything in the military! Geeeeez! As for being a superior Air Force officer (can't speak for the other services), the only criteria is to complete all your PME, which in turn will magically transform you into general officer material; maaaaan, SOS, ACSC, and AWC is some powerful stuff, wouldn't you agree! As for job performance.... once you make O-5, your duties should all be delegated to the CGOs and take credit for ALL of their hard work. Make sure to write your own OPR so that you can inflate the words. If your peg boys and girls don't perform, continue the beatings until morale improves. It will only make them stronger! Spend all of your time rubbing shoulders with only O-6s & above and make sure to spend atleast 2 hours a week with your wife and kids so that your kids won't join the base gangs. This will also prevent your spouse sharing a bed with your exec. Lastly, don't get caught surfing for gay child porn on a government computer. You da man, kernel!

You sound pretty whiney and entitled. Be a man, look yourself in the mirror and own up to the fact that you played the game and lost.

 

[Captain Morgan]

I'm not military but from what I've been reading on Vietnam, it seems that the mentality "cookie cutter career officer" started about that time. I've read about military officers like Ed Rassmussen and Robin Olds, true warriors that sacrificed their military careers to remain in the fight. I think Olds even sabotaged his numbers of MIG kills so that he wouldn't be made into a publicity figure and taken out of the fight. Maybe they should start circulating books like "Into the Mouth of the Cat" and "Fighter Pilot" to inspire future officers?

 

[JimNtexas]

I retired in 1994. Near the end of my service I was on the staff at HQ/ACC.

As someone who has always had a technical bent I was appalled at the technical ignorance that I saw among many of the General Officers I interacted with. Not only were they ignorant, they were open in their contempt for technical detail of any kind.

I vividly recall briefing a General (who made four stars) on an experimental jamming platform we were going to install in a Lear 35 for testing. He said he wasn't interested in the 'beeps and squeaks', but we did spend a lot of time fine tuning the Lear's paint job. Sigh.

On the other hand, his waistline was less than 32 inches, which I understand is a key ingredient of success in the current Air Force.

 

[T-1GUY]

I retired in 1994. Near the end of my service I was on the staff at HQ/ACC.

As someone who has always had a technical bent I was appalled at the technical ignorance that I saw among many of the General Officers I interacted with. Not only were they ignorant, they were open in their contempt for technical detail of any kind.

I vividly recall briefing a General (who made four stars) on an experimental jamming platform we were going to install in a Lear 35 for testing. He said he wasn't interested in the 'beeps and squeaks', but we did spend a lot of time fine tuning the Lear's paint job. Sigh.

On the other hand, his waistline was less than 32 inches, which I understand is a key ingredient of success in the current Air Force.

I always crack up reading AF times, about some guy who is a professional weight lifter while working in the AF. He couldn't understand why everyone else didn't come to the gym and pump iron three hours a day. I was reading this from the comfort of my crew seat at 35,000 somewhere over the middle of the Atlantic at 3am. I was only 15 hours into my work day. It sure would of been nice to only fly from nine to five, Monday through Friday, so I could get to the gym everyday...

 

[JimNtexas]

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