Air Force in Crisis, Part III: Dear Boss, It’s All About the Culture

The AF started becoming a corporation long before you were in. It goes back to Merrill McPeak and his TQM brainchild. Not to mention changing the dress uniform, trying to copy the RAF. During the great downsizing after the first Gulf War, it became all about how a person appears, rather than how a person performs. All EPRs were blown out of proportion, medals became rank and quota restricted. I could go on and on, ad infinitum.

It's not just the Air Force...or even the Military at large; it's Western Civilization at large.

You've possibly opened a proverbial "can o'worms" here...but maybe it's time. At the risk of sounding like a whining, self-absorbed armchair admiral, here's my two cents:

Some people need to get their head out of their six. Fighting wars is about killing other human beings-The individuals capable of doing that, whether with a rifle, an F-18, a DDG, or a ballistic missile are not usually the same people who thrive in less aggressive professions (along admittedly varied lines). They drink, curse, fornicate, adulterate, blaspheme and are usually impatient, demanding and possibly not that introspective (at least not most of the time).

Yes, we need to honor the values we defend, every bit as much as the way we defend them...but keep the reporters, the lawyers, the activists, the idealists, the wanna-bes and the could've-beens on the sidelines. Since "we" don't fit everyone's idea of the perfect person...find ways to give us a decent life within our own "tribe", rather than casting us out to the four winds every time Congress needs to find funds to do something else, that likely won't work anyway. Give second, maybe third chances...it takes time to build a weapon system.

As long as there are men and women, both will try to engage in sexual activity with each other. There's a line between pursuit and crime...it's common sense...we can enforce it easier than any social justice think-tank can imagine. It's not a "man's world" in the Military...it's a Warrior's world. This means one can't expect the same culture within as without and have either. Paint "Blonde Bombshells" on the bombers...put swimsuit calendars back in the fan room...hell, name your M4 "Betsy"...or "Bob", or "Stu", or whatever makes one feel like they're risking their life and taking others for something more than a paycheck and a VA benefit.

Speaking of which, how about making it as attractive to serve as to reap the benefits later? True, people get hurt-bad, physically and emotionally. True, we as a nation "owe" them. However, we all know that leaving active duty as an E-4 to enter the job force today isn't much better than begging for the scraps from the table. Maybe if we got rid of the "$75,000 a year" water tester, the "$60,000 a year" contract Eastern European labor, and got back to doing it ourselves, less folks would be pushed out, let alone want to try their luck elsewhere.

Finally, no intent to "gripe" here...just trying to say it like it is. We're not the government, or the People...we execute the decisions of one to defend the other. We ARE different than those who (wisely) choose a safer, less brutal way of making a living. If we pray, we pray to God because we probably understand sin better than any other. If we don't it isn't because we think the guy or gal who does is wasting their time...not if it helps them to stand on the line with us and get the job done. If something we "want" takes from them, we can do without it. If they're owed it...we demand it. We don't want "recognition"...we want respect, and not from "them", but one another. We force ourselves and those wanting to join us to earn it. Why? Because that may be the most valuable thing we'll ever have.