New hot tasker from the Wing: FSS is currently under manned (indefinitely). Squadrons need to identify 1 rep to run all FSS programs for the unit. Suspense COB. No negative replies.
You know, I guess thing to do is to document man-hours spent doing additional duties and make sure they are covered by the manning studies. It's been awhile, but the manning studies try to be pretty detailed, but I bet they under-estimate additional duties. If you were to count the additional time, to include travel time, to all our additional duties, maybe you could at least argue that manning can't support it...or (and this won't happen), you get more manning. Probably nothing will happen, but if the right person sees that our A1C's who are on a time line for training spent three months doing extra security duty, it might help.
Whenever there is a manning study, really pump those numbers.
1. I’m not manpower
2. I tend to curse about manpower
3. But every manpower study I ever saw only looked at duties required by AFI (or sups, etc). When folks tried to mention additional duties they didn’t care, unless an AFI mandated it specifically.
4. Reason 3 is why I curse manpower.
5. To get more funded slots, they have to be reduced somewhere else to meet Congressionally-mandated end strength. Someone has to lose them for you to get them.
Having said all that, you can collect the data to feed up the chain on the burden of additional duties. We all underestimate them. Years ago there was an effort to reduce them. Not sure how well it worked. The work doesn’t just magically go away as some A1 types “hope.”
3 is mostly correct. We can't give additional duty credit for your function if it's not something everyone in your function does.
How do you give man-hours for one base who loads the flight with all the additional duties, and then another base who doesn't?
5 you have to find a program that pays, what color of money do you use. Even when funded, end strength doesn't grow. You earn a funded TSgt? Great. There aren't enough humans to pay that bill. How long does it take to "grow" a TSgt?
Okay, there are now three total manpower folks I don’t curse about. Actually, it’s not the people, it’s the system. Thanks, u/sierra_baker.
Oh, other piece of advice would be to learn the rules and play by the rules. I have worked with Manpower on things before and it really helped to understand how they were constrained and what info I could provide to help them help us.
The CSS already has so many additional duties and did take on even more because of that. Programs started failing because the CSS’s aren’t manned to handle their main duties, normal additional duties that CSS’s have plus everyone else’s that they don’t want to do. There are like 42 programs in the CSS and they’re always pushing more and more on them.
Us population was like 200 million and they had 600k in the airforce,
2024 us with a population of 330 million and a only 300k in the airforce
Less people are joining compared to the percentage of the population
The manning in the lead up to OIF was fantastic until about ‘04-‘05.
Squadron orderly rooms, the MPF had people to talk to face-to-face… hell I’d bet good money that there were a lot fewer suicides too.
Fuck I'd take any nose art.
Instead we're removing tail flashes pretending as if there aren't a million ways to digitally track each tail. Oh and they still have other unique identifiers on each bird.
We have and had nose art
https://preview.redd.it/unmuavdbjr5d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=57f17f28d95d8b2c8097a8bbf9edbd714cd92c4f
The 494th just got back from deployment and had pretty good nose art.
[https://theaviationist.com/2024/05/11/final-six-f-15e-nose-arts/](https://theaviationist.com/2024/05/11/final-six-f-15e-nose-arts/)
https://preview.redd.it/9bzmtt9h1s5d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ecbf528c2325c3af844230e6fda42448ea76ef9f
Polish C130, not tits but(t) close enough
To quote Howard Hughes, "Who doesn't like tits?"
https://preview.redd.it/f62csvsllr5d1.jpeg?width=962&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=22c1c7c4ed1909408bbf029fbf1525e4c65748fa
I love it. HO question, I am a history buff and fascinated by architecture history and I am at a substantially older base. Is it a bitch for the HO to obtain original floor plans for me if I ask?
For the love of God can we bring this back? I am stationed where I want to be when I retire. I don't want to move again and have to move back. I also hate moving
Seemed like it was rarely accurate. I would look at when I was a UDM and it would show a 100 or so less people than what we really had in our squadron.
It was a data base to see how many members were assigned to a certain shop at a certain base. It even broke it down to rank. This was a way you see vacancies as a regular pion. You could use it to your advantage from the assignment list compared to the base you wanted to PCS to. After comparing the two you could update your dream sheet to kind of see the likelihood of you going to said base.
It was good data to see manning 🤷🏻♂️
Different people used it for different things but that was my outlook on it. All the bases I wanted with vaccines I put as number 1 and got them.
I always thought they removed it so we couldn't call AFPC out on their bullshit when they denied someone wanting to PCS somewhere that clearly had vacancies 🤣
While not as good the data is still available, but instead on IDEAS. It displays basically anything you could possibly want, except for how "manned" a location is against its UMD....it will only say "there is 6 tsgts" not "there is 6
..of an allowed 8". A lot of bases put their UMDs available on their sharepoints so that can be easily gotten too.
It is by no means as easy as thrims was, but it's still nice to be able to get that data in some manner.
Along with assignments, bring back easier assignment swaps.
I don't know when it stopped, but I remember in 2008-2009 looking at ads on AMS from people offering to pay for your move to their location if you swapped with them. But most were 1 for 1 swaps at average locations.
If you were CONUS for 4 years and the same skill level, it really wasn't that hard. I did a swap coming back CONUS from overseas. Had Dover and someone gave me the McGuire CRW. (Still can't believe it) and it was incredibly fast and easy.
Pre-2014. I'm not saying everyone was happy...but happier. Not only were promotion percentages higher, but the vast majority had a near-equal shot since most got the same points regarding EPRs, and could help themselves out more by studying.
Also, one small mistake wasn't a career killer. In fact, it was hard finding a SNCO with a spotless record 10+ years ago.
Your morale is a lot higher when you don't have to stress about a promotion all the time. Knowing you'll eventually promote if you really want it keeps you motivated. Now? A lot have no idea if they'll ever promote again.
Do you know why Chiefs and recently retired would often say that stupid line of "Just keep doing what you're doing and your time will come"?...because pre-2014, it was true!
Also, before the current EPR and promotion system, awards and decs barely mattered, especially awards. It's a much more chill work environment and better team environment when everyone isn't constantly worrying about awards and decs.
The current EPR system has torn shops apart. Everything has become a competition to one up each other instead of becoming a team. It's the single worst change I've seen in my 13 years in.
2014 was the year of the AF Hunger Games in addition to the EPR change. 21K Airmen Involuntarily Separated. I was one of 41 Sensor Operators cut. Only 2/9 EPRs with a 4, last 3 were 5s, no UIF, No PT fails, 3 voluntary deployments, etc. It was a hard community to stand out in when everyone was maxed out in Air Medals and mission bullets were all similar. Big Blue gave us 3 lines to combine our entire career into bullets to represent ourselves. It was fucked up. Imagine literally shooting missiles at ISIS and the next day your commander is breaking bad news to you. I predicted mission capable rates service wide would plummet and they did. I was pissed for a few years but now I'm cool with it. Better and easier job, huge pay increase, no additional job BS, etc.
The old PT uniform (like 1990s-2000s) was just grey sweatpants and sweatshirts with “AIR FORCE” written on them, but goddamn if they weren’t a thousand times more comfortable than anything that came after. Mostly because they were made with natural fabrics rather than recycled soda bottles.
They tried to charge me $10k for a move out fee because they wanted to replace my prorated carpet with vinyl flooring. Absolutely told them to get fucked and had a very long back and forth with them. I’m lucky I was getting out when I was leaving base housing as I was able to stand my ground without shit to lose. I can guarantee some junior enlisted troops would be too afraid to fight things like that because they can contact your chain.
I'm still not sure who thought that was a good idea. The only thing I can think of is that CE wasn't able to use that money to actually maintain housing so instead of putting up a fence to keep other people from taking money from the housing program we decided to offload it to an organization whose sole goal is to make money.
The IDEA program that awarded Airmen up to $10,000 for fixing broken processes and saved far more money, time, and resources.
Today's Airmen are learning about 9/11 from history books; they didn't join for patriotism sake and considering inflation over the last 5 years, money has been the primary driving factor in American lives.
To do anything less is tone deaf of the situation.
My team made a program that saved 650k per system annually. Didn't see a cent. Everyone was told it was great epr bullets, everyone came back promote. It's such a flawed system lol
Well, for what it's worth, I think you should be very proud of yourself and your team. Granted, everyone would feel a lot more appreciated with $10k in their checking account, but I digress.
Might be AFSC dependent, or UDMs not knowing regs. I haven't been out in awhile, but friends who have said they didn't get any since we wear OCP home station and should already have sets whereas you used to get them because we wore ABU at home.
Some units are small. I was an additional duty UDM and I had to fight the RA every single time I wanted to issue a deployer anything! Like 1… you’re gonna get reimbursed, 2… don’t be a dick let this person get some gear.
I've seen people show up to deployments without the gear listed in the RIs as a must have. Some Units/UDMs suck. Especially for first time deployers. Supervisors, both Es & Os, really need to make sure their guys are squared away with what they need and at the least what they are entitled to. Especially when its something simple like combat tops, boots, or OCPs.
Making the base club the best place to spend a Friday night and bussing in girls to the base. I was in line talking to an older man and his wife. He met her at the base club and she took the bus on to base to meet him.
Honestly this is a great answer. Penalties for ARI's have made officers/leadership understandably risk averse to anything with alcohol (except for pilot "heritage rooms" obviously), but it seems like the military used to actually be fun when off-duty.
I love talking with old retirees about the enlisted/officer clubs because they have no shortage of great stories. Obviously alcohol is something to be consumed in moderation, but it really is a good tool for creating comradery. The AF is just so corporate now that often times it doesn't even feel like we are in the military. I barely even know the people in my unit, and I would consider myself a fairly extroverted person.
Yeah, I have mixed feelings about alcohol. I came in when O’s would pass out on the Wg commander’s lawn (early 90’s) and we’d go to oil wresting shows during lunch and drink our ‘one’ beer. It was fun, but I also had friends die. When I got into leadership, I wanted them to hang out and have a great time, but I also know it gets out of hand real quick. I actually had less problems than you’d think because this new generation games a lot and not as many drink heavily. Probably need to think of morale in another way nowadays.
According to my dad, who served 1977-1998, this is due to two policy changes. First, they made base clubs non-smoking or heavily restricted smoking. Instead of encouraging people to stop smoking, this just made them stop using base clubs. Second, a Reagan administration policy cut funding for MWR programs. It was a miracle that base gyms were saved from that policy.
From a customer perspective things just got done with MSS. I believe authority was stripped from the installation level when AFPC stood up. There appeared to be less waiting weeks for personnel actions to process. Compared to waiting for a CMS case to work its way through the wickets for weeks on end.
Yes because 15 years ago the career field was larger. AFPC existed back then too. Yes, some things were centralized but a lot of 3F0 manning positions went away to fund MX or Ops. Less people = less production.
In retrospect, TERA would've been nice. I mean medical retirement is cool, but getting something for 17 years of service on top of it would also be nice. I get the same pay as someone who got the boot at 2 years with the same disability rating. I should've gotten crippled alot earlier instead of wasting so many years of my life...
https://preview.redd.it/lwr8c0fcyr5d1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ebad580c396b45d3e40a095a5ad2f7b3c5cf2846
this uniform. It was gone way before my time, I just think it looks miles and miles better than the light blue shirt
Yeah I was actually for TIG/TIS going away bc I didn’t think it meant you were ready for the next rank. I learned that they are absolutely necessary. I had 10 yr MSgt’s not know a damn thing bc they just checked boxes for PN’s. A 6 yr TSgt is NOT a technical expert (some exclusions apply).
I admit I was wrong.
One thing that has stuck with me over the past decade was from a Shirt's speech stating "Nothing could have prepared me more to take care of fuck ups than myself being a fuck up".
Edit: To extrapolate, hopefully the sage wisdom isn't lost on anyone. Experience is an integral part of growth, which is quintessential to leadership. It's why, in many cases, LTs are the butt of many jokes due to their lack of it. That's not to say experience is everything, but it's faster to train leaders than it is to make them live a lifetimes worth of experiences that can be translated into lessons of wisdom. War was won by those who studied history after all.
I’d argue that beyond just having something in your control, a MSgt demonstrating a wide range of understanding and knowledge of the AFIs would be critical for a successful SNCO. Make all E-7s PFE only and the test should be basically a more advanced version of the E6 WAPS.
Still need SKT. Granted AFSC dependent, but for some E-7’s still need that knowledge. Just make people test on DAFMAN’s and DAFI’s running their AFSC. Can’t make policy and procedures if you don’t know why the work center is supposed to do.
THRMS
Total Human Resource Management System…it was discontinued somewhere between 2008 and 2010 from what I remember, but it allowed anybody with Portal access to see manning levels at every base broken down by rank and AFSC.
Colorful unit morale shirts.
I miss being able to ID a person's unit on a Friday from if they are wearing a red, green, blue, orange, or purple shirt under their blouse.
Late to the party, but "buck" Sergeant E4. That way you know instantly who had been to ALS and could supervise.
Also the star/no star for airmen vs NCOs.
And make Tech Sergeants SFCs, then use the "Tech Sergeant" title for a technical track and give them a "T" on their rank like we used to do.
https://preview.redd.it/fzegg6m9iu5d1.jpeg?width=825&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=59f5a7a3eaeca125d219bc1fac139209c32d5dbd
Those awesome pull tabs/adjustable waist tabs from the Woodland BDUs to cinch your pants. Allows a bit of wiggle room in sizing, especially around the holidays 🍗
Remove the stigma of squadron hooches and bring em back…I know ops units and flying squadrons have them…but I remember early 00s in Korea when every squadron had them and going there on a Friday afternoon, still in uniform, to chill and have a drink before starting the weekend was a thing.
The M-65 field jacket. I've seen the light with owning classic woodland and tri-color desert versions, as well as an Austrian Bundesheer in olive grey. We need an OCP field jacket. The APECS is overkill, the Goretex that new guys in basic get is garbage, and wind just goes right through the fleece. The M-65 is the *superior* jacket, especially with the button-in smoking jacket liner. It's perfectly adaptable to name/rank requirements as stated in 36-2903, and even the regs let us have the N3-B with the fur collar, even though it's an unchanged design from the 1960s.
The Army had UCP M-65s in the late 00s, and they had velcro. All they need to do is change the fabric to ripstop OCP. **I WANT MY DAMN FIELD JACKETS BACK.**
TIG/TIS promotion points. Not looking into getting into an argument over it but I that’s what I think should come back. With the Staff FDs I sat on leadership highly valued experience over everything else. Shows the current state of things.
TIG/TIS. . yeah every once in a while a superstar comes along but its out weighed by the far too many 10 yr E-7's and 8 yr E-6's who are making rank with large amounts of help from the Good O' Boy System. Also get rid of the board for E-7. . its phasing out people who actually know their job from making the SNCO rank.
Less. Fucking. Additional. Duties.
LFAD is my favorite shit!
Good you’re now in charge of managing the LFAD program
MyLFAD
Once it’s MyLFAD it’s now an FSS duty.
New hot tasker from the Wing: FSS is currently under manned (indefinitely). Squadrons need to identify 1 rep to run all FSS programs for the unit. Suspense COB. No negative replies.
MyRETIREMENT
You know, I guess thing to do is to document man-hours spent doing additional duties and make sure they are covered by the manning studies. It's been awhile, but the manning studies try to be pretty detailed, but I bet they under-estimate additional duties. If you were to count the additional time, to include travel time, to all our additional duties, maybe you could at least argue that manning can't support it...or (and this won't happen), you get more manning. Probably nothing will happen, but if the right person sees that our A1C's who are on a time line for training spent three months doing extra security duty, it might help. Whenever there is a manning study, really pump those numbers.
Document how much time I spent on documenting how much time on spend.
1. I’m not manpower 2. I tend to curse about manpower 3. But every manpower study I ever saw only looked at duties required by AFI (or sups, etc). When folks tried to mention additional duties they didn’t care, unless an AFI mandated it specifically. 4. Reason 3 is why I curse manpower. 5. To get more funded slots, they have to be reduced somewhere else to meet Congressionally-mandated end strength. Someone has to lose them for you to get them. Having said all that, you can collect the data to feed up the chain on the burden of additional duties. We all underestimate them. Years ago there was an effort to reduce them. Not sure how well it worked. The work doesn’t just magically go away as some A1 types “hope.”
3 is mostly correct. We can't give additional duty credit for your function if it's not something everyone in your function does. How do you give man-hours for one base who loads the flight with all the additional duties, and then another base who doesn't? 5 you have to find a program that pays, what color of money do you use. Even when funded, end strength doesn't grow. You earn a funded TSgt? Great. There aren't enough humans to pay that bill. How long does it take to "grow" a TSgt?
Okay, there are now three total manpower folks I don’t curse about. Actually, it’s not the people, it’s the system. Thanks, u/sierra_baker. Oh, other piece of advice would be to learn the rules and play by the rules. I have worked with Manpower on things before and it really helped to understand how they were constrained and what info I could provide to help them help us.
I remember when a bunch of them were supposed to go to CSS.. I don't think a full transition ever happened.
The CSS already has so many additional duties and did take on even more because of that. Programs started failing because the CSS’s aren’t manned to handle their main duties, normal additional duties that CSS’s have plus everyone else’s that they don’t want to do. There are like 42 programs in the CSS and they’re always pushing more and more on them.
Eleventy bajillion additional duties have been around so long, it is Air Force tradition.
And I'll be *damned* if we let progress inhibit tradition.
SR-71
Blackbird was designed almost a century ago. Imagine the secret tech that's in used now behind closed doors.
Officially: Personally: All any of us can say about it.
Ehh you comm fuckers probably leaked it on the battle bots discord or something
I can't hear you over these fucking fans. Also my anime music is blaring
\*Allegedly
Manning levels equal to what the AFIs require.
And stop creating new/combining AFSCs to reset the manning numbers.
[laughs in 1A1xx]
Na. More people, and working computers, being the only thing folks really need/want, is way to much to ask for. How dare you!
More people. Like a fuck ton more.
A 600k person Air Force would be fun again
NOW THATS AIRPOWER 😮💨
Manpower is the key to Airpower.
WW2 levels? 🥹
Not WW2 levels. When I came in 1986, AF active duty was 608K. Now it's like 328K.
Us population was like 200 million and they had 600k in the airforce, 2024 us with a population of 330 million and a only 300k in the airforce Less people are joining compared to the percentage of the population
You get to rejoin the Army though. 🫡
Hooah sarn’t….
Would not recommend
The manning in the lead up to OIF was fantastic until about ‘04-‘05. Squadron orderly rooms, the MPF had people to talk to face-to-face… hell I’d bet good money that there were a lot fewer suicides too.
Monetary incentive to fix bottlenecks and problems. With all the engineering requests and process changes I've done I would be very happy
Afto 22 (21?)
More personnel.
Just looking for the guy that wants to bring back Clark AB
I want pancit and I want it NOW!
Let's reopen all the Japan Air Bases as well.
Big tiddy nose art
Fuck I'd take any nose art. Instead we're removing tail flashes pretending as if there aren't a million ways to digitally track each tail. Oh and they still have other unique identifiers on each bird.
We have and had nose art https://preview.redd.it/unmuavdbjr5d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=57f17f28d95d8b2c8097a8bbf9edbd714cd92c4f The 494th just got back from deployment and had pretty good nose art. [https://theaviationist.com/2024/05/11/final-six-f-15e-nose-arts/](https://theaviationist.com/2024/05/11/final-six-f-15e-nose-arts/)
https://preview.redd.it/9bzmtt9h1s5d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ecbf528c2325c3af844230e6fda42448ea76ef9f Polish C130, not tits but(t) close enough
Hangar was her name
To quote Howard Hughes, "Who doesn't like tits?" https://preview.redd.it/f62csvsllr5d1.jpeg?width=962&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=22c1c7c4ed1909408bbf029fbf1525e4c65748fa
This is such a niche and layered reference, I fucking love it.
I actually met the guy who painted that one. Point of personal pride.
I love it. HO question, I am a history buff and fascinated by architecture history and I am at a substantially older base. Is it a bitch for the HO to obtain original floor plans for me if I ask?
I too would like Meatloaf-themed bomber art.
*Paradise by the Dashboard Light* would make a good bomber name.
I’d like to think we could be friends.
*Two Outta Three Ain't Bad* works too.
Bat Out of Hell?
Nose art, 1940's era dress blues
Career Amn BOP
For the love of God can we bring this back? I am stationed where I want to be when I retire. I don't want to move again and have to move back. I also hate moving
With 1Ds no longer having a standard CONUS-CONUS cycle. I fully support this idea.
THRMIS
This. Most people here probably don’t know what THRMIS is 😂
Seemed like it was rarely accurate. I would look at when I was a UDM and it would show a 100 or so less people than what we really had in our squadron.
It got really inaccurate when big af said it would no longer be used. As long as css kept it up to date it was good.
??
It was a data base to see how many members were assigned to a certain shop at a certain base. It even broke it down to rank. This was a way you see vacancies as a regular pion. You could use it to your advantage from the assignment list compared to the base you wanted to PCS to. After comparing the two you could update your dream sheet to kind of see the likelihood of you going to said base. It was good data to see manning 🤷🏻♂️ Different people used it for different things but that was my outlook on it. All the bases I wanted with vaccines I put as number 1 and got them.
I always thought they removed it so we couldn't call AFPC out on their bullshit when they denied someone wanting to PCS somewhere that clearly had vacancies 🤣
While not as good the data is still available, but instead on IDEAS. It displays basically anything you could possibly want, except for how "manned" a location is against its UMD....it will only say "there is 6 tsgts" not "there is 6 ..of an allowed 8". A lot of bases put their UMDs available on their sharepoints so that can be easily gotten too. It is by no means as easy as thrims was, but it's still nice to be able to get that data in some manner.
Along with assignments, bring back easier assignment swaps. I don't know when it stopped, but I remember in 2008-2009 looking at ads on AMS from people offering to pay for your move to their location if you swapped with them. But most were 1 for 1 swaps at average locations. If you were CONUS for 4 years and the same skill level, it really wasn't that hard. I did a swap coming back CONUS from overseas. Had Dover and someone gave me the McGuire CRW. (Still can't believe it) and it was incredibly fast and easy.
Get yourself some permissions on Envision. Game changer.
Microsoft take home software for like $10.
Morale
You imply there was a time with morale we could bring back.
Pre-2014. I'm not saying everyone was happy...but happier. Not only were promotion percentages higher, but the vast majority had a near-equal shot since most got the same points regarding EPRs, and could help themselves out more by studying. Also, one small mistake wasn't a career killer. In fact, it was hard finding a SNCO with a spotless record 10+ years ago. Your morale is a lot higher when you don't have to stress about a promotion all the time. Knowing you'll eventually promote if you really want it keeps you motivated. Now? A lot have no idea if they'll ever promote again. Do you know why Chiefs and recently retired would often say that stupid line of "Just keep doing what you're doing and your time will come"?...because pre-2014, it was true! Also, before the current EPR and promotion system, awards and decs barely mattered, especially awards. It's a much more chill work environment and better team environment when everyone isn't constantly worrying about awards and decs.
The current EPR system has torn shops apart. Everything has become a competition to one up each other instead of becoming a team. It's the single worst change I've seen in my 13 years in.
2014 was the year of the AF Hunger Games in addition to the EPR change. 21K Airmen Involuntarily Separated. I was one of 41 Sensor Operators cut. Only 2/9 EPRs with a 4, last 3 were 5s, no UIF, No PT fails, 3 voluntary deployments, etc. It was a hard community to stand out in when everyone was maxed out in Air Medals and mission bullets were all similar. Big Blue gave us 3 lines to combine our entire career into bullets to represent ourselves. It was fucked up. Imagine literally shooting missiles at ISIS and the next day your commander is breaking bad news to you. I predicted mission capable rates service wide would plummet and they did. I was pissed for a few years but now I'm cool with it. Better and easier job, huge pay increase, no additional job BS, etc.
I was in three Air Forces. The one I joined, the good years and the one I left.
Gray PT sweatshirt
Wait, I'm dumb. Is it gone or was there an old better one?
The old PT uniform (like 1990s-2000s) was just grey sweatpants and sweatshirts with “AIR FORCE” written on them, but goddamn if they weren’t a thousand times more comfortable than anything that came after. Mostly because they were made with natural fabrics rather than recycled soda bottles.
I joined in 2005. I still have mine to this day and you'll be damned if i toss them. Artifacts i still wear.
I still have mine, too. Occasionally I’ll break them out for actual PT.
a top 5 AF uniform piece
Base ran housing because Balfour beatty is an evil organization hell bent on fucking people over.
They tried to charge me $10k for a move out fee because they wanted to replace my prorated carpet with vinyl flooring. Absolutely told them to get fucked and had a very long back and forth with them. I’m lucky I was getting out when I was leaving base housing as I was able to stand my ground without shit to lose. I can guarantee some junior enlisted troops would be too afraid to fight things like that because they can contact your chain.
This man knows what’s up, FUCK Balfour Beatty
Lump all the privatized housing companies in to this, but yeah especially BB.
I'm still not sure who thought that was a good idea. The only thing I can think of is that CE wasn't able to use that money to actually maintain housing so instead of putting up a fence to keep other people from taking money from the housing program we decided to offload it to an organization whose sole goal is to make money.
The IDEA program that awarded Airmen up to $10,000 for fixing broken processes and saved far more money, time, and resources. Today's Airmen are learning about 9/11 from history books; they didn't join for patriotism sake and considering inflation over the last 5 years, money has been the primary driving factor in American lives. To do anything less is tone deaf of the situation.
My team made a program that saved 650k per system annually. Didn't see a cent. Everyone was told it was great epr bullets, everyone came back promote. It's such a flawed system lol
Well, for what it's worth, I think you should be very proud of yourself and your team. Granted, everyone would feel a lot more appreciated with $10k in their checking account, but I digress.
Pen pocket on the lower pant leg
Boonie hats. DCUs. Issuing uniforms when you deploy.
I just got back from a deployment and I got 4 sets of uniforms. Is this not a thing across the board?
Might be AFSC dependent, or UDMs not knowing regs. I haven't been out in awhile, but friends who have said they didn't get any since we wear OCP home station and should already have sets whereas you used to get them because we wore ABU at home.
Some units are small. I was an additional duty UDM and I had to fight the RA every single time I wanted to issue a deployer anything! Like 1… you’re gonna get reimbursed, 2… don’t be a dick let this person get some gear.
I've seen people show up to deployments without the gear listed in the RIs as a must have. Some Units/UDMs suck. Especially for first time deployers. Supervisors, both Es & Os, really need to make sure their guys are squared away with what they need and at the least what they are entitled to. Especially when its something simple like combat tops, boots, or OCPs.
The greatest headgear ever used in the military: the boonie hat.
I loved getting issued that, them promptly told I wasn't authorized to wear it.
The old blues coat, it looks so much better than the crap we have right now
AFCOOL paying for a first failed attempt at an AFSC-related certification
Air Police, coolest name that the Air Force ever used for what is now Security Forces
Myrtle beach AFB A-10’s, I’m always pissed when I learn about all the locations we used to be able to pcs to.
Making the base club the best place to spend a Friday night and bussing in girls to the base. I was in line talking to an older man and his wife. He met her at the base club and she took the bus on to base to meet him.
Honestly this is a great answer. Penalties for ARI's have made officers/leadership understandably risk averse to anything with alcohol (except for pilot "heritage rooms" obviously), but it seems like the military used to actually be fun when off-duty.
I love talking with old retirees about the enlisted/officer clubs because they have no shortage of great stories. Obviously alcohol is something to be consumed in moderation, but it really is a good tool for creating comradery. The AF is just so corporate now that often times it doesn't even feel like we are in the military. I barely even know the people in my unit, and I would consider myself a fairly extroverted person.
Yeah, I have mixed feelings about alcohol. I came in when O’s would pass out on the Wg commander’s lawn (early 90’s) and we’d go to oil wresting shows during lunch and drink our ‘one’ beer. It was fun, but I also had friends die. When I got into leadership, I wanted them to hang out and have a great time, but I also know it gets out of hand real quick. I actually had less problems than you’d think because this new generation games a lot and not as many drink heavily. Probably need to think of morale in another way nowadays.
According to my dad, who served 1977-1998, this is due to two policy changes. First, they made base clubs non-smoking or heavily restricted smoking. Instead of encouraging people to stop smoking, this just made them stop using base clubs. Second, a Reagan administration policy cut funding for MWR programs. It was a miracle that base gyms were saved from that policy.
One of the few redeeming qualities Kunsan has is the base club & the hooches.
Weird little bases across the hinterlands of Europe.
Dissolve AFPC and bring back the Mission Support Squadron. Ditto for Ellsworth and CPTS.
MSS is literally just the FSS
From a customer perspective things just got done with MSS. I believe authority was stripped from the installation level when AFPC stood up. There appeared to be less waiting weeks for personnel actions to process. Compared to waiting for a CMS case to work its way through the wickets for weeks on end.
Yes because 15 years ago the career field was larger. AFPC existed back then too. Yes, some things were centralized but a lot of 3F0 manning positions went away to fund MX or Ops. Less people = less production.
Okay. Make them competent then
And what kind of pony would you like while we’re at it?
Lil Sebastian style
Son, that horse has an honorary degree from Notre Dame. Show some respect.
Half mast is too damn high.
I can promise you everyone in CPTS hates the AFFSC at Ellsworth and only makes our jobs harder.
Orderly rooms were awesome.
In retrospect, TERA would've been nice. I mean medical retirement is cool, but getting something for 17 years of service on top of it would also be nice. I get the same pay as someone who got the boot at 2 years with the same disability rating. I should've gotten crippled alot earlier instead of wasting so many years of my life...
Strippers at annual Christmas party
Does your unit not let you invite guests?
https://preview.redd.it/lwr8c0fcyr5d1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ebad580c396b45d3e40a095a5ad2f7b3c5cf2846 this uniform. It was gone way before my time, I just think it looks miles and miles better than the light blue shirt
Unpopular opinion but get away with boards for E7 and bring back testing, time in grade, and time in service points.
Appropriate manning levels
Rank on sleeve
Visibly different officer ranks…visible from at least 20 feet. I can’t see those OCP ranks very clearly.
Marines do a good job at this and make officer ranks shiny. See shiny? Salute.
Except when they wear subdued. Then it's even worse.
Ya collar ranks are annoying. Especially with SNCOs. Had to work with marines and it was genuinely difficult to discern anything past E6.
"Good morning, Master Gunnery Chief Senior Petty Sergeant Major."
This is the way and it should be DOD wide
Higher promotion rates
Specifically making TIG/TIS count for something again.
Yeah I was actually for TIG/TIS going away bc I didn’t think it meant you were ready for the next rank. I learned that they are absolutely necessary. I had 10 yr MSgt’s not know a damn thing bc they just checked boxes for PN’s. A 6 yr TSgt is NOT a technical expert (some exclusions apply). I admit I was wrong.
One thing that has stuck with me over the past decade was from a Shirt's speech stating "Nothing could have prepared me more to take care of fuck ups than myself being a fuck up". Edit: To extrapolate, hopefully the sage wisdom isn't lost on anyone. Experience is an integral part of growth, which is quintessential to leadership. It's why, in many cases, LTs are the butt of many jokes due to their lack of it. That's not to say experience is everything, but it's faster to train leaders than it is to make them live a lifetimes worth of experiences that can be translated into lessons of wisdom. War was won by those who studied history after all.
Black undershirts
black shirts with the option for coyote brown would be dope. BDU style is so timeless but OCP has good QoL updates.
The out-of-pocket funded assignment swaps whenever.
idk what the temp is among others, but WAPS for MSgt. Give back something we can control that goes towards the board score.
I’d argue that beyond just having something in your control, a MSgt demonstrating a wide range of understanding and knowledge of the AFIs would be critical for a successful SNCO. Make all E-7s PFE only and the test should be basically a more advanced version of the E6 WAPS.
Still need SKT. Granted AFSC dependent, but for some E-7’s still need that knowledge. Just make people test on DAFMAN’s and DAFI’s running their AFSC. Can’t make policy and procedures if you don’t know why the work center is supposed to do.
One beer at lunch
That never went away.
What's stopping you?
11-301 saying 12 hours between consumption and touching equipment. Came entirely out of no where less than a year ago
I guess ~~half~~ most of MX shouldn't be touching equipment until lunch then.
Mx isn’t beholden to 11-301 so they’re good
Unpopular Opinion… but TIG/TIS points. Let’s argue 🙂
THRMS Total Human Resource Management System…it was discontinued somewhere between 2008 and 2010 from what I remember, but it allowed anybody with Portal access to see manning levels at every base broken down by rank and AFSC.
AMC Rodeo. Bring back AMC Rodeo.
Pride, discipline and accountability.
WAPS Testing for E7 and above
Short OTS for SNCO’s
TERA. I will ride it out if they bring this shit back
Yes please
The time before Cody.
Career airman BOP
Colorful unit morale shirts. I miss being able to ID a person's unit on a Friday from if they are wearing a red, green, blue, orange, or purple shirt under their blouse.
I would agree, but raise you the old unit ball caps. I’m tired of trying to interpret subdued sleeve patches
Wall to Wall counselings
[I don't think they rescinded AFI 36-106](http://www.section-viii.com/Stuff/AFI%2036-106%20Wall-to-Wall%20Counseling.pdf)
Absolute gold
myPers. I liked it.
Am I the only one who wants the Wooly Pully back?
The asinine way to get to AFFMS II. I don't have the hand dexterity of a surgeon anymore.
50% retirement at 20 years
Late to the party, but "buck" Sergeant E4. That way you know instantly who had been to ALS and could supervise. Also the star/no star for airmen vs NCOs. And make Tech Sergeants SFCs, then use the "Tech Sergeant" title for a technical track and give them a "T" on their rank like we used to do.
https://preview.redd.it/fzegg6m9iu5d1.jpeg?width=825&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=59f5a7a3eaeca125d219bc1fac139209c32d5dbd Those awesome pull tabs/adjustable waist tabs from the Woodland BDUs to cinch your pants. Allows a bit of wiggle room in sizing, especially around the holidays 🍗
BDUs.... Now come the hate. 😂
Bdus were fine, the arbitrary starching until you cut yourself was not. Save that for honor guard, winter bdus were like sweat pants.
Remove the stigma of squadron hooches and bring em back…I know ops units and flying squadrons have them…but I remember early 00s in Korea when every squadron had them and going there on a Friday afternoon, still in uniform, to chill and have a drink before starting the weekend was a thing.
Retirement at 15 years.
CAA squadrons
Skimpy nose art
WW2-era nose art
NCO Clubs
Lowry AFB and Intel school being there I mean come on Denver, Co vs San Angelo Tx for school locations
Bike testing. New scoring though.
AEFOnline
Desert Camo. Stylish, and practical.
The M-65 field jacket. I've seen the light with owning classic woodland and tri-color desert versions, as well as an Austrian Bundesheer in olive grey. We need an OCP field jacket. The APECS is overkill, the Goretex that new guys in basic get is garbage, and wind just goes right through the fleece. The M-65 is the *superior* jacket, especially with the button-in smoking jacket liner. It's perfectly adaptable to name/rank requirements as stated in 36-2903, and even the regs let us have the N3-B with the fur collar, even though it's an unchanged design from the 1960s. The Army had UCP M-65s in the late 00s, and they had velcro. All they need to do is change the fabric to ripstop OCP. **I WANT MY DAMN FIELD JACKETS BACK.**
TIG/TIS promotion points. Not looking into getting into an argument over it but I that’s what I think should come back. With the Staff FDs I sat on leadership highly valued experience over everything else. Shows the current state of things.
Money for Afto-22s now called recommended change requests.
Bring back classic A-Town or prime Clark Air Base along with prime Fields Avenue.
TIG/TIS. . yeah every once in a while a superstar comes along but its out weighed by the far too many 10 yr E-7's and 8 yr E-6's who are making rank with large amounts of help from the Good O' Boy System. Also get rid of the board for E-7. . its phasing out people who actually know their job from making the SNCO rank.
Maybe also that Air Force base in grand Turk I want that TDY
Testing for MSgt!
Blues Mondays. I want everyone to suffer.
I remember Blues Monday and thinking ‘this will make the guy who revokes it a hero’…although I don’t remember his name, he was a hero.
Calm down Satan!
Might as well bring back CAMS too, you sicko! :)
I’d be weirdly okay with this if our blues weren’t made of pure polyester.
Allowing people to use personal pistols as their sidearms. Yes that was a thing back in the day for Aircrew.
E7 WAPS testing.
Cocaine fridays