The Bullsh*t starts early. Let the Logical Hate cycle begin again.

[eljefefx]

Anger: the Redbull of Emotion
The Logical Hate Cantos
Part III
J.A. Cummins

It's a bit early to be starting on my next installment of this series, but after the events of the last few (10) weeks, I feel it is only fitting that I begin to kick things off. To understand fully, I must rewind a little and explain what has happened since we last sat down. To completely rip off Stephen King, Lord of All Shit That Is Weird And Which Will Be Fucked Up By Television Producers, we must palaver.

You know, cause I make shit up and sell it for cash and lobster.

Grab a 40oz of Steel Reserve, some hand lotion, Cheetos Puffs, three sheets of sand paper and witness. I am still attached to the same squadron as in times past. Also as in times past the concepts of logic, common sense and personal responsibility have been ruled a detriment to Good Order and Discipline and are therefore looked upon as something evil and not to even be considered.

Kind of like this.

We must constantly strive to destroy families and increase work hours. Someone a few months ago decided that in order to do this in a proper, orderly proficient military manner, the time schedules for the night shift should be changed. Instead of working from 1600 until whenever the work was done (usually around 0200-0400) they decided to make us come in at 1200. They also promised us that we would be going off shift at around 2200 (10PM). The thought that was with the 4-5 hour overlap of having Day Shift and Night Shift in the maintenance spaces at the same time would result in an incredible increase in repair output, thereby allowing our pilots and ECMO's (Electronic Countermeasure Officer's) more time to go fly around and break even more stuff on the airplanes, thereby giving us lowly maintainers a reason to live and breathe. This is the kind of thinking similar to when the British designed the Sticky Grenade during WWII; great in theory, infinitely dumber in reality and everyone who didn't think of the damn thing knew it was a really, really bad fucking idea.

So for the first few weeks, those who though this up basked in their own superiority while the rest of us tried to handle the fallout with our families, especially since the whole “out by 2200” thing was more of a suggestion and not so much a deadline. 0200 and 0400 rolled around and we didn't think much about it until our wives and girlfriends began to wonder where the fuck we were and our children started calling the neighbor “daddy”. Hell, my own son didn't see me but for a total of ten minutes during one week and when he did he came running to me like I had just gotten home from deployment. I would rather get shot in the face than see that look on his face when I've been “home” the whole time.

Much like the stock market and everyone's trust in the government, the overall morale at the command dropped faster than pornstar panties. The anonymous comment box at the command, which goes straight to the skipper, was stuffed full. I only know this because when I tried to put my little piece of mind (two pages of it, handwritten, wax stamp, velum) I had to work for a few minutes to even get the bitch to fit. After a few weeks, it appears that the people upstairs realized that what they had done was beyond stupid, so they changed the schedule back.

For four days. Four days before going on detachment to Nellis Airforce Base in Las Vegas, NV for two weeks.

Yes folks, their idea of making it easier on all of our families was to go back to the old schedule for a few days before dragging us away from our families for two weeks of hard work and some time off in the City of Sin.

Did I mention they got us all rooms at The Palms Casino? Again?

If I use my per diem, it doesn't really count, right?

Let that sink in, and I'll tell you all about it later after I'm done spending your tax dollars.

[IPD]

jeff....lol. at least you get to stay on the strip. i've been stuck on base every time.

p.s.
shall i send you a giant black dildo so you can pimp-slap whichever CO dreamed up your batshit schedule across the face?

[eljefefx]

Just wait, I'm not even done with my next entry. You will shit your fucking pants, my friend, especially with the fact that you are an aviation officer.

[CoreyB]

Words do not describe the way I feel about you and your fellow mens mistreatment throughout all of this. This is not the way we should be treating our soldiers at all. Sorry to hear about your son missing you so much, having a 5 year old daughter I can kinda feel what you mean. Hope things get better even though I have little confidence they will. Goes without saying, thank you for your service Jeff.

[IPD]

Just wait, I'm not even done with my next entry. You will shit your fucking pants, my friend, especially with the fact that you are an aviation officer.

it's understood that there's always been (and always will be) some degree of friction between ops and amxs. still, some people have natural logic; some don't. after over 4 years of service, i'm beginning to be convinced that the least logical are usually academy graduates, then ROTC, then OTS. i think it has to do with real-world experience tempering the BS level.

[AgentOblivious]

Everyone gets shit on...

I hope that by getting it out here it helps you deal with it emotionally, and that you guys find a way to make it work at work properly.

[IPD]

Everyone gets shit on...

I hope that by getting it out here it helps you deal with it emotionally, and that you guys find a way to make it work at work properly.

yes, but only in this line of work do you get shit on by your bosses, and then get to go home and listen to the non-veteran, civilian pundits blabber on about why you shouldn't have a job in the first place. good times.

[NickS VR4]

Also a job that many supervisory/leadership positions are basically given out by default (time in service). In the AF, there isn't even a board for promotion until E-8... unfortunately E-7s are in many important leadership roles (at least at my base) that don't know what they are doing, and do not deserve the position.

I'm not sure how far you can go in the officer core before you actually deserve it.... O-6?

[AgentOblivious]

yes, but only in this line of work do you get shit on by your bosses, and then get to go home and listen to the non-veteran, civilian pundits blabber on about why you shouldn't have a job in the first place. good times.

No, I don't get that in my line of work, but I do get to get the "you should get a real job and stop bitching" quite a lot...which is really what I want to hear after having to do two peoples' jobs while fixing issues that management seem to find time to create.

There are always going to be people in authority that are dumber than rocks and get there by questionable means, and others who are too self-righteous to admit that the world wouldn't end if we cut someone else some slack.

[IPD]

Also a job that many supervisory/leadership positions are basically given out by default (time in service). In the AF, there isn't even a board for promotion until E-8... unfortunately E-7s are in many important leadership roles (at least at my base) that don't know what they are doing, and do not deserve the position.

I'm not sure how far you can go in the officer core before you actually deserve it.... O-6?

starting with the 08 year group, o's now have a board for promotion to o-3.

i don't define anything a "deserved". nothing is "deserved" in this life. what irritates me about the o's side is that "meeting standards" isn't sufficient. yes, i understand the USAF desire to have those that exceed standards. still, i've seen enough in my admittedly limited experience, to say that it would certainly appear that being great at what you do isn't sufficient. the USAF wants you to be forward-compatible--far beyond the office you currently hold. the "nationwide-series" nature of promotions is long gone. you can't just be the best damn pilot; now-a-days you also have to have advanced degrees, attend ridiculous amounts of schools/training, volunteer copious amounts of spare-time for charity, walk-on-water, etc.

now if "settling" in one's station simply meant that one could extend on continuance until hitting a retirement (provided, of course, that one still met the requisite standards in one's primary duty)--i wouldn't have a problem with that. let those people stay in, don't promote them, and move on. unfortunately, that's not how it works, and every single o is supposed to be a "hard charger". seriously. wtf?

what makes it all worse is the buddy-buddy system. you can get stratified at the top of your peers if you rub elbows with the right person; which all but guarantees a promotion. now i'm not saying that there shouldn't be boards; and i'm certainly not a proponent of giving rank to people (or making it easier to obtain) based on years of seniority. however, i've seen enough shiens in my time to know that the system is broken. i've seen an o-6 select get busted to o-4 and pushed out the door because he was diddling o1 & o2 students in the squadron he was COMMANDING. shit like that happens all the time--even if we don't see it in headlines. it's not overly common, but it does happen. and if i get railroaded out of the force while keeping my nose clean & doing the best damn job i can of what i signed on for--i'm going to be pissed.

i don't feel sorry for that o-4's family. i feel sorry for the o-5 who missed promotion to o-6 by a hair, and who would have made it if not for this assclown. maybe it's just me, but the trumpet-sounding required to get promoted makes the person at the mouthpiece sound like a pompous asshole (many times it's a warranted assumption).

now i've worked with enough e's to know what you're saying about e7's is correct in some cases. i think there ought to be more merit involved in the e's promotion process than just "seniority" or "decorations" (lord only knows that e's in a flying billet promote way faster). if an individual cannot meet standards, does not want or know how to teach others how to do his own job, does not interact well with others, employs draconian-style leadership, etc--then this individual should be shown the door, imho. still, i do feel that there should be room for those who are comfortable at a "plateau"--provided it's up the chain far enough--to be allowed to continue serving. the USAF doesn't need a1c's for life; but it can certainly tolerate someone who is "happily stuck" at MSgt after 12 years, has no desire to move beyond that, executes the job with aplomb & can teach others to do the same, and conducts himself/herself in a manner promoting good order & discipline.

as i said though, there's no "plateau" on the o-side, at least not that i've seen. and i've seen some damn good o's sent packing because of it. i saw an o-4 (terrific pilot, very knowledgeable) get shown the door because he didn't want to make himself promotable for o-5 (his personal choice). never mind that HYT for o-4 is supposed to be 20 years, this guy was railroaded out at just over 12.

No, I don't get that in my line of work, but I do get to get the "you should get a real job and stop bitching" quite a lot...which is really what I want to hear after having to do two peoples' jobs while fixing issues that management seem to find time to create.

There are always going to be people in authority that are dumber than rocks and get there by questionable means, and others who are too self-righteous to admit that the world wouldn't end if we cut someone else some slack.

what's hard to impress upon youth in the DOD is that it's no better on the outside. i've seen a lot of people punch after their first or even second term. having put up with 5 years of BS on the outside, i personally can vouch that it's no better on the outside. the biggest difference is that your boss (even if he's the CJCS) isn't a way-overpaid, under-competant asshole who is destroying the company from the inside-out. and there's no multi-million-dollar golden-parachute severance-package for him/her for being terminated tomorrow. in some small way, that makes the job a little less painful.