Forum: Air Force Life

Raptor_DCTR wrote:

Ah-frickin-men. I couldn't haven't have written it better myself if Hunter S Thompson was telling me what to type. I am so sick of the AF worrying more about what uniform combos are authorized or "OH MY GOD WE GAB'D A JET TODAY!!!! Our numbers are gonna suck!!!" No matter the broke a$$ jet that sits out on the flight line. We should be concentrating on fixing jets and bombing the s*it out of anyone that threatens our way of life. Not politics. I wish there were more like you in the AF TEG! Keep it up! Thumb

I agree, it's the MISSION that matters! I posted this over at baseops.net about some of the 'command issues' that people are facing over at the 'Deid, but it seems to almost fit here as well. Hope no one minds.

Quote:

I was deployed to the airbase at the Intl airport in Doha during 90-91. We were the first US military in the country. I spent seven months in Doha, wearing Hawaiian shirts, shorts and flip-flops off duty, eating pistachios and drinking smuggled rum - maybe not the 'Yankee Air Pirate' of SEA (of course, as a maintainer, my feet stayed on the ground) but I gave it my best shot. On duty, I worked phase and the flightline wearing a set of non-steeltoed jungle boots, wearing mail-order desert BDU's with no patches, rank, name or US Air Force tapes and my boonie hat rolled up like a cowboy, and you know what? Our commander said "Mike, I don't care what rank you are, or what your uniform looks like, what I care about is having our jets ready to fly each morning."

Our mission as maintainers was to support the pilots that we sent north each day of the war, to give them the best aircraft that we could to give them the best chance of coming back to us each night, and every minute we were there to support the two that we had to leave in Iraq as POW's until the war ended. That was the only mission that was important, not supporting some pencil-pushing want-to-be authority figure on an ego trip. While we had our share of those as well, we had Wing and flying Squadron Commanders who quickly put them in their places.

There are too many people out there who have realized that they don't have much to do with the real mission and have let their authority go to their heads.

"Daddy, what did you do in the war?"
"Son, I was one of the most important people on base. I kept the dirty, sweaty people from eating at the 'dining facility'. We can't allow 'that type' in here, they might offend the clean personnel and finance people... Sure, I was misunderstood, but my SVS commander saw my true value, and put me in for this shiny Bronze Star."

Who knows, maybe I just don't see the 'big picture' because of all those belts reflecting the sunlight into my eyes. Sorry if this post isn't politically correct, but it's the MISSION that matters. Those of you who are over there fighting for all of us who are safe at home might not be able to directly go out and win this war for us, but all of us losing sight of the real mission could certainly lose it.

Mike

F-16.net Sponsor

MKopack wrote:

There are too many people out there who have realized that they don't have much to do with the real mission and have let their authority go to their heads...
"...my SVS commander saw my true value, and put me in for this shiny Bronze Star."

With you word for word Mike! While I was deployed, I wished that I had two stars on top of my hat, so that I could've legally gone to the Wing leadership at the Deid, and told them exactly what I thought of all of them. They were a worthless bunch of c**ksuckers.

One of the biggest problems that I had with them was simply that. I'm busting my @$$, a lot of times getting min-rested, and then go back out to the jet for another 4 bagger up North, or a 2 stopper to the East.

After I finally get off of the jet, I'm so tired that my eyes are bloodshot, and I've been in the same nasty flight suit for 22 hours. All I can think about is getting something to eat, grab a shower, and go to bed. Then, you have the gall to come up to me in your starched, and pressed DCUs, with those Corcoran Marauder boots just to tell me that you don't like the morale patch that I'm wearing on my right sleeve and want me to remove it?

Really? You didn't have anything better to do? Because, if you aren't busy, I'm sure some people around the base who actually work, could really use some help.

The only time I ever got a complaint about that, fortunately, was when our crew was wearing morale patches that happened to be in color. This Light Colonel came up to us and said, "Guys, I really don't mind if you wear morale patches, but you'll catch less guff, if they are in desert colors."

He was really cool about it, but not a week later, the Wing leadership actually took the time to post a Flight Crew Information File, with nothing more important than a BAN on morale patches. WTF

Another time, a USO tour came through the base, with people whom many of us really wanted to meet. Unfortunately many of us were flying during the base-wide appearance, so for folks who were stuck at work, the Wing leadership took these celebs for a tour of the base, and they would stop in to the offices and shake hands and sign autographs.

Our Ops heard about this, and called ahead, so that they would stop by, if for nothing else, but to meet the folks who were there, and sign pics for the people (like my crew) who were out flying the unfriendly skies.

Ops waited and waited...Nothing.

Next day, we called back to Wing HQ, and asked what had happened. The exact response our ADO received was "Oh, you guys come under AMC. You aren't tasked to AFCent, so since you don't come under the Wing, you don't count."

Excuse you?

I wish I could've told her in person "Excuse me b!tch, but I'm the one flying just about every other day, and haven't really had a day off in 3 weeks. I'm out there flying the missions out of YOUR base, and I'm earning my pay and earning my medals, but I thank you for sitting on your fat @$$ here for 6 months, or what have you, in air conditioning and a clean uniform, just so you can go back stateside with a Bronze Star (which, BTW, is STILL a higher medal than what I walked away with from that dump), and have the balls to tell me that I don't count. F#ck you very much!"

Ok, I too will step down from the soap box. It just infuriates me everytime I think that, had these shoe clerks back at the Deid put as much effort into moving the mission as they do making up stupid rules for no reason, EVERY d@mned day, imagine how much more productive work would be done?

My first little stint at the Died sounds painfully similar to your TC. I am a Guard guy who volunteered to deploy with an Active Duty unit to the desert, so that one of their crews could be home for the holidays. The squadron CC over there was more concerned with me wearing my home squadron patch that he was with controlling his DO who made my crew fill sandbags to help CE harden the BRITISH Air Force dorms for 4 hours on our only day off in 24 days. Now when I left home I had all of my home unit patches on, and had my colored US flag on my left shoulder just like the deployment package that I recieved from the Active Duty said. Once I got to the Died the Wing CC decided that he did not like the American Flag and had the rules changed and made it so everyone had to start wearing the 379th AEW patch instead of the US flag on our left shoulder. Now that's fine if you don't like that US flag, but at least have enough 379th patches to give one to everybody before you make a stupid rule change. 3 true stories about this guy and his patch fetish.

1. He was so hardover about not liking the American Flag that he actually made his Vice Wing CC get his official picture retaken without the American Flag on his arm, and made him personally go all over base and replace those pictures with the new ones. That's a great use of an O-6's time

2. He flew a mission with one of the AD crews from our squadron and never mentioned his hatred for the American flag to them. But he marched right into the Squadron CC's office after the mission and read him the Riot act personally and made him ground a perfectly functioning Aircrew for 7 days over the AC's wear of the American Flag.

3. HE DID NOT WEAR A 379th AEW PATCH ON HIS OWN ARM, HE WORE A USAF WEAPONS SCHOOL PATCH INSTEAD. When asked he said that the weapons school patch is the only authorized substitution for the 379th AEW patch.

I know it's only a patch, but it's just one example of a whole string of similar issues that the current leadership seems to spend the vast majority of thier time fighting, instead of focusing on the mission at hand.

I think I know who that guy was. A BONE Driver, IIRC.

Yeah, I think the hatred of the American Flag patch came mostly from the Wing leadership's experience with us. Since the -135 types come from different MAJCOMs, you guys are forced into that 379th "Wear the AFCent/379th Pieces of Flair" crapola.

While we technically were assigned to the 379th EOG, we were actually fragged directly to AMC, because they own our aircraft and mission taskings. That way, we were able to wear the AMC patch, and American Flag on our left sleeves.

I think some of the "leadership" (and I use that term VERY loosely) at the Deid simply saw that as us thumbing our noses at them, as if we were saying, that's just this much less control over us that you really have.

Where we saw others who wore the AFCent and 379th patches get away with much more, any little thing that happened to us, we were immediately under the microscope. It sucked, and having a designated "Whipping Boy" or "Red Headed Step Child" is no way to lead a Wing, a Squadron, or anything.

You guessed exactly right, a little bit of a Napoleon complex I am guessing from him. I know it's a stuipd thing to worry about, but it felt really good when as soon as we got wheels up leaving the died for the last time, I presented both of my pilots with their bright American flags and their home unit patches. I don't see anything wrong with a little price in the old Stars and Stripes and the unit you have spent almost 2 decades serving with.

Agree, and it was actually the night of our last flights, when our flights were completed, and we passed over ops to our sister squadron, that we immediately ripped our EAS patches off at our last squadron BBQ, and immediatly put our home station desert patches on.

Only 3 beers were allowed, but they were definitely ALL enjoyed!

Forum: Air Force Life

Deployment experiences