AF recruiting video pulled...AF recruits in better shape than most marines?

This is ridiculous. Why aren't these fuck heads squashed and sent packing for general assclownery and douchebaggery?

wait for it... wait for it........ AND you're a quote legend. awesome

I fly as part of an Air Force run Aero Club.. every now and then our direct supervisor (who, by the way isn't from any flying community) comes by to inspect, and we are also audited. The amount of paperwork items these folks look for is mind boggling... they seriously should enter the corporate world.

A few years back standing E-6 alert at Travis AFB with USAF security.

One dude was in his truck "guarding" a taxiway entrance to the compound. An E-6 pilot (ex-enlisted SEAL) was running inside the red line perimeter and he noticed the security dude was out cold. On his next lap by the main guard shack he grabbed the supervisor and took him to the dude. They both walked up to the vehicle and found the security dude with his belt and weapon in the front passenger floorboard and a magazine open on his lap. The E-6 pilot convinced the super to let him wake the sleeper up. So he quickly opened the door, grabbed the guy firmly by the trachea and slammed his head back yelling "YOU'RE DEAD!" We never saw that particular guy standing alert duty again...we saw him working the front gate.

This is the same pilot who months later saw a dark figure throw a pack under an alert E-6 one night. The "intruder" ran off into the night. Seeing that security didn't notice, he yelled out and proceeded to chase the guy into a feild next to the runway. He caught and subdued him causing a few minor injuries. Security then decided it might be a good idea to warn us if they were going to run exercises.

I've never put a quote in my signature line. Until now.

You guys ain't seen nothin' from AF SkyCops 'til you've been stopped on a combat mission alert launch because you crossed the red line...inside the wire in a combat zone.

Talk about a total loss of comprehension of the mission. Stopping guys in flight gear, running out to airplanes, after the scramble horn has gone off and the scramble announced all over the LMR networks.

I have personally been engaged in a finger-pointing ass-chewing in the face of a Cop officer who delayed a CAS alert scramble because of something about line badges and red lines.

As if Hadji is going to get his hands on a full set of USAF flight gear, then hide out right next to the operations building, and then wait for a scramble, and run out to do damage to the airplanes.

This is one area you guys have it right -- the AF is full of idiotic cover-your-ass bureaucracy that protects power empires, that have resulted in a complete loss of the bubble. It is stuff like this that makes me think twice before rebutting whenever I hear someone on this board claim that the USAF is so far beyond repair that it should just be burned to the ground wholesale and started again from scratch.

It is my hope that any and every other US military force has been able to avoid this cancer that has completely engulfed the blue-uniform military. If the USN and USMC aren't like this, good on ya and more power to you.

Funniest thing I've seen with the Air Farce is last weekend at the Edwards AFB Airshow. The organization (specifically insane traffic with minimal road-guards, running out of food etc) was an absolute abortion and it was the worst-executed airshow I've ever attended.

On top of that, I had to laugh pretty hard when I saw an AF Captain chasing down a prius when he exited between two cones instead of getting in line with the rest of us.

A CAPTAIN.... chasing cars on traffic detail!

And then I saw a Lieutenant Colonel with some sort of fighter weapons school patch, directing people.

Don't they have JUNIOR ENLISTED to do these things? And the odd E-dog I did see who was supposed to be directing traffic was just bumbling around in circles not doing DICK while the rest of us were parked in a line for 3 hours trying to get out.

Never thought a freaking airshow could be so telling about a service's organization and ability to task at the lowest level.

The officer to enlisted ratio in the AF is roughly 1:3. Very top heavy. Probably has a little something to do with the kingdoms too.

Well... on a lot of Navy bases you can be in uniform, military ID card in hand, look the part, but woe is you during a physical security exercise/certification/whatever. You'll probably have to wait out in the cold for what might be only a few minutes or maybe an hour... and try to be nice to the poor schmuck nub seaman who is really just doing what he was told.

On the other hand, I'm only half-joking when I say if you are sporting a scruffy beard, a man-pony-tail, carry a toolbox, and have some random ID card hanging around your neck by a shoelace then you pretty much have your run of the place. Quarterdeck sentries and pier sentries seem almost afraid to delay civilian contractors lest the contractor bolt for the day because of something his union supposedly negotiated.

Then there was the scandal with the contractors who turned out to be illegal aliens working on the JFK (must have been '01 or '02).

Not sure if there is more dumb or less dumb between the services, but there is definitely different dumb.

It seems like duty (especially at the lowest levels) is a tough battle between letting things slide to not cause ass-pain for many many people, and not letting TOO much slide and getting REAMED for fucking up and not doing your duty.

Seems to yo-yo back and forth to each end of the spectrum as time goes by.

This was once explained to me as each component of the AF functions as a weapon system and deploys as independent components instead of like airplane squadrons with organic / attached service and support components?

Was this done to ensure that somebody other than pilots / navigators had some say in how the force was run? Is this some kind of TAC / SAC hangover?

See post #38. I believe to a degree. Everyone believes their mission is above all others when it really should be a team effort. When you think of how SAC functioned, you can see where it all came from. SAC is long dead but those Generals today were Majors and LtCol's back then so the spirit is still much alive. The problem going forward as I see it is that the younger generation is infected with this line of reasoning.

Maybe... SAC/TAC integrated into ACC in 1992, so maybe those 3 and 4 stars were around. I'm willing to bet the 1 stars and 2 stars were senior Lts and Capts. :icon_wink

Not to defend the USAF but there are plenty of good officers who have the right idea about how to fight the good fight and where their role lies in the grand scheme of things. And we as Marines have our own problems. I just spent the better part of a case of beer last night in an argument with several of my fellow Marine Lts as to why the AF is even necessary. We drink a lot of USMC Green Kool-Aide and how we are fully self sustaining, and I'm sure a lot of Marines want to believe that, but it isn't, nor should it be, the case. I think it's a pride issue, and too many people are too damn proud so say," Hey, I need some help."

I am talking about the 3 and 4 stars. Guys that hold MAJCOM's as AF calls them. Most of them were senior Captains and junior Majors.

And the Marines are?

I don't really hear too much about those very physically fit airmen fighting in Helmand Province right now....

Went over your head, just like they do.........

Don't tell the guys sitting CASEVAC alert at Bastion.

Unfortunately I'm with Hacker on this. There is an enormous thread on Baseops that deals strictly with the insanity of Al Udied. Another with skycop stories. Yet another with Finance stories. An.... Screw it you get the jist.

As to the why? Beats me, I'm just glad every time I've deployed I've been insulated from big blue and the acolytes of the church of the Air Force.

This is a pointless discussion. Every organization has its issues, don't let them prevent you from recognizing their stengths. I've seen both sides of the fence now - Marine Corps and Air Force - and there is shit that makes you want to tear your hair out going on in both. They are different cultures with some disparity in core values, but they are both vital to what we as a country do and both are by and large (shitheads are a stastical inevitability) comprised of very dedicated people who have made sacrifices to serve their country.

Well said. I like making fun of the Air Force (Like Hacker I have also been chased down by the SF on an alert scramble in Kandahar) but we have our own brand of stupid and we're not afraid to use it. Fill out a risk assessment worksheet lately? How about putting on your Alphas and driving three hours to talk to a General because one of your Marines got a DUI? "Yes General, I told him to get liquored up and drive. It's what I do."

Hey! I do that too! I like setting myself up to stand tall before the man. I mean, like they say, face time is face time, can't hurt...right?

That's the same gouge I got!

Listen up TRACOM people: all time speaking to >=O-5's is GOOD. If you're an <=O-3 and speaking to an >=O-5... it can ONLY help you!

Stupid comes in shapes and sizes. Some pale in comparison to others.

Ah, intrusive leadership. So much for making risk decisions at the right level.

Remember, all problems are to be solved at the highest possible level, it's called delegation. Some of the Air Force stuff on this thread is pretty amusing, but, every service has its characters. I remember an Admiral that wore sneakers with his Khaki's.