Originally Posted by hindsight2020 (Post 731742)

Well, these are all symptoms of a peacetime Air Force and the first cadre of "staff generals" who are taking the helm of this ship having grown up in the era of the CBT and "mission support IS the mission". WWIII breaks out tomorrow and we would get a big black eye as we're behind the power curve, but the wartime leadership would quickly rise up from the woodworks and take the controls from the froze-in-combat "staff generals"; just like gravity, it settles itself.

I'm not saying one should naively expect that and click one's heels for it, but to suggest the peacetime chair force is going to change into a USMC-type dogmatic organization during peacetime (our current involvement is not war, it's just rent seeking) is just fantasy. The AF is one big self-licking ice cream cone nowadays, and just simply blaming it on a couple of operators that would rather stay 'technicians' (i.e. experts in the craft without a desire to attain higher leadership) is a copout. They still stand post a whole ADSC more than 97% of this country does day to day; so sue me 'cause I want to serve in a flying capacity.

Hell, having that very healthy skepticism for the rent-seeking machine makes one unfit for staff to begin with. That palace is staffed by people who can only articulate their necks around the lateral axis. People always talk about changing the system from within, but that's disingenuous. The machine is bigger than one or two contrarians, you'll just get stonewalled while attempting to change the world, and not get to do what you love in the process. As such, people pass. Only one life to live and the like.

That's standard RegAF though. If you see a satisfied Airman who's performing at its peak, change his circumstances for the worse. Then all is good in the RegAF...pass. The bosses surely didn't get punchline about the beatings continuing until morale improves. You can't get more juice out of an orange already gone sour. As such, they'll chase their tails in reflective belts until the wartime leadership is needed and they get the Wii controler taken away from them in due order. That is more a function of timing than an individual operator not wanting to go to staf, IMO.