Go Back  Airline Pilot Central Forums > Career Builder > Military
USAF: Didn't Learn The Last Time? >

USAF: Didn't Learn The Last Time?

Search
Notices
Military Military Aviation

USAF: Didn't Learn The Last Time?

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 01-16-2014, 06:52 AM
  #21  
Prime Minister/Moderator
Thread Starter
 
rickair7777's Avatar
 
Joined APC: Jan 2006
Position: Engines Turn Or People Swim
Posts: 39,318
Default

Originally Posted by UASIT View Post
I'm pretty sure this isn't a new thing for the AF missile force...These guys just got caught...

Maybe the getting caught indicates in improvement since the recent epic fails.
rickair7777 is offline  
Old 01-16-2014, 07:02 AM
  #22  
Gets Weekends Off
 
UASIT's Avatar
 
Joined APC: Jun 2010
Posts: 333
Default

Originally Posted by rickair7777 View Post
Maybe the getting caught indicates in improvement since the recent epic fails.
No...They got caught because OSI squeezed a few in relation to a drug investigation...When the cheating was exposed "leadership" had to get involved...I'd be interested to know just how much cheating is a part of the military culture...
UASIT is offline  
Old 01-16-2014, 07:19 AM
  #23  
Gets Weekends Off
 
Ftrooppilot's Avatar
 
Joined APC: Nov 2006
Position: Body at sea level; heart at 70,000+
Posts: 1,349
Default

Political correctness, social experimentation, lack of leadership, decreased force structure, ill defined missions, rapidly aging equipment, poor funding, minimum proficiency flying, diminishing sense of honor and tradition, - it's no longer the AF that I remember.

When I was a SAC B-52 EWO (before UPT) our new wing commander had a standup commanders call in the hanger (not the theater) . He reminded us of the SAC motto "Peace is Our Profession" and then said that's BS. Your job is to go out and bomb the living crap of the enemy and you better be ready when you are called.

The focus is no longer on "fighting."
Ftrooppilot is offline  
Old 01-16-2014, 08:41 AM
  #24  
Gets Weekends Off
 
T6 Pilot's Avatar
 
Joined APC: Jun 2013
Posts: 256
Default

Originally Posted by UASIT View Post
No...They got caught because OSI squeezed a few in relation to a drug investigation...When the cheating was exposed "leadership" had to get involved...I'd be interested to know just how much cheating is a part of the military culture...
Agree.

I will tell you now, out of the 1000+ military aviation officers I know, I do not know one who "made it thru" without using gouge, dirty purples, etc.
Heck, there was a website at one point where a guy was profiting off of gouge (ALLPME.com). In addition, I'd be inclined to know just how many of today's "leaders" didn't use some sort of gouge at one point or another.

I'm not advocating "cheating" by any measure -- but, what I think in actuality was these guys were doing a historically "turn my back" gouge sharing and it came to light when a cell phone was confiscated.
T6 Pilot is offline  
Old 01-16-2014, 08:54 AM
  #25  
Gets Weekends Off
 
Albief15's Avatar
 
Joined APC: May 2006
Posts: 2,889
Default

I went to UPT in the 80s, and my perception was this:

In the academic phase, in the academic building--you better do things the right way, integrity first, etc etc. Do your own work, learn this stuff, and compete for top academic honors.

Once on the flightline, with weekly EPE tests, it was a "cooperate and graduate" exercise. We were actually ADMONISHED when one or two weak sisters were struggling on these tests while the rest of us made 100s. We were put on formal release, chastised for not taking care of our classmates, etc. Copy--lesson learned and applied ASAP! (The fact the USEM would leave the EPE test in the Flt CC office, in the open, on top of a desk, etc should NOT be construed as encouraging--right?). Class starts to make 100s. IPs happy. Students happy. Lesson learned--take care of the team and work together!

Funny thing is I never had a problem with this set of mixed messages. The academic environment was just that--a place where we were expected to learn, study, and apply the lessons to our training.

The flight line was the start of the "this is what is means to be a warrior" mindset. Warriors work together, take care of each other, and are only as strong as the weakest link. The wink wink/nudge nudge wasn't hard to understand from the IPs, but I never was confused that the cooperate/graduate model was to be applied there, and not in other areas. Like flying, there was judgement involved.

My understanding is later in the late 90s or early 2000s the **** hit the fan for the same type deal in UPT. Zero tolerance equals zero tolerance. Again--I we worked together at survival training, we worked together in combat, and I never saw the issue as the whole EPE gig was just to keep you in the books, not to stratify you from your peer group.

Anyone else from that era have similar memories or am I just AFU?
Albief15 is offline  
Old 01-16-2014, 09:19 AM
  #26  
Prime Minister/Moderator
Thread Starter
 
rickair7777's Avatar
 
Joined APC: Jan 2006
Position: Engines Turn Or People Swim
Posts: 39,318
Default

Originally Posted by Albief15 View Post
I went to UPT in the 80s, and my perception was this:

In the academic phase, in the academic building--you better do things the right way, integrity first, etc etc. Do your own work, learn this stuff, and compete for top academic honors.

Once on the flightline, with weekly EPE tests, it was a "cooperate and graduate" exercise. We were actually ADMONISHED when one or two weak sisters were struggling on these tests while the rest of us made 100s. We were put on formal release, chastised for not taking care of our classmates, etc. Copy--lesson learned and applied ASAP! (The fact the USEM would leave the EPE test in the Flt CC office, in the open, on top of a desk, etc should NOT be construed as encouraging--right?). Class starts to make 100s. IPs happy. Students happy. Lesson learned--take care of the team and work together!

Funny thing is I never had a problem with this set of mixed messages. The academic environment was just that--a place where we were expected to learn, study, and apply the lessons to our training.

The flight line was the start of the "this is what is means to be a warrior" mindset. Warriors work together, take care of each other, and are only as strong as the weakest link. The wink wink/nudge nudge wasn't hard to understand from the IPs, but I never was confused that the cooperate/graduate model was to be applied there, and not in other areas. Like flying, there was judgement involved.

My understanding is later in the late 90s or early 2000s the **** hit the fan for the same type deal in UPT. Zero tolerance equals zero tolerance. Again--I we worked together at survival training, we worked together in combat, and I never saw the issue as the whole EPE gig was just to keep you in the books, not to stratify you from your peer group.

Anyone else from that era have similar memories or am I just AFU?
Entirely legit in certain operational environments. But in my (navy) experience this never applied to anything nuclear...that was always 100% by-the-book, zero tolerance for deviation (both in job performance and training/testing). The cases I know of where cheating occurred resulted in courts martial or NJP, I certainly didn't see it day-to-day.
rickair7777 is offline  
Old 01-16-2014, 11:58 AM
  #27  
Gets Weekends Off
 
tomgoodman's Avatar
 
Joined APC: Feb 2006
Position: 767A (Ret)
Posts: 6,248
Default

Originally Posted by Ftrooppilot View Post
When I was a SAC B-52 EWO (before UPT) our new wing commander had a standup commanders call in the hanger (not the theater) . He reminded us of the SAC motto "Peace is Our Profession" and then said that's BS. Your job is to go out and bomb the living crap of the enemy and you better be ready when you are called.
It was reported that LeMay had a sign on his office wall:

"To err is human; to forgive, divine.
Neither of these is SAC policy."
tomgoodman is offline  
Old 01-16-2014, 12:16 PM
  #28  
Gets Weekends Off
 
Joined APC: Jun 2008
Posts: 3,716
Default

So what do you think will happen or should happen to these officers?
iceman49 is offline  
Old 01-16-2014, 12:41 PM
  #29  
Gets Weekends Off
 
1Seat 1Engine's Avatar
 
Joined APC: Aug 2006
Position: 737 Right
Posts: 1,385
Default

Cooperate and graduate were the mantra throughout my military career EXCEPT when it came to nukes.

I did Nukes at Hahn AB in the F-16 and it was extremely demanding. There was no cheating or help allowed on Nuke missions/testing/certification.
1Seat 1Engine is offline  
Old 01-16-2014, 01:05 PM
  #30  
Banned
 
Joined APC: Nov 2013
Position: 7th green
Posts: 4,378
Default

Same experience here in the Navy. Zero tolerance only applied to nukes.
Packrat is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
PittsDriver
Military
128
03-05-2014 05:39 AM
CRJAV8OR
Major
78
04-11-2012 10:46 AM
CrakPipeOvrheat
Regional
94
02-12-2012 08:14 PM
lakehouse
Hiring News
32
08-24-2010 10:38 AM
nciflyer
Aviation Law
11
07-04-2009 01:29 PM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



Your Privacy Choices