U.S. Air Force?

[Mac in Wisco]

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Thanks for your post. My teenage Daughter saw this post sitting here with me. See was excited because she wants to be a pilot. Your post gives her hope that this is possible.

We have all kinds of female pilots and crewmembers. I've even seen an all female C-130 crew flying combat missions in Iraq; two pilots, a navigator, a flight engineer, and two loadmasters, all female.

 

[swampducks]

I was in the USAF in the early 80s. LAAFS now LAAFB. aka the Hollywood AF.

I was ROTC and made it to captain, then got out because my future DH wouldn't go with me. (He now thinks he made a mistake, would love to have my pension! lol)

His older brother is career USAF and has gotten "up there" in rank. He's a C-5, C-141 and C-17 pilot. And dabbled a bit in KC-135s, KC-10s.

Now he's a paper pusher. His wife is also USAF retired.

My dad was Navy, and his brothers Navy and Marines.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

AF NEWS SERVICE- Frustrated by lower than needed retention and recruitment levels the AF has been forced to make unprecedented concessions to members and now several Major Commands have instituted "airman-slapping" policies, allowing supervisors to slap airmen pretty much whenever they please. In surveys the ability to slap their troops when frustrated is a major motivator to make a career of the Air Force

Widely hailed by supervisors as a great equalizer, the random slapping of airmen has, not surprisingly, come under fire from many lower-level members. But even some senior-level leaders have voiced complaints. .

"I, for one, don't like it a bit," said Col Joe Banks, Deputy Commander Hill AFB. "I'm a deputy commander, and I get slapped. I think there should be a ceiling somewhere, just below me, so that I don't get slapped, but I still get to slap. That, to me, would be an acceptable system."

While airmen-slapping programs are relatively new, their genesis can be found in the mid 1990s, when the changing attitudes of young recruits directly conflicted with how their supervisors viewed the world. According to Chief Bill Bob from the AFPC we had mid-career SSgts, etc separating in droves because they could not deal with these young "punk" recruits. After trying SRBs etc it was found that simply letting supervisors slap uncooperative subordinates dramatically improved morale, productivity, and retention.

Airman-slapping, proponents argue, makes up for the lost sense of balance, with many SNCOs reporting they can "feel the tension fly right off their fingertips." Some also contend the policy has reinvigorated a sense of ambition in the workforce, as climbing the promotion ladder to attain more power has been supplanted by a more intense, visceral desire to be able to slap the face of people who piss you off.

"It's simple math," explained SSgt Jim Bob, a crew chief at Cannon AFB. "Right now, in my flight, I've got six people under me. That's only six people I can slap. My boss, he has 96 people under him. I want his job."

There are, however, limits to ambition, warns General Jim Kirk, Commander ACC. "I've got 35,000 airman under me, and theoretically, I could slap every one of them, but whose got the time?" he said. "What I've learned, and this is a good lesson for prospective leader out there: delegate."

Most airman-slapping policies prohibit the slapping of anyone not full-time, however several base MEO offices have reported violations of this when leadership allowed subordinates to slap reservists and guard members until they confessed to some minor indiscretion.

One violation units have been cracking down on is what's known as the "slunch," or slap-punch. "My boss punched me once," recalled SSgt Jim Bob. "She said it was a slap, but I felt knuckle. I couldn't shave for a week." SSgt Jim Bob filed a complaint with the base MEO, and after getting slapped around a bit by the chain of command his grievance was declared valid. Now his boss can only slap him in the presence of her superiors

 

[PortageGirl]

I'm copying this and sending it to all my pals still in.

 

[LuckysMom]

I'm a retired MSgt. I was a helicopter crew chief, and I worked on the Jolly Green Giants and the Blackhawks. Most of the time I was in Search and Rescue, but finished up in Special Ops. Lots of great memories. I retired 11 years ago. I still correspond with another female mechanic who retired around the same time I did. There weren't very many of us, that's for sure.

 

[NancyDz]

I'm an Air Force Brat

My dad was a SAC Navigator for the KC-135's . He started out at Mather,CA for training, then
New Mexico, MA, Puerto Rico, Kincheloe, MI ( where I was born) then back to Merced, CA. Then Guam, then he retired back at Mather. He retired as a Major, went back to school, then worked 20 years for the State of CA. I LOVED military life, as the youngest child of 7 we always took over the neighborhood wherever we moved and never had problems making friends. Guam was a great place to be at the age of 7 back in the early 70's.... like Hawaii without the tourists. I know it's changed a lot since then but I'll never forget riding my stingray bike to the base pool, drinking lots of shirley temples at the officer's club. Or walking those big monitor lizards around on leashes. It sure was nice the freedom's we had as a kid. Hafa Adai!


Kudo's to all those serving or with families serving. Looking back I wish I would have been in the service.. it certainly opens a lot of doors and would have helped cure my itch for traveling.



Nancy