We used to joke back in the day about the difference between the Nav and the Air Force. It’s the little things that give it away. The oak paneled flight planning rooms that were decorated better than Navy officer’s clubs. The “step van” that would pick you up at transient alert and carry you all 50 yards to flight planning. The 36-hole golf courses that were completed before the airstrip got laid in. The “inadequate quarters” stamps that the USAF guys insisted on for their TAD orders that excused them from Army quarters to put them out in the Hilton in town.
The USAF pilots of my acquaintance would laugh and say, well: you guys have to buy ships. Like that was a vice or something. Like we had $6 billion burning a hole in our pockets after a three-day bender in Vegas and decided to burn it on an aircraft carrier.
It was easy to say that back in the day. Back before the junior service mangled acquisition programs left, right and center. Back before the Thunderbirds skipped all those inconvenient regulations. Back before they let nukes fly around the country uaccounted for. Back before they heard SecDef say, “More UAVs please” and answered, “Meh.”
Back before the service’s secretary and chief of staff were sacked and asked in no uncertain terms to make room for the next pair.
Because, not for nothing? But talk about a service that – at least at the top levels – just doesn’t get it?
The boys in (lighter) blue just can’t be beat:
The Air Force’s top leadership sought for three years to spend counterterrorism funds on “comfort capsules” to be installed on military planes that ferry senior officers and civilian leaders around the world, with at least four top generals involved in design details such as the color of the capsules’ carpet and leather chairs, according to internal e-mails and budget documents.
Make no mistake, there are hard core warriors flying in fighter, bomber and support cockpits all throughout the US Air Force. They’re second to none in combat, hard men and women that I’d want on my team in a scrape and shudder to stand against if it came to it. But there’s a cool corporate culture that grows stronger and more self-absorbed the further you get from the flight line.
The use of counter-terror funds for general officer “comfort cubes”?
Color it “Enron Entitlement” in air force blue.
Careful, Lex, there’s a lot of that in all the services. The further from the gun line you get, the more important the carpet color becomes.
But, as Lex indirectly pointed out, we’re so easy to pick on. I look at a Navy developing a $3 billion destroyer that seems to be being built because, well, they’ve got to built something and an Army developing a Future Combat Systems that seems to be oriented for a future combat more suited for the F-22 rather than an MRAP, and yet it is only the Air Force that is getting hammered in the public perception.
Make no mistake, we probably are the worst about this sort of thing, we mostly do it to ourselves, and now it’s reached a perfect storm level where relatively minor stories like this one just keep feeding into the already existing sentiment. Still, it sucks feeling like the dog that always gets beat.
I didn’t mean that directed at you, per se, as the navy blogosphere (yourself, Phib, Galrahn, SJS, etc.) is one of the few places where I regularly read stuff sharply critical of the Navy.
It could be worse. USAF could have ended up with the Super Slow Hornet.
My favorite one in the USAF is when the Cold War ended, there was the No General left behind act .
Back in the day a full colonel could run a combat wing. But no… as there were less Wings in the post Cold War world, they had to find jobs for 1 stars. And 1 stars ended up commanding some Wings.
USAF could do itself some good by purging a lot of flag ranks that don’t bring much to the fight. Think of what it would save the U.S. taxpayer in plush office furniture and office supplies.
Lex, I woke up out of a sound sleep. I am aggravated because I’m having a wrestling match with the pillow and it’s winning. I agree with you, the Air Force Leadership is in serious need of a “radical attitude adjustment”. But this is limited to the very top, multiple stars and above. There are many of the Air Force Personnel who fulfill many roles in this GWoT. Many have talked of “A-10/Warthog”, but you also have the “C-130/Spooky or Puff” This is the time you start to say, “I hope I’m at the place I’w supposed to be. If not, I’m S.O.L.” (“SH-T OUTTA LUCK”) Let’s all work as a team.
No General left behind, indeed. When I was still in reserve management, it was well known that in my community there was one reserve admiral for a little over 4,000 reservists. Our Air Force counterparts had one general for every 400 reservists. It’s noteworthy at this later date that all of the national positions in my community are now filled by Navy flags.
@ELP, Just a thought, the Navy is most likely next in line. The problem becomes this, there is a whole body of case law with no statute of limitations. Many people believe if you say something loud enough and as may times as possible, it becomes true. History will prove the truth of the case law. This is why we should walk gently.
@Mike, if I understand correctly, D.O.D. has already cut the order for the “Zumwalt Class Destroyer” to 6, if any. They are talking about the “Burke Class.” The big issue is the KC-135 replacement. Our Military has a whole host of issues to deal with in the near future. Without the concept of teamwork and sacrifice between all of the branches, it will fail. I have been reading on this whole issue of the “retirement” of both Wynne and Mosley. I believe’ in the final analysis, this action did not and will not benefit the Air Force or the Nation.
I have a faith in our Military people. They can and will prove a very Grumpy Old Vet wrong in some of this.
GO FOR IT!
Grumpy
…Lord, I don’t even KNOW where to begin here. I was present when (at least for a brief period of time) ALL wing king slots were to have been filled by 07’s. The generals loved it because it let them fly pretty much whenever they wanted, but it would have eventually put way too many 06’s out of jobs (At one point there was serious discussion of making flying squadron CO slots an 06 berth).
As far as those damn ‘comfort capsules’ are concerned, I had a chance to look at a MAJCOM CINC’s ‘comfort capsule’ a long time ago – it looked like a luxury condo with seat belts.
Finally, my understanding is that those first 6 Zumwalts have effectively been cancelled in favor of more Burkes. The program isn’t officially dead, but give it a month or so.
Mike
Why don’t they just install the full-length mirrors and have done with it? After all, it’s the only feature they’re gonna use…
Agree with the “Glass House” idea floated above. Easy to pile on on the football field, too. They should have asked for 16M to improve the AF issue box lunch!
No that the USAF doesn’t deserve it Lex but sometimes I think your interrogators at SERE school and your uperclassmen at Canoe, were a collection of Eagle, Falcon and Tomcat pilots…LOL.
b2
Oh, I dunno. I think maybe some of the AF guys need that plush stuff. My brother’s former AF buddy (ex SAC/B52 pilot) related the long 14+ hour sorties they used to do during the cold war with stale box lunches, tepid water, and overflowing honey buckets and it didn’t sound like much fun. Well, maybe at least as much fun as Lex had with his random piddle pak anyway ;^) And some of those transport guys need to unwind in Hilton after the ’round the planet flight. After all, the navy guys only had to fly a couple of hours before they’re back for gas again, didn’t they? So what’s a two hour hop back to catch the three wire compared to a 14 hour random orbit over the U.S. any day? Figure the poor AF guys needed it.
JoeC, I’m going through Dads logbooks. He’s got some 12 and 13 hour sorties in an A-1. I’m willing to be that’s was even less comfortable than 14+ in a BUFF. He couldn’t even get up to stretch his legs…
The best part is that in the Times article it mentions how these capsules will not add any bandwiodth or communications capability. There is not functional gain; it’s purely for comfort.
Hmmm. . .maybe this is the real reason no more funds were put into UAVs. . .
A few years after I left the active duty Navy I was being interviewed for a job by a Fortune 500 company which happened to be located near the headquarters of what was then the Strategic Air Command.
Although the job was not a particularly high level, expectations were significant enough that the screening process included an interview with the CEO of the company.
We talked about the job, my qualifications, and then got to the topic of leadership. Almost all of my actual work experience had been in the Navy, so as we talked about leadership, all of my stories were Navy stories, and I drew a lot on the things I had learned from my CO’s, how fortunate to have had such role models, etc.
“You know”, the CEO says, “there are a lot of military guys here in the community, and I have a completely different impression. I have met several Air Force Generals, and I have not been impressed at all.”
Silence.
“Did I mention my statistical analysis skills?”
There is something to be said for luxury; this was the nicest aircraft – military or civilian – I ever flew in
The Grey Ghost
Dispatches from the War on Terrorism
By P. T. Brent, 9/24/2004 12:49:21 AM
“We have done so much with so little, for so long; we now feel we can do everything with nothing.” Ref: USMC’s tight budget (Col. J.R. Bates, USMC)
While Corporate America is jetting from one mega deal to the next board meeting, The U.S. Marines have adopted the Corporate Jet into the war on terrorism. Considerably a leaner & meaner model, the Marines have taken a tornado damaged G4 and for a third the cost of the new executive version converted it into a working member of the Corps’ air power. This G4 based in Hawaii has none of the luxurious amenities of its counterparts. Marines have pallets of supplies and gear aboard and communication systems for war fighting. No luxuries, they even bring their own personal water and chow. The pace aboard is 24/7 and would wear out the toughest of Fortune Five Hundred executives. They land in far off climes and exit with helmets, flak jackets, and weapons at the ready. All this capability is at a fraction of the cost of a Corporate G4 model. The Grey Ghost bears little resemblance to the famous civil war general John Mosley.
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?6805543e-0699-4a6b-8342-de1bcb08736e
Mike,
While I agree that procurement in all services, especially Navy, is AFU – to me the issue here is using “Homeland Security” money for a BS General O. boondoggle.
I think FO/GOs do rate a bit of comfort, but using money for something other than what it was earmarked is borderline criminal. (Doesn’t stop Congress, but I believe, errrr, I know, that all the services are more moral than congress).
Very detailed story here: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=56237&source=rss
@Nose, in your note to Mike, I figure you hit the mark, dead on. We live in a different World. Better? This is another whole debate. POTUS wanted “flexibility” with funding, he got it and this is the result. Historically it was called, “misappropriation of funds” or a Federal crime. Now, we call it, “Flexibility”. Did you notice, they are now talking about the “Marine Corps #1″. This would be the Presidential fleet of helicopters. They were budgeted for 6+ Billion. Now, even with a substantial cut in aircraft, they are hoping to keep it under 12+ Billion. Hmmmm.
@Nose (unrelated) I’ve had some rough days with TBI, but your picture, “BLND LSO” always was a big help. I even found myself laughing out loud. I could see the new carrier pilot on his first deployment, he looks over and sees that license plate. He’s boarding the carrier, to get under way, can you imagine what this pilot would be thinking at this point in time? Hmmmm, just a thought to ponder. THANKS, HAVE A GREAT DAY, YOU’VE MADE MINE BETTER. GRUMPY!
One correction to the Marine Corps story: the Grey Ghost was John S. Mosby, an accomplished cavalryman who rode with J.E.B. Stuart and eventually commanded his own cavalry regiment…
Grumpy et al,
COW $ can be spent on just about anything since not even Congress is stupid enough to think that it can weigh and consider every expenditure necessary to wage war on the far side of the world a full two years in the future. It’s odd though that they would stoop to trust the men and women entrusted with the lives of countless thousands of soldiers with the awesome and heady authority to make their own decisions about what is necessary to buy in order to prosecute the war.
Ouch, but we deserve it… too bad us little guys end up taking the kick to the junk. If it makes you feel any better, AF fighter pilots now have only one tour to look forward to in our careers. All thanks to UAVs and budget cuts. Good thing we’ll be ready for war with China with the F-22, even though the aging F-15Cs start falling out of the sky and F-16s can’t get off the ground. Not all of us zoomies are about the comfort cubes though… my old man, an O-6, volunteered for a 180 to Baghdad during OIF, and he never took a day off.
Oh yeah, and now there going to start sending LTs straight to UAVs from pilot training… A million of your tax dollars to train some dude to fly a computer. Now there’s a good use of resources…
AAAHH HAHAHAHAHA!!!
Just finished a 14 hour flight on a C-17 the other day, with all pax sprawled helter-skelter over the cargo area and pallets with their sleeping bags and mats. I’m picturing a comfort pallet slapped down in the middle of that morass of lower ranking humanity, said occupants peering out at us like the Lunar astronauts peering out of their isolation van.
Heh
I was waiting for the the Marines to be brought in to bring a jangling note of disparity to the whole thing.
Kinda nice to know that there’s a good chance I’ll never read an article like this in reference to The Corps, what with their Spartan-like ways.
/at least not in my lifetime, I hope…
Blue Four yet again….Besides a surplus of 0-7s, another driving force behind the 0-7 WCmdr assignments was the fact that USAF Ftr Wings are becoming more like the composite MAWs of the Marines. When I was at DaNang the 1st MAW on the other side of the field from the 366th TFW was commanded by an 0-8 with an 0-7 deputy. In any pissing contest the AF 0-6 was always going to come up short. Only USAF equivalent to that set-up then was an Air Division…… A lot of it is the “gotta keep up with the Jones ” factor…..
This may be egregious, but there is a lot of using cost of war money to fund things that have nothing to do with the war in all of the services. I think it highlights a point-that we have gotten so used to doing business this way that when the spigot stops, all the services are going to be in trouble.
Then again, I never wanted to work on an airplane myself. Why can’t the generals leave the slaves alone for a few hours?
Ah, BillT, and others; I remember my AFROTC freshman days, when part of the indoctrination emphasized that our metallic thingies on the uniform were made of oxidised silver, so that we wouldn’t have to waste time polishing them and have more time to get on with The Mission.
About thirty years later, I watched, on C-SPAN, an AF general testifying before a Congressional committee.
HIS silver was not oxidized, oh no! It was quite blindingly eye-hurtingly gleamily polishedly shiny!
@Maj.Harvey: I think the Marines have the right of it, at least as far as hanging all sorts of silly gewgaws on the uniform.
That reminds me of a running “jody” from AOCS days, back when it was run by Marine sergeants:
“I don’t know but it’s been said,
Air Force wings are made of lead.
I don’t know but I’ve been told,
Navy Wings are made of gold.”
USAF (and Army) goes TDY, not TAD.
@MajHarvey, The comment I wrote was not against the Corps. I was only talking about the executive helicopter fleet.
Oh, I know you meant no harm Grumpy – in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if HMX-1 had a separate funding line for the presidential birds.
@Skippy, I wager you a pint of your favorite libation that the Marines come up at the bottom of the list when it comes to extraneous expeditionary expenditures!
Builds character, MajHarvey!
Or, as a g/f from years ago told me:
“Yeah, builds a mean grumpy character!”
(I had been trying to console her about some bad stuff she was going through.)