Our Squadron Commander sent this from stateside...it pretty much hits home for us over here. As we all know, it's not just fighters looking for leadership in today's Air Force. My, the times they are a changin'....
Here is a rant from a retired fighter pilot that is worth reading:
It is rumored that our current secretary of defense recently asked the question, "where are all of the dynamic leaders of the past." I can only assume, if that is true, that he was referring to Robin Olds, Jimmy Doolittle, Patton, Ike, Boyington, Nimitz etc. I've got the answer...they were fired before they made major. Our nation doesn't want that kind of a leader anymore. Squadron commanders don't run squadrons and wing commanders don't run wings. They are managed by people much higher in rank with much different goals in mind for how things should operate. Can you imagine if someone in charge today was looking for a LEADER to execute the raid that Doolittle was tasked with and then suggesting that we give that authority to a man who had a dare-devil, boozing reputation and his only attributes were that he had the respect of his men, an awesome ability to fly and the organizational skills to put it all together. If someone told me there was a chance in hell of selecting that man today I would tell them they were either a liar or dumber than shit.
I find it ironic that the Air Force put Gen Olds on the cover of the company rag last month. While it made me extremely proud to see his face, he wouldn't make it across any base in America (or overseas) without ten enlisted folks telling him to zip up his flight suit and shave his mustache off. I have a feeling that his response would be predictable and for that crime he would probably get a trip home and an Article 15. We have lost the war on rugged individualism and that, unfortunately, is what fighter pilots want to follow; not because they have to but because they respect leaders of that ilk. We've all run across that leader that made us proud to follow him because you wanted to be like him and make a difference. The individual who you would drag your testicles through glass rather than disappoint him.
We better wake the hell up...we are asking our young men and women to go to shitty places, some with unbearable climates, never have a drink, have little or no contact with the opposite sex, not look at magazines of a "suggestive" nature of any type, and adhere to ridiculous regs that require you to tuck your shirt into your PT uniform on the way to the porta-shitter at night in a dust storm because it is a uniform. These people we're sending to combat are some of the brightest I've met but they are looking for a little sanity and they will find it on the outside if we don't get a friggin clue. You can't continue to ask people to live for months or years at a time acting like nuns and priests. Hell, even they get to have a beer. Who are we afraid of offending? The guys that already hate us enough to strap C4 to their own bodies and walk into a crowd of us? Think about it.
I'm extremely proud of our young men and women who continue to serve. I'm also very in tune with what they are considering for the future and I've got news for our leaders. A lot of talent is going to run to the outside from all of our services because they are tired of fighting two wars. The one with the enemy...the other against a lack of common sense.
No comments:
Post a Comment