On The Downward Slope

In a few short months, I'll reach 13 years in the United States Air Force. That leaves me with 7 years left until retirement...or as I've recently started counting, 14 PT (physical training) tests left until retirement. As the Grateful Dead opined in their song Truckin', "...what a long, strange trip it's been." That is certainly an apt description of my career thus far. As much as I love the Air Force though, I find part of myself ready for the next 7 years to come and go rather quickly. As much as I told myself I wouldn't do it, I've become "that guy" who is really only serving now to get to retirement.

I still love the Air Force overall and I still have a desire to serve my country. The problem is that now those two are not strong enough to cause me to deal with the constant stream of ridiculousness seems to happen every day. In the last 13 years, I've watch the Air Force become a very different force from the one I entered back on 28 April 1999. Some changes have been for the good, while many others have not been so good. Before I go any further, let me first make a disclaimer. I am in no way stating that the United States Air Force is crumbling or that it will soon be unable to accomplish it's mission. That won't happen because of the tenacity of the rank and file who refuse to fail despite the steady ridiculousness that flows from the top down.

The Air Force loves to preach about dealing with change. There is a whole block devoted to change management at the Non-Commissioned Officers Academy as well as a chapter in our Promotion Development Guide (AF info study guide for promotion). They say you need to be flexible in dealing with change. Many units, like the one I left in SC like to use the faux-Latin motto "Semper Gumbi" or "Always Flexible". I like to think that I'm actually pretty good dealing with change. If anything, the Air Force helped me be better with change than I was as a civilian. When you change assignments as much as I did my first 5 years in, you get used to a certain measure of change. While I'm flexible to change though, I've lost my willingness to be flexible to every change that comes down the pike. There are upsides and downsides to being the "new kid" among the branches. The Army, Navy and Marine Corps are steeped in hundreds of years of history and traditions. This can make it difficult to make changes, even if sorely needed. At the same time though, weighing changes against the tradition tends to prevent every little pea-brained idea from becoming reality (Ask any Soldier, Sailor or Marine though and they'll tell you it still happens occasionally). That fact that we're new means we're often not as resistent to change, but it often means we change things too often before we can really build any traditions. Many of us in the Air Force like to joke that our one true tradition IS change.

The last 10 months of occupying space without a real job has given me lots of time to reflect. I thought that a change of assignment after 7 years in the same place might give me a better feeling about things, but my current unit of assignment shows me that the problems I was dealing with are Air Force wide. While the Air Force is still good place to be for some, it's rapidly losing that status for me. I've heard since day one of joining that you get out of the Air Force what you put into it. Indeed, I used to preach that to my subordinates for years. I've found though that after busting my ass for the last decade (as I have since day one of my AF career), the measure of return has been nowhere near what I have put into it.

I was shown a clear example of that recently when my current unit was preparing for an inspection that occurred back in October. Prior to my stepping up to take the reigns of preparations, nothing had been really been done. Essentially, if I had not stepped up my unit would have been up the proverbial creek without a paddle. So put in a lot of time and deal with a lot of BS from all levels in the wing to prepare my unit and when showtime comes, we rock the inspection. Imagine my annoyance when I watch all these people getting kudos and letters of appreciation and I didn't get so much as a pat on the back for all my efforts. Understand that I don't do things with the intent of seeking praise, but watching others get lauded for your efforts is quite disheartening.

I will always be grateful for the opportunities that the Air Force has provided me, but when the next 7 years is up I'll be ready to pull chocks and go for the final time.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.