Thursday, July 26, 2012

Not Your Father's Air Force XVIII

From the Usual USAF Source...
Can't We All Get Along?: Reflecting on the fact that the Air Force—and no other service—has seen three top leaders fired, one resign early, and one publicly reprimanded over the last 20 years, outgoing Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said he doesn't think the service has a problem getting along with civilian leadership. In none of those events was there any suggestion of "malfeasance" or a "criminal context," said Schwartz on July 24 during his final meeting with Pentagon reporters before his retirement ceremony on Aug. 10. "We work for civilian masters in this country, and that's the way it works," observed Schwartz. "All I can do is tell you is that in my own experience, there are lots of reasons for leaving a position . . . and not all of them are what they appear to be," he added. As for the current "trust" issue with Congress, Schwartz said, "we all know what the remedy is" for that. While he declined to name the cure, he said, "let's just say . . . making force structure reductions is not for the faint of heart." (Schwartz transcript)
—John A. Tirpak
I didn't know USAF had had THAT many leaders fired.  Or perhaps I did... it all depends on how you define "top leader."  To me that term means Chief of Staff or perhaps MAJCOM leaders, but if you broaden it to include the various Assistant Secretaries and Under Secretaries, then yeah... I suppose I knew that.  General Schwartz was also being somewhat coy with his "we all know" remark.  Hell, the man is retiring next month and he SHOULD be able to call a spade a spade.  There ain't a congresscritter alive who'll support force reductions or base closures that affect HIS constituents.  Ain't never gonna hoppen, Gee-Eye.  And Today's Modern Air Force is just like Yer Father's Air Force in that particular regard.


―:☺:―

And then there's Ramirez...


If I got the plot to Thelma and Louise right, there was a REASON they drove off that cliff... no other choice.  Not so with our gub'mint.

5 comments:

  1. "...we all know what the remedy is..."

    *Grumble*
    Yours truly had some ideas...
    ...but I'd rather be happy.

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  2. I guess I could take up your bandwidth with about 187 pages of rant on this subj, Buck, but instead I'll just open yet another fifth of Barbancourt and hit the fridge for some ice-cubes..

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  3. Both of all y'alls comments are taken, and well, at that.

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  4. Old Air Force26 July, 2012 21:54

    The first General I remember getting sidelined, was Chappie James. He was first a fighter pilot (which means he didn't know how to mince words) and the quote went something like "We have no air defense [in America] worthy of the name." I think he was sent to the Pentagon after that to await retirement.

    As 9/11 later proved him right, he deserves more of a place in history. I thought it was criminal for no armed aircraft to be on alert that day, and yet no one got court martialed over that. It would be like the police sitting unarmed in a donut shop sipping tea.

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    Replies
    1. Gen. James was one o' my heroes back in the day. Him and Gen. Olds.

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Just be polite... that's all I ask.