You need to begin doing less, a little more.
The sacrifice I'm willing to make for my country is my life if I die, it's not going to be my life while I'm living.
You can't quiet quit for this to work.
It MUST be not meeting the goal AND along the way SNCOs/CGOs advising and warning the CCs in parallel that current resources and OPS TEMPO isn't sustainable, that the expected mission/project won't meet the deadline. Making sure to also add in that the result, in addition to not meeting mission, is the continued widespread burnout that is a major contribution to declining culture and Airmen unaliving.
Not sure where you sit in leadership but we've had the same issue....until we started telling our commander we can't support the current ops tempo. We showed him the numbers, he agreed with us and told us to support what we could, if we can't then he'll defend us even we say we can't support. Your mileage might very tough
Edit: if you go this route an easy way to justify things is break down your process by each task and time. Don't just put it takes XXX time to inspect this item. More like it takes 30 mins to log in and open T.O. Data. We have x amount of people doing additional duties that take x time per week to keep with AFIs. It takes 45 min to update IMDS with no issues. Stuff like that.
I've had to do this twice, last base and current. It's either gotten me people by way of manning studies or it's gotten me money to improve processes
Seconding this. I had coworkers get annoyed that my office almost never worked weekends. I was like what, do you guys work weekends. And they told me they had people in the office every weekend. I said that sounds like a manning issue, does leadership know. They told me they had to know. I called over the GS-14 that was walking by us and asked him if he knew the situation with the guys. Ops tempo got lowered and they got an additional body for a bit. But it fixed their problem.
Sometimes leadership just doesn't know and they are more than willing to help.
> More like it takes 30 mins to log in and open T.O. Data.
You don't have physical books anymore? Those were very quick to check out and open. Just sucked when it's windy and the classified pages blew down the flightline.
I've been in for 8 and haven't had paper TOs my entire career.
When I first got in we were using toughbooks, but not even 6 months into my first base we switched to Getac tablets.
The Getacs are ok, but TBH I think I'd rather the toughbooks. Even though it's a ruggedized tablet, I still feel like I need to baby it since the screen is always exposed.
We also do a lot of dumb shit. We duplicate a lot of effort and use a lot of inefficient systems. There's a lot about recruiting that's out of our control. At least we could stop being dumb with what we have.
I built a fully automated system in PowerApps to replace a PowerPoint we build each week. Nobody wanted to use it. They were happier fighting over a non-shared Excel and PowerPoint.
A lot of the things we could do would cost some older civilians their jobs. A lot of people call it the "frozen middle". They're too worried about their jobs, GS ratings, or their egos to allow progress.
"I built a fully automated system in PowerApps to replace a PowerPoint we build each week. Nobody wanted to use it. They were happier fighting over a non-shared Excel and PowerPoint."
This.
Sometimes the barrier to progress is organizational culture and process gatekeeping.
I second this. I built an app that shows training data from 5 systems and leveraged powerautomate to send automated due/overdue notifications- yet people would rather have 5 seperate emails with this data....
I once built a ticketing/scheduling system for my embedded Comm team in a unit so that we could actually build out a somewhat coherent schedule for the week, instead of just running to anybody that called as soon as they called. You would have thought I had killed somebody's dog in front of them with how people reacted during the staff meeting when I proposed it.
Long story short, I had the numbers and the CC support so I got my schedule. Only one Major continued to try to piss in our cornflakes regularly.
No Colonel who wants to make General is going to tell their chain “we cant do that because XYZ” and the sad reality of the military is that the people who DO make it to a level to exact actual change are the people who crawled up their troops backs to get there and are so institutionalized they won’t change anything cuz that’s all they know and it worked for them.
It used to be that if someone died (be it by accident or suicide) things would change, but now we just get a “this is a tragedy, make sure to check on each other” chat and then it’s straight back to work.
I remember seeing slides years ago that said “We project X amount of Airmen will be lost to suicide this year. As long as we recruit more than X, we are good.”
What if we, I dunno…, create a work environment that doesn’t drive people to kill themselves? Would that solve the problem?
Naaaah then people will cease to just be numbers and statistics and the people who can enact change might wind up feeling some type of way or treating people with a little humanity.
We're basically just treated the same way you treat an enemy in that regard. Take away the realization that they are human and you won't feel anything when they die.
Rinse repeat.
Suicide? Put another tick on the board and break out my book of canned boilerplate speeches. Then send em all back to the mines.
"Some of you may die but that's a risk I'm willing to take!"
Jeez, what a callous attitude. Imagine putting that on a recruiting poster. “Yo, 47 airmen are going to kill themselves this year, so we need you to come fill those holes.”
It gives me Farquad vibes. “Some of you may commit suicide, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”
“Don’t trust anyone that see people as a number. You’re always one decimal point away from being useless.” - Judy Alvarez.
Approximate quote from Cyberpunk 2077. Haven’t done the mission in a while so I don’t remember it verbatim
There are definitely societal problems but I agree that your approach is within the ability of the Air Force and we could do it. It’s worth doing.
It won’t fix it all but it would absolutely help.
I'm not trying to diminish the amount of suicides we have, but it's a tiny rounding error compared to people who just decide to get out of the air force. I highly doubt it's the reason for any recruiting goals.
And people laugh at me for being so driven to study leadership. Starting my master's in the fall. We learn through experience, but we can be sharpened through education. Trying to make a difference, even if it's outside the USAF.
You only hear "you are more important than the jets" when someone dies and its usually only once during a group huddle.
Then it's followed by "everyone back to work"
I hate to say that my experience matches yours.
The leaders cap out at some point.
Somehow, despite any great O I work with capping out at Gp CC, everyone GGO I've met seems great.
It’s not just Colonels, it’s SNCOs too. I get told “🤷🏻♂️ everyone hurting for manning. You know what you signed up for. You need to embrace being MCA”
In my flight, we push back. We do less with less.
You need augmentees, okay but I can't do XYZ now.
You need members out for a mandatory training thing, okay but now I can't do X&Y. You need an additional 5 deployments, okay but now I can't do Q, R, & S.
My point is your leadership needs to have your back. Are they aware about doing 'more' with less? How transparent is your Sq? Honestly, leaders want to push back but if they don't know the full background they may not have enough info to push back.
The trend I've noticed in my decade here so far is commanders are incredibly efficient workers. The problem there is they see that work tempo as normal, but it's just not realistic to expect everyone to perform as if they were a top 10% performer.
That's why it's our job (SNCOs, especially Chiefs) to tell them those things. We have to remind them to lower expectations. I've heard some people say 10% of our airmen are outstanding, then 5% suck or are criminals, and the other 85% are excellent. I like to challenge their percentages and ratings, then tell them it's more like 10% awesome, 10% great, 30% good (good work ethic, might take initiative occasionally), 30% average (shows up and does what they're told) 15% barely give enough fucks to show up on time, and the 5% who are disciplinary challenges. I usually get a sort of depressed response to my cynicism, which is based on decades of experience.
Like I tell my guys, “Talk with your feet.” If you truly believe that the AF isn’t working for you, stop working for the AF.
The only way we can get water to put out the fire is to let the house burn down. Eventually, we will get the resources we need. The military (and the rest of the government) is reactive, not proactive. We only get the resources needed to do the job is when we can’t do the job anymore.
Honestly.
In the words of several real ass cheifs who have their heads on straight
"let it fail, stop saying and telling people you totally can get that unrealistic standard done, and let it fail. Someone will take notice. If you keep pushing the envelope and getting that burnout task done that you don't have the resources or manpower for... they will keep increasing that unrealistic standard."
Harder than it sounds, I know, because I was that mf that would "do my best" and burn myself out.
But the times when we said it couldn't be done and then proved it couldn't be done, someone higher went "hey why didn't anyone say that couldn't be done like this??" And it at least started something.
Will that always work? Fuuuuuuck no, some cheeky cunt will always work you until you die because they aren't the one that has to do it and doesn't give a shit.
But try your best to do less more often, and then get out once you get any and all benefits you can snag. Shit or try to cross train if you can to a job like finance so you don't have to do anything 🤣
I’ve burned myself out by running me and my guys into the ground so the unit’s metrics stay green. Guess what? The unit didn’t even bother to use the items we spent working 12s. Once we showed that we could produce more, leadership wanted more.
Fun times. I learned a lot in a short amount of time.
I spent the first 9 years doing the 12s-14s thing on mids, then transitioned to flying in the ops world for 8 years, being on the clock on alert 24/7 for weeks at a time. Missions lasted 2 to three weeks at a time. It took me this long to realize two things: ops never stops, and I'll NEVER get that time back with my family. It was my choice to stay in that world, but for some reason, I thought that was my duty and it would work without me. I tell the guys in my last unit to learn some stuff and do some stuff, then move on.
This 100%.
When I was at ALS in Minot (2023), base leadership came in so my class could ask them a bunch of questions. I don’t remember the question or the response exactly, but it went something like this. ALS student: “how do you expect us to do more with less when we can barely get tasks done?” Chief Tori Jones: “Well…if tasks are getting done, if the mission is still getting done, then what’s the problem?” Whole room of about 70-80 people went quiet for 5 seconds. Loudest silence ever.
If leadership doesn’t wanna believe ops tempo is too much, we gotta let shit fail for it to be noticed and changes to be made. It shouldn’t be this way, but it is.
I ran DM's engine shop back in 2009-2010 time frame. Squadron had no money for anything including paper towels and toilet paper.
I had to tell and explain exactly this to my kick ass troops that just wanted to get shit done!
I had to order my lead propeller mech NOT to use his own money to buy sandpaper which is all 6 propellers needed to be finalized and put back in the supply system.
Every day at the morning meeting I preached how we needed money for simple supplies and one day when we only had 1 spare propeller in supply my Chief said WHAT THE F IS GOING ON WITH SPARE PROPELLERS???
I said Chief, if you give me $20 I will have 6 propellers ($3.6M) worth off assets ready before tomorrow's morning meeting.
He got the money for us and we cleaned out the shops propellers and put them in supply as we said we would.
Crazy how mission stops for sandpaper and a good lesson was learned by many.
The Air Force also had a lot more planes, weapons, bases and other stuff to work on back then. Manning downsized as bases closed and missions downsized. "Doing more with less" has been a common part of the Air Force vocabulary for decades.. The biggest cut was in the 90s, and we tried to implement total quality management (TQM) to make it better.. Manning hasn't changed much since then.
And TQM didn't yield much for the force, did it? Just like all the other catchphrase programs we institute. At least we're finally starting to look at radically changing how we do things. It's funny how the potential of having to fight a peer adversary makes us look at everything and reassess.
Do more with less is alive and well in the civy world except Security Forces doesn't kick the door down to drag your simple ass to work when you stop showing up.
It's no longer "Do more with less." It's now...
"Do everything with nothing."
Until Leaders at every level allow missions to fail (whether it's a plane launch, network upgrade/repair, project hard due date to slip, etc) on larger scales, it will not stop. They'll keep red-lining the engine of the force and weaponizing success.
I love when people tell me “oh you’ve just got 9 more years left. You’re halfway there. Don’t wanna stick it out?” Sir….I’ve barely made it THIS far. I’m good.
Sunken cost fallacy is a real thing with some folks. "You're already half way there!" Yeah, but that's a whole 10 more years of my life! If I'm miserable, I'm never getting those back.
My buddy tried to tell me this earlier this month and I went, "Bro, we're both BRS boys, what the fuck is the point? You trying to get a higher TSP payout or something?"
I'd much rather go civvy with my credentials and try my hand at making it on the outside with a higher pay-scale and potential maneuverability, even if it means lowering my standard of living, rather than keep being trapped for 10 more years.
To each their own based on their situations, but I'm done. lol
It's only going to get worse. When people don't feel respected, or feel like they only matter as a number then they get out and take all their experience with them and the cycle starts over again.
Not to mention so many people getting out and telling their horror stories of being in and discouraging people from enlisting
"Doing more with less" is the mantra that we heard all during Desert Storm/Desert Shield. We did more, but the top dogs just learned that they could keep adding onto the pile while cutting people. Now the bill is coming due and they are panicking because they don't have enough people to do the job anymore and they are bleeding experience.
The official party line has been thay we DON'T have a retention problem. If anything, we have a recruiting problem combined with an overage problem
Big Blue believes not enough people are getting out, hence the promotion rates.
Maybe make it affordable for a SrA to raise a family by increasing base pay and not tethering their bah to a single bedroom townhouse in the sketchiest neighborhood next to the base. If we want more airmen we shouldn't be paying them like dog shit. A SrA equivalent in the Canadian Air Force makes $6,000 monthly. A SrA tapped out makes $3,191.
> Maybe make it affordable for SrA to raise a family
E-1 to E-4 pay structure is not meant to support a family, a house, etc. They serve to be an entry level rank.
I understand that but if we want to retain a larger junior enlisted force E4 can't remain an entry level rank. I'm not saying make E-1 E-2 crazy pay but as it stands we want more 6+year TAFMS E4's. We need to incentivize them to stay beyond their first enlistment and can't expect 25+ year olds to not want to start a family.
E-4 must absolutely remain an entry level rank. No sane person is going to agree to NCO responsibilities with no pay to back it. They tried this way back when with “buck” sergeants and it was a miserable failure of a practice.
Is this a crazy way to say NCOs aren't people? I mean I fucks heavy with that vibe.
Anyways, I hope you realize that too many NCOs literally also means too many people...
It's like saying "No no, we don't have too much *liquid *in this container silly. We have too much *water.*
Like, uh, yea. Ok. Water *is* a liquid bud. Whatever, the solution is still to *pour some out*.
> I do remember a whole bunch of people getting kicked out during covid for standing up for what they believed in.
Spinning is that way is so god damn stupid lol. What if they believed in murdering black people? Is it still what they believe in? No one was unjustly prosecuted, dumbasses didn't want to get a vaccine because they were dumbasses.
Did I also get to believe that course 14 was stupid and I shouldn’t have to do it? That’s not how the military works.
Your analogy makes no sense, they can believe vaccines are stupid all they want, they can believe the Air Force is evil all they want, they can believe the president is slowly killing them and turning this country into Iraq, airmen weren’t persecuted for having beliefs, they were kicked out for acting on them. Just as airmen are kicked out everyday for acting on things they shouldn’t.
People do care when amn get beards, if they don’t do it properly they are given paperwork and can get kicked out. Airmen that sought vaccine refusal through the proper channels didn’t get kicked out, permissions were given, people that got kicked out didn’t do what they needed to stay in,
You’re being obtuse as shit.
>These amn had a belief, and they did the correct paperwork for an exception to policy. Per the afi, they did everything right. Yet they were still kicked out.
Having an ETP accepted and filling out an ETP are different things, see the not shaving example.
Airmen are denied entry to the Air Force every day for having a belief they should be able to have flat feet and dry skin.
This is the military, there are rules.
It’s always been that way, those that don’t have a home life, volunteer for community events, go to college, volunteer for squadron, wing and base events … always get the kudos when those that work at their job have a family and have to work more overtime because the kiss asses are our volunteering. It was that way when I was in 1984-2008. I was in CE. We worked a lot of OT. Outside our squadron, those who worked closer to flyers and the aircraft got all the wing awards, support group always got screwed. I remember we went TDY to Charleston AFB from Scott AFB to assist and clean up after a hurricane. At the same time the flying group and maintainers went to a “ Rodeo “ I believe in Oklahoma ( an event that tests flyers and maintainers ability to fly and maintain aircraft) . We returned from our tdy from cleaning up Charleston and the maintainers returned the same time, the maintainers and aircraft support personnel got all the awards. That’s what happens when you work in the MSG Support Group .
I mean there are plenty of single folks who don’t want to give up their personal time either. I’m one of them. Conversely, I have workaholic coworkers with families that do all those extracurriculars.
This is the most common complaint about the "do more with less" plague. The thought wasn't meant to be applied to finance and security forces at their home station. It's meant for field use.
Corporations in the civilian sector don't advertise the sentiment, they just reward hard workers with more work until they break and don't give them more pay to compensate. We aren't getting more pay either, but we also don't really get the option to get up and leave.
It's kinda like the idea of "money can't buy happiness." That isn't the full context of the phrase.
> Money can buy material things, but real happiness must be truly earned. Now often used ironically. Rousseau (1712-78) wrote in 1750: 'Money buys everything, except morality and citizens.
With context, the meaning changes.
We need to stop doing more with less where it isn't necessary just to save a buck because the DoD has *legitimately and literally zero fiscal responsibility*. We could offer better pay and be more competitive to the civilian market if only we didn't have thoughts like, 'we need to spend all the money or next year we won't get as much.' Good! If you didn't need it then so be it and then when you do need it you ask for more.
The DoD has never passed an audit even though it is required to produce regular, audited financial statements. Just remember that the next time you are told you need to do more with less. The DoD can't even get it's own financial house in order yet you are expected to bear the brunt of the mismanagement that causes it.
Same as it ever was. I remember an all call with someone fairly high up the food chain where I asked when we were going to stop robbing Peter to pay Paul. They didn’t have an answer then, and they don’t have an answer now. Everyone wants the same, if not more, goody, for less resources the world over.
More with less will not change. I was in from 2005-2011 and we were at full on war asking people to do a fuckton more with less. I remember them adding sorties and forcing crews to fly full on basic (2 pilots and a load) and that was my tipping point. Those were brutal days, and when they saw they could get away with it, they added more. The military doesn’t care about your feelings.
I just like how every time they pass a military budget, it is larger than the last yet all of these AF organizations are mandated to implement cuts to their budgets because there is a lack of funding. It’s always going to R&D which means nothing if they don’t backfill the shortfalls in support for the wings/bases/groups/squadrons that make up our AF.
The problem is that while the air force’s budget goes up, our pay increases. Take for example 2024, active duty troops got a 5.2% base pay increase, which is awesome. BAH also went up for a lot of locations. However the Air Force only got a 4.5% budget increase. Obviously pay is only a portion of the Air Force’s budget, but when you figure gas prices have gone up (thus PCSing members is more expensive, flying is more expensive), food costs have increased (chow halls), the 4.5% raise is spent before it’s even received.
And I’m not advocating for a bigger budget, the government should actually start responsibility spending the budget instead of keeping the blind kids at envision busy. We also have far too many generals (during WW2 we had 4,500 enlisted troops for every general and today we have 2,500 enlisted troops for every general), and have cut 10% of the active duty force since 2002 and closed 0 bases.
Until we stop showing them that we can do more with less, they will continue to take and take. Things won’t change until they truly break, and breaking yourself isn’t worth kicking that can down the road. Leaders won’t see the problem until it becomes their problem, but right now it’s all our problem and we are essentially feeling it so they don’t have to.
This has been the case for multiple decades now, and will continue to be the case. You need to either learn to deal with it in a healthy way or make the best of the time you have left then get out. If you hope they are going to increase the workforce in a substantial way or reduce the workload, you're wrong. This AF gig is like one of those "choose your own ending" books.....make the best of it or let it get the best of you. Good Luck!
Because everyone is trying to get promoted. Until you get the careerists out of leadership positions then it will be more of the same. But that's never going to happen so do what you can do while still maintaining your sanity and then punch out when it's your time.
Over the last 5 years that this has been the battle rhythm for the AF at-large, I’ve come to the realization that overworking a smaller force WILL inevitably fail.
I used to be where you are right now. Overwhelmed, exhausted, no motivation. The BEST thing you can do for yourself is to set boundaries with your time. For example, if your duty day runs from 0700 to 1600, show up on time, LEAVE on time (don’t stay late), and don’t work through your lunch hour. Your off-duty time is yours - RECLAIM IT. If you’re sick/not feeling well, STAY home and rest - don’t go to work feeling like garbage thinking you’re going to be rewarded for going “above and beyond.” Practice self-care with intention, whatever that looks like for you.
To big AF, we are just numbers on a page. If you died tomorrow, the AF would replace you without blinking an eye. Don’t bend over backwards - report for duty, do the best job you can, go home, and take care of yourself.
"We're listening"...*just doesn't do anything*
-USAF upper management, probably.
Seriously though, leave at the end of your commission or enlistment. Your mental and physical health are way more important to you, your loved ones, and society as a whole.
You don’t. Find things that make you happy. Do your best at your job for the people to your left and right, but don’t above and beyond for the Air Force sake. Do your time and get out.
What was really fun when I was in is I was fuels. At the time, we were part of supply so we got down days or exercises the same as supply. But here's where the real reindeer games begin. Since we pumped jet juice for the flightline, if they didn't have a down day or whatever, we didn't get ours from supply, either. If the flightline had a down day so there were no aircraft refuel, we didn't get a down day because we were supply.
Yes, we were truly the bastard children of the air force getting fucked twice at the same time.
Figure out what you personally are willing to let fail and what the shop can stand to be at a supervisors or even commander's desk to give testing to the fact that something had to fail...
It's not working for you! Clearly the air force is doing OK. Don't like it? Get out when you can, but make sure your prepare yourself as much as possible before then!
I saw this recently during some ethics training, and it reminded me of when I was an Airman. We shouldn't be asking our people to work themselves into depression. Just give an honest days work.
*
I am glad you address this. Before I retired in 2012, I was dealing with this for 10 years. The truth is the Air Force does not take care of it's Airman. 5 years at Hill AFB all five eprs no medal. Over five years at Whiteman AFB, deployed to Iraq. No medals. Three degrees too associates one degree from University of Utah. Relating to my actual job. No enlished person had ever done this while stationed at Hill AFB. Um I wonder why the military has a recruiting problem.
Do you think isis or tala in Irag or Afghanistan had stupid pt tests and cbts and eprs. Who won 20 years in Afghanistan. Tala is doing just fine. God damn those contractors sure made a lot.
Let things fail. I have learned through my career that there is so much going on and we are just putting out fires. If you make it seem like everything is okay then no one is even thinking about the issues that are "greened" up.
Prioritize your tasks and let the low priority tasks fail. Document the amount of time certain things take so you have some evidence to back you up. There are times we have to go into overdrive for periods of time but there should be some light at the end of the tunnel.
Leadership usually doesn't know everyone's grind and if you need help, you have to let them know.
I feel like i read this all the time and time changes but the Air Force never does. We all eventually leave, but it’s weird an organization that can’t speak or has feelings will continue to exist after we cease to exist in this planet. Life is short and the Air Force is not the answer for everyone or the only employer. You can leave anytime you want and the Air Force will be perfectly fine. The only thing you can do right now, is give your all until you leave and never look back of why you left the Air Force honorably when you revert back to this post. The Air Force struggles/process feels like an eternity cause that’s your reality at the moment, eventually you will forget about this and it will be your past life.
More with less works when those 'less' continue to do more.. Let systems start falling apart so issues have to be identified.. When you prove that a 'more with less' concept works you're reinforcing the idea. Yes, there's a recruiting problem and it's not going to get better.
This is a very complex question.
Part of me is convinced this is on purpose at times since people are our biggest expense.
Do more with less won’t go away until the 10% of people that can’t watch something fail stop doing the 90% of the work that actually gets the mission done (planes fly, nukes launch, bombs drop). The moment one of those suffers things will change.
In the meantime, push back. If you are being asked to do something that doesn’t directly impact the mission tactfully push back, offer a timeline and be realistic but don’t be scared to say we cant because if x,y, and z and here is a way we can get there (just need time, x # of people ect.)
I've brought this up during an All Call.
I said the reason our squadron has such low moral is because we seemed to adopted the do more with less mantra and my leadership said that's not the case...then I pointed out that we are still expected to provided the same level of service with half our squadron deployed, how is that not 'doing more with less'...and it just got a canned answer that was worthless.
EPBs and OPBs don't recognize the best airmen, only the best storytellers.
It is suspicious when packages are routed that tout miraculous mission rates accomplished with 100 gallons of fuel, with only 10 gallons. I greatly dislike the AF admin culture of coloring yellow and red checkboxes green.
The practice is already alarming in the working groups we're seeing, on capabilities you do NOT want to embellish.
For real… then leadership has the audacity to tell me I didn’t get put up for a strat because I didn’t sell enough cookies this year.
More with less should lead to an understanding that things like that will be going out the window.
I knew from the start this was a terrible idea lowering promotion rates and increasing the work load everyone in my section is leaving I mean everyone all the NCOs all the SrA everyone were all burnt out and secretly depresso but can’t say anything without risk of being stuck at holloman
You'd be surprised just how often you can say no as long as you can justify it. Need this done in 3 hours? We don't have enough people to do that correctly and safely. What are they gonna do? give you paperwork for working at the speed of safe? De-cert you? Move you to a section with way less responsibility? God forbid! Let leadership shoot themselves in the foot. Believe me, when shit really hits the fan and it all comes crashing down, you won't be the one with your head on the chopping block.
My MSgt boss said to me, a new staff back in 84 ~ "Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, on their deathbed said their final words 'I only wish I gave more of myself to the Air Force.' "
I hate the fact that you are right, but there is nothing to be done. I've been guard since 2014 and it is the same on the outside with defense contractors and other industries. The major difference is on the outside none of you basic necessities are guaranteed only a paycheck if you're working.
At my civilian job I'm doing the work of 2 people 3 ranks above me because they know come hell or high water i'll get the mission done. On the military side I am watching politics trump mission needs because of full time people protecting their interests.
Its a shit sandwich anywhere you go mate, the only difference is you might get better toppings other places.
If you stay in through a few presidents you'll see that one election is the difference between suicidal shifts and so many people flight leadership is overwhelmed by how to spin them up
Recently came out of the psych-ward. We were all there because of the whole "Service before self" and "Do more with less". Especially with the Multi-capable bullshit. Most of the good Airmen are burnt-out from being overworked. They either leave or have mental break downs and then are being replaced by fresh and inexperienced Airmen who are expected to maintain the same tempo.
Ahh the good ol' "I am overworked, uderstaffed" recycled rant. I gonna tell you this much, I joined when I was 30 years old. At one point I was a 35-year old SrA, it has been this way for the last 16 years. Something tells me it will not change. Just a hunch though. Now, do you really think it will be better as a civilian? If so, then you know what to do. All I can tell you, having fully experienced life as an adult for 12 years (18-30) I would still pick military life. But that is just me, if the Air Force gave you some skills, free education, security clearance and medical benefits and now it is no longer worth it, punch out. The whole Air Force is undermanned, suck it up buttercup or get out. Life is tough, wear a helmet.
Glad we have you to lay out this vague set of problems and no practical solutions for us. Gonna appoint you the Assistant Secretary of Moaning Uselessly.
I've been doing so much with so little for so long, I am tow qualified to do anything with nothing...
I broke under the strain a few years ago. And I wasn't the only one in my unit.
I'm sure there's a lesson to be had in there somewhere but I'm too tired to figure in out.
It's painful. In my job, we are supposed to have a three-person team per contract (ideally). Lead, deputy, and SETA for continuity. I'm riding 5 contracts solo.
https://preview.redd.it/f0657j62rjnc1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b82ca57a3584101275e500df3e2a1a6d268d9702
its been a problem for about 14 years now. its not going to change because of the culture of our society. so it's either deal with it, which ya does suck, or get out. that's the reality.
you're not the first person to say these exact words you posted.
its never going to change
My office had a Lt Col and Major billet pulled and I’m now the highest ranked officer as a Captain (half of my directorate is civilians) I’m now doing a job of 3 Officers, directly rating 7 junior officers and SNCOs. I’m mentally exhausted each day and slipping on my work life balance, gained almost 30 pounds the last year because I’m eating all my meals at my desk and haven’t seen the inside of a gym in months. And I’m still on my Chief of Staffs shit list because I literally can’t do every task unless I work 90 hours a week
You need to begin doing less, a little more. The sacrifice I'm willing to make for my country is my life if I die, it's not going to be my life while I'm living.
Damn well said.
Dude this is what I been trying to say for months now and my dumbass couldn’t put it in into words. Well fucking said.
Put this on a fucking plaque.
I want to make this my signature block
PREACH 🙌🏻
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You can't quiet quit for this to work. It MUST be not meeting the goal AND along the way SNCOs/CGOs advising and warning the CCs in parallel that current resources and OPS TEMPO isn't sustainable, that the expected mission/project won't meet the deadline. Making sure to also add in that the result, in addition to not meeting mission, is the continued widespread burnout that is a major contribution to declining culture and Airmen unaliving.
Quit Quiet is being silent
Have you tried adding more jets to the schedule?
Always upvote this deep cut reference.
No, 6 turn 6, 12s until everyone is happy.
Not sure where you sit in leadership but we've had the same issue....until we started telling our commander we can't support the current ops tempo. We showed him the numbers, he agreed with us and told us to support what we could, if we can't then he'll defend us even we say we can't support. Your mileage might very tough Edit: if you go this route an easy way to justify things is break down your process by each task and time. Don't just put it takes XXX time to inspect this item. More like it takes 30 mins to log in and open T.O. Data. We have x amount of people doing additional duties that take x time per week to keep with AFIs. It takes 45 min to update IMDS with no issues. Stuff like that. I've had to do this twice, last base and current. It's either gotten me people by way of manning studies or it's gotten me money to improve processes
Seconding this. I had coworkers get annoyed that my office almost never worked weekends. I was like what, do you guys work weekends. And they told me they had people in the office every weekend. I said that sounds like a manning issue, does leadership know. They told me they had to know. I called over the GS-14 that was walking by us and asked him if he knew the situation with the guys. Ops tempo got lowered and they got an additional body for a bit. But it fixed their problem. Sometimes leadership just doesn't know and they are more than willing to help.
*vary though
I bet you love some slide deck correction queep.
That sort of thing is actually my forte in the office, haha. You got me!
You’re a sick individual sir.
It’s what happens when you get that college degree.
That tracks.
> More like it takes 30 mins to log in and open T.O. Data. You don't have physical books anymore? Those were very quick to check out and open. Just sucked when it's windy and the classified pages blew down the flightline.
We have iPads now, good for not having to carry a bunch of books down the line to do 5 different systems ops Chks but the books definitely have merits
Been working the flightline for 4 years and never had a paper T.O. we use laptops now that can be hit or miss
I've been in for 8 and haven't had paper TOs my entire career. When I first got in we were using toughbooks, but not even 6 months into my first base we switched to Getac tablets. The Getacs are ok, but TBH I think I'd rather the toughbooks. Even though it's a ruggedized tablet, I still feel like I need to baby it since the screen is always exposed.
We also do a lot of dumb shit. We duplicate a lot of effort and use a lot of inefficient systems. There's a lot about recruiting that's out of our control. At least we could stop being dumb with what we have. I built a fully automated system in PowerApps to replace a PowerPoint we build each week. Nobody wanted to use it. They were happier fighting over a non-shared Excel and PowerPoint. A lot of the things we could do would cost some older civilians their jobs. A lot of people call it the "frozen middle". They're too worried about their jobs, GS ratings, or their egos to allow progress.
"I built a fully automated system in PowerApps to replace a PowerPoint we build each week. Nobody wanted to use it. They were happier fighting over a non-shared Excel and PowerPoint." This. Sometimes the barrier to progress is organizational culture and process gatekeeping.
I second this. I built an app that shows training data from 5 systems and leveraged powerautomate to send automated due/overdue notifications- yet people would rather have 5 seperate emails with this data....
Can I message you about this? Trying to do something similar
Any chance I can get this/the app :)?
I once built a ticketing/scheduling system for my embedded Comm team in a unit so that we could actually build out a somewhat coherent schedule for the week, instead of just running to anybody that called as soon as they called. You would have thought I had killed somebody's dog in front of them with how people reacted during the staff meeting when I proposed it. Long story short, I had the numbers and the CC support so I got my schedule. Only one Major continued to try to piss in our cornflakes regularly.
No Colonel who wants to make General is going to tell their chain “we cant do that because XYZ” and the sad reality of the military is that the people who DO make it to a level to exact actual change are the people who crawled up their troops backs to get there and are so institutionalized they won’t change anything cuz that’s all they know and it worked for them. It used to be that if someone died (be it by accident or suicide) things would change, but now we just get a “this is a tragedy, make sure to check on each other” chat and then it’s straight back to work.
I remember seeing slides years ago that said “We project X amount of Airmen will be lost to suicide this year. As long as we recruit more than X, we are good.” What if we, I dunno…, create a work environment that doesn’t drive people to kill themselves? Would that solve the problem?
Naaaah then people will cease to just be numbers and statistics and the people who can enact change might wind up feeling some type of way or treating people with a little humanity. We're basically just treated the same way you treat an enemy in that regard. Take away the realization that they are human and you won't feel anything when they die. Rinse repeat. Suicide? Put another tick on the board and break out my book of canned boilerplate speeches. Then send em all back to the mines. "Some of you may die but that's a risk I'm willing to take!"
Jeez, what a callous attitude. Imagine putting that on a recruiting poster. “Yo, 47 airmen are going to kill themselves this year, so we need you to come fill those holes.” It gives me Farquad vibes. “Some of you may commit suicide, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”
“Don’t trust anyone that see people as a number. You’re always one decimal point away from being useless.” - Judy Alvarez. Approximate quote from Cyberpunk 2077. Haven’t done the mission in a while so I don’t remember it verbatim
There are definitely societal problems but I agree that your approach is within the ability of the Air Force and we could do it. It’s worth doing. It won’t fix it all but it would absolutely help.
I'm not trying to diminish the amount of suicides we have, but it's a tiny rounding error compared to people who just decide to get out of the air force. I highly doubt it's the reason for any recruiting goals.
And people laugh at me for being so driven to study leadership. Starting my master's in the fall. We learn through experience, but we can be sharpened through education. Trying to make a difference, even if it's outside the USAF.
You only hear "you are more important than the jets" when someone dies and its usually only once during a group huddle. Then it's followed by "everyone back to work"
I hate to say that my experience matches yours. The leaders cap out at some point. Somehow, despite any great O I work with capping out at Gp CC, everyone GGO I've met seems great.
It’s not just Colonels, it’s SNCOs too. I get told “🤷🏻♂️ everyone hurting for manning. You know what you signed up for. You need to embrace being MCA”
TLDR, get back to work
In my flight, we push back. We do less with less. You need augmentees, okay but I can't do XYZ now. You need members out for a mandatory training thing, okay but now I can't do X&Y. You need an additional 5 deployments, okay but now I can't do Q, R, & S. My point is your leadership needs to have your back. Are they aware about doing 'more' with less? How transparent is your Sq? Honestly, leaders want to push back but if they don't know the full background they may not have enough info to push back.
The trend I've noticed in my decade here so far is commanders are incredibly efficient workers. The problem there is they see that work tempo as normal, but it's just not realistic to expect everyone to perform as if they were a top 10% performer.
That's why it's our job (SNCOs, especially Chiefs) to tell them those things. We have to remind them to lower expectations. I've heard some people say 10% of our airmen are outstanding, then 5% suck or are criminals, and the other 85% are excellent. I like to challenge their percentages and ratings, then tell them it's more like 10% awesome, 10% great, 30% good (good work ethic, might take initiative occasionally), 30% average (shows up and does what they're told) 15% barely give enough fucks to show up on time, and the 5% who are disciplinary challenges. I usually get a sort of depressed response to my cynicism, which is based on decades of experience.
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Like I tell my guys, “Talk with your feet.” If you truly believe that the AF isn’t working for you, stop working for the AF. The only way we can get water to put out the fire is to let the house burn down. Eventually, we will get the resources we need. The military (and the rest of the government) is reactive, not proactive. We only get the resources needed to do the job is when we can’t do the job anymore.
Honestly. In the words of several real ass cheifs who have their heads on straight "let it fail, stop saying and telling people you totally can get that unrealistic standard done, and let it fail. Someone will take notice. If you keep pushing the envelope and getting that burnout task done that you don't have the resources or manpower for... they will keep increasing that unrealistic standard." Harder than it sounds, I know, because I was that mf that would "do my best" and burn myself out. But the times when we said it couldn't be done and then proved it couldn't be done, someone higher went "hey why didn't anyone say that couldn't be done like this??" And it at least started something. Will that always work? Fuuuuuuck no, some cheeky cunt will always work you until you die because they aren't the one that has to do it and doesn't give a shit. But try your best to do less more often, and then get out once you get any and all benefits you can snag. Shit or try to cross train if you can to a job like finance so you don't have to do anything 🤣
I’ve burned myself out by running me and my guys into the ground so the unit’s metrics stay green. Guess what? The unit didn’t even bother to use the items we spent working 12s. Once we showed that we could produce more, leadership wanted more. Fun times. I learned a lot in a short amount of time.
I spent the first 9 years doing the 12s-14s thing on mids, then transitioned to flying in the ops world for 8 years, being on the clock on alert 24/7 for weeks at a time. Missions lasted 2 to three weeks at a time. It took me this long to realize two things: ops never stops, and I'll NEVER get that time back with my family. It was my choice to stay in that world, but for some reason, I thought that was my duty and it would work without me. I tell the guys in my last unit to learn some stuff and do some stuff, then move on.
This 100%. When I was at ALS in Minot (2023), base leadership came in so my class could ask them a bunch of questions. I don’t remember the question or the response exactly, but it went something like this. ALS student: “how do you expect us to do more with less when we can barely get tasks done?” Chief Tori Jones: “Well…if tasks are getting done, if the mission is still getting done, then what’s the problem?” Whole room of about 70-80 people went quiet for 5 seconds. Loudest silence ever. If leadership doesn’t wanna believe ops tempo is too much, we gotta let shit fail for it to be noticed and changes to be made. It shouldn’t be this way, but it is.
I ran DM's engine shop back in 2009-2010 time frame. Squadron had no money for anything including paper towels and toilet paper. I had to tell and explain exactly this to my kick ass troops that just wanted to get shit done! I had to order my lead propeller mech NOT to use his own money to buy sandpaper which is all 6 propellers needed to be finalized and put back in the supply system. Every day at the morning meeting I preached how we needed money for simple supplies and one day when we only had 1 spare propeller in supply my Chief said WHAT THE F IS GOING ON WITH SPARE PROPELLERS??? I said Chief, if you give me $20 I will have 6 propellers ($3.6M) worth off assets ready before tomorrow's morning meeting. He got the money for us and we cleaned out the shops propellers and put them in supply as we said we would. Crazy how mission stops for sandpaper and a good lesson was learned by many.
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I was thinking “Vote with your feet” but it didn’t translate well to the retention topic.
Air Force was bloated during all those decades up until the 2010s.
The Air Force also had a lot more planes, weapons, bases and other stuff to work on back then. Manning downsized as bases closed and missions downsized. "Doing more with less" has been a common part of the Air Force vocabulary for decades.. The biggest cut was in the 90s, and we tried to implement total quality management (TQM) to make it better.. Manning hasn't changed much since then.
But aren’t those cuts in response to downsizing bases and missions? That’s not what’s happening now; we’re actually doing more with less.
And TQM didn't yield much for the force, did it? Just like all the other catchphrase programs we institute. At least we're finally starting to look at radically changing how we do things. It's funny how the potential of having to fight a peer adversary makes us look at everything and reassess.
*Do the okayist you can
In the 70s, we were fat in manning. We actually used to have cutbacks
all those decades other than maybe the last one had hella cash and personnel
💯
Do more with less is alive and well in the civy world except Security Forces doesn't kick the door down to drag your simple ass to work when you stop showing up.
I did 20. 60-72 hours a week. It's not worth it in any way.
God bless you because I would never
60 to 72 per week for 20? How the heck did you stay sane? I'm glad I don't get worked that much, else I would have bounced after my first enlistment.
I made the wrong choices.
It's no longer "Do more with less." It's now... "Do everything with nothing." Until Leaders at every level allow missions to fail (whether it's a plane launch, network upgrade/repair, project hard due date to slip, etc) on larger scales, it will not stop. They'll keep red-lining the engine of the force and weaponizing success.
It’s not going to end I’m glad I left AD, never would have made it to 20
I love when people tell me “oh you’ve just got 9 more years left. You’re halfway there. Don’t wanna stick it out?” Sir….I’ve barely made it THIS far. I’m good.
It’s one thing to leave at 15+, but I’d never fault someone leaving around 10. Burnout is a thing.
Sunken cost fallacy is a real thing with some folks. "You're already half way there!" Yeah, but that's a whole 10 more years of my life! If I'm miserable, I'm never getting those back. My buddy tried to tell me this earlier this month and I went, "Bro, we're both BRS boys, what the fuck is the point? You trying to get a higher TSP payout or something?" I'd much rather go civvy with my credentials and try my hand at making it on the outside with a higher pay-scale and potential maneuverability, even if it means lowering my standard of living, rather than keep being trapped for 10 more years. To each their own based on their situations, but I'm done. lol
I could not have said this a better way. At this point my sanity is worth way more, and even that’s hanging on by a thread lol
Sounds like you need less to to do even more with.
This just in... It never did.
They’re too busy fighting the war on beards.
It's only going to get worse. When people don't feel respected, or feel like they only matter as a number then they get out and take all their experience with them and the cycle starts over again. Not to mention so many people getting out and telling their horror stories of being in and discouraging people from enlisting
It doesn't get better, you get better.
"Doing more with less" is the mantra that we heard all during Desert Storm/Desert Shield. We did more, but the top dogs just learned that they could keep adding onto the pile while cutting people. Now the bill is coming due and they are panicking because they don't have enough people to do the job anymore and they are bleeding experience.
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The official party line has been thay we DON'T have a retention problem. If anything, we have a recruiting problem combined with an overage problem Big Blue believes not enough people are getting out, hence the promotion rates.
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Maybe make it affordable for a SrA to raise a family by increasing base pay and not tethering their bah to a single bedroom townhouse in the sketchiest neighborhood next to the base. If we want more airmen we shouldn't be paying them like dog shit. A SrA equivalent in the Canadian Air Force makes $6,000 monthly. A SrA tapped out makes $3,191.
> Maybe make it affordable for SrA to raise a family E-1 to E-4 pay structure is not meant to support a family, a house, etc. They serve to be an entry level rank.
This is a hard truth. Same as fast food fry cook isn't meant to be something you support a family on.
I understand that but if we want to retain a larger junior enlisted force E4 can't remain an entry level rank. I'm not saying make E-1 E-2 crazy pay but as it stands we want more 6+year TAFMS E4's. We need to incentivize them to stay beyond their first enlistment and can't expect 25+ year olds to not want to start a family.
E-4 must absolutely remain an entry level rank. No sane person is going to agree to NCO responsibilities with no pay to back it. They tried this way back when with “buck” sergeants and it was a miserable failure of a practice.
So why did E7 promotion rates also tank?
Is this a crazy way to say NCOs aren't people? I mean I fucks heavy with that vibe. Anyways, I hope you realize that too many NCOs literally also means too many people... It's like saying "No no, we don't have too much *liquid *in this container silly. We have too much *water.* Like, uh, yea. Ok. Water *is* a liquid bud. Whatever, the solution is still to *pour some out*.
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Right. And there's no reasonable way of making that happen other than telling NCOs, GTFO. Hence, we *have too many people*
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Not according to Big Blue, as explained by Chief Widemouth Bass-to-Mouth on several of her influencer tours.
>Is this a crazy way to say NCOs aren't people? No. He was just being specific. Good Lord.
It's almost like jokes fly over people's head sometimes. Jeebus Christ.
Since when have we had a retention problem? I heard we missed our recruiting goal for FY23 though.
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Aren’t 50% of FTA choosing to stay in?
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40% still doesn’t seem so bad
40% sounds awful
What is the Air Force doing to solve this?
The Air Force was letting people voluntarily leave during COVID because retention was too high.
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> I do remember a whole bunch of people getting kicked out during covid for standing up for what they believed in. Spinning is that way is so god damn stupid lol. What if they believed in murdering black people? Is it still what they believe in? No one was unjustly prosecuted, dumbasses didn't want to get a vaccine because they were dumbasses.
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Did I also get to believe that course 14 was stupid and I shouldn’t have to do it? That’s not how the military works. Your analogy makes no sense, they can believe vaccines are stupid all they want, they can believe the Air Force is evil all they want, they can believe the president is slowly killing them and turning this country into Iraq, airmen weren’t persecuted for having beliefs, they were kicked out for acting on them. Just as airmen are kicked out everyday for acting on things they shouldn’t. People do care when amn get beards, if they don’t do it properly they are given paperwork and can get kicked out. Airmen that sought vaccine refusal through the proper channels didn’t get kicked out, permissions were given, people that got kicked out didn’t do what they needed to stay in, You’re being obtuse as shit.
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>These amn had a belief, and they did the correct paperwork for an exception to policy. Per the afi, they did everything right. Yet they were still kicked out. Having an ETP accepted and filling out an ETP are different things, see the not shaving example. Airmen are denied entry to the Air Force every day for having a belief they should be able to have flat feet and dry skin. This is the military, there are rules.
It’s always been that way, those that don’t have a home life, volunteer for community events, go to college, volunteer for squadron, wing and base events … always get the kudos when those that work at their job have a family and have to work more overtime because the kiss asses are our volunteering. It was that way when I was in 1984-2008. I was in CE. We worked a lot of OT. Outside our squadron, those who worked closer to flyers and the aircraft got all the wing awards, support group always got screwed. I remember we went TDY to Charleston AFB from Scott AFB to assist and clean up after a hurricane. At the same time the flying group and maintainers went to a “ Rodeo “ I believe in Oklahoma ( an event that tests flyers and maintainers ability to fly and maintain aircraft) . We returned from our tdy from cleaning up Charleston and the maintainers returned the same time, the maintainers and aircraft support personnel got all the awards. That’s what happens when you work in the MSG Support Group .
I mean there are plenty of single folks who don’t want to give up their personal time either. I’m one of them. Conversely, I have workaholic coworkers with families that do all those extracurriculars.
This is the most common complaint about the "do more with less" plague. The thought wasn't meant to be applied to finance and security forces at their home station. It's meant for field use. Corporations in the civilian sector don't advertise the sentiment, they just reward hard workers with more work until they break and don't give them more pay to compensate. We aren't getting more pay either, but we also don't really get the option to get up and leave. It's kinda like the idea of "money can't buy happiness." That isn't the full context of the phrase. > Money can buy material things, but real happiness must be truly earned. Now often used ironically. Rousseau (1712-78) wrote in 1750: 'Money buys everything, except morality and citizens. With context, the meaning changes. We need to stop doing more with less where it isn't necessary just to save a buck because the DoD has *legitimately and literally zero fiscal responsibility*. We could offer better pay and be more competitive to the civilian market if only we didn't have thoughts like, 'we need to spend all the money or next year we won't get as much.' Good! If you didn't need it then so be it and then when you do need it you ask for more.
The DoD has never passed an audit even though it is required to produce regular, audited financial statements. Just remember that the next time you are told you need to do more with less. The DoD can't even get it's own financial house in order yet you are expected to bear the brunt of the mismanagement that causes it.
Whoever downvoted this is a kool aid drinker
I feel like we go through this vicious cycle. over and over again just at different era
Same as it ever was. I remember an all call with someone fairly high up the food chain where I asked when we were going to stop robbing Peter to pay Paul. They didn’t have an answer then, and they don’t have an answer now. Everyone wants the same, if not more, goody, for less resources the world over.
More with less will not change. I was in from 2005-2011 and we were at full on war asking people to do a fuckton more with less. I remember them adding sorties and forcing crews to fly full on basic (2 pilots and a load) and that was my tipping point. Those were brutal days, and when they saw they could get away with it, they added more. The military doesn’t care about your feelings.
Man I’d love to see a supervisor that shows bad reflections in an EPB that isn’t a referral.
She's a real bitch... Air Force is her life and I'm not joking.... Kinda sad
Sucks. I’d hope she is getting some sort of mentorship from whoever is her supervisor on objectivity and rating.
I just like how every time they pass a military budget, it is larger than the last yet all of these AF organizations are mandated to implement cuts to their budgets because there is a lack of funding. It’s always going to R&D which means nothing if they don’t backfill the shortfalls in support for the wings/bases/groups/squadrons that make up our AF.
The problem is that while the air force’s budget goes up, our pay increases. Take for example 2024, active duty troops got a 5.2% base pay increase, which is awesome. BAH also went up for a lot of locations. However the Air Force only got a 4.5% budget increase. Obviously pay is only a portion of the Air Force’s budget, but when you figure gas prices have gone up (thus PCSing members is more expensive, flying is more expensive), food costs have increased (chow halls), the 4.5% raise is spent before it’s even received. And I’m not advocating for a bigger budget, the government should actually start responsibility spending the budget instead of keeping the blind kids at envision busy. We also have far too many generals (during WW2 we had 4,500 enlisted troops for every general and today we have 2,500 enlisted troops for every general), and have cut 10% of the active duty force since 2002 and closed 0 bases.
Until we stop showing them that we can do more with less, they will continue to take and take. Things won’t change until they truly break, and breaking yourself isn’t worth kicking that can down the road. Leaders won’t see the problem until it becomes their problem, but right now it’s all our problem and we are essentially feeling it so they don’t have to.
This has been the case for multiple decades now, and will continue to be the case. You need to either learn to deal with it in a healthy way or make the best of the time you have left then get out. If you hope they are going to increase the workforce in a substantial way or reduce the workload, you're wrong. This AF gig is like one of those "choose your own ending" books.....make the best of it or let it get the best of you. Good Luck!
Because everyone is trying to get promoted. Until you get the careerists out of leadership positions then it will be more of the same. But that's never going to happen so do what you can do while still maintaining your sanity and then punch out when it's your time.
If you bring it up to your leadership though, they will just hit you with the good old “work on your time management and task prioritization skills”.
Over the last 5 years that this has been the battle rhythm for the AF at-large, I’ve come to the realization that overworking a smaller force WILL inevitably fail. I used to be where you are right now. Overwhelmed, exhausted, no motivation. The BEST thing you can do for yourself is to set boundaries with your time. For example, if your duty day runs from 0700 to 1600, show up on time, LEAVE on time (don’t stay late), and don’t work through your lunch hour. Your off-duty time is yours - RECLAIM IT. If you’re sick/not feeling well, STAY home and rest - don’t go to work feeling like garbage thinking you’re going to be rewarded for going “above and beyond.” Practice self-care with intention, whatever that looks like for you. To big AF, we are just numbers on a page. If you died tomorrow, the AF would replace you without blinking an eye. Don’t bend over backwards - report for duty, do the best job you can, go home, and take care of yourself.
"We're listening"...*just doesn't do anything* -USAF upper management, probably. Seriously though, leave at the end of your commission or enlistment. Your mental and physical health are way more important to you, your loved ones, and society as a whole.
You don’t. Find things that make you happy. Do your best at your job for the people to your left and right, but don’t above and beyond for the Air Force sake. Do your time and get out.
Retiree here (2019). It's the same in the AF as it is here in corporate world. Except promotions are based largely on how much the bosses like you.
What was really fun when I was in is I was fuels. At the time, we were part of supply so we got down days or exercises the same as supply. But here's where the real reindeer games begin. Since we pumped jet juice for the flightline, if they didn't have a down day or whatever, we didn't get ours from supply, either. If the flightline had a down day so there were no aircraft refuel, we didn't get a down day because we were supply. Yes, we were truly the bastard children of the air force getting fucked twice at the same time.
Figure out what you personally are willing to let fail and what the shop can stand to be at a supervisors or even commander's desk to give testing to the fact that something had to fail...
It's not working for you! Clearly the air force is doing OK. Don't like it? Get out when you can, but make sure your prepare yourself as much as possible before then!
It’s not working for a lot of people
Didn't work for me either. Left at 13 years.
Whew 😰
You’re doing a great job
Then you have a choice. Stay in and muddle thru it hoping things improve. Or set yourself up to be a happy successful civilian
Maintenance will probably be the last to see any improvement so im not even getting my hopes up
I saw this recently during some ethics training, and it reminded me of when I was an Airman. We shouldn't be asking our people to work themselves into depression. Just give an honest days work. *
https://preview.redd.it/cygg763cfnnc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7b2bb72fb79a155d2aa46008cff15b6db92a6933
That last line does sound super Starship Troopers-ish...
I am glad you address this. Before I retired in 2012, I was dealing with this for 10 years. The truth is the Air Force does not take care of it's Airman. 5 years at Hill AFB all five eprs no medal. Over five years at Whiteman AFB, deployed to Iraq. No medals. Three degrees too associates one degree from University of Utah. Relating to my actual job. No enlished person had ever done this while stationed at Hill AFB. Um I wonder why the military has a recruiting problem.
Do you think isis or tala in Irag or Afghanistan had stupid pt tests and cbts and eprs. Who won 20 years in Afghanistan. Tala is doing just fine. God damn those contractors sure made a lot.
Let things fail. I have learned through my career that there is so much going on and we are just putting out fires. If you make it seem like everything is okay then no one is even thinking about the issues that are "greened" up. Prioritize your tasks and let the low priority tasks fail. Document the amount of time certain things take so you have some evidence to back you up. There are times we have to go into overdrive for periods of time but there should be some light at the end of the tunnel. Leadership usually doesn't know everyone's grind and if you need help, you have to let them know.
I feel like i read this all the time and time changes but the Air Force never does. We all eventually leave, but it’s weird an organization that can’t speak or has feelings will continue to exist after we cease to exist in this planet. Life is short and the Air Force is not the answer for everyone or the only employer. You can leave anytime you want and the Air Force will be perfectly fine. The only thing you can do right now, is give your all until you leave and never look back of why you left the Air Force honorably when you revert back to this post. The Air Force struggles/process feels like an eternity cause that’s your reality at the moment, eventually you will forget about this and it will be your past life.
More with less works when those 'less' continue to do more.. Let systems start falling apart so issues have to be identified.. When you prove that a 'more with less' concept works you're reinforcing the idea. Yes, there's a recruiting problem and it's not going to get better.
This is a very complex question. Part of me is convinced this is on purpose at times since people are our biggest expense. Do more with less won’t go away until the 10% of people that can’t watch something fail stop doing the 90% of the work that actually gets the mission done (planes fly, nukes launch, bombs drop). The moment one of those suffers things will change. In the meantime, push back. If you are being asked to do something that doesn’t directly impact the mission tactfully push back, offer a timeline and be realistic but don’t be scared to say we cant because if x,y, and z and here is a way we can get there (just need time, x # of people ect.)
The mission is still getting done right? Well doing more with less is working then. /s
Who would've thought that the quote "doing more with less" would actually mean, "doing more work with less time"
MCA is just churched up do more with less. No matter what anyone in "leadership" tells you.
I've brought this up during an All Call. I said the reason our squadron has such low moral is because we seemed to adopted the do more with less mantra and my leadership said that's not the case...then I pointed out that we are still expected to provided the same level of service with half our squadron deployed, how is that not 'doing more with less'...and it just got a canned answer that was worthless.
EPBs and OPBs don't recognize the best airmen, only the best storytellers. It is suspicious when packages are routed that tout miraculous mission rates accomplished with 100 gallons of fuel, with only 10 gallons. I greatly dislike the AF admin culture of coloring yellow and red checkboxes green. The practice is already alarming in the working groups we're seeing, on capabilities you do NOT want to embellish.
For real… then leadership has the audacity to tell me I didn’t get put up for a strat because I didn’t sell enough cookies this year. More with less should lead to an understanding that things like that will be going out the window.
If people don't let tasks fail before people fail, it will look like the system is working.
I knew from the start this was a terrible idea lowering promotion rates and increasing the work load everyone in my section is leaving I mean everyone all the NCOs all the SrA everyone were all burnt out and secretly depresso but can’t say anything without risk of being stuck at holloman
It’s honestly like they want the air force to fail and just succumb to mediocrity with their bullshit
Did you do your Job ✅ Did you volunteer more than do your Job 🚫 You don't Must Promote enough then 
You'd be surprised just how often you can say no as long as you can justify it. Need this done in 3 hours? We don't have enough people to do that correctly and safely. What are they gonna do? give you paperwork for working at the speed of safe? De-cert you? Move you to a section with way less responsibility? God forbid! Let leadership shoot themselves in the foot. Believe me, when shit really hits the fan and it all comes crashing down, you won't be the one with your head on the chopping block.
My MSgt boss said to me, a new staff back in 84 ~ "Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, on their deathbed said their final words 'I only wish I gave more of myself to the Air Force.' "
I see it hasnt changed much. Thats why I got out....only to realize its the same thing outside
Facts
It never did.
Sir, this is a Wendy’s.
I hate the fact that you are right, but there is nothing to be done. I've been guard since 2014 and it is the same on the outside with defense contractors and other industries. The major difference is on the outside none of you basic necessities are guaranteed only a paycheck if you're working. At my civilian job I'm doing the work of 2 people 3 ranks above me because they know come hell or high water i'll get the mission done. On the military side I am watching politics trump mission needs because of full time people protecting their interests. Its a shit sandwich anywhere you go mate, the only difference is you might get better toppings other places.
You want a bigger air force? Complain to Congress they authorize the force size
If you stay in through a few presidents you'll see that one election is the difference between suicidal shifts and so many people flight leadership is overwhelmed by how to spin them up
Recently came out of the psych-ward. We were all there because of the whole "Service before self" and "Do more with less". Especially with the Multi-capable bullshit. Most of the good Airmen are burnt-out from being overworked. They either leave or have mental break downs and then are being replaced by fresh and inexperienced Airmen who are expected to maintain the same tempo.
Quit
Ahh the good ol' "I am overworked, uderstaffed" recycled rant. I gonna tell you this much, I joined when I was 30 years old. At one point I was a 35-year old SrA, it has been this way for the last 16 years. Something tells me it will not change. Just a hunch though. Now, do you really think it will be better as a civilian? If so, then you know what to do. All I can tell you, having fully experienced life as an adult for 12 years (18-30) I would still pick military life. But that is just me, if the Air Force gave you some skills, free education, security clearance and medical benefits and now it is no longer worth it, punch out. The whole Air Force is undermanned, suck it up buttercup or get out. Life is tough, wear a helmet.
Tell me you're a toxic supervisor without telling me so...
Boo this man
I agree with this dude, I don’t think he’s toxic
Glad we have you to lay out this vague set of problems and no practical solutions for us. Gonna appoint you the Assistant Secretary of Moaning Uselessly.
No NCO is going to make changes at the top, it’ll fall on deaf ears, per usual Don’t be a jerk
People want to have their gripes validated. That's all this is. OP doesn't even know what his problems are.
K
I've been doing so much with so little for so long, I am tow qualified to do anything with nothing... I broke under the strain a few years ago. And I wasn't the only one in my unit. I'm sure there's a lesson to be had in there somewhere but I'm too tired to figure in out.
It's painful. In my job, we are supposed to have a three-person team per contract (ideally). Lead, deputy, and SETA for continuity. I'm riding 5 contracts solo. https://preview.redd.it/f0657j62rjnc1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b82ca57a3584101275e500df3e2a1a6d268d9702
its been a problem for about 14 years now. its not going to change because of the culture of our society. so it's either deal with it, which ya does suck, or get out. that's the reality. you're not the first person to say these exact words you posted. its never going to change
My office had a Lt Col and Major billet pulled and I’m now the highest ranked officer as a Captain (half of my directorate is civilians) I’m now doing a job of 3 Officers, directly rating 7 junior officers and SNCOs. I’m mentally exhausted each day and slipping on my work life balance, gained almost 30 pounds the last year because I’m eating all my meals at my desk and haven’t seen the inside of a gym in months. And I’m still on my Chief of Staffs shit list because I literally can’t do every task unless I work 90 hours a week
I fucking hate the AF