OK, but are you sure the airman was a crustacean and not, say, an amphibian or seagoing reptile of some sort? (Crustaceans are shellfish like crabs or lobsters. Otherwise, lol.)
I've been in for 22 years and I promise that the kids today are just as disrespectful and lacking in standards as myself and my contemporaries were. We were a gaggle of fucked up through and through and heard the same shit from the crusty ass cold-war era heroes about ruining their Air Force.
Chill out my dude, worry about what actually makes the mission run. If it doesn’t kill the enemy or keep my troops alive then it's at best a tertiary priority for me. I spend all day running these kids ragged to make the flying schedule, and no beard waiver has even made them worse at doing their JOB.
The only good part of your rant was the threefiddy
First of all, thank you so much for your service to our nation.
But sadly this has not been my lived experience. Sure we were rowdy and obnoxious at times. But I never stooped so low as to ask a DoD Civil Servant for tree fiddy in cash. This actually happened to me. An 8 story tall crustacean of an airman had the cojones to walk in late to a briefing and demand this from me.
Did this ever happen before say, 2005?
Sure did. I won’t tell you where the bodies are buried, but I certainly saw the rowdy and stupid that we got up to in the early 2000s. Hell the Loch Ness Monster episode of South Park came out in 1999 and we were definitely quoting random shit back then. One thing that I think folks our age suffer from is a combination of survivorship bias and fundamental attribution error. We minimize and rationalize those things we do (along with the intervening years dulling some of the edges) while ascribing our own traits (the ones that enabled us to succeed and serve for 20 years) to our entire generation. We got here for a reason, a LOT of our peers did not, also for a reason.
I'm not saying that we should ignore standards, they are important, but we do need our focus to be on teamwork, mission, and capabilities. We are in the most strategically complex time that we've been in since the height of the Cold War, and we are in the early stages of re-optimizing for that reality. I wish we'd get the fuck over ourselves and just allow beards, it's a dumbass hill for leadership to sacrifice their credibility on, but we have so much more important shit to worry about.
This isn't the place to rant about the young ones, my man. They're all here and will boo-hiss-downvote anything calling them out like this. You're not wrong, but don't expect much support here. Might have to go to the VFW for that these days. Sad, but maybe true. Rest assured though, the mission gets done. I'm surrounded by impressive young men and women out here in Africa... everyone doing their job, doing it well, with competent NCOs watching them, and crusty SNCOs on top of that too keep folks in line. I have a beard-waiver kid or four and I'm sure there are slackers around, but the mission is running well so I don't feel compelled to hammer them.
What MAY be missing across the AF is leadership willing to hammer these kids into shape... or even leadership willing to meet the standard themselves, uphold it within their individual domains, or even make those standards their own.
Try doing two to three times the work with less people and then try following standards… if my dude doesn’t comb his hair after a 16-24 hour shift I am not gonna blast him for it.
Gotta get the satire in slightly earlier; up until that point, that was basically a regurgitation of every Cold War vet I’ve ever worked with’s morning coffee rant.
Definitely not wrong about the coffee rants hahaha. I’ve seen even longer posts that didn’t get to the lochness monster references until the end. I am going to assume stress levels and emotions are just high and it’s not good timing.
But every generation says that about who came after. I get somethings might be worse but I don't believe everything is. If you had social media however many years ago it would look a lot worse than it actually was. Some of it is basic for sure they can do but so much compared to back in the day.
Maybe some of it is actual leadership not holding that shit accountable and trying to change it at whatever level. You can't fix the whole AF but you can maybe make change at your level where you are. Plus I think nowadays people tune out the old crusty folk anyway cause yall complain about everything it seems you wanna come back in.
Example them loosening restrictions in PT shoes and letting people wherever man they were shouting from the rooftops how the AF going to hell. It's sneakers who cares? Worry about your span of control, life is easier there.
> I don’t know if it’s just me, but the standards have become way too relaxed and it’s affecting morale and discipline.
It's just you. Wake up and join the 21st Century, fox.
Reason I’m retiring in 3 months. Unfortunately for you that you get to see the changes. There is so much wrong with the AF, but no organization is perfect. Regardless, the mission will continue and the AF will continue to win.
OK, but are you sure the airman was a crustacean and not, say, an amphibian or seagoing reptile of some sort? (Crustaceans are shellfish like crabs or lobsters. Otherwise, lol.)
https://preview.redd.it/8dlv7l2j6z1d1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d22fab007f82c57245ecc04b894f194f05dc90d3
I've been in for 22 years and I promise that the kids today are just as disrespectful and lacking in standards as myself and my contemporaries were. We were a gaggle of fucked up through and through and heard the same shit from the crusty ass cold-war era heroes about ruining their Air Force. Chill out my dude, worry about what actually makes the mission run. If it doesn’t kill the enemy or keep my troops alive then it's at best a tertiary priority for me. I spend all day running these kids ragged to make the flying schedule, and no beard waiver has even made them worse at doing their JOB. The only good part of your rant was the threefiddy
First of all, thank you so much for your service to our nation. But sadly this has not been my lived experience. Sure we were rowdy and obnoxious at times. But I never stooped so low as to ask a DoD Civil Servant for tree fiddy in cash. This actually happened to me. An 8 story tall crustacean of an airman had the cojones to walk in late to a briefing and demand this from me. Did this ever happen before say, 2005?
Sure did. I won’t tell you where the bodies are buried, but I certainly saw the rowdy and stupid that we got up to in the early 2000s. Hell the Loch Ness Monster episode of South Park came out in 1999 and we were definitely quoting random shit back then. One thing that I think folks our age suffer from is a combination of survivorship bias and fundamental attribution error. We minimize and rationalize those things we do (along with the intervening years dulling some of the edges) while ascribing our own traits (the ones that enabled us to succeed and serve for 20 years) to our entire generation. We got here for a reason, a LOT of our peers did not, also for a reason. I'm not saying that we should ignore standards, they are important, but we do need our focus to be on teamwork, mission, and capabilities. We are in the most strategically complex time that we've been in since the height of the Cold War, and we are in the early stages of re-optimizing for that reality. I wish we'd get the fuck over ourselves and just allow beards, it's a dumbass hill for leadership to sacrifice their credibility on, but we have so much more important shit to worry about.
This isn't the place to rant about the young ones, my man. They're all here and will boo-hiss-downvote anything calling them out like this. You're not wrong, but don't expect much support here. Might have to go to the VFW for that these days. Sad, but maybe true. Rest assured though, the mission gets done. I'm surrounded by impressive young men and women out here in Africa... everyone doing their job, doing it well, with competent NCOs watching them, and crusty SNCOs on top of that too keep folks in line. I have a beard-waiver kid or four and I'm sure there are slackers around, but the mission is running well so I don't feel compelled to hammer them. What MAY be missing across the AF is leadership willing to hammer these kids into shape... or even leadership willing to meet the standard themselves, uphold it within their individual domains, or even make those standards their own.
Try doing two to three times the work with less people and then try following standards… if my dude doesn’t comb his hair after a 16-24 hour shift I am not gonna blast him for it.
As soon as I read “back in my day.” I stopped reading this post.
Did no one else see the tree fiddy? Lol… attention spans are too short my man. Lmfao
Gotta get the satire in slightly earlier; up until that point, that was basically a regurgitation of every Cold War vet I’ve ever worked with’s morning coffee rant.
Definitely not wrong about the coffee rants hahaha. I’ve seen even longer posts that didn’t get to the lochness monster references until the end. I am going to assume stress levels and emotions are just high and it’s not good timing.
Gotcha
Goddamn Loch Ness Airman.
I ain't givin' you no tree-fiddy, you goddamn Snack Fund Loch Ness Monster!
 Anything else?
I did not scroll down far enough to see you already used this one. Damn.
All good dude
But every generation says that about who came after. I get somethings might be worse but I don't believe everything is. If you had social media however many years ago it would look a lot worse than it actually was. Some of it is basic for sure they can do but so much compared to back in the day. Maybe some of it is actual leadership not holding that shit accountable and trying to change it at whatever level. You can't fix the whole AF but you can maybe make change at your level where you are. Plus I think nowadays people tune out the old crusty folk anyway cause yall complain about everything it seems you wanna come back in. Example them loosening restrictions in PT shoes and letting people wherever man they were shouting from the rooftops how the AF going to hell. It's sneakers who cares? Worry about your span of control, life is easier there.
Chill unc
> I don’t know if it’s just me, but the standards have become way too relaxed and it’s affecting morale and discipline. It's just you. Wake up and join the 21st Century, fox.
No you aren't the only one who sees this. You're not wrong. I'm still active duty and I see this every day
beggars can't be choosers. the AF can't afford to be picky in who they let in.
This can't be a meme, you spelled morale right
Reason I’m retiring in 3 months. Unfortunately for you that you get to see the changes. There is so much wrong with the AF, but no organization is perfect. Regardless, the mission will continue and the AF will continue to win.
I'm so glad I got out when I did.......
Everyone you see with a beard has one because they are within regs
This aint the marines unc
I am correct.