RE: SecDef Gates Did NOT rip the AF at Maxwell Today

An interesting first person perspective on the recent comments by SecDef Gates.

tags: opsec, disclaimer, air force, history, letters

-----Original Message-----
From: X Maj 46 ERS/CC
Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2008 4:18 PM
To: 46 ERS OPS ALL
Cc: X Maj 332 AEW/PA
Subject: FW: SecDef Gates Did NOT rip the AF at Maxwell Today

All,

Here's some clarification from someone who was actually there. We can't always believe what we hear in the media.

-X
________________________________
From: X USAF AETC ACSC/AY08 STUDENT [mailto:X.X@MAXWELL.AF.MIL]
Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 18:55
To: X USAF AFSOC 3 SOS/CC; X USAF ACC 432 WG/CC; X J6C/J6CS; X USAF ACC 432 OG/CC; X A3/5/AFCSO; X USAF ACC 17 RS/CC
Subject: SecDef Gates Did NOT rip the AF at Maxwell Today

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Sirs,

Did you hear the news today that said "AF Gets Scolding Over War Effort (CNN)" or "Gates says AF Not Doing Enough In Iraq (Associated Press)"?

In case you were wondering . . . that is NOT WHAT HAPPENED.

I was in the room (with about 1000 friends)--and I was awake-- no one left the briefing thinking that the SecDef was upset with the AF.

He did say a few things like:

- The AF did not want UAVs in 1992

- "We can do more" . . . but he said it very casually like we can always do more

- He very very briefly mentioned that he has been working on getting more UAVs/ISR . . . but this was a very small point in his entire brief

- Mainly he challenged us to think outside the box (like Col Boyd w/ the OODA loop)

The CNN article is completely out of context. His brief was very positive, uplifting, and even motivational.

Two theories racing through the school:

-- possibly he pre-released his negative speech and then changed his mind at the last minute

-- or CNN pre-wrote this speech waiting for him to say something close enough to trigger this negative article about the USAF

Sec Gates' theme was to challenge Air Univ (and the students) to think of smarter ways to deal with future conflicts-not to reprimand the AF.

This is an accurate story of what he talked about from the SecDef Website.

This picture was taken from the brief this morning and is indicative of the tone of the brief (in the background is Lt Gen Lorenz - AU CC). It does not look like he is reprimanding the AF to me . . . and he didn't.

"Now you know, and knowing is half the battle"
-- G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero

v/r

X

[minor edit after post to integrate links, erase carriage returns, add tags.]

keys, masters

I left them in my room the other day after work, but getting in didn't suck as much as I was expecting. I walked over to housing (slightly conspicuous without my hat, which was also in my room) and asked to be let in. They verified my ID and a KBR guy walked back with me in 5 minutes and opened the door. He's on a one year hitch out here, he was from Florida. I think he said he was going to make $87,200 for the year, and that's tax free of course.

Oh, and in some good news, I just logged in and found I passed my masters class. Just one more to go to half way, which I may or may not decide to do.

masters

Rumor today from a old buddy (Miguel) passing through this place:

They are masking masters degrees again, starting with my majors board this December. I need one more class and I could have gotten "bachelor plus" marked on my personnel records, indicating at least 18 credit hours complete. Now I guess that info won't be visible to the board. Glad to know all my work was once again unnecessary. He was also saying that maybe the bachelor plus won't show, but a full degree would. I don't know how that would make any sense, but that's exactly why it might be true - can't use logic to figure out the Air Force.

(As background to this story, they unmasked advanced degrees 2 years ago for my year group (during my last deployment actually), giving us ~2.5 years to finish one in time for our board. Not a lot of time for active duty military during a war.)

Ostensibly, they masked degrees because they wanted people to focus on their primary jobs until later in their careers. The unmasking was because not enough people were getting degrees (Hmm, imagine all those folks being...busy...or something, from say, 2000 to 2006... )

I'll have to do some research at AFPC, maybe Air Force Times.

4052

stripes.com, 28 Apr 08

Respectful Dissent; humor

Thank you, Mr. Gates.

In the newly established spirit of respectful dissent, a few things I think are a waste of taxpayer money.

New uniforms. In the middle of a very costly war (the most expensive ever?), all the services are changing uniforms, and in the case of the Air Force, they are inventing new ones (the PT gear). Why are new uniforms necessary? Were the old* ones not working? I won't speak for the other services, but our DCUs used to work fine, and still better than the new ABU since they don't glow in white light after one wash, and catch on fire and melt to your skin when shot, as the ABU does. Here's a cost saving idea: Scrap every new uniform you have people not fighting the war working on, and keep the old ones. Put those people to work fighting the war. Further cost saving: Don't issue us all two uniforms (green and tan). Make tans general issue since most of the AF is going to see combat in the desert, not Germany or Japan.

The F-22. Yes, a cornerstone for U.S. defense spending for the next 5 years. And to pay for this item, we have (so far) decimated about 7 years worth of officer ranks, by making fewer officers and paying others to quit. (I don't have enough firsthand knowledge of what it's done to the enlisted ranks, but I have been briefed in the past that Force Shaping was supposed to affect all ranks.) People, most definitely not the AF's most valuable resource. There was a cartoon that made this point quite well a few years ago, I will try to link to it directly if I can find it. Check out the site below. Boyd, who I will return to again, would have said of priorities: "People, ideas, hardware. In that order."

The Dodo is (was?) a paper document that circulated at USAFA for many decades. It started underground, then eventually came under the purview of the establishment and was still circulated in censored form during my time there (graduated 2000). I've heard rumors it no longer circulates in any fashion. However, in 1998 a group of grads got together a formed a private website to host the comics that wouldn't be allowed at USAFA, and it is still going strong. A lot of the humor is directed at cadets and grads, but there is still plenty there you will find funny if you don't fall into those two groups. Incidentally, it is also often my best source of tactical level information on things going on at the Academy. eDodo

[edit 30 apr 08: changed new to old.* (Am I dyslexic?)]

The air force, the GWOT, John Boyd

Didn't mean to write an entry today, my masters paper is due tonight and I don't have the time, but this is a historic event.

I haven't had time to write about John Boyd yet, but you will hear about him again from me. In the mean time, read the following.

Interesting article. John Boyd (a man whose example I am trying to follow) would have argued against the F-22 because it is too expensive.

Time article; Gates on the modern Air Force

quotes; mental paradigm

From my sensor:
"Talking [to people from home] on the phone just reminds me of how much I wish I was there."

From a random woman walking by, she was coming back from the gym: "I mean WTF? I have 21% body fat." The inflection of this remark indicated she was extremely disappointed by how high this number was. I could go off on a long tirade about how women constantly overestimate the importance of their weight, or I could post the Marlene Dietrich quote about women and men, but I will just settle for saying this: The woman was beautiful and had a nice body and I wouldn't have changed a thing about her.

It's extremely good for one's morale to think of the rote you are on as being your last trip to the desert ever. Then, rather than thinking of how much you would rather be home, you start to think of all the things you would like to get done before you leave. This actually helped a lot on my last rote, and doing well by me so far this rote. (I do begin to wonder how many times I will have to use these tricks though). There are bunch of things I still want to see around here, plenty of photographs to take, souvenirs to buy (the craftsmanship and selection of things here is better than any of my previous locations; there's a local bazaar here that sells an $1100 hookah that's about seven feet high; they have a variety of leather bags and wooden boxes that are of unbeatable quality for the price), and units to visit. This might very well be my last time in Iraq, inshallah. What will I be able to tell people about it when I get home? Will I have good stories? Good pictures? Will I really be able to make people understand what it is like here? That's part of the reason for this blog, and my numerous other attempts at recording things here.

[As I type the last words, big voice comes on, "This is the command post. There has been an indirect fire attack. All personnel are released. All personnel should remain vigilant for UXOs. All clear, all clear, all clear. I say again..." And there is the sound of a two ship of helos passing overhead. A QRF perhaps? Or medevac for someone who got injured?]

Go

The game of go.

I first learned about the game of go in 2001 in the book The 48 Laws of Power, by Robert Greene. It was a favorite game of Mao Tse Tung; he used it to screen prospective military officers for skills. Greene compared it to chess, and used the comparison as an analogy for the differences in eastern and western military tactics. It also served as an analogy for Mao's tactics. Rather than force on force confrontations, Mao often avoided face to face fights, and dispersed into terrain considered "useless" by western (or western trained, as the Kuomintang was) military commanders.

Since then, I have been playing on and off with various levels of study. I use the free version of The Many Faces of Go quite a bit, and I also ponied up the dough for the full version as well.
Since starting this deployment, I have also been playing Go on Facebook.

Chess is played on a 9 X 9 board, with 81 positions for movement total. Go is played many different sized boards, but the most common size for competitive play is 19X19, with 361 positions for movement, more than 4 times as much space. This yields a corresponding difference in the tempo of the two games. In chess, confrontation is almost immediate, and the objective to bring as much strength to bear on the opponent as possible. In Go, the game can develop for many turns before confrontation can occur. Stronger moves are often those than command open space, rather than directly attack enemy stones. In China, the game is called "weichi," ("go" is the Japanese name) which means "the surrounding game," and this is a fair description of the objective. Whoever has greater control of space, greater freedom of movement, will generally win.

In go, stones do not move once placed on the board. However, they can be captured and removed from the board, which does create highly dynamic situations.

No computer program has yet been written that can compete with the best human go players.

A famous go player once said that one could spend an entire life playing go and it would not be a wasted life. I don't know if I would go that far, but it continues to fascinate me even after seven years.

See this blog.

Writing dates: 28 Mar 08, 13 Apr 08, 16 Apr 08

4032

stripes.com 15 Apr 08

tags: history, email, war, Iraq, links

reindeer, april fools

Some interesting excerpts from a running series of letters with Sharon:

Her:
I really like your new haircut! You look nice in a military style haircut. I used to get my hair cut on base but stopped going.

So tell me a story about your military experiences. Do you ever go crazy being around so many men?

~
I bought some reindeer from him and they pull me to class because there is so much snow and ice that I don't want to drive in the coldest months.

I have a fun idea. Since it is April 1st tomorrow why don't we change our relationship status on fb and pretend we are dating for one week as a joke? Todd will be so baffled, especially because we live so far apart. :) If he asks I can say that I am now pregnant as well. :)

Me:
I'm game on the prank, status changed my end. I'll change it back on 7 Apr. Yes, do tell him the pregnant part, the distance factor will boost my already considerable reputation for virility .

~
Hmmm, military experiences. I don't know about "go" crazy, we pretty much "are" crazy about women. I am working on a blog entry about it, but sometimes the best part of my whole day is hearing a woman's voice on the radio.

I had a female pilot friend deployed with me at one point. She was taxiing out one day and making a radio call to tower and in the background as the tower controller was talking to her you could hear someone in the background with a Russian accent say, "I love you!"
(We were in Kyrgystan, a former Soviet Republic, so the Russian accent made sense.)

For a genuinely crazy story, try this one out. I had never heard of this before getting here, but apparently there is a serious problem with male-male rape in the US army over here. Not that surprising when you compare this place to prison, bunch of dudes all crammed together for 15 months, isolated from the rest of the world they knew, with the added pressure of being shot at quite often.

Her:
Todd has now changed his status update-look at the one before.

Please don't tell anyone we both know that this is a joke until a week from now. ...for one, is sure to be surprised if he notices.

So are you also being shot at all the time? :( I wouldn't be able to sleep if that was me.

~
Just to keep you updated this was the message I just sent Todd:

Yep, Dave and I have kept our illicit relations a secret for a while. We don't see each other very often and sometimes we can't talk that regularly because of his schedule and the time zone differences. So we tried being friends but we are just too attracted to each other when we meet up. The pregnancy wasn't planned...I am normally very careful about these things...it was one of those I drank too much New Years surprises. I always wanted to be married first...oh well. We are talking about setting a date soon.

~
Oh my gosh! My doctor friend just cooked up this ultrasound picture with our twins! Completely wild! It even has my name on it. I even fooled a bunch of other people without meaning to.

In case you are wondering, I haven't lost my marbles. But I think we have taken April Fools to another level!

~
I find the thought of you being shot at quite upsetting and I find it hard to believe that you get used to it. But I will try to believe you...

Me:
It's interesting that you say that about getting shot at. There's a Chili's down the street from my house that I eat at a lot, so I've gotten to know a few of the waitresses. I was walking out a couple days before I left and I mentioned it would probably be awhile before I saw her again because I was going to Iraq, and I think I ruined her day. She got all sad looking...I felt bad, but I was really surprised because we didn't even know each other that well.

Well, you do get used to it. Most of the time I sleep through it now.

Her:
Sure, I will send you a postcard. It might have to wait until after final exams in May though. What is your address? Will you send me a postcard too? I have never gotten one from that part of the world.

My undergrad degree was in Psych and I learned how there is a stronger connection between couples who meet when they are young. The divorce rate goes up by 20-30% I think if you marry a person you meet after you are 25. I read about this a long time ago so my figures might be off. There is some kind of connection that forms when people are young which cannot be replicated later in life.

Me:
Interesting info on relationships. I was considering doing psych for my masters. I wonder if the reason for that is physiological (i.e., the brain is younger so the connections are more enduring), or learned (i.e., when you are older, you've met more people so each relationship is less unique.)

Her:
About your hypothesizing-the first reason is correct.

Jeez, your address looks like it is on the moon or something. There isn't even a country!

And when we call it quits don't try any funny stuff. :) You only get one kid and half the reindeer.

xkcd, quotes

The XKCD comic today was outstanding, and included a cameo by another favorite comic of mine, Calvin and Hobbes.

Some recent quotes from the rote:

"I'm gonna throw a half-way-done-with-the-rote-party. Something small, some balloons, streamers...a couple of strippers, maybe a keg..."-BDA

"Anyone who doesn't want to see a naked man better not come in here. I'll leave it cracked for BDA." - Cokane. (He was changing to run on the treadmill. Oh, and this is unrelated to the quote up above. And finally, BDA is a man.)

Moving up in the world...

I don't have time to do a long entry on this, but the Air Force people out there will know what this means: I was recently made DO of the squadron here.

Have to go, the cafe is busy today and they are booting me.

mIRC

We use a chat program here called mIRC that allows to talk to all manner of folks for all manner of reasons. I obviously can't talk much about operations, but needless to say, chat rooms allow for all for all kinds of miscommunications, both amusing and rage inducing. Some of the most proficient chat typers in the world are probably the average high school age cell phone owner and a whole bunch of military folks over here. See mirc.com.

Some relevant chat abbreviations, far from a complete list:

c: copy; this means, "I understand what you just said."

ty: thank you

yw: you're welcome

tyvm: thank you very much

rog: roger; means the same as copy

sb: stand by; I heard you but stop talking for now, I will get back to you when I'm done with a more pressing matter.

.: people will often use a period to check if they are still connected to a room and see what their nick name is. Sometimes in moments of boredom, these will become running jokes such as...

~
redhead_42:.
killer-mc:..
oddjob_mcc:...
~

We generally run things in rooms, where multiple people can read and write things to the whole room, but you can also talk one on one via a method called whisper which looks the same as a normal room, but only you can the other person can see what is typed (unless the chat is logged, which it often is). You can also give the room you are in a title, which provides an additional way to communicate. This can be for relevant business, or just a joke, more often the latter on nightshift. A recent room title: Bear Blasting, the sport you'll invent because you'll be too energetic for normal sports! (See entry on Powerthirst.)


[originally started this entry 29 mar 08, added to it 30mar08, 10 apr08, 12apr08.]

"What if everything you ever wanted...came...in...a...ROCKET CAN?"

"Powerthirst! Rocket edition!"

Two little digital vids that have greatly improved morale around here lately, Powerthirst 1 and 2, available on youtube. (Try also the original source and collegehumor.

"With all new flavors like Manana! Fizzbitch! and GUN!!!"

Lazy Sunday is also quite funny ("Mr. Pibb and Red Vines = Crazy Delicious!"), as well as the spoof of this done by two soldiers in Iraq called Lazy Ramadi.

I am playing World Conquest on Facebook and I am really annoyed I missed my turn yesterday because I was too tired after work to go to the cyber cafe. (I think that's only second time I've missed a day since being here.)

placeholder: institutionalized

This is a placeholder for an entry I am still working on.

Added here 28 Apr 08

free time

What I did with my free time yesterday: unpacked some of my laundry from the cleaners, spent time on the internet, and thought about writing my paper.

U.S. body count in Iraq: 4013

www.stripes.com, 7 apr 08

Figure includes 8 military civilians (oxymoron?)
3273 due to hostile action

Top 3 highest coalition casualties:
Britain: 176
Italy: 33
Poland: 21

tags: links, history

stupidity

I do believe that our recent market situation has demonstrated the maxim that none of us alone is as stupid as all of us working together.

rando meal 3

Bacon, Canadian bacon, waffles, watermelon, and lobster.

personal diplomacy

In a situation such as the one the U.S. currently finds itself in regards to the relationships it has with other countries, the lowest level of diplomacy is the most important. If individual people between nations can work and live together, the whole situation has a much greater chance of being resolved.

I take it as a very good sign that some Arabic words are passing into our soldiers' vocabulary. Wassta (sp?) is an example. It means "sway" or "power," as in, "He's got the wassta to get the job done." I think Gen Petreaus has set an outstanding example on the multiple occasions he has used the word "inshallah" ("god willing") in interviews with American press.

This is the prelude to the following story. One of my airman was in the line at the chow hall and there was a soldier in front of him. The folks who serve our food are what we call TCNs, third country nationals, meaning that they aren't American and they aren't Iraqi. They could be from anywhere else, the chow hall folks here seem to be from India.

The soldier in question asked for a quesadilla or something and the guy gave him two instead of one and the soldier said something like, "I only asked for one, I can't eat all that. Why don't you speak English?"

My airman took him aside after the line and said he had no reason to be rude to the guy. The soldier said he should speak better English. My airman said, "I bet his English is better than your Indian," and walked off.

(I do believe the language in India is Hindi, but the point stands.) I was quite proud of my airman when I heard the story (quite unfairly since I had no part in his actions.) I think it is important to remember when we go out into the world that we are only one of many nations and often a guest in the places we go. If we act like an invading, conquering army, we will be treated like one.