February 05, 2009
Nukes Are Hard

Ron gets a no-prize he just better not shake too hard for bringing us news that the Boys in Blue have f'd up another set of nuclear security inspections. Is it because they're f-ups, or is it because the inspections are hard and meant to be failed the first few times? I'd like to think the latter, but I'm not all that optimistic.

Posted by scott at February 05, 2009 09:00 AM

eMail this entry!
Comments

As I said in my email, I don't care. 5/6 failures means that someone simply isn't learning. Ship the senior leadership to Elmendorf or Eielson AFBs and let them serve the remainder of their tenure there. If Thule's still open, there's another potential opening.

Then, let the next group of leaders know that if they screw it up, they're going to replace that crop.

Posted by: ronaprhys on February 5, 2009 10:27 AM

The problem is that the USAF has decided that nobody is allowed to be in a position for more than two years. It doesn't matter what you're doing or how well you do it; once two years is up, you are GONE.

It used to be that you could be commissioned in the nuclear forces, grow old, and retire from them. There was, basically, a "nuclear service" that was a subset of the general USAF. But sometime in the 1990s the USAF management got jealous and screwed it all up.

Posted by: DensityDuck on February 5, 2009 12:18 PM

I've also heard that there's some possibility that if you go nuke, you won't make it to the true senior ranks anymore. As such, folks want the hell out of there as all the promos come from the fighter squadrons. I dunno if there's any truth to that, though.

I will say, however, there are good things to getting everyone exposure across the board. It can make for better mission planning and smoother ops if the senior leaders have been in the different areas at different levels of responsibility. However, 2 years is probably too short of a timespan for certain areas.

Posted by: ronaprhys on February 5, 2009 03:16 PM
Post a comment
Name:


Email Address:


URL:


Comments:


Remember info?