All the military departments have the problem of commissioned officers jockeying for promotion to the above O-6 grades by gaining political advantage and popularity rather than through extraordinary leading and competent supervising and management. Promotion to these grades has become too much a game of self aggrandizing and conforming to what got the current generals and admirals promoted. The problem is such has in the Air Force at least become the disease of enlisted promotions where EPRs, awards and decorations have become dependant on external off or out of doing primary military duties of getting higher education and participating in community volunteerism. It has become believed wanting to pursue and enlisted career and obtaining NCO authority and status is for those who can’t become a commissioned officer.
However, back to inability of or lack of top combatant command positions being filled by Air Force Generals. In this regard I do I have to give Retired General McPeak some credit although he was not well thought of while he was in charge. McPeak at least recognized being a rated officer and specifically a single seat fighter pilot divorced the commissioned leaders from actually having to provide immediate management, supervision and leading to any group of followers or workers. His initiative to get pilots more involved in other duties other than being in the cockpit never truly got any understanding or support within the AF commission ranks and grades.
Beginning in 1986 the wave of future promotion opportunity was realized to be doing joint operations type duties, but doing Joint Duties became get into a position to fill the square and back out for improving self-promotion potential rather than developing experience and understanding of all ground, air, and water strategies and tactics. The problem with the Air Force is the fighter pilot warrior is a lone knight or the lone gunman who gets very little being in command of leading tactical elements. Their specialty is flying and in most cases that’s all they had interest in until they got promoted out of the cockpit. No matter how you cut, slice, and deice, the Air Force does a poor job of providing its commissioned officer of being more than on-paper leaders, especially now that the transformation to the Expeditionary wing pushed Wing command up above the O-6 pay grade.
The Air Force commissioned duty position is a paradox as it has become focused on control of technology that is limited to doing flight and being the supposed moral oversight preventing misuse of weapon systems rather than leading troops into battle. The resulting dilemma is the Air Force officer lacks the leading tools and strategies to conduct asymmetric battle which requires boots on the ground to seek out, find, and engage low technology ground fighters that maintain very little hard target infrastructure to bomb and interdict.
In my opinion the Amateur Combat Command has become to focused on subordinating, manipulating, and influencing what combatant command do with its air component and has lost focus on its obligation to be ready and prepared to fight.
ACC has become focused on gaining and sustaining influence of Forces command and manipulating organizational transformation within the Air Force so that it controls all air component command positions in the combatant commands by functionally aligning every thing into deployable expeditionary wings sitting on ACC bases as an ACC administratively controlled AEF until its deployed to fight. Its called organizational incest and it strengthens promotion opportunity for those who blindly conform and seldom offer a dissenting opinion. The Air Force needs to wake up to fulfilling it military obligations as a independent military department, or it needs to assimilated back into the Department of the Army.
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