quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
They are in charge of making sure everyone in the USAF is miserable and wears their reflective belt at all times, so there must be a lot of them.

I wish this was a joke...Talking to my friends who are still in it has only gotten worse in the last 4-5 years.

Navy E-9 is a Masterchief. The senior MC in each base,Ship, squadron is the Command MasterChief.

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
Jallen, I forget what the rank is for the Navy, but are you thinking like there should be only one command chief for a base?

quote:

Originally posted by toms:
I have no idea about the ranking but, living only 5-7 miles from the base, I will say they sure look look they are having fun!

I go to the Costco there just north of the Forum a few times a month. The turbo prop trainers are in the left pattern, the T-38s in the right pattern for the north-south runways.

They do indeed look like they are having fun!

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
E-8s and E-9s are kind of the Air Force's answer to eliminating Warrant Officers--they do take on a number of tasks that would formerly have been given to WOs.

flashguy

In concept, but hardly practice.

In San Antonio, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting an (USAF) Chief.

Between Basic Military Training, the Air Force Hospital, 25th Air Force, and all of the logistics/base ops between Lackland & Randolph, it's not all that unusual to see 3 (or more Chiefs) having lunch together.

I was also influenced by seeing all the folks in those blue green or olive BDUs, in near 100 degree weather, especially mostly females.

Not surprising to see mostly females at Panera's, I guess. Kind of informal uniforms on the beach as we former Naval persons would say,

My son tests for E-9 in September. USAF.

quote:

Originally posted by Herkdriver:

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
They are in charge of making sure everyone in the USAF is miserable and wears their reflective belt at all times, so there must be a lot of them.

I wish this was a joke...Talking to my friends who are still in it has only gotten worse in the last 4-5 years.

At Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, many Chiefs have their only chance to deploy. Once there, they have to 'make a difference.' After all, if they show up and leave without changing anything, the USAF thinks they didn't really DO anything. And, Chiefs have a compelling need to 'DO stuff.' So, they would show up and change everything. For example, in 2015, the Chief may say everybody has to walk on the left side of the sidewalk. The 2016 Chief then changes this to walking on the RIGHT side. 2016 Chief changes it to left again. Constant change for the sake of change. The junior folks get really tired of it, and don't give a crap about some E-9's 'need' to 'make a difference.'

And Chiefs are rabid about chasing down reflective belt violations over there. All three times I was there, it was a requirement to wear a reflective belt during darkness. This is necessary, as it gets foggy over there, and I've almost run down idiots walking in the road at night, in the fog, wearing gray cammies with no belt. It's really not that hard to wear the friggin' belt, and I've never had a problem with it. It was, however, the #1 complaint I heard there all 3 times (having to wear the belt ). At Al Udeid, there is a place called the 'bra.' It's a giant open-sided two-peaked tent with tables, chairs, and a stage. I've heard of Chiefs chewing out enlisted folks for not wearing a reflective belt at the bra (a good 100 yards away from the nearest road). This is a big reason that many people are just sick of all the nosy Chiefs over there.

Now, there are good Chiefs that do good things over there (and everywhere else), but my impression was that most of them made unnecessary changes just so they could put stuff on their performance reports/award citation forms.

E-9's. They're like officers without a commissions and just as big-pain-in-the-ass

quote:

Originally posted by Hound Dog:

At Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, many Chiefs have their only chance to deploy. Once there, they have to 'make a difference.' After all, if they show up and leave without changing anything, the USAF thinks they didn't really DO anything. And, Chiefs have a compelling need to 'DO stuff.' So, they would show up and change everything. For example, in 2015, the Chief may say everybody has to walk on the left side of the sidewalk. The 2016 Chief then changes this to walking on the RIGHT side. 2016 Chief changes it to left again. Constant change for the sake of change. The junior folks get really tired of it, and don't give a crap about some E-9's 'need' to 'make a difference.

Nailed it.

Change for the sake of change. Should be the motto of the E-9 corps. This is how they've been "groomed" as leaders in the 21st century Air Force. The position has devolved substantially just in one short generation.

I've only had one good Chief in my career, my first one. He was what people would describe as "old school." He was a certified bad ass who got there because he was great at his job and was not a yes man. He had the respect of brand new airmen all the way up to the commander. If you fucked up he would chew your ass out, give you a bunch of additional duties, and forget it ever happened a month later. Those type of Chiefs are long, long gone. We now have an E-9 core of careerists and yes men, who can't make a decision without getting some LT's or Captain's permission first. It's really a sad state of affairs that will not change until we get into an air war where pilots are getting shot down/dying and the shit truly hits the fan. Then the E-9's will be exposed for what they are, and proper order will be restored. I do not anticipate this happening anytime soon and I don't wish for it to happen either because people shouldn't have to die to change things. And from what I've heard from pilots, it's very similar in their careers as well. Just my 2 cents.

quote:

Originally posted by AirmanJeff:

quote:

Originally posted by Hound Dog:

At Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, many Chiefs have their only chance to deploy. Once there, they have to 'make a difference.' After all, if they show up and leave without changing anything, the USAF thinks they didn't really DO anything. And, Chiefs have a compelling need to 'DO stuff.' So, they would show up and change everything. For example, in 2015, the Chief may say everybody has to walk on the left side of the sidewalk. The 2016 Chief then changes this to walking on the RIGHT side. 2016 Chief changes it to left again. Constant change for the sake of change. The junior folks get really tired of it, and don't give a crap about some E-9's 'need' to 'make a difference.

Nailed it.

Change for the sake of change. Should be the motto of the E-9 corps. This is how they've been "groomed" as leaders in the 21st century Air Force. The position has devolved substantially just in one short generation.

I've only had one good Chief in my career, my first one. He was what people would describe as "old school." He was a certified bad ass who got there because he was great at his job and was not a yes man. He had the respect of brand new airmen all the way up to the commander. If you fucked up he would chew your ass out, give you a bunch of additional duties, and forget it ever happened a month later. Those type of Chiefs are long, long gone. We now have an E-9 core of careerists and yes men, who can't make a decision without getting some LT's or Captain's permission first. It's really a sad state of affairs that will not change until we get into an air war where pilots are getting shot down/dying and the shit truly hits the fan. Then the E-9's will be exposed for what they are, and proper order will be restored. I do not anticipate this happening anytime soon and I don't wish for it to happen either because people shouldn't have to die to change things. And from what I've heard from pilots, it's very similar in their careers as well. Just my 2 cents.

One of the two idiot Chiefs in my reserve squadron was sent home roughly 2 months into a 6 month deployment for he didn't know a damn thing. Another fun fact, it was his FIRST deployment EVER. Yep, he made Chief without ever going down range.

quote:

Originally posted by MattW:

One of the two idiot Chiefs in my reserve squadron was sent home roughly 2 months into a 6 month deployment for he didn't know a damn thing. Another fun fact, it was his FIRST deployment EVER. Yep, he made Chief without ever going down range.

Not surprised at all. While everyone else was down range he was at home station volunteering for everything and racking up bullshit EPR bullets. That's the careerist mentality we are stuck with.

While I was in USAF (1960-1980) the whole 'Super Sarge" thing was just getting going and I would say that the few E-8 and E-9 NCOs I encountered (as a Captain) were pretty good at their jobs. And they made my job a lot easier because they handled the minor problems with the younger troops without bothering me with them (a situation the younger troops also tended to prefer--no one wants an officer giving them grief).

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by Herkdriver:

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
They are in charge of making sure everyone in the USAF is miserable and wears their reflective belt at all times, so there must be a lot of them.

I wish this was a joke...Talking to my friends who are still in it has only gotten worse in the last 4-5 years.

I'm not even a USAF guy and all I hear from them is the problem with the Chefs.

I retired 3 yrs ago and I knew some outstanding Chiefs. However, at that level, gross incompetence or outright douchebaggery has a VERY bad effect on the jr folks. Unfortunately, there are bad Chiefs out there, and their impact is disproportionate to tbeir actual numbers. . .

Good Chiefs are awesome. Bad ones (the ones we call E-9's) make life hell for everybody.