bobdina
06-30-2009, 02:05 PM
Airmen sound off on stupid rules
By Sam LaGrone - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jun 29, 2009 8:25:02 EDT
There’s stupid. Then there’s Air Force stupid.
At least that’s what hundreds of airmen told us when Air Force Times threw out the question: What are the dumbest rules in the Air Force?
We’d like to take credit for the question, but it really goes to Army Maj. Gen. Michael Oates, who asked his soldiers in the 10th Mountain Division what griped them about the way the Army lays down the law.
Oates got nearly 100 responses to his blog post; we counted more than 350 posts to our callout and received nearly 20 letters through the mail.
We passed on some of the gripes to service leaders to get their take.
The response: Cut us some slack, we’re working on it.
“Air Force leaders from first-line supervisors, first sergeants, squadron commanders and on up to the Air Force chief of staff and the chief master sergeant of the Air Force consistently communicate and seek feedback from airmen, through both formal and informal channels,” said Air Force spokesman Capt. Mike Andrews.
For example, Andrews pointed out the ways the Air Force goes straight to the airmen to deal with uniform complaints — and judging by your responses, there are several.
Our take is that a little grievance-airing never hurt anyone, so we rounded up your gripes, took the liberty of grouping them by subject matter and edited them for taste and clarity.
Uniforms
Most of your gripes had to do with the uniform — flight-suit wearers who want to roll up their sleeves, gym rats who don’t want to tuck in their Ts.
Then there is the “why can’t we smoke, drink, eat or talk on our cell phones in uniform” crowd.
And you’re really bugged that the uniform standards aren’t standard at all. What’s OK at one base isn’t OK at another.
Yes, from V-neck T-shirts to sage green boots, you’ve had it with the 162 pages of uniform regulations.
———
The V-neck shirt under the blues; not only do I think crew necks look better, but I can’t stand when you can tell the wind direction by someone’s chest hair growing out of their shirt.
— XL0901
This is a growing trend: the policy of tucking in the PT shirt. This is fine if someone happens to be walking around but places are requiring shirts to be tucked in while actively working out. These shirts are 100 percent polyester and do not breathe at all. Having an untucked shirt while working out does offer a little bit of air flow.
— Staff Sgt. Jeffery Portemont, McGuire Air Force Base, N.J.
Bring back the dress uniform women wore in the late ’70s and early ’80s. They may be equal to men, but they don’t have to look like them.
— Tsgvinny
Zipping up all openings on PT gear; if you’re going to put a zipper on the pants there should be an option to leave it zipped or unzipped. If we can’t unzip then don’t put a zipper on the pants.
— Senior Airman David Gitomer, Osan Air Force Base, South Korea
You aren’t supposed to push up the sleeves of your flight suit. Troops in BDUs can roll up their sleeves when it’s hot, why not the flight suit?
— Capt. John Wilson, Luke Air Force Base, Ariz.
The authorized wear of the sage-green boots with BDUs. That’s the ugliest combination I’ve seen in my life.
— Airman 1st Class Gregory Hamlin, Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D.
I don’t understand why we can’t wear square diamonds. I have a beautiful pair of earrings just sitting in my jewelry box because they’re not circles.
What a waste!
— Tech. Sgt. Faith Harroun, Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas
Overseas
Boy, are you miffed about the special set of rules for troops operating in foreign countries in the conflict zones. At the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Defense Department issued the now-infamous General Order No. 1, which forbids drinking, adult magazines and lots of things so you don’t offend the host countries.
———
No drinking because they don’t drink? No Playboy because they don’t like it? ... We’re in their country to help them, so we should be given a little leeway. In what world does this not make sense?
— Aitrus
As good as German coffee is, do I really need a ration card to buy a can of Folgers in the commissary? Especially since they sell German coffee right there and it’s hardly much more expensive? This isn’t 1949, and I’m not bribing a harem of fräuleins with coffee and shampoo.
— Shrike
I think my biggest [complaint] is the facial hair standard. I understand when you’re deployed and have to wear chem gear or during an exercise when you have to wear chem gear, but otherwise, leave me alone and let me grow a beard.
— Gunner007
Special days
From fun to safety to squadron runs, special days that take time away from your normal job don’t pass muster. Most of you had your own ideas of how to spend time away from work.
———
If someone with authority deems we have time available to goof off, then give us a pass and let us be with our friends and families. And personally, I believe these events foster unprofessional relationships.
— VFFSSGT
It’s been said a million times already, but mandatory fun. This is a big one for me. If you have to force people to give up their day of break, that highlights a much bigger problem than unit activity attendance.
— Silver Fox
I just had safety day, and it consisted of a briefing about 101 critical days of summer, a wingman card inspection and a gas mask inspection. Mind you, they made this a mandatory military appointment so everyone had to come. ... Completely pointless.
— Multitasker
Administrative policies
C’mon. Tell us what you really think about the day-to-day stuff. You mentioned everything from marching to the Defense Department’s stance on gays in the military.
———
The dumbest rule in the AF is the pee test. We should be given the option to submit to a blood test instead. Not only is a blood test more accurate, reliable and indisputable; it preserves the dignity of airmen more than being forced to watch people urinating in a cup.
— germb747
Don’t ask, don’t tell. Our children will see it as institutionalized discrimination against gays and lesbians.
— sigecaps
The rules that really get to me deal with decorations and enlisted performance reports. Seems like whoever wrote the rules on writing these documents has a severe case of obsessive-compulsive disorder and is concerned more with how the documents look than what’s actually written on them. I’ve had letters of evaluation written by Army personnel and they get straight to the point, don’t worry about filling up the entire line on each bullet, and write in narrative format. The whole process from draft to approval took about two weeks.
— Renazance
First Shirts are pointless, considering 99 percent of the problems people experience end up being solved by the supervisor or the commander. The Shirt is more of a leftover relic from a has-been era when a song in the jukebox cost 10 cents and Buddy Holly was still alive.
— Machine 666
The mustache rule. A little farther out on each side won’t kill anyone. The Hitler ’stache went out of style a long time ago.
— BTDTNM
One I don’t understand is why so much time is spent during [military education] to teach people how to march. Why do we spend so much time teaching people something they will never use in their career? I hate this mentality that in order to be more ‘military’ we need to be more like the Army. Why can’t we take pride in that we are a more technically centered and separate force?
— FCMVP#30
Anti-complaining
Some of you thought the idea of asking for complaints was ridiculous, while others acknowledged that bad rules are universal. We thought we’d close with this one.
———
Nowhere in my enlistment contract does it say I have to ‘like’ stupid rules. ... I only have to follow them.
— Measure Man
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/06/airforce_stupid_rules_062809/
By Sam LaGrone - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jun 29, 2009 8:25:02 EDT
There’s stupid. Then there’s Air Force stupid.
At least that’s what hundreds of airmen told us when Air Force Times threw out the question: What are the dumbest rules in the Air Force?
We’d like to take credit for the question, but it really goes to Army Maj. Gen. Michael Oates, who asked his soldiers in the 10th Mountain Division what griped them about the way the Army lays down the law.
Oates got nearly 100 responses to his blog post; we counted more than 350 posts to our callout and received nearly 20 letters through the mail.
We passed on some of the gripes to service leaders to get their take.
The response: Cut us some slack, we’re working on it.
“Air Force leaders from first-line supervisors, first sergeants, squadron commanders and on up to the Air Force chief of staff and the chief master sergeant of the Air Force consistently communicate and seek feedback from airmen, through both formal and informal channels,” said Air Force spokesman Capt. Mike Andrews.
For example, Andrews pointed out the ways the Air Force goes straight to the airmen to deal with uniform complaints — and judging by your responses, there are several.
Our take is that a little grievance-airing never hurt anyone, so we rounded up your gripes, took the liberty of grouping them by subject matter and edited them for taste and clarity.
Uniforms
Most of your gripes had to do with the uniform — flight-suit wearers who want to roll up their sleeves, gym rats who don’t want to tuck in their Ts.
Then there is the “why can’t we smoke, drink, eat or talk on our cell phones in uniform” crowd.
And you’re really bugged that the uniform standards aren’t standard at all. What’s OK at one base isn’t OK at another.
Yes, from V-neck T-shirts to sage green boots, you’ve had it with the 162 pages of uniform regulations.
———
The V-neck shirt under the blues; not only do I think crew necks look better, but I can’t stand when you can tell the wind direction by someone’s chest hair growing out of their shirt.
— XL0901
This is a growing trend: the policy of tucking in the PT shirt. This is fine if someone happens to be walking around but places are requiring shirts to be tucked in while actively working out. These shirts are 100 percent polyester and do not breathe at all. Having an untucked shirt while working out does offer a little bit of air flow.
— Staff Sgt. Jeffery Portemont, McGuire Air Force Base, N.J.
Bring back the dress uniform women wore in the late ’70s and early ’80s. They may be equal to men, but they don’t have to look like them.
— Tsgvinny
Zipping up all openings on PT gear; if you’re going to put a zipper on the pants there should be an option to leave it zipped or unzipped. If we can’t unzip then don’t put a zipper on the pants.
— Senior Airman David Gitomer, Osan Air Force Base, South Korea
You aren’t supposed to push up the sleeves of your flight suit. Troops in BDUs can roll up their sleeves when it’s hot, why not the flight suit?
— Capt. John Wilson, Luke Air Force Base, Ariz.
The authorized wear of the sage-green boots with BDUs. That’s the ugliest combination I’ve seen in my life.
— Airman 1st Class Gregory Hamlin, Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D.
I don’t understand why we can’t wear square diamonds. I have a beautiful pair of earrings just sitting in my jewelry box because they’re not circles.
What a waste!
— Tech. Sgt. Faith Harroun, Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas
Overseas
Boy, are you miffed about the special set of rules for troops operating in foreign countries in the conflict zones. At the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Defense Department issued the now-infamous General Order No. 1, which forbids drinking, adult magazines and lots of things so you don’t offend the host countries.
———
No drinking because they don’t drink? No Playboy because they don’t like it? ... We’re in their country to help them, so we should be given a little leeway. In what world does this not make sense?
— Aitrus
As good as German coffee is, do I really need a ration card to buy a can of Folgers in the commissary? Especially since they sell German coffee right there and it’s hardly much more expensive? This isn’t 1949, and I’m not bribing a harem of fräuleins with coffee and shampoo.
— Shrike
I think my biggest [complaint] is the facial hair standard. I understand when you’re deployed and have to wear chem gear or during an exercise when you have to wear chem gear, but otherwise, leave me alone and let me grow a beard.
— Gunner007
Special days
From fun to safety to squadron runs, special days that take time away from your normal job don’t pass muster. Most of you had your own ideas of how to spend time away from work.
———
If someone with authority deems we have time available to goof off, then give us a pass and let us be with our friends and families. And personally, I believe these events foster unprofessional relationships.
— VFFSSGT
It’s been said a million times already, but mandatory fun. This is a big one for me. If you have to force people to give up their day of break, that highlights a much bigger problem than unit activity attendance.
— Silver Fox
I just had safety day, and it consisted of a briefing about 101 critical days of summer, a wingman card inspection and a gas mask inspection. Mind you, they made this a mandatory military appointment so everyone had to come. ... Completely pointless.
— Multitasker
Administrative policies
C’mon. Tell us what you really think about the day-to-day stuff. You mentioned everything from marching to the Defense Department’s stance on gays in the military.
———
The dumbest rule in the AF is the pee test. We should be given the option to submit to a blood test instead. Not only is a blood test more accurate, reliable and indisputable; it preserves the dignity of airmen more than being forced to watch people urinating in a cup.
— germb747
Don’t ask, don’t tell. Our children will see it as institutionalized discrimination against gays and lesbians.
— sigecaps
The rules that really get to me deal with decorations and enlisted performance reports. Seems like whoever wrote the rules on writing these documents has a severe case of obsessive-compulsive disorder and is concerned more with how the documents look than what’s actually written on them. I’ve had letters of evaluation written by Army personnel and they get straight to the point, don’t worry about filling up the entire line on each bullet, and write in narrative format. The whole process from draft to approval took about two weeks.
— Renazance
First Shirts are pointless, considering 99 percent of the problems people experience end up being solved by the supervisor or the commander. The Shirt is more of a leftover relic from a has-been era when a song in the jukebox cost 10 cents and Buddy Holly was still alive.
— Machine 666
The mustache rule. A little farther out on each side won’t kill anyone. The Hitler ’stache went out of style a long time ago.
— BTDTNM
One I don’t understand is why so much time is spent during [military education] to teach people how to march. Why do we spend so much time teaching people something they will never use in their career? I hate this mentality that in order to be more ‘military’ we need to be more like the Army. Why can’t we take pride in that we are a more technically centered and separate force?
— FCMVP#30
Anti-complaining
Some of you thought the idea of asking for complaints was ridiculous, while others acknowledged that bad rules are universal. We thought we’d close with this one.
———
Nowhere in my enlistment contract does it say I have to ‘like’ stupid rules. ... I only have to follow them.
— Measure Man
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/06/airforce_stupid_rules_062809/