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From: Jerome C. Borden Layton, UT
Date: 14 Jun 2001
Time: 10:53:44
A View from the Sloping Side of Mt. Olympus
Dear Chuck,
The problems you illustrate infected the USAF enlisted force starting with a vengeance in mid 1973. We had just left Viet Nam and the Services decided to start cleaning out "dead-wood". So, they instituted the new "Non-Disibility Retirement System" and a few other management tools. This brought "up-or-out" to the enlisted corps. They also redefined the weight standards so that male models would qualify but not real people who happened to be over the age of thirty. Remember, that "retirement" age is around forty and only an idiot would miss the significance of that move.
So, the "Perfumed Princes" that Colonel Hackworth derides also became the most likely surviver in the enlisted ranks. The people who actually liked the duty but didn't fit the mold would find themselves being marginalized and, seeing the handwriting on the wall behind the scales, voted with their feet. They introduced yet another tool in the late 1980s with the stipulation that a "Seven" APR (they were using a ten scale at the time) would make the person ineligible for overseas assignment. Previously, it took a Control Roster to do that! The catch here is that a "seven" is supposed to mean "70th percentile" equivalent to the older (and more recent) "Exceptionally Well Qualified" or "EWQ".
Qualified first termers were also victims. Met a fellow right after I retired in 1983 who had been a Crew Chief. If you've ever flown, you know that job is a position of trust, especially for the pilot who straps on that bird and goes flying. Well, his APRs read 9,9,9,8. Non-selected for retention due to a "downward trend". So, all it took was one person in his rating chain to first downgrade him and then make the non-selection choice. Never mind quality. Since we were both working on the same electronics repair line, I did get to see the person perform. The Air Force lost a good troop. Meanwhile, back on the base, somebody got his ticket punched for taking "decisive action".
For those of you who think this is ancient history, I suggest you check out the Ergonomic Tester the AF now uses as part of the fitness and weight program in the Air Force. Procustis, the Greek King who insisted that everybody had to fit his bed perfectly would have loved this one.
The machine measures the heart and running rate and fails those who don't fall in a preordained standard range of speed and heart rate. Superior athletes get in trouble because their pulse rate is too slow while others who have a normal resting rate that is above average are shut out because the machine refuses to let them finish. Actual performance tends to be ignored in this case while the skilled politicians are able to get the necessary "waiver". Those not in political favor find that the actual weight standard to get off the pogrom is seven pounds below the max weight standard. My current advice to prospective enlistees is to look at their surviving grandparents (not the dead ones, if any.) If three or more are over the age of fifty and still slender, then the fellow will have a chance of making it to retirement. On the other hand, if the thin ones died early while the heavy ones are still around enjoying life, for gosh sakes look for a different career!
In the civilian world, when you see a company operating in this mode, you start checking out the market and their competitors because some of those competitors are going to be hot stocks to buy when they pick up the pieces at ten cents on the dollar.
Yours Truly, Jerome C. Borden Layton, UT