Posted on 06/06/2008 12:30:46 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Back in 1996 I took the Director (two stars) of the DoD agency I was stationed at to Belgium for some meetings regarding nuclear stuff.
When we were done we were at Brussels airport and he was wearing his new uniform while I was in my old style uniform.
An older lady walked up to him and started asking about her flight times (United Air Lines) and which gate she should be at.
She had mistaken him for a civilian airline pilot!
Thank God my Director had a sense of humor as he started cracking jokes to me about the incident.
By the way, he was an old B-52 pilot not some single seat jock.
Sacrilege!
Please pardon the vanity, I can’t help myself. McPeak was my next door neighbor on Richenbacher at Nellis. His career-path was similar to my old man’s, and they knew each other pretty well.
McPeak’s rise was surprising to many, many people. However, that can be said about the success of a lot of folks in all walks of life. The man had a fine reputation as a pilot, demonstrated some political savvy, but was not regarded as a stud leader.
I ran into an intelligence officer who briefed the inner-sanctum types in the 80s and 90s. McPeak was described as brittle and aloof. A coffee pot was behind him as he was seated at his desk, the IO goes for a cup and McPeak loses his cool - can’t be as informal as to walk behind the man.
OTOH, same IO briefs Gen. Robert Russ - boss walks in, sits down, puts his feet up on the desk, lights up a cigar and says, “Whatcha got?”.
Who would you want to work for?
I served in the Air Force as a pilot during McPeak’s time and agree completely and wholeheartedly with that assesment. We went through “quality Air Force”, the uniform stupidity and the reorganization of the traditional wing structure to something that was unwieldy and unworkable. He was a complete failure as a leader.
I’ll take Gen Russ...
For all of a year, in the middle of a war. Even I served longer than that, and had quite a bit of voluntary time in the reserves, some of that supporting a SAC Wing's intell shop.
An intell officer at the wing level, or below, is pretty much a briefer. He has nothing to do with the weapons, their maintenance, or getting them on target. In a Bomber Wing, he might have helped with operational matters, such as laying out EWO missions for the flight crews, although those were planned at SAC Hq at Offutt.
Mc Peak was Vermin when I was in and still is
I wouldn't say that. It's as good a measure of aerobic fitness as a mile and half run. Just easier on the knees.
I was a Staff Sergeant crew chief during the McPeak years. Granted, the favorite sport of crew chiefs, pointy heads, spark chasers, metal peckers and other flight line creatures is “speed b*tch*ng” but even down at our level we knew something was grossly wrong.
For long time Air Force members, Obama’s descision to have McPeak serve on his campgain is even more troubling than any “whitey” video tape or race baiting preachers. Has Obama ever actaully assocated with any decent person?
Hmm. Tried reloading page several times and each time the second pic did not load. Weird. I mean, I know that Internet Explorer never has any problems.
It’ll get straightened out, there’s still a lot of good officers and NCO’s in uniform. There will be a lot of senior officers replaced at the Pentagon, people will get the word, and they will snap-to.
Must be bucking for Sec-Def.
I was a butter bar El-Tee during the end of the McPeak years, in the maintenance field. It was bad enough being a wet-behind-the-ears El-Tee...even worse having to defend as a gold bar the McPeak changes to “MY Air Force” to all my ammo troops, crew chiefs, etc...
Was that the uniform designed and purchased from McPeak's wife? $$$$$ for McPeak on that contract?
Wish I knew one way or the other.
That was the first thing I noticed when I reviewed the Cyber Command PPLAN a few months ago. Couldn't non-concur just for that though!
Tony “The Putz” McPeak ruined the Air Force.
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