Posted on 03/28/2014 3:07:23 AM PDT by kingattax
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Air Force took the extraordinary step Thursday of firing nine midlevel nuclear commanders and announcing it will discipline dozens of junior officers at a nuclear missile base, responding firmly to an exam-cheating scandal that spanned a far longer period than originally reported.
A 10th commander, the senior officer at the base, resigned and will retire from the Air Force.
Air Force officials called the discipline unprecedented in the history of America's intercontinental ballistic missile force. The Associated Press last year revealed a series of security and other problems in the ICBM force, including a failed safety and security inspection at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., where the cheating occurred.
In an emotion-charged resignation letter titled "A Lesson to Remember," Col. Robert Stanley, who commanded the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom, lamented that the reputation of the ICBM mission was now "tarnished because of the extraordinarily selfish actions of officers entrusted with the most powerful weapon system ever devised by man."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The problem is that there was a culture of fear set up, where everyone felt that the tests had to be 100% perfect or you get fired.
So they cheated. Just like what happens when you mandate testing in schools. Some would rather cheat, since the payoff is great and the risk is low.
And symptomatic of the decline of standards in my Air Force.
From the article:
> No generals are being punished.
One or two cheaters, but it’s hard to believe the entire bunch cheated. While there may have been some cheating, I suspect that was a cover to get them out for some other reason. This smells too much like another muzzy video lie.
Comments brought to mind the concept that “laws easily obeyed are laws simply worded”. At a loss for attribution, but it goes back to the Founders I believe. In our time, it’s SOP for opinions of Justice Thomas.
Beginning with “up or out” promotion policy, a culture of fear in the military is too true. It’s also alive and killing careers of otherwise good folks on civvy street. Saltiness aside, nothing wrong with being in-grade for a hitch or two.
I really do believe that to be absolutely the truth.!!
Good point, and I should have considered that possibility.
In a reasonable exam, there should be no cheating, no tolerance of cheating, and no tolerance of any integrity issues. If they were given a closed book exam on "What page of the manual addresses the obscure topic of . . . quote the entire passage verbatim" then it's a leadership issue and may have been intended to produce this result. Either they would fail the nuclear weapons safety exam and be drummed out for incompetence, or they would be drummed out for cheating.
I was too quick to trust FedGov just because it used to be a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. I hope I will learn - and that all Americans will learn. FedGov is not worthy of our automatic trust on any issue.
Why are they giving these Officers job-related tests to see if they can do their jobs? The only way to determine if an Officer is proficient is to see how fast he/she can run two miles. That works for the Army.
Indeed. Never EVER believe the official story.
Yes, a running test is appropriate to determine the qualifications of someone launching nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Sarcasm aside, these tests apparently aren’t all that effective either.
> No generals are being punished.
____________________________________________________________
Of course not...they never take responsibility for anything..that’s how they become generals...
Fire the leaders and discipline the cheaters ... wouldn’t it make more sense to discipline the leaders and fire the cheaters? No, some of those cheaters will be promoted to leader.
What is wrong with testing in schools?
For schools, we have the expectation that all kids will achieve a certain grade. Trouble is you have kids in a typical school with a wide spectrum of IQ’s and abilities. Not to mention there is a reward for the school and the teacher to get high scores.
So if you have a class room filled with kids who simply can't do the work, that teacher and school has a huge incentive to cheat. In the lower grades, you also have teachers with much lower IQ (teaching for the most part does not attract the best and brightest).
When you create an incentive to cheat, and have little oversight, you shouldn't be shocked when cheating happens.
This isn't just in government service. Most companies do similar things, with similar results. In short, when the risk/reward to cheat is more than to do the work, you will see cheating.
Pass/fail inspections where anything less than 100% is a failure is the norm in Nuclear Surety Inspections, and that transfers over to regular stand-up testing prior to assuming alert. Reciting rote memorization of rules, meticulous, step-by-step checklists ... these were the norm of SAC, and they continue to be the way the nuclear enterprise is accomplished in the Air Force.
But the Air Force has been struggling for years with this. There is no Cold War to defend against, there is no Soviet Union to deter. The missiles have been "de-targeted". They are incapable of immediate response. But the SAC zero defect mentality remains. The missileers are baby-sitters, guarding an armory, not aiming a weapon.
Combine this with the Millennials' values, where self satisfaction is more important than serving one's country. A Millennial can get self-satisfaction from serving their country if the role is satisfying. Being on the front lines in Afghanistan is more satisfying than sitting in a bunker 60 feet underground in Montana. Operating a Navy ship at sea or an airplane at 30,000 feet is more satisfying than running a checklist on an missile which is not on alert, and guarding against no enemy in particular.
I am not sure if the Navy is having issues with its ballistic missile submarine crews. But the Navy is different, and the submarine crew has the day to day responsibility to operate the submarine.
Ultimately, I think the Air Force ICBM mission needs to be rethought. Perhaps it is time to entertain a "diad" of submarine launched missiles and bombers, last discussed in the 1980s when ICBMs were deemed obsolete and destabilizing because they were susceptible to first strikes.
I agree. Every top level officer who can retire but continues to serve in this administration’s military, stays because he or she agrees with the boss. Those who stay and don’t agree with the boss get kicked aside. Obama is building an army loyal only to him and his puppetmasters.
There are many who simply say “I can’t serve this evil bastard anymore.” Those are the real patriots. It’s sad there aren’t enough to stay and change things.
” It’s not political.”
Yep that’s Official Reality.
Over the past two years, the number of such events has been growing, this is not an isolated case. There is a large, forced turnover of personnel in the nuclear arms area.
They are now cleared for working in the Atlanta public school administration.
Yikes!
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