Commentary - What's your Air Force relationship status?

News > Commentary - What's your Air Force relationship status?

What's your Air Force relationship status?

Posted 5/28/2013 Updated 5/28/2013

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Commentary by Chief Master Sgt. Tamala Hartz
97th Security Forces Squadron

5/28/2013 - ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. (AFNS) -- How are things between you and the Air Force these days? Would you say the two of you are in a committed relationship? Are you happy with the Air Force? Is the Air Force happy with you? Are either of you thinking of ending the relationship? These may sound like silly questions, but when you really think about it, your relationship with the Air Force is a lot like your relationships with friends and loved ones. A career in the Air Force will require work, maintenance and sacrifice similar to those efforts given to our personal associations.

Just like any extensive time spent with a person, extended time spent with the Air Force will mean a series of good times and not-so-good times. There will be times when you'll wonder why you're in this relationship, and there will be times when you can't imagine yourself without the Air Force. Like all other relationships, the Air Force will give and take. A few of the great opportunities you have in the Air Force that you may not find in civilian companies include: the sense of being part of an organization bigger than yourself, travel, fair promotion opportunities, competitive pay and benefits, protection from unfair work practices, and other quality of life options for you and your family. Just like in other relationships, in order to have the great things you must make some sacrifices. Throughout your career, you will be afforded the opportunity to work long hours, take multiple deployments, go on remote assignments, and be exposed to harsh work environments. It's going to mean understanding your time in the Air Force as a process of give and take, just like you do in any successful relationship.

When you think about the key components in a successful long term relationship you'll find it requires strength of character, putting the other person's needs before yours, and a predominant desire for exceptionalism that makes you unique to a person. Does any of that sound familiar? It should. It basically means integrity first, service before self, and excellence in all you do. When you swore your oath of allegiance to enter the Air Force you essentially changed your relationship status to reflect a committed relationship to the Air Force and these are the requirements of that relationship.

As we move forward through challenges and endeavors, work on and treat your career as you would a relationship with a friend or loved one. Some days it will seem like you are facing the most difficult times of your life, and other times you will feel like you are truly living the best days of your life. At the end of a career whether it is four or thirty years, I hope your relationship with the Air Force is a positive one that improved your life and you as a person. Thank you, for what you do every day.

Comments

6/4/2013 3:16:23 PM ET
I have been happily married to the Air Force for 6 years. No one could ever love me like he does.

SSgt D, JBPHH HI

6/4/2013 1:31:35 PM ET
I care deeply for my local Air Force family. They motivate and challenge me. In regard to big Air Force I feel as if my head is always within a few inches of the chopping block. RIF boards. Force shaping. Med boards. Retention boards. Annual or semi-annual PT tests. Each of these events are capable of killing our careers. I hate that we are often a one-mistake Air Force. My local leadership may be sympathetic about a PT test failure but big Air Force is heartless. I hope that this situation improves once our military budget system is stabilized. However even during periods of stability we still have to deal with leadership that could value equipment more than personnel. Gen Moseley for example waged a campaign of force shaping and RIF boards in order to pay for more F-22s. I desire to serve my country and eventually retire from the military. I just hope that I don't make a mistake that could cause me to removed from service.

Anxiety, US

6/2/2013 3:05:55 PM ET
It takes a special person to be in the Air Force or in the military. If you came in for the wrong reasons you will hold bitterness. I originally intended to stay for 4 years but i ended up going beyond that and still is. I admit when i came in i didn't have any plans for my life. But the Air Force gave me many opportunities that I would have or will take me a long time to achieve where it not for the Air Force. Where can you get a job that will provide you shelter and feed you Maybe i just have a simple want. I think that people in the military now a days do not understand the core values because they never lived for others and always for themselves. Look at some of the comments here all for themselves and what's in it for me what the Air Force didn't do for me. Like a marriage it's your choice. It's a voluntary force

Chief B, Georgia

5/30/2013 1:48:19 PM ET
Like many marriages my partner and I split after 20 blissful years because I became to fat and old to please her. I married her sister Civil service. She doesn't care how old or out of shape I may be but then again she isn't as exciting as my first love. I enjoyed my time and I truly wish the Airmen of today the best of luck in their careers they will need it in this age when the political powers in charge are so out of touch with the military.

Depot Sparkchaser, Robins AFB

5/30/2013 11:42:27 AM ET
I did not enlist because I wanted to see the world or go to college or because I wanted to be a part of something larger than myself or because of patriotism. I enlisted for a paycheck. I did not reenlist because I loved the Air Force so much. I reenlisted because I was still getting that paycheck and my specialty decided to sweeten the deal with massive reenlistment bonuses and 525 per month of extra pays.I am not going to sit here and say that I hate every day I go to work and it is miserable. I am just not in love with the job. I will continue to do it until retirement because there are few places I could have started out with only a high school diploma and continued on with almost guaranteed employment with a pension with medical with education benefits and so on. There are of course fun times when I get to blow stuff up and kill people but the majority of my time is spent in tedium. In reality I am getting paid a lot and I have job security that I would not have on the

EOD MSgt, CONUS

5/30/2013 11:29:41 AM ET
Most of these bitter comments are laughable. Like any relationship you get back what you put into it. This is a military organization and with that come some different standards when compared to the civilian sector. If not giving all that is asked or can not hold the standards then terminate the relationship. Keep in mind that the tape says US AIR FORCE on your uniform and not US AIR LINES and everyone volunteered for this relationship.

BigTom, SWOK

5/30/2013 10:09:02 AM ET
Chief I get your point but the analogy is just wrong. My wife and I have been married longer than I have been in the AF. It is a true partnership and there is a lot of give and take. With the AF it is all take take and take...there is no give. The AF doesn't ask me if I want to be stationed here or there and certainly never asked me if I wanted to be at Altus many years ago...didn't then and never want to go back. Still waiting for a PACAF assignment...see what I mean

A SNCO, An AFB Near You

5/30/2013 8:22:37 AM ET
After 20 years we finally divorced. Fortunately I had a good divorce lawyer and was awarded a lifetime paycheck and depending on if the AF keeps its word I will have pretty decent health care for life as well. I also kept all my experience and chose to stay away from the AF evil sister the Civil Service also known as the civilian AF. By staying away and going to the private sector I get to start at 95k a year unlike the poor folks who fall for the comfort of the Civil Service GS 07 or GS 09 pay scales. I actually feel bad for the folks that married the Civil Service entity. They all seem to be complaining about furloughs and no pay raises now. Sounds like Divorce number two for those folks is just around the corner.

Happily Divorced, Ohio

5/30/2013 6:43:50 AM ET
This has a very rose-colored-glasses flavor to it. Truth is AF will gladly divorce herself through involuntary force structuring actions CJRs etc. True that we want Airmen to feel invested in the mission but to pitch the relationship as a 50-50 affair pun intended is pretty idealistic. Point taken Chief but it looks like you are looking down from the top of candy mountain.

Scott H., PNW

5/30/2013 1:21:18 AM ET
I've only been in 4.5 years and can see where the Chief is coming from in some ways...but although I enjoy serving and look forward to deployments I feel the Air Force gets more out of me each year than I get from it. A majority of people I've come across have been encouraging and there for each other but there comes a point in time where no matter how much you're putting forth..hours time dedication...etc.. it just seems its never enough. In the end it boils down to we are all numbers with a tag price..

Exhausted, Overseas

5/29/2013 9:15:32 PM ET
Good article thank you chief.

Fellow Airman, JBSA

5/29/2013 5:56:13 PM ET
The relationship was good until the Air Force decided to sweep its sexually assualted Airmen under the rug and discharge them with so called personality disorders.

Sorry, Not Sorry

5/29/2013 5:40:43 PM ET
After 24 years together the Air Force and I divorced citing irreconcilable differences. At the end of every month she pays me a handsome alimony check because it was her that wanted to end the relationship and her that had been unfaithful. Oh we're still friends and I see her a few times each year when I go on base for medical appointments and such. But other than that we lead separate lives and have both moved on.

Lone Eagle, Grand County USA

5/29/2013 2:26:31 PM ET
What else do you expect from a Chief. I hope this was a joke.

Ben , WPAFB

5/29/2013 2:13:01 PM ET
I love the Air Force but she doesnt love me. The honeymoon was great but then I noticed my benefits slowly being taken away. I realized that she is more important to me than I am to her and that I am easily replaceable. I enjoy our time together and spent 24 years in the clothes she picked out eating the food she prepared and vacationing in spots she picked. She may not love me as much as I love her but I stick around because I really like the family.

Sarge, OH

5/29/2013 1:16:35 PM ET
What a bizarre and incredibly skewed analogy. In this so called give and take relationship the Air Force holds nearly all the cards and calls the shots. The member has a choice to stay or go an particular rare intervals and that is all. There is no negotiation nor compromise nor understanding. There is no striving toward discovering that which is mutually beneficial. It is the Air Force way or the highway. The Air Force does not care about individuals but rather about trends in statistics. There are people in the Air Force who care but the Air Force does not care. The Air Force will change the terms of the mutual agreement on a whim while the member has no such power. The Air Force has lost many good people because of the way it does business. The Air Force does not care. The Air Force does not really suffer. The Air Force just moves on wondering why it is not as wonderful as it used to be.

Arnie, Maryland

5/29/2013 11:54:08 AM ET
Chief your entire premise that the relationship between an Airman and the 300000 member Air Force is like that between two individuals is false. I like most had working and appropriate personal relationships with my subordinates peers and supervisors in my 20 years in uniform but it was not a relationship with the 'Air Force'. Had there been such a relationship senior leaders at group wing AFPC and HQ levels would have actually cared about what I and every other Airman had to say. The reality is that it has always been a one way street because the requirements and sheer size even of today's shrunken AF precluded the AF from having a committed relationship with ME. I am not complaining I merely disagree with the Chief's opinion. I made a rational choice to join the USAF I got a lot out of it and enjoyed most of it. I had great opportunities but it was never a relationship.

DMPI, Arlington VA

5/29/2013 11:24:14 AM ET
Any relationship is doomed when it's not an equal partnership. When my commander demands perfection then brags to the unit about getting out of a ticket in a government vehicle it's just more confirmation that we've lost focus.

Being held captive, NM

5/29/2013 10:33:16 AM ET
The story fails to acknowledge that you are Air Force till the end. After your 20 to 30 years you are assigned to the Retired Reserves and subject to recall. The Motto of the USAF Retirees is Still Serving and there are many Retiree Activities Offices at Active Reserve and Guard Bases that provide services to military retirees their family members and their survivors with Casualty Assistance SBP and DFAS retired pay helping to solve and navigate the paperwork associated with it.Still ServingCapt. Joe WychunasUSAF Ret.

Joe Wychunas, South Florida

5/29/2013 9:53:21 AM ET
Yet another Kool-Aid editorial. Give and take Sorry... the true AF core value today is Service to the exclusion of self. It's an abusive relationship and shows no signs of improving. Which is why I'm filing for a divorce.

Outta Here, Home for once

5/29/2013 9:10:27 AM ET
The marriage is a failure. After all of these years my partner my wingman my trusted companion has deserted me. I am left with no choice but to file divorce papers.

SNCO Ret, Scott

5/28/2013 10:57:09 PM ET
Let's not kid ourselves. We are nothing more than numbers on a spread sheet.

Enough, Las Vegas

5/28/2013 8:47:21 PM ET
It seems that the Air Force unfriended me. I don't think we have a relationship status. Or maybe it is an open relationship

blah, lv

5/28/2013 8:39:01 PM ET
It seems that the Air Force unfriended me. I don't think we have a relationship status. Or maybe it is an open relationship

SuperSGT5000LTCOL, LV

5/28/2013 8:34:50 PM ET
It's complicated.

SSgt K, Nellis AFB NV

5/28/2013 4:39:09 PM ET
My relationship with the AF will dramatically improve when the AF in general and the AF Historical Research Agency in particular publicly recognize the leadership contributions of my father Col. Clifford J. Heflin in the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb in WWII. That story has finally been revealed in a paper written by my husband and published in a recent edition of the peer-reviewed journal Air Power History. Unfortunately for the AF the true story challenges its Paul Tibbets-centric historical narratives so a unique type of courage is required to correct the prevailing iconic myths.

Catherine Heflin Dvorak, Illinois

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