The “Stovepipe” Myth

By Lt Col (Ret) Brian Withrow



My recent retirement from the Air Force (AF) presented an opportunity to reflect upon my years of service as a Munitions Officer.  I’m one of the last of the “old breed” Munitions Officers to depart the AF having entered the career field in the next to last class of AFSC 4054 students at Lowry AFB in March 1989.  It’s not just the timing and circumstances of my entry into the munitions “profession” that I feel make me one of the “old breed”, but that with the exception of one stint in F-16 sortie generation, all my duty  assignments/experiences were directly related to munitions.  That, unfortunately, is what makes me a rarity as I depart the AF.

As I mentioned, I was in one of the last “Munitions Officer” career field training classes at Lowry, which is because sometime in the late 1980’s a movement to transform logistics career fields emerged within AF senior leadership. The impetus for this transformation was a belief by some that there was a need to develop a greater depth of understanding within logistics core competencies such as aircraft maintenance and munitions.  That it was necessary to break down “stovepipe” career fields to develop officers who understand the “full scope” of logistics competencies whether at home-station or deployed. This was done with the belief that logistics career field mergers and logistics “broadening” would improve efficiency and effectiveness in the Joint operations environment while simultaneously cutting costs and eliminating wasteful redundancies.

The fallacy of this “career broadening” strategy was the premise that some logistics career fields such as munitions were “stovepipes” in the first place.  As defined in the business world, “a stovepipe refers to those parts of an organization that focus on a single objective without regard to parallel efforts in neighboring divisions, enterprise-wide efficiency, cost/benefits, or the relationship between the organization and the overall game plan of the enterprise.”  The targeting of this term toward “specialized” functional competencies within the logistics’ community such as munitions invoked perceptions that just weren’t true.  Opinion that the munitions career field was a limited and narrowly focused set of competencies grew and led to a belief by many that serving in consecutive munitions jobs made you less promotable.  In reality, none of these misconceptions had a basis in fact but became convenient mainstream thought in the face of growing political pressure to downsize and reduce budgets.  As a result, the depth of munitions expertise amongst officers in the logistics community diminished throughout the 1990’s to present contributing to disturbing “high profile” mishaps and inspection failures, most notably in the nuclear weapons functional area.

Functional competencies in the munitions career field are not limited and narrowly focused.  Even though I spent most of my years in munitions jobs by choice, and by today’s AF benchmark would be considered to be “deeply” experienced in munitions, there is still so much more I could have experienced and learned.  One could spend a lifetime of work “broadening” just in the variety of munitions related subjects it is possible to encounter.  Just consider the wide variety of conventional and nuclear weapons and associated components in the munitions stockpile even after extensive force drawdowns; it still covers the gamut from small arms ammunition to strategic missiles.  Consider all the weapons delivery airframes and systems, release systems, and weapons loading; storage/handling, inspection, maintenance.  Think about the associated special facilities, equipment and tools, vehicles and trailers.  Take into account weapons safety, munitions accountability, and even what was looked upon as the “special ops” of the munitions officer career field when I entered the service, Explosives Ordnance Disposal (EOD).  Plus consider all the organizational levels where munitions knowledge is needed; flight, maintenance supervision (sorry, I don’t call it Ops Officer), squadron command; staff officer positions at HQ AF, MAJCOMs, Joint Staff, OSD, and Combatant Commands.  Don’t forget System Program Office (SPO) positions and munitions acquisition and procurement jobs; plus consider test program positions at Eglin and Nellis, and AFMC Depots positions and prepositioning programs such as Standard Air Munitions Package (STAMP) and the Afloat Preposition Fleet (APF).

The AF needs to revitalize the Munitions Officer career field and acknowledge that “deep knowledge” of munitions functions is necessary for its mission success.  During my time on Air Staff when contingency operations such as Desert Fox or Kosovo occurred, I never recall senior leadership requesting a “logistics officer” when they needed munitions information in the Crisis Action Center.