By Col (Ret) Dr. Larry Chandler & Lt Col (Ret) Brian Withrow
What is wrong with this advice given to many lieutenant 21M munitions and missile maintenance officers today (and really a long time ago, I got this advice myself)? The answer is, it depends. If you are the lieutenant, this advice is probably true in part, but for the U.S. Air Force, it is counter-productive personnel policy that degrades mission capability. Lets unpack the truth from the many myths. First what is, “behind the fence?”
The “fence” is the munitions storage area (MSA) or the nuclear weapons storage area (WSA), and for operational reasons both are not easy for the maintenance group commander or the wing commander (The Boss) to just stop by to see how the company grade officers (CGO) are doing. The MSA is usually far from the main base so an explosives accident won’t destroy the entire base. While the WSA is usually closer, there are all those security procedures; badge exchange, hand-carried items searched, vehicles searched, etc. The distance, security procedures, or both are very time consuming and inconvenient for the busy scheduled boss to just stop by…and so it happens infrequently. The most likely time for visits is just before major inspections or when something goes wrong. If you are the CGO in charge, is this the best of circumstances for getting to know the group and wing commander?
On a normal duty day behind the fence, there seems not much a flurry of activity, things look pretty calm, deliberate and scheduled in great detail. On the flightline however, midst the routine hustle of getting the aircraft launched and recovered, the group and wing commander can easily stop by to see how things are going…and they do. There you are, a CGO hustling between aircraft, clipboard-schedule in hand, briefing what has just happened and what you expect is about to happen…the specialist and APG troops are working hard, aircraft engines running…excitement abounds. Compare the two work situations and it is easy to see why those group and wing commanders suggest to 21M CGOs they “get out from behind the fence.”
But let’s look at this advice from an Air Force mission perspective. What if all the 21M’s take the advice and work hard to get out from behind the fence? Both officer and enlisted hear the constant hum of this advice and maybe think that means what goes on behind the fence is just not that important? Maybe after 20 years or so of this perception and advice being offered, the constant drumbeat to “career broaden”, and many officers taking it, we notice that maybe few officers are ever behind the fence for sustained or repeat tours of duty accruing, using and then passing along to those who follow….valuable experience and expertise? Shouldn’t Air Force leadership re-think this strategy and advice considering we are talking about munitions, high explosives that in an accident will cause many deaths and destroy operational mission capability…and nuclear weapons that in an accident scenario can result in National and international catastrophic consequences. Munitions, that during contingency operations instantly become among the most coveted of resources for combat mission success.
There are many officers working on the flightline, several on group and wing staff, and several in each of the squadrons, but there are rarely more than 4-5 total in a munitions squadron including the squadron commander and operations officer. The level of responsibility for those very few CGOs “behind the fence” should give all of us pause. Without maturing a core of 21M officers with accumulated, “in-depth” munitions expertise, where will we get the staff officers to formulate policy, resolve logistics issues, and accurately advise senior leaders? Has it been that long since August 2007 when the Minot-Barksdale incident forced the Secretary of the Air Force and the Air Force Chief of Staff to resign?
I was very fortunate to work for DCMs (Group CCs for the newbies) and wing commanders who spent a great deal of time in the MSAs and WSAs where I worked. Gen (Ret) Earl O’Loughlin, MG (Ret) Lewis Curtis, Col (MG ret) Ed Bracken, Col (Gen Ret) John Gordon, Col (MG Ret) Sam Westbrook all spent so much time in the MSAs and WSAs, they could very accurately brief what we were doing (without a prepared PowerPoint presentation)…they grasped details and we knew they understood the details.
Most all munitions officers also served in aircraft maintenance jobs and did them well…that is because as young officers we learned by example that we had to know the details to survive. But most of us were vectored back into munitions positions with a “flightline” background to complement core munitions duties…not because this career track was great for us BUT because it was absolutely necessary for the Air Force.
I hope that NOT ALL our great 21M officers heed the constant drumbeat advice to get out from behind the fence, because the AF mission is too important to let careerism rule. Of the 21M officers who do get out from behind the fence, many are never allowed to return, or only return after far too many years away (e.g., Minot MUNS/CC in 2007 returned after 13 years in Special OPS). Because the Air Force needs munitions and missile maintenance officers in there behind that fence managing munitions and nuclear weapons operations…safely generating combat power to accomplish the mission. When the shooting starts, commanders want to know where their AMMO is, (conventional munitions) and we always want to know where our nuclear weapons are! The 21M behind the fence is critical to USAF mission success, everyday!
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