Posted on 06/24/2002 7:42:26 AM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — U.S. Air Forces in Europe airmen have too much work and too little time, equipment and supplies, according to a confidential survey circulated in the command. But airmen also cited improvements in nine of the 13 survey areas."Overall, people are very happy with their job," said Capt. Gabriel Orick, section chief of USAFE’s performance management office, which works to help commanders meet their goals.
"They feel fulfilled, and they feel that they have a purpose and are doing a good mission," he said.
More than half of USAFE’s 32,000 personnel responded to the 2002 Chief of Staff of the Air Force Organizational Climate Survey, which was circulated to each of the service’s major commands on May 24.
"The survey helps people know that the higher-ups are concerned about their well-being and their thoughts and comments," Orick said.
The survey also included seven command-specific questions to help nail down how USAFE commanders and units are doing. Those questions focused on how USAFE people felt about their leadership, the predictability and stability of the Air Expeditionary Force structure, the workload and deployments, and whether they felt safe at work and at home, according to a news release on the survey.
Overall, responses were positive to questions regarding quality of life in USAFE, Orick said. Fifty-seven percent of those responding agreed, for example, that the new AEF structure made their lives more predictable. Seventy-three percent said they were satisfied with overall quality of life in USAFE.
Complaints about lack of resources, such as enough time, space, people and money to do the job, aren’t new. Neither are concerns about a lack of supplies, Orick said. Concerns over operations tempo, however, may have been exacerbated because of the high pace of operations after Sept. 11.
Other survey questions focused on:
*Specific jobs and whether people have enough skills, autonomy, feedback and integrity in their work.
*Whether personnel incorporate Air Force core values, such as excellent service and accountability, in their work.
*Teamwork.
*Whether people are comfortable in giving and receiving "job enhancements," such as treating each other conscientiously.
*Whether supervision is effective.
*The quality and quantity of training and development.
*Whether people have the opportunity to participate in their workplace by making suggestions or improvements.
*Unit leadership: Do troops know their leaders’ visions and goals? Do commanders inspire trust and motivation?
*Flexibility: How flexible can a unit change to new directions or challenges?
*General satisfaction: Do people feel valued as a military member?
*Is recognition of good work fairly distributed?
The survey has been circulated every two years since 1997. Orick said commanders do look at the survey and, where needed, institute changes. To help them in this process, the Air Force provides a workbook that helps them sift through survey answers and offers suggestions on making concrete changes.
Commanders at all levels are expected to brief their people on the survey results by June 30.
1)Are there enough aircraft for the various branches to meet our worldwide commitments.
2)How badly outdated are our planes?
3) Are there new aircraft coming or are we going to bypass this stage for a newer version down the line like we are with the Crusader? Isn't there an inherently dangerous problem if Bush is succeeded by someone like Clinton or Carter who then scrap the new planes and artillery and all of our equipment is another decades older?
4) Given the diminished threat of the Russians and the lousy attitudes of the Europeans, wouldn't it make sense to bring some of our boys home?
5) Is anybody else as pi$$ed as I am at the ungrateful South Koreans who roundly booed our soccer team no matter who they were playing? (I couldn't care less about soccer, but it could have been a lawn dart competition and I still would have been ticked.) I know we have to contain the Chinese, but it would almost be worth it to pull our troops out to see the look on the South Koreans faces when the Chicoms swarm down the peninsula.
4) (Should we pull out of Europe?) I think we should (or at least pull out the bulk of our forces, leaving behind a small presence in case it becomes necessary to deploy troops there again in the future). The Europeans should be policing their own back yard (the Balkans); we would never ask or want the EU to help us out if we ever got into it w/ a neighboring nation (nor could we expect any help even if we needed it, IMHO).
5) As for Korea, yeah, it's pretty annoying that a lot of the folks on the peninsula don't appreciate, and even resent, our presence there. I noticed the same attitude there as in Bosnia: most of the kids love us, and a lot of the older people love us, but a lot of the locals in their twenties through fifties resent us.
I used to be a big fan of projecting power all over the place, but upon thinking more about the Constitutional function of the military and the lack of appreciation on the part of the people we keep having to save from themselves, I say it's time to start letting these folks handle their own problems.
You bring up some great points in your other questions, as well, but they're "out of my lane", to use the Army terminology, so I'll sit back and read what others have to say on those topics.
FReegards.
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