Comfort Capsules

The Air Force has really been a service adrift in the "war on terror" era, getting into all kinds of fights with other players and generally having difficulty endearing itself to the rest of the security establishment as a useful tool. I suspect the news that top Air Force generals have been wasting not only money but an absurd amount of time on installing "comfort capsules" on "military planes that ferry senior officers and civilian leaders around the world" with an eye to making sure "that leaders can talk, work and rest comfortably in the air."

In partial defense of the Air Force, I suppose, I would say that semi-abusive use of military planes as private jets in circumstances when commercial vehicles would work fine seems to have become one of the most cherished perks of civilian officials in both the executive branch and the congress. Under the circumstances, one can sort of understand how the Air Force came to feel that it's air taxi mission required this kind of high-level attention. Long story short, in addition to cutting this specific BS out, we really ought to reform the whole way the use of military transportation works. See here for some examples of dubious practices that cost taxpayers a remarkable amount of dough.

Comments

What else should the Pentagon spend their time and money on? Base wiring? Get real.

If our top brass can't watch Step It Up on a comfy seat then the terrorists won.

Posted by Matthew | July 18, 2008 11:00 AM

I have several ex-military friends who have told me how the military (not just the Air Force) allows a large number of useless flights for officers so that they can keep their pilot's rating current. Their duties no longer require them to actually fly, but that rating is valuable when you retire, so we pay for those flight hours.

Posted by LFC | July 18, 2008 11:04 AM

Is that a defense, Matt?

The best that can be said is that the top generals in the Air Force weren't simply concerned about their own comfort; they were making a strategic effort to pamper influential officials in the hopes of currying favor. That's a pretty thin defense.

The underlying problem here is that the basic culture of the Air Force is badly broken. At its inception, it was organized around aircraft - most officers had the primary duty of going aloft in airplanes. Today, less than a third of commissioned officers are fliers of any kind, and a far smaller percentage fly combat aircraft. The onetime "support roles" have morphed into the dominant functions of the service. But the path to advancement to general officer rank still lies almost exclusively through flying combat aircraft, despite a notable lack of evidence that the two skill sets overlap to any substantial degree. Along the way, the Air Force created an insular culture that confused the means (very cool flying machines) with the ends (protecting the United States and its interests). The result is a service with a homogeneous culture that brooks little dissent or innovation. The recent crises are symptons of this underlying dysfunction - the institutionalization of evangelical Christianity, carelessness with weaponry, cozy relationships with contractors and manufacturers, and most scandalous of all, a refusal to adapt to the changing battlefield.

Gates, to his credit, seems to understand all this. He threw out the existing leadership (including most of the clowns in this article) and installed the first Chief of Staff in Air Force history who's a transport jockey, and not a combat pilot. He also promoted the V/CS sideways to USTRANSCOM, to allow Schwartz free reign in his new job.

What we need is an Air Force dedicated to winning battles abroad, and not just those in Washington. Spending millions on better seats indicates to me that the current crop of senior officers was more intent on currying favor and defending turf than with waging GWOT. The money would have been better spent on AUVs. The Air Force might try reorienting its efforts away from air superiority (what a waste) and toward affordable and deployable UAVs, and to combat air support. Heck, the Army's even forced to haul many of its own provisions around Iraq in flying boxcars because the Air Force doesn't have the aircraft for the tast. Disgraceful.

I don't mind stories like this that focus in on flamboyantly egregious behavior. But let's not mistake sympton for cause. The underlying culture is rotten, and needs to be repaired.

Posted by Cynic | July 18, 2008 11:14 AM

Generals have always valued their comfort during wartime. Gen Westmoreland pretty much ran the entire Vietnam campaign from the bar at the Atlanta Hotel in Bangkok. He may have visited Vietnam often, but he never slept there. He always stayed at the Atlanta. This really isn't anything new. And giving them a comfortable place to hang out that isn't a public bar is probably an improvement in security.

Posted by fostert | July 18, 2008 12:19 PM

"The best that can be said is that the top generals in the Air Force weren't simply concerned about their own comfort; they were making a strategic effort to pamper influential officials in the hopes of currying favor. That's a pretty thin defense."

Considering how they trashed the the USAF Academy[1], the core source of elite USAF officers, it's pretty clear that the most concentrated nest of traitors in the US is the generals of the USAF.

[1] Or should I say, "Dobson's Academy".

Posted by Barry | July 18, 2008 1:31 PM

So Air Force planes will look like the inside of Tony Stark's plane, eh? Hot running stewardesses and saki instead of grizzled old Air Force sergeants and MRE's?

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | July 18, 2008 5:17 PM

I really doubt that the Air Force bigshots were doing anything worse than other government bigshots. They probably just weren't sharing enough of the take with their bosses in the Pentagon, White House, and Congress.

Posted by Gary Sugar | July 18, 2008 6:12 PM

Typical Air force gold plating.

A spartan version of this would be a good idea. Two reasons.
The conditions on a Air Force cargo plane are not exactly conducive to getting work done. If they can create something that allows a General, Member of Congress, or DOD Secretary to do their job,it would be great.

Second, I'd rather these bigwigs take a C-5 that is already scheduled to fly to Iraq or Afghanistan, than use a Gulfstream and waste all the money.

Posted by jon | July 18, 2008 7:51 PM

The Air Force and the Navy need to be seriously scaled back.

And Eisenhower was right.

Posted by Mark | July 19, 2008 12:19 AM

I have spent 19 years in the AF as an enlisted maintainer. The AF has lost it's vision for a number of reasons.

1. Neutering of the Air Force. While the Air Force culture was never as Rambo as the military, when I came in years ago it was very blue collar (lets work hard, fix the planes, and get a beer). It has slowly evolved into a risk adverse, corporate white collar (in a bad way) domain. When I was an Airman, we were rated on our ability to do our primary jobs. Today we have a "whole person" concept that rewards volunteering and politicking more than actual job performance. The ideal Airman is slightly more wholesome than a Mormon missionary.

2. Downsizing. The real reason those nuclear weapons were sent across the country was because the Airman and NCO's spend over half their time doing computer based training, volunteering, and performing extra duties. Once upon a time their was a whole cadre of support personnel there to support the maintainers who supported the planes/pilots. Now days, all these jobs have been replace by computer websites, automated phone lines, and private contractors without a clue.

3. F-22: You want a story, look into how much man-power is required to maintain it... ask about "Low Observables" and shortage of personnel.

Subconsciously as an institution we know we need to change, but it will be painful. Quite frankly a this point, I would almost recommend merging it with the Army, except their quality of life sucks, and you need a good quality of life to keep the sort of skills and knowledge that is required to maintain aircraft.

Me, I am counting the days to retirement.

Posted by NoNameAirman | July 19, 2008 1:39 AM