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Show 2 TIMES Feb. 16, 2012 THilltom,,, COMMENTARY I've been bailing awhile; the captain must be an idiot BY MAJ. TRENTON SPENCER 52nd Logistics Readiness Squadron W ekly e Hilltop Times Editorial Staff: Lee Carter ... Standard-Examiner publisher Mary Lou Gorny Hilltop Times Editor Krista Starker Hilltop Times Correspondent Deadlines: Editorial and news items are due by noon on the Friday prior to the Thursday print date. To submit news items e-mail hilltoptimes@standard.net or call 801- 625-4273. For Classified Advertising, call 801-625-4300. For Retail Advertising, call 801-625-4388. The Hilltop Times is published by Ogden Publishing Corp., a private firm in no way connected with the U.S. Air Force, under, and in compliance with, a Memorandum of Understanding with Hill Air Force Base. The content of the Hilltop Times does not necessarily represent the views of, nor is it endorsed by, the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Air Force or Hill Air Force Base (collectively, the Government). The appearance of advertising in this publication, including inserts or supplements, does not constitute endorsement by the Government of the products or services advertised. Everything advertised in this publication shall be made available for purchase, use or patronage without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, physical handicap, political affiliation or any other nonmerit factor of the purchaser, user or patron. Editorial content is edited, prepared and provided by the Standard-Examiner, 332 Standard Way, Ogden, Utah, 84404. Additional editorial content is provided by various military and civilian wire services and Hill Air Force Base public affairs departments. Call 801-625-4273 with story ideas or comments, or contact the editor, Mary Lou Gorny, at mgorny@standard.net . Call 801-625-4300 for Classified Advertising or 801-6254388 for Retail Advertising. S PANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany — Imagine you are part of a crew on a classic sailing ship. You are navigating rough seas, violent storms, and trying your best to stay afloat and reach your next port. Your crew works below deck. There are no windows below deck. The little light produced by the old copper oil lamp only adds to the misery of how bleak your conditions are. You can see the old tattered wooden beams and the old box used as a chair, and the stale air reeks of weeks at sea. Yet, on this night, and for the past nights, your only concern has been to bail water out of the hull. Your entire waking hours are spent filling buckets and dumping them out. Hour after hour, your crew bails water from the hull. You have asked for more crew and more buckets from the captain of the ship, but your questions have been unanswered. Who is this captain? Does he have a clue? What an idiot! To make matters worse, word came down he wants to "re-purpose" two of your crew for other duties on the ship. In addition, he is taking a third person at the next port of call and removing him from the ship. There are only a few of you left and of those few, half of you are sick. Doesn't he know you cannot do your job if he keeps taking all of your people? The ship won't sail if it is underwater. You cannot even keep your processes alive with manpower this low. What? He wants to take buckets from you now. Seriously, your team had just barely enough buckets to have one for each person and have barely kept water from sinking the ship. Again, you say your captain is an idiot. If he just spent two hours with you, he would realize you need four times as much manning and three times the number of buckets. You see all the wood on this ship and think, "Why can't he start pulling up planks from the deck or use one of the masts to make more buckets?" From where you sit, you are correct. Your team's job is to ensure the ship does not take on water. It is especially daunting given the while sailing in rough waters. He retrained some personnel. He reallocated resources. He cut secondary missions that serve the ship and not the mission. Tough choices; tough times. With the current fiscal challenges facing our nation and our Air Force, we are all in the belly of the ship, trying to tread water. Being great Airmen, we are passionate and excellent at doing our work. Our perspective is clouded, though. If left to us, we would buy more buckets and more people to bail water. The ship would be free of water, but would not accomplish its mission. How many times have you thought, "What is the captain thinking? My NCO doesn't have a clue. If only they gave me X, Y or Z, I could do my task." We need to keep in mind that the captain of the ship and each subordinate element faces distinctly different challenges than what we face. Even the captain may be guilty of loss of perspective. In a constrained resource environment difficult choices must be made. By focusing on the true problem, we will be able to best allocate these resources. The larger challenge is to stay focused on the mission, especially in a fast-paced environment. While at sea, the captain was trying to keep the ship afloat and also accomplish its mission. The Air Force is in those times now — crisis, manning cuts, budget cuts and even mission cuts. We have to find a way to accomplish our set tasks with less resources, more effectiveness and to support our leaders making the tough choices. Leaders need to ensure they communicate the goal and purpose to their subordinates, so the subordinates can understand the big picture. We need to ensure we all have the same perspective on where we are heading. A left turn or a right turn doesn't affect the subordinates as much if they understand where we are going. It makes sense to retrain a bucket boy into a carpenter if leaders explain why he was retrained. So, is the captain an idiot? It is not up to me to decide. But, I've been bucket boy of the quarter twice, had my shop's manning cut, had resources taken away and still accomplished the mission. I get it now. He wasn't acting against us, he was acting for us. In the end, if he is an idiot, then to me, he's the smartest idiot I know. rough seas you are sailing. However, the captain of the ship has an alternate perspective. His primary purpose is to accomplish the mission and to ensure each of his teams perform their processes so the system works. A ship cannot sail on its own. It needs a solid infrastructure and people to make it move. Looking from the mission perspective of the captain, it makes sense he pulled two members from your team to re-use them as carpenters. He realizes the ship can't function when it takes on this much water. However, from his perspective, the problem is not bailing water, but ensuring water doesn't penetrate below deck. If he can remove the cause, he removes the problem. At some point in time, the captain made the decision to take the risk of reducing your manpower to reuse them to repair holes, tears, gaps and other problems on the ship. If he can repair the infrastructure, then your operations will be complete. Then, your entire team will be available to use on mission-focused tasks, rather than crisisrecovery tasks. While it is necessary to keep the ship afloat, the purpose of the ship is to accomplish its mission. What about the wood from the buckets? Maybe the captain needed to use the steel band and wood timbers in a repair. Maybe while making a repair, a new hole was created and water needed to be bailed from that location on the ship. What about the individual who is being cut from the crew? Again, the captain realized he needed to lean the ship. The galley staff is large and serves the needs of the ship and the mission indirectly. With the manning on the ship, the galley crew had to be large. The only way to cut the galley crew was to cut manning across the ship. Your section lost one individual, but other sections lost more. In fact, one whole team was cut. While part of the ship's mission was to have a crew to fish for and make dried squid, the captain realized this was a secondary mission that could be cut. Ensuring his war ship was in place to defend the Constitution is his primary purpose. The economic benefit of selling dried squid, however tasty it might be, could be cut in order to maintain the ship's mission. Thus, the captain made tough choices AIRMAN TO AIRMAN 777-7000 action.line.pa@hill.af.mil HAWC Nest Fitness Tip from the Health and leafiness Canter Up to 12 weeks of FREE tobacco cessation medication is available to federal employees and up to 6 months is available for active duty, dependents and retirees when attending the tobacco cessation series. Call the Health and Wellness Center at 801-777-1215 for further information. THINK SAFETY Hill's Total 2012 DUls: 2 Hill's Last DUI: Pao. 23 Unit Involved: 3irga ,lewrajt Victiateaciace 59ceeloGrao Airmen Against Drinking and Driving provide rides when designated drivers are unavailable. Call 777-1111 to request a ride anytime. Hours of operation: Fridays-Saturdays 10 p.m.- 6 a.m. Sundays 9 p.m.-midnight. When you call or send an e-mail, your comments will be recorded and staffed through the agency responsible for action. Please give your supervisor and chain of command the opportunity to Tech. Sgt. Earl Stoll 75th Air Base Wing, Executive Assistant to the Command Chief Where are you from? Ringgold, Ga. What is your favorite movie quote? "Remember what ol' Jack Burton always said at a time like this: 'Have you paid your dues Jack?' `Yes sir. The check is in the mail." — "Big Trouble in Little China" Riding four wheelers, camping, shooting guns, bowling, watching movies and listening to music. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why? The Alps because from the photos I've seen, it looks like someplace I would really like. What is your favorite part about being in the Air Force? All the people you meet. What is your favorite thing to do on the weekends? ATV'ing and playing cards. If you were not in the Air Force, what would you want to be? An auto mechanic. What are your future goals? To make master sergeant, retire and move on to the next half of my life. What is your favorite type of music? I listen to everything. I have a broad musical spectrum. What are your hobbies? work with you in answering questions and solving problems before calling the Action Line. This will help me better serve your interests. Items of basewide interest will be published in the Hilltop Times. Report suspicious activity via the AFOSI EAGLE EYES program Dial: 777-3056 / 3057/ 3058. Watch - Report - Protect Force Protection is Our Business - Everyone is a Sensor Phone numbers — The base agencies listed can be contacted directly if you have a complaint or a problem with their services: Security Forces 24-hr. Crisis Information Force Support Squadron Base Restaurants Retirement/Compensation 777-3056 777-3056 777-4134 777-2043 777-6142 (civilian) Equal Opportunity Office Employer Relations Military Pay Civilian Pay Air Force Suggestion Program Hill Straight Talk IG Complaints (for appointment) IG Complaints (after hours) Fraud, Waste or Abuse 777-5455 777-7129 777-1851 777-6246 777-6901 777-9696 777-5305 777-5361 777-5361 (recording) Loud Noise 1 877 885 9595 - - - SUICIDE PREVENTION ASSISTANCE Mental Health Clinic 777-7909 Chaplain 777-2106 Military OneSource (800) 342-9647 National Suicide (800) 273-8255 Prevention Line TriWest Crisis Line (866) 284-3743 TriWest Behavioral (866) 651-4970 Health Contact Center EAP (800) 222-0364 Occupational Medicine 777-1163 Services Wingman Advocates 777-2255 (complaints) What is your favorite childhood memory? Racing cars on Saturday nights and hanging out with my friends on the weekend. 75th Medical Group Civil Engineering Hill Pride Hotline Public Affairs Military Housing Maintenance Safety Office 777-4918 Safety Office Hotline 777-1856 Sexual Assault Response 777-7433 Coordinator (or) 777-5333 Union 825-9392 AFOSI NarcoticsHotline Family Assistance Center 777-3333 (when activated) 586-9300 777-1985 777-1964 777-3257 777-1852 777-3090 |