Useless People

I knew I had done a write up awhile back about useless Managers and Supervisors, but I didn't remember what I wrote. I found the original (Feb 16, 2007) but it mentioned more about the useless people in the Corporate world. Which, believe me, there are more than you can count out there. I have no use for those people. The military, on the other hand, doesn't have quite as many, but in this day and age of political correctness and being sensitive to every one's needs, we are starting to get more and more each year. It's a sad state of affairs when the US Military starts worrying about people's feelings. I can honestly say that, when I got out of the Air Force in 1996, I had 2 supervisors that I thought were great guys and role models to being a supervisor. These guys a couple of great guys. We even partied together outside work. But if you screwed them over they would bust your ass just you like deserved to be busted. On the other hand, if you did everything you were supposed to do and you did it to the best of your ability, they would stand behind you 100% no matter who was coming down on them. That's what good supervisor is. And, I will never forget Pat Thorsen nor Matthew Teasdale as long as I live because of their mentoring, their motivational skills, their support and their friendship. Both of these guys had plenty of reason to bust my ass, but both of them also saw what potential I had and they never gave up on me, no matter how much outside forces were trying to make them. And, for that, I am eternally grateful. I have patterned my supervisory skills after both of guys. And, I believe, after quite of few years of supervising young airmen that have made a few mistakes themselves, I think I did a pretty good job of emulating my supervisory "heros."

Now, I was Active Duty for 11 years. And I had TWO supervisors like that. That's not a good ratio. But, since getting out of the Active Duty Air Force and being a civilian for the last 11 years, I can tell you I have had exactly ZERO supervisors that were worth a crap. Not a single one!!! They have all been "Yes" men with no backbone. None have had the balls to stand up to anyone that even questions our motives, much less downright disagrees with what we're doing or how we're doing it. It has been super frustrating dealing with this useless people. After getting royally screwed by my supervisors at both Deltacom and Powertel, I realized that the only person that was ever going to have my back was me. But, when I cam back to the Military, I expected things to go back to the way they were when I was Active Duty. Wrong. The kindler, gentler Air Force has brought about the same type of supervisors and officers that I saw on the outside. No backbone and no backing of their people. They are too afraid of pissing off some higher up, so they just bend on command. It's sad, but I've learned to deal with it. I just go in, do my job and leave. I don't stick around, I don't go the extra mile anymore. It never helped anyway. After they proved that they aren't going to back us when the chips are down, we just do our job to the best of our ability and leave it at that. I don't ask for permission to do anything. I do what needs to be done to get the job done. If it wasn't the right call, then maybe someone will say something to me. But, with these people, it's doubtful. So, I don't put too much worry into repercussions of doing my job the way I see fit. As you can tell, I'm really not worried about it if I'm going sit here and discuss it on a World Wide BLOG. LOL.. Of course, all personal pages are blocked on Base, so none of them can read this anyway. Not that I care. I'll never write anything on this or my website that I wouldn't tell them to their face. But, they are too caught up in their little political ass kissing games to be bothered by a little person's opinion, like mine anyway, so it's moot point. But, I do like to vent and get my feelings out there. That's what helps me release the "pissed-offed-ness" that sometimes keeps me awake at night. Hopefully, this will help me get back to sleep tonight. Actually, I think it might.. My mind is starting to slow as I type now.

On a brighter note: We have booked a charter to dive the Oriskany, the aircraft carrier intentionally sunk of the shore of Pensacola, FL on 28 July. That's gonna be a blast!!! Of course, there will be a trip report and pics when I get back.