“Barrett Sworn In As Secretary Of The Air Force” (AVweb):
As Secretary of the Air Force, Barrett is responsible for Department of the Air Force affairs including “organizing, training, equipping and providing for the welfare of 685,000 active duty, Guard, Reserve and civilian Airmen and their families,” along with overseeing the Air Force’s $205 billion annual budget, directing strategy and policy development, risk management, weapons acquisition, technology investments and human resource management. “The Airmen who wear our nation’s uniform are our greatest asset and treasure,” she said in her remarks following the swearing-in. “We have no greater charge than to develop and care for them and their families.”
Just as on the Air Force base where our flight school operates, there is no message about defeating our enemies. It is all about the employees!
What about the previous Air Force Secretary? Here’s an interview with Heather Wilson:
Wilson said her responsibilities as SecAF were broader than those of any other executive position she held…she was obligated to the welfare of 685,000 Total Force Airmen and their families, and the oversight of a $138 billion annual budget.
(Separately, if Donald Trump is hostile to Americans who identify as “women”, as his opponents claim, why did he nominate two such individuals in succession to this job?)
> …no message about defeating our enemies. It is all about the employees!
Not having bored your readers with the
mouse utopia theory for a few days, I offer a quote about the male mice: they “withdrew completely, never engaging in courtship or fighting” (emphasis mine). I’ll try to give it a few days before I compare the next modern social-political phenomenon with Calhoun’s mice!
“Separately, if Donald Trump is hostile to Americans who identify as “women”, as his opponents claim, why did he nominate two such individuals in succession to this job?”
What an intellectually dishonest line of reasoning. Akin to the old adage “I’m not racist, I have black friends!”
Trump’s abusive relationships and outspoken views on women are well documented, it’s not something “his opponents claim”.
Yes, very much intellectually dishonest. But you have to remember, Philip (I know him from a few very random, periodic interactions with him in his neck of the woods) always thinks he’s the smartest man in the room with his MIT Ph.D., etc. As a retired USAF colonel myself, Philip obviously doesn’t understand what Barret’s/Wilson’s comments really mean. AFAIK, Philip has NEVER served in the military nor worked for DOD…
I think you’ve inadvertently proved my point, Colonel Harold (I don’t remember ever meeting you, but I can assure you that I am usually the dumbest person in any room!). You imply that taxpayers cannot question the USAF unless they themselves have been part of this employee welfare org. That tends to support the hypothesis that the organization exists to serve insiders.
How can a curmudgeon and a political retrograde, such as Phil, be possibly smart? A MIT PhD? Huh? A dozen of those eggheads are worth less than one experienced Commissar, no matter what they think they can think of.
That’s why all progressive societies have state-sponsored re-education camps.
https://www.jerrypournelle.com/reports/jerryp/iron.html
Pournelle’s iron law of bureaucracy predicts that organizations tend to be taken over by the administration and support people, and are thus warped to serve their interests.
“message about defeating our enemies”
What enemies?
No branch of the military has been deployed against an enemy of America since 1945.
Given retirement ages, no serving member has ever even served alongside any military men that have ever been deployed against America’s enemies. Not once.
And we’re tired of sending them around the butt end of the Earth to fight random stone age tribes in Afghanistan and Iraq just for fun.