Tell Us: Dumb Air Force rules

[CommunityEditor]

Army Maj. Gen. Michael Oates, commander of the 10th Mountain Division, recently posted a question on his blog asking soldiers to sound off on the “stupidest” rules in the Army. And he got an earful from the troops.

That made us wonder: What are the stupidest rules in the Air Force? Have you ever run across a rule that you thought was too silly to be real? Are some rules hopelessly out of date? It can be about anything: Discipline, uniform regs, whatever. We want to hear from you.

[Silver Fox]

1.) The policy that pt shirts need to be tucked in at all times except when conducting PT. I understand about looking uniform in formation, but when I'm off duty in the desert just walking to the chow hall, looking like a poindexter benefits no one and provides less ventilation that not tucking the shirt in.

2.) Wearing hats. It's a military policy, and honestly one that I've never understood. Again, in formation is one thing.

3.) The former "your backpack must be over your left shoulder" rule. Stupidest thing I've ever heard of.

4.) The unwritten rule that I have to put on a smiley face and pretend to love everything about my life and career in the Air Force because an E-9 or a field grade officer is nearby. And that if my opinion differs from 'I LOVE THIS JOB AND LOSING MY TIME OFF AND BEING GONE OVER SIX MONTHS A YEAR!', then I'm wrong.
BUT THE CAKE GOES TO THIS ONE:

5.) In Vietnam, an SP Unit commander, in an effort to maintain order and discipline released a policy letter stating that, "Enlisted personnel must salute officers at all times in all circumstances, even when in the nude."

[LOAL-D]

5.) In Vietnam, an SP Unit commander, in an effort to maintain order and discipline released a policy letter stating that, "Enlisted personnel must salute officers at all times in all circumstances, even when in the nude."

Did it specify HAND salute?

[CrustySMSgt]

Originally Posted by LOAL-D

5.) In Vietnam, an SP Unit commander, in an effort to maintain order and discipline released a policy letter stating that, "Enlisted personnel must salute officers at all times in all circumstances, even when in the nude."

Did it specify HAND salute?

ROFLMAO!!!

[Silver Fox]

Originally Posted by LOAL-D

5.) In Vietnam, an SP Unit commander, in an effort to maintain order and discipline released a policy letter stating that, "Enlisted personnel must salute officers at all times in all circumstances, even when in the nude."

Did it specify HAND salute?

No. And I'll grab the book I found this in. It's got unusual and bad military policies and decisions.

Like the Dutch Military has a labor union. Consequently, they've gotten Dutch troops pay raises and relaxed hair/facial hair regulations.

Can you imagine having a labor union in the AF?

[sigecaps]

1) Requiring people to wear reflective belts over reflective PT uniforms.

[Silver Fox]

AGREED!

Not allowing more off base travel in Kuwait. Especially when you do get down town and see more Americans in Kuwait City than you do Kuwaitis... and commander's hide the fact from their troops they go off base everyday and eat.

How screwed up is it that we had troops who didn't leave the installation once when I was there, but our Chief had a going away party at the Hard Rock Cafe?! In which only the back office personnel were invited, and the off duty flights were not notified of until after?!


Also, why bother with annual contingency training requirements locally when we have to go through 2 - 4 weeks of predeployment traing regardless? Waste of money? Yep. Waste of my time? Hell yes! Especially when you look at the quality of said annual training....

[AHolmes79]

This is kinda, sorta in the same vein. We could save some cash that could be reallocated elsewhere by eliminating some tech schools. Some of them are just a waste, and the new troops truly begin to learn how to perform their job once they start receiving OJT. I would also suggest that we may be able to eliminate other schools as well. I highly doubt that they're all necessary. Some of them aren't much more than a waste of time and money.

[MACHINE666]

Oh where to begin Community Editor...where to begin.

I'll just keep my answers fragmented since it will take too long for me to think of it all...kinda like taking a toilet plunger to a fat, constipated old man after he's had almost 70 years of hardly any movement - it's gonna be ugly, and the effort still won't equal the end result!

Standing ovations irritate me the most. Some nit-wit thinks the speaker or whoever has single-handedly saved the Air Force from death and destruction when they're giving a public speech decides to stand as he applauds and then everyone else has to stand up by default. That person could've given a powerpoint presentation on how dryer lint can solve our energy needs, or the that said person involved took out a platoon of enemy a-holes using a toothpick and the power of persuasion only - I don't feel compelled to stand and applaud either way. Sure the dude got lucky as hell but that's about it - the difference was he lived to tell.

Promotion ceremonies and other mandatory fun - forget about it. I hate those especially when we have to give some stupid squadron chant. It's stupid and doesn't motivate me. What motivates me is having a good chain of command that will take my concerns seriously when I use it, and more importantly come to an effective problem solving method that reaches a win-win situation for both parties. Something so simple still fails to be grasped by the majority of the supervision and leadership I have experienced in my career.

More to come as I collect my thoughts.

[Silver Fox]

I believe they've started a topic of conversation that will never die....