Its been brought to my attention by several people today that this facebook page the JQP blog are being actively monitored by the Air Force, and that commanders are dressing down their people for commenting here when they think comments are inappropriate. Of course, such judgments are subjective, and commanders are applying a narrow construction of appropriate in passing judgment on their folks, who have been encouraged by DoD instruction to participate on social media and are now being sent the clear message that they may only do so as paid propagandists lest they face punishments. This is unfortunate. Its the latest example of a chain of command that is struggling to pull its collective head out of its collective ass and focus on getting the mission done and taking care of people . . . instead choosing to focus on control, compliance, and conformity. Intellectually, this is a few more steps down the path toward total ruin, with people walking on eggshells rather than thinking and communicating freely. Tactically, its stupid. By telling people not to visit here and attempting to chill the speech that occurs here, the service is likely to *increase* interest in JQP rather than decreasing it. Contrast this response with the US Army response to Doctrine Man!! or Small Wars Journal . . . which has been to embrace the healthy conflict of open communication and extract lessons rather than pushing for control. This is one of those areas where my beloved former service exposes itself as the junior partner in national defense, and in some ways very much unprepared for a leadership role in securing the nations interests. Its also potentially abusive. Threats of non-judicial punishment for non-violations of the UCMJ are not OK, and if they come from a high perch in the chain of command, airmen will perceive undue command influence over their immediate commanders in the event of disciplinary engagements on this issue. But most disturbing is that the US Air Force is posturing itself against free speech, even as its airmen and families sacrifice to secure it for others. It will be interesting in the days and weeks ahead to see how legislators and media outlets react to this kind of quasi-fascist nonsense. I sure hope the commanders responsible are prepared to defend their positions, because those positions will be affirmatively questioned, and no punches will be pulled when that happens. Is the Air Force missing a grand opportunity? This is a critical period of time in the services history and everything is on the line. The clear signal is that the airmen and officers of the US Air Force are yearning to be heard and are finding an outlet on social media to express ideas that are not being registered within the chain of command. These are ideas of reform, of change, of disagreement with the conventional wisdom. These ideas are close cousins to innovation, which is the reason there is an Air Force and will be the reason it persists, if it persists. I discourage anyone (not just active duty airmen) from posting anything inappropriate here. Your commanders are watching, and so am I. This page removes inappropriate content and will continue to do so. At the same time, I discourage commanders from taking slaps at people for anything less than a clearly inappropriate comment. Its not so much that Im watching and will fight back (though I will), its that your airmen are watching. And they are intelligent, resourceful, and seized with high expectations of their leaders.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 02:06:52 +0000
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