Category Archives: Leadership

Dailies, Leadership, Personal Development, Pilot Story

Snack-O

One of the ironies of Air Force officership is the constant cycle between being in a position of leadership or being the Snack bar officer (Snack-O). Which job is more important? Snack-O. I could write a book, everything I learned about leadership I learned as a Snack-O.

During pilot training, on one of the first days I wasn’t scheduled to fly, an old gnarly Captain told me to get up and fill the snack bar. I looked a little perplexed. “Hey, I’m focused on learning to fly these jets and you want me to stock sodas?” I quietly thought. “Go to the exchange and buy an assortment of sodas, coffee, candy bars and other snacks to fill the bar, and work with the other Lieutenants to collect the funds to do this,” he snarked. We learned quickly to manage this little enterprise quickly building a small profit. The extra money was used to purchase Friday beer or going away gifts.

After repeating this in the next three training squadrons, I noticed every program I attended had a stocked snack bar. People needed ready access food for combat readiness.

But, it wasn’t until 2-years later after completing my initial mission qualification where the previously youngest Lt came over and handed me the cash box. Dagnabit, I’m a 25-year-old fighting machine and my alternate yet primary job is to fill the snack bar, again? Luckily, Doc Watson arrived at the same time so he was my “Co-Snack-O.”

Ok – I took it on the chin, I knew that soon the next Lieutenant would arrive and take over the coke hauling. But there was no next Lieutenant.

Soon thereafter, we received notice that our squadron would be closing in 18 months, and the pipeline of new pilots was empty. No more Lieutenants young guys coming to Zweibrucken. The older Lt’s looked to me with pitty and thankfulness and requests for chocolate bars. I would be the final squadron Snack-O.

So, it was my job to buy drinks and snacks, fill the vault and squadron snack-bar, tally the “chit-sheets,” buy and sell T-shirts, mugs, and track and collect monthly penalties and dues from about 80 officers. Sounds easy? Nope! If you want to hear pilots whine, it always had to do with unstocked sundries or their favorite alternative Soda in the bar. My God, if “Ho-Hos” were out of stock, I’d be scheduled for instrument practice approaches, or be conveniently left off of the schedule. I quickly understood what quid-pro-quo meant. If I got scheduled for a junky flight, the scheduler’s favorite “Fresca” might not make it into the fridge, and who likes warm Fresca!

More than once, the Squadron Commander (the revered flying God) would bring me to his office for a 30-minute lecture on how my job was more important than his. happy flyers are fed flyers. I got the point.

So, for 18 months I managed the squadron slush fund. I learned how to manage a spreadsheet and the politics of sundries. When we were sent to Desert Storm, my job persisted. While not flying or planning combat missions, I was driving the crew van loading up “Turkish” Coke Light.

I think it is important to mention that the other Lieutenants had my back. Every fighter squadron has a key organization called the LPA (Lieutenant Protection Agency). The LPA had enough power collectively (like a Union) to ensure that none of us were individually abused. And when it came to issues like cleaning the bar on Saturday morning (after an overly rowdy Friday night) they would meet and clean everything together. If a LT had a bad day, we would rally in support. The LPA rocked.

Being a Snack-O was incredibly important. I was connected to the deepest motivations of every member of the squadron. I had political leverage through power over sustenance. I executed experiments like providing apples to improve the squadron’s well being. The apples rotted and I think I was blanket-partied for wasting space in the refrigerator.

I didn’t understand this until much later in my career (another post).

But simply, in the words of Cal Newport after they make you Snack-O: “Be So Good They Can’t Ignore You.” The most menial job can be the most meaningful and memorable.

As a side – my son is a second Lieutenant in Florida as a Nuclear Physicist. He does nuclear treaty monitoring (and other stuff he can’t tell me). So as a scientist and physicist, do you want to know the first alternate duty?

He is his squadron’s Morale and Welfare Officer, otherwise known in the fighter business as the Snack-O!

Leadership

There I Was… A Moment – The Hale Bopp Comet

As you may have noticed in these stories, that during my military career (and before), I was driven with an intense focus and commitment to flying jets and military officership. This was often to the detriment of “the moment”. As a kid, I probably had Attention Deficit Disorder, but I used it well. I had purpose and was always focused on the next most important thing, and when that thing required waiting, I got anxious or impatient. My wife would say not much has changed, but I use a Mantra I recite in the car …“I am Calm, Patient, and Kind;” and occasionally, I am.

But the moment was in April 1997. I was bored. I had been given the task of being a training aid or “red-air adversary” to support a combat mission upgrade at night. The fighter weapons school instructor briefed us of his mission parameters and we were released to discuss our “red-air” tactics. He was upgrading a young Lieutenant on his first night mission.

We launched. We flew up the East Side of the Air Combat Range over the North Sea. There was little ship activity in the water making it hard to see the horizon. The North Sea at night is eery, being cold and dark. We set up into our holding formation while the instructor and his Lieutenant wingman were getting into position in the west. Over the radio, the instructor called “Fight’s on”.

We turned toward the “good” guys and presented them with a formation to decipher. They did well and our flight realized we were all targeted. “Good Job Lieutenant – I thought, although sarcastically.” This was easy for him, so at a pre-calculated distance, we all maneuvered (aggressively). I don’t remember the specific tactic we executed. All I know is that I executed a “hard” turn to break their radar lock. Then I climbed vertically to about 50,000 feet. Based on the training parameters, that is all that I was allowed to do. I rolled-out and leveled-off and returned to training mode… “
This sucks!”

But then I had the moment. I looked up, and in the dark moonless sky, and at the edge of the Atmosphere, I saw the billions of stars lighting up the sky like it was daylight. Constellations abound with the Milky Way stripped from horizon to horizon; no visual pollution from below… I heard my radar warning receive light up, I was being targeted, fine; I was focused on something else.

There it was, the Hale Bopp Comet; enter our sky for a few months before returning to its 2000 year orbit. And at this altitude and in this darkness it was streaking loud; with a six-inch tail as I imagined seeing pieces of a meteor falling out from within. I have never seen anything so clearly or so visible. I sat in awe. How was I to be given this moment? A moment I have and will never be able to recreate.

A moment that lasted a moment.

Then – “Bandit at 50,000’, you’re dead.” “Three’s Dead” I pushed into the radio. I gently turned the aircraft toward the East and descended to rejoin the “bad” guys as we reset for the next tactic.

Years after the Air Force, I spent months creating a personal purpose statement to help me find purpose again. Part of that statement includes the words “Revel in God’s Majesty.”

And, for one moment, I did.

Leadership

Train the way you Fight, Fight the way you Train

I recently read an article on the benefits of “interleaving” when trying to learn a new skill. Interleaving is the concept of interspersing or mixing different subjects while learning versus the more typical method of block training on one subject for a period of time. This truth has been demonstrated in physical activities as well, like weight lifting. My son, an exercise physiologist, notes that varying the amount of weight and volume is important in making effective gains. In my own training, I’ve noticed that interleaving has strengthened my stability muscles providing more real-world application to big lifts.

A deeper dive into the subject would have us understand that by varying the specificity of learning, we are making it harder to recall information. Neuroscience shows that the more difficult something is to recall, the stronger we reinforce those pathways.

Another example I read is a pitcher who only practices fastballs and then only practices curveballs. This is useful in honing his technique but fails him in switching pitches during the game. That reminded me of the Air Force adage “Train the way you fight, fight the way you train!”

This adage came about after the Vietnam war when we realized that pilots had to develop new capabilities and skills in combat that they hadn’t prepared for in training. The Air Force (and Navy) soon realized that once pilot’s achieved 10 combat missions they were more likely to survive their missions. The Air Force established a combat training exercise called “Red Flag” to give pilots 10 missions in the most difficult and challenging missions; while still providing a level of safety, experimentation, and training.

As a side note – a similar issue was found during the Korean War which spawned the Air Force “Fighter Weapons School” of FWIC or the Navy’s similar but more limited duration Fighter Weapons school nicknamed “Top Gun.” Both Red Flag and FWIC (now WIC) are based at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas.

Prior to Desert Storm, I was lucky enough to fly my first Red Flag missions. We flew against an advanced “red air” adversary and were engaged by the most sophisticated surface-to-air missile simulators (they would shoot Estes rockets at us to show we were being engaged. This practice proved invaluable five months later when I found myself flying missions over Iraq in Desert Storm. I felt confident in flying in large force packages of over 100 aircraft and while being engaged by anti-aircraft guns or surface-to-air missiles. When I think back, I was probably over-confident or naive in regard to those missions (my WSO – McMissile might disagree).

So, no matter how it is applied, our actual “game-day” results will always reflect how we our training day practice; “Train the Way You Fight, Fight the Way You Train!”