US military recruitment problems

We’re having a discussion about the current state of recruiting. Please don’t assume to know who and what I believe and where I do research. And don’t lecture me based on your assumptions of what are the things that piss me off.
PS I don’t give a rat’s who the AF recruits. It might be the subject of another discussion if their choices adversely affects their mission. I do care about the way the military is abused by politicians to push personal agendas at the expense of their constituents’ lives, young and not so young.
Stepping off soap box.

1 Like

This is what you posted:

Like you I had to look up what cisgender means. It means the conventional assignment of sex, like we all know. Good old-fashioned boys and girls.

So your post is claiming the AF is excluding good old-fashioned boys and girls. But the proof you post has nothing to do with the Air Force. And it says nothing about excluding good old-fashioned boys and girls. In fact, it says the complete opposite.

The link you posted is for a private foundation, not the Air Force. It doesn’t even list the Air Force as a partner.

So what do you mean by…

???

2 Likes

Care to enlighten us on where you’re hearing all this info, then? Because the fellowship you linked too doesn’t even mention the Air Force.

It’s mission says it places Women and gender minorities in paid internships with private companies.

I saw it on Fox News and ran with it. It’s a mortal sin, I know.

2 Likes

So you got your information from a channel that argued in court that it’s viewers shouldn’t take what it says as fact? Love that.

4 Likes

I know right? The only network that has bias. I’m so bad. Should we go on about this infinitum? Maybe we could start a new thread. :wink:.

Far from it. Just unfortunate you, like many others, would just regurgitate what you hear instead of actually looking into yourself.

1 Like

I rarely watch network news but I grabbed a headline on the fly. What can I say, I’m a despicable human being, a mere shell of a man. I really do think you should start a new thread where you can berate me to your heart’s content since you seem to get so much pleasure from it.

1 Like

I seen it too but that fellowship was explicitly setup from the get-go to exclude white heterosexual men. The Air Force Academy just latched on to it to give any & everyone else qualified a 9-week well paid internship. Nothing sinister behind it, something the D&I Department encourages to make almost everyone fell welcomed. And your sin wasn’t mortal or unforgivable, nothing a few nights in the Ministry of Love couldn’t wash away.

2 Likes

This NY Post article includes the slides supposedly from the presentation:

Edit: Actually, so does the Fox article:

(To all)-So… What is the position here? Accusing Fox or other right of center outlets of bias is one thing but are the lefties on here saying that outlets that have posted these slides are straight up fabricating slides to “make people outraged”?

I read the slides. Did you? Nowhere in the slides does it say, “Thou shalt not call your parents mom and dad”. Nowhere in the slides does it say, “Calling your parents ‘mom and dad’ is against regulations”. If I’m wrong show me the slide banning these terms.

The New York Post claims the Air Force is banning the terms, but gives no evidence except a slide that mentions an alternative term to mom and dad, to be used in a social situation which is not fully clear, because the prior slide is not included. But there is no prohibition to using the terms mom and dad.

A critical point: The story does not mention that a U.S. Air Force officer denied any prohibition agents using the terms "mom and dad”. (The Fox story does include it, buried deep at the end). Why didn’t the NYP mention this?

So the NYP offers no proof, just innuendo. The NYP does not include a link to all the slides. Why not? Why just show selective ones, without context? Likely because the other slides would establish the context. And the NYP fails to include a denial from the Air Force.

Bad journalism. Great outrage meth. Which is just what Congressman Waltz intended.

2 Likes

I don’t know what your experience was like in the military but my experience was that they don’t create presentations and sit us down for training in order to offer “suggestions”.

I can just see it…'Cadet, didn’t we train you on this?", “Yes but I thought that training was optional”.

Come on…IF these slides were presented to cadets (which I cannot verify), then it IS outrageous. No meth required.

1 Like

A friend’s woke college age daughter works in a coffee shop. She didn’t like it when I said something about J. K. Rowling running afoul of the PC police to a friend that I was having coffee with. She blurted out “but Rowling is transphobic.” She proceeded to give me a lecture about my “cisgender privilege.”

I had to ask her to explain cisgender. I was relieved to hear that she was accusing me of being normal.

My response was: Normal people that fit in have a natural advantage over the tiny minority of freaks that don’t fit in. That’s how a properly functioning society works. In the long run natural selection weeds most of the freaks out of the gene pool.

She was flabbergasted that anyone could think such a thing.

5 Likes

I’m curious what context could be provided that would make the info on the shown slides more palatable.

I fully realize there is a portion of our population that not only finds these slides not outrageous but applauds it. Honestly I’m surprised the left isn’t also reporting this story as it furthers their agenda.

"See, we’re not banning the terms mom and dad, we’re just suggesting that you not use them. That’s a perfectly normal thing to suggest, and any claim otherwise is Right Wing fear porn’

I remember telling people that opposed legalizing gay marriage that their slippery slope fallacy was bullshit. I should go find those people and apologize.

3 Likes

Good thread on this subject here.

:explode:


:bomb:

Didn’t think of this but you’re 100% correct. When the master of the vessel makes a “suggestion” it usually gets done, attempted or at least done when he’s around. Every cadet I sailed with followed suggestions. Be foolish to think the Air Force cadets would be any different. Maybe a part of the recruitment problem is due to D&I departments intentionally alienating a big chunk of the population that has historically been the backbone of the armed forces?

Exactly, context is critical. It’s pretty obvious that if they are “suggesting” not to use certain terms, it is when you don’t know the orientation or family situation of the person you’re talking to. It’s extremely doubtful they are saying don’t say “MY mom and dad:” they are saying not to assume and say “YOUR mom and dad” if you don’t know they weren’t adopted by a same sex couple. But I guess that would mean you need to stop and think for a second or two before jumping to knee-jerk conclusions. FEH.

1 Like

And yet none of the posters here claiming the Air Force has banned the terms mom and dad can offer definitive proof of it. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Why has no one here come up with the entire power point presentation?

I make PP presentations. Slides are visual prompts, without context. Bulletpoints stripped to the bare essential, to be amplified by the teacher. Considering a PP slide as a completely nuanced training manual, or a formal regulation, is silly.

Example: An actual point from one of my firefighting PP slides: The air in a SCBA bottle lasts only 15 minutes.
Reality: In my considerable experience the air in a 30-minute bottle can last as long as 32 minutes or as little as 8, depending on a host of factors. And not all bottles are 30-minute bottles. Many are 45-minutes. There are too many variables.

I use the “15-minute” claim as starting point for a lengthy explanation of everything I have written here and more. I state the dodgy claim. I disprove it. I discuss. My friends here on this thread, however, would say that I claim the air in the bottle lasts exactly 15 minutes, no more or less, because they saw it on a slide.

I agree, The Air Force is the military, which is above all a rules-based organization. There are written regulations on the angle of a salute, the length of a mustache, and how you will address an officer as opposed to a warrant officer. Rule–part–subpart, just like CFRS. The military lives and dies on printed, published, easy-to-comprehend regulations. So, show me the regulation on what moms and dads will be called. Not a single slide in a presentation on social relations.

So am I. So prove your point. Dig up the evidence. Why is only one slide being shown?

Here’s a hypothetical. Let’s say the PP presentation was not on gender but on the topic of adjusting to life living in the Deep South. Let’s say the discussion was on how to be polite in public. That’s the context. Let’s say the slide in question says, “Sir and ma’am instead of first names.”

That wouldn’t be an order given by the military. It would be a suggestion given by a training officer on how to show respect to civilians older than you in the Deep South, and a very good suggestion it is. But there would be no penalty for calling citizens by their first names.

The trainer would inevitably get the question from a young trainee, "When mom and dad visit me, do I have to call them sir and ma’am?” The trainer could say, “No, it’s up to you. We’re taking about meeting people in a specific context.”

Or, let’s say the topic was how to get along in the Middle East, and the slide said, “Never eat with your left hand.” The trainer would explain that in public situations it is rude to touch food with your left hand in the Middle East. But there is no military regulation against it. You won’t be written up if you ate fried chicken in the mess hall with your left hand. The training has context, explained by the trainer.

The military has plenty of classes for how to act politely in a social situation a trainee may be unfamiliar with. They use PP presentations. But the slides are not regulations. They aren’t even training manuals. And they’re only partial info without a trainer giving context.

So show the whole presentation. Slides. Handouts. But why harsh the buzz? Better to ride high on that sweet, sweet outrage meth.