Episode 34 - Leadership with Kurtis Ott

In this episode I'm joined by CMSgt(ret) Kurtis Ott to discuss his thoughts on WAPS testing, apprenticeships, retention, and ending with my thoughts on how the Air Force places quantity over quality whenever it is forced to choose between the two.

See the episode below. If you have thoughts, I'd be interested in reading your comments here or on the 20 Years Done Facebook Page

20 Years Done · Episode 34 - Leadership With Kurtis Ott

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Smoke doesn't always mean fire Part I

This is the first post in the long final story that I will tell from my career in the Air Force. All the other stories up to this point were told so you, the reader, could understand how I was guided in my career to be prepared for the moment in this story. The main character in this story has had his name changed to protect his identity as he is still active duty. He has given me permission [read: excitedly asked when I will write this] to tell this story. In the summer of 2015 I was the specialist section chief in the 311th AMU at Holloman AFB. We had a few new arrivals to the section. Most of them were new avionics airmen, which we desperately needed. However, we did have an E&E SrA arrive who had a line number for Staff Sergeant. His name was SrA Tyler Perkie. He was respectful, polite and hard working. It was rare to not see him covered in aircraft filth, which is quite the compliment for the working sector of the Air Force. He was tireless at the job and his positive at

An opaque response to a request for transparency

This article will be published at the same time as a podcast addressing the exchange on the CMSAF's Facebook page. For a complete analysis I encourage you to continue reading then listen to Episode 17 of the 20 Years Done Podcast. The podcast can be found on typical podcast mediums as well as the RSS feed in the top right of this website. On October 17th at 6:32 PM the Facebook page for the CMSAF posted a photo of a few deployed Airmen that she had a video conference with. Then one person made a comment. This blog isn't going to analyze that exchange, that's what the podcast episode is for. However, in the course of preparing and recording the podcast I heard rumors that the CMSAF herself didn't actually make that post. So, I did what anyone would do. I tracked down contact information for her Public Affairs team and asked them some questions. But before we get to those questions, I think it's important to first provide some context. First, the CMSAF's Faceb

So what's with the 7 levels?

I recently asked in a Facebook post what are some subjects you the readers wanted me to write about. I received quite a few great suggestions, but one stood out as a topic that I haven't quite addressed and I believe its time is due: inexperienced 7 levels. [I will apologize in advance, this one has quite a bit of acronyms.] Before I dive into the topic I think it's important to explain my own journey to a 7 level, and it goes all the way back to MEPS. You see, like many aspiring Airmen I didn't know what job I would get when I joined the Air Force; I came in open mechanical. Which to me seemed strange, because mechanical was my lowest ASVAB score. My recruiter assured me that my score would allow me many mechanical jobs to pick from. I tried to explain that the ASVAB was an aptitude test, and I should be selected for a job that matched my highest category. He seemed apathetic, obviously meeting his quota was his motivator, not me aligning my career to my aptitude.

20 Years Done

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