CMSAF is apparently only now realizing that all of those warnings we and others gave him about the EES rollout were valid. Less propaganda, more transparency, we said. Ignored. Less control, more cooperation, we said. Ignored. Less top down forcing and more persuasion on the merits, we said. Ignored.

And now, with injured credibility , unclear guidance, a muddled philosophy, a dysfunctional personnel bureaucracy, and a gaggle of E-9s who have already shown they’re willing to ignore his marching orders … he has the task of trying to single-handedly extinguish the organizational inferno created by an administrative derailing he allowed to happen.

This might be doable had he created a constituency for this change. Had he persuaded and mobilized airmen around this change. Had he taken input and engineered the process to reflect the sense of the force rather than what his A1 muses and chiefly cronies pushed for. Had he genuinely listened to his NCOs at any point along the way and implemented this change from a leadership and performance perspective … rather than bureaucratizing it into being on the advice of people who view the USAF as a one big, blue human filing cabinet. But none of that happened.

So now he’s sending shrill emails to the field. It’s like trying to put out the fires of a train wreck with a wet towel. Here you go.