As someone who's just returned from a cross-country rail treck from New Hampshire to New Mexico and back, I can tell you that there are a bunch of things we need more than new air bases and fighter planes being taken on European jaunts. For starters, how about some more track so freigh trains aren't held up by passenger trains and passenger trains aren't shunted aside to let the freight get by. And how about some over-passes for farm roads so the train whistles don't have to rend the country-side day and night with their caterwauling as they roll by? Never mind robbing the passengers of their sleep.
I'm only making that point to suggest that the number of American citizens served by a good transcontinental rail system is likely to be much greater than the spectators at a couple of air shows. Indeed, showing off our dare-devil war planes over there makes it even less likely that the residents of Gloucestershire and Farnborough are going to be keen on spending their vacations here.
Langley jets head overseas
HAMPTON, Va. (AP) Three F-22 Raptors from Langley Air Force base are scheduled to make the jet's first trans-Atlantic flight to participate in an air show in the United Kingdom.
The Raptors are slated to be showcased at the 2008 Royal International Air Tattoo in Gloucestershire this weekend, touted as the world's largest military airshow. The jets from the 1st Fighter Wing also will participate in the Farnborough International Air Show.
Nor, for that matter, are Raptors likely to do much to improve the Air Force image, either at home or abroad, especially since the whole exercise is just for show. And to use up a lot of fuel.
Washington- The US Air Force has developed a cultural indifference toward the proper care and handling of nuclear weapons, and analysts say the two men slated to take over the top civilian and uniformed positions will have to make fundamental changes to restore its credibility in the nuclear realm.
When Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced last month that he would replace Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and the chief of staff, Gen. Michael Moseley, Mr. Gates cited their failure to properly safeguard nuclear weapons.
But whatever failures are attributed to Mr. Wynne or General Moseley, analysts say the firings capped more than a decade of negligence by the US military and the Air Force in protecting the American nuclear arsenal.
Presumably, the amount of fuel used is not a major concern since the Air Force is no longer buying the stuff directly. Instead, feeding the planes has been privatized--the better to hide what these stunts actually cost.
Agility-Led Joint Venture wins U.S. Air Force
Fuel Contracts
JV to operate bulk fuel facilities at bases in Japan, Korea and Guam
The U.S. Defense Energy Support Center (DESC) awarded four fuel-management contracts worth $8.6 million over five years to a joint venture led by Agility Defense & Government Services (DGS).
....
DESC, a unit of the Defense Logistics Agency, purchases and manages energy supplies for the Department of Defense. This week’s awards follow the announcement by DESC in June that AFH Fuels Services won three European fuel-management storage contracts worth $7.7 million over five years. Those awards were for Ramstein Air Base, Germany; Lajes Field, Azores, Portugal; and Incirlik Air Base, Turkey.
"The AFH team is already hard at work for the Air Force in Europe and is well prepared to provide premier bulk fuel services to these key Air Force installations in the Pacific," said Dan Mongeon, president and CEO of Agility DGS. "Agility is committed to providing global support to the Defense Logistics Agency and the DESC."
....
So, who's going to be responsible? That's a question that also seemed relevant on our cross-country treck where managment intentions didn't translate into good service and a prompt response on any leg of the trip. I could well imagine the employees of the railroad getting speeches similar to what the Air Force personnel are being told.
Donley recently told airmen at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., that the Air Force's credibility has been "tarnished" and that the service needs to develop a "road map for the nuclear enterprise" to put the service back on track. "There is no quicker route to recovery than the power of tens of thousands of airmen and civilians rededicating themselves to the high standards of excellence that have always been the hallmark of the world's best Air Force," he said.
Dedication, keeping one's nose to the grind-stone, is not the issue and isn't going to change the fact that people who have been disrespected and given poor directions are not like to be made more effective by a PR initiative. Even with such a great start:
Air Force food reaches new heights
Corinne Speckert - Sentinel Correspondent
Article Launched: 07/09/2008 01:34:02 AM PDT
Ted Burke, co-owner of the Shadowbrook and the Crow's Nest restaurants and National Restaurant Association board member, completed a 35-day quest in February to find the U.S. Air Force base serving the best institutionalized food in the world.
Burke, representing the association, was part of the Hennessy Awards evaluating team; he and three others evaluated six national and two international bases -- Incirlik, Turkey, and Dakota, Tokyo.
Among the eight Air Force bases judged, Tyndall Air Force, outside Panama City, Fla., came out on top, due to top leadership and food service, Burke said.
After three days of training in San Antonio, Burke and the others spent a half-week at each base evaluating criteria such as how closely recipes were followed, measuring, ingredients, food, sanitation and quality.
This little bit of sexism isn't persuasive either--
"Institutional food can absolutely be good, even great," Burke said of the challenges the military faces. "The stereotype of institutionalized food used to be old ladies in hair nets with metal trays. That day is long gone. Today it is very top notch. In fact, some of our Fortune 500 facilities and prestigious educational institutions use food service as a recruitment tool."
The food that comes with a sleeping-car ticket on Amtrak is actually passable, though the menu is rather meagre and not at all enhanced by the substitution of paper and plastic for metal trays, cutlery and real china, as well as the introduction of house-keeping chores into the dining area. The latter is probably a consequence of a general reluctance by the staff to navigate the stairs of the double-decker train and utiltize the facilities as designed--a criterion that doesn't seem to count in the Air Force evaluation, either. Or maybe it was just all eclipsed by the totality of the experience--
"First, the people I met were just fantastic, from the highest in leadership ranks to the people who had been in the service for less than a year. Second, each place I went to I got a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I could never duplicate again. Things such as getting to put my hands on an F-22, America's newest fighting plane, while standing on the tarmac alongside the base general, to sharing a two-hour luxury bus ride in from the Tokyo airport with Miss USA."
While my interest in the Air Force is limited, for more particulars you might want to consult some of their official PR products:
podcasts
and
videos
Somehow, it's hard to take a PR military seriously.