Being or Doing in the Air Force
Col. 'Ned Stark'
“There are two career paths in front of you, and you have to choose which path you will follow. One path leads to promotions, titles, and positions of distinction […] The other path leads to doing things that are truly significant for the Air Force, but the rewards will quite often be a kick in the stomach because you may have to cross swords with the party line on occasion. You can’t go down both paths, you have to choose. […] To be or to do, that is the question.” —Col. John Boyd
Life is about choices. We can’t control what happens to us, but we always have a choice in how to respond. Those choices reveal who we are. I once heard it said that we tend to judge people based on their actions even though we judge ourselves based on our intentions. There is some truth to that, but I’d like to suggest it’s not just our intentions, it’s also our rationalizations — the explanations we create for ourselves to justify the choices we’ve made. Many hear John Boyd’s remarks quoted above and convince themselves that it’s a false dichotomy — they can both be and do. I think it is a possible but rare thing. We all like to think we are the exception, but the odds are heavily stacked against that. I’d like to suggest there’s a spectrum with the pure careerist at one end and the pure doer at the other. Few, if any, people reside at the polar ends, but it’s safe to say the pressures and expectations at senior ranks tend to push people further toward the careerist pole the higher they climb in the ranks.
The e-mail engagements I have had with some of my readers who have reached out have been illuminating. Through that correspondence and my own networks, I can point to several general officers as examples of those who have compromised themselves in an effort “to be,” but for sake of brevity I will briefly describe two. One general actively advises proteges to avoid e-mail or any form of note taking to escape accountability for any decisions or discussions. This general is held in low regard by past and current superiors yet continues to advance because there is no accountability for missed opportunities. In other words, this general successfully avoids all meaningful risk by pursuing a strategy of inaction. Another general officer mischaracterized his knowledge about an issue to investigators, thereby leaving a subordinate “holding the bag” for years while a needless and protracted investigation ensued. The investigation eventually cleared the subordinate of any wrong doing but not before it destroyed the individual’s personal life and professional aspirations. In the meantime, that general was promoted again.
I have little doubt both of those generals started off as bright, capable, and well-intentioned officers, but somewhere along the line, they, and many others, have lost their way...
Col. ‘Ned Stark’ is an Air Force officer. His opinions are his alone and do not represent those of the U.S. Air Force, the Department of Defense, or any part of the U.S. government, but he hopes one day they will come closer.
https://warontherocks.com/2019/02/being-or-doing-in-the-air-force/
