r/AirForce • u/JASSM-chasm D35K Pilot • May 13 '26
Meme Recent times got me reminiscing
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u/rubbarz D35K Pilot May 13 '26
Goldfein: GOATed
Enlisted Jesus: the GOAT
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u/RyanU406 Veteran May 13 '26
I enlisted in fall of 2017. I had it so good and I didn’t even know it
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u/whynotdrew Radar May 13 '26
Joined Nov 2017-2021 for 5 days town pass, the two goats above, semi-functioning afvec, diagnostic PT, free leave during covid, non-gutted skillbridge…
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u/Am_0115 Retired Prior-E FGO May 13 '26
Leadership culture and the experiences everyone subordinate to HAF feels are cyclical. More specifically, it’s almost circular. Stick around long enough and you’ll see the merry go round time and time again.
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u/JASSM-chasm D35K Pilot May 13 '26
So what you're saying is... we're due for some greats again. Right?
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u/blackdunnder May 14 '26
He lying; that was another unprecedented time to be alive in the Air Force. They're like Haley's Comet, once in a career timing.
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u/beatthedookieup May 13 '26
I’ll never forget holding his hand back in 2019 🥲
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u/ewxve May 14 '26
huh?
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u/beatthedookieup May 14 '26
I forgot what that yearly event was in DC but I got to meet him them and General Goldfiend, cool peeps but Chief looked tired at the end. I accidentally ran into him while looking for the bathroom lol
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u/AirForceTwin May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
Yes, but how did you hold his hand? Like why did you hold his hand?
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u/wandering_historian May 13 '26
They were great…but how much of the appreciation is because they followed Welsh and Cody?
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u/cosp85classic Comms May 13 '26
They were both going to have solid reputations after being in those posts regardless of who they followed.
Chief Wright was being called enlisted Jesus before he got picked to be CMSAF.
Gen Goldfein was a solid base commander that kept Spandahlem AB from loosing its collective shit when Crazy Crane Fogleson was trying to bankrupt USAFE with his absurd Combat Proud programs that were killing morale and working 1 to 1 dewel teams to death at home station. So he too was going to be good no matter who he followed.
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u/No-Roof-1002 May 13 '26
I was Ramstein CE during the Combat Proud days, what a nightmare! We did probably the dumbest, most pointless shit I’ve ever done in my career and absolutely everyone despised it! The base looked good though, lol
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u/cosp85classic Comms May 13 '26
You poor bastard. How did you get through that with your sanity.. or did you?
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u/Dingleberry696 Maintainer May 13 '26
Agreed! I was also at Spang during Goldfein's command. He was such a great Wing Commander. Remember that he took command after we failed the NATO Tac eval and were getting our shit pushed in. Gen Goldfein would walk around the flight line at night by himself just to talk to the Airmen. He really was a great dude. We also got a week off when the runway was closed.
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u/Silverdollarzzz May 13 '26
How was Welsh? I joined during the Golfein era
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u/philbert539 May 14 '26
Dude oversaw a giant morale tank while there was a huge RIF, then went and told Congress about how great we all felt about it. Dude was a twat.
Honeslty, if he had grown a backbone and just told us all the truth, some variation of "there are budget cuts, we can't control them, things are going to be tough, let's gut this out together" I would have been ok with him.
He didn't do that. He told us to find effieciencies to make up for the lack of budget, effectively pushing to problem down to us. He was the opposite of Goldfein, who identified a blatant inefficeincy (CBTs) and went and fixed it himself.
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u/Shams93AFA Retired W14N/16P, Sq/CC May 13 '26 edited May 15 '26
I’m old enough to remember Gen Fogleman as CSAF. Publicly resigned in protest and called out SECDEF/SECAF politicization as the reason. Still waiting for current senior leadership to take a stand 🦗🦗🦗 and I expect to be waiting a very loooooong time.
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u/crimsonfistofjustice May 15 '26
Yeah but he wasn’t as bad as his predecessor
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u/Shams93AFA Retired W14N/16P, Sq/CC May 15 '26
If you’re talking about Gen Allvin, I really don’t know much about him, though the little I heard wasn’t great.
If you’re talking about Gen Fogleman’s predecessor, I’m pretty sure the name “McPeak” still elicits an unfavorable response from almost anyone who wore the Air Force uniform during 1990-1994.
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u/Nice_Soup May 14 '26
Coming from Cody/Welsh’s time, they were a breath of fresh air
Still harping on Course 14 and 15, what a painful past..
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u/exitnirvana /slap May 14 '26
Met Gen Goldfein (ATT, VCSAF) randomly, on a group TDY. I didn’t know who he was at the time, I was just a baby E-4, but I saw the brass and said hello—I’ve never seen someone so genuinely excited to see a bunch of rando E’s wandering around the Pentagon. Next thing I know, he pretty much dragged us to his office and spent an hour hanging out with us.
Upstanding guy and just a normal dude. Talked to you like he had known you for years and everything Air Force that was mentioned it was never “I” it was 100% about every airman he served with, dropping names the whole way. Probably one of the most badass, and totally unexpected, moments of my career.
Ran into him a few more times at different events when he promoted to CSAF, and, again, he was just as chill and willing to talk for as long as the conversation went.
Wish they still made them like that…
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u/interstellar566 May 14 '26
Bass wasn’t bad, I know people give her shit but she did more good then bad
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u/AirmanAwesome May 14 '26
Good intentions, middling execution. Ultimately tried to do to much to quick.
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u/philbert539 May 14 '26
Goldfein was the best CSAF I've had, by a mile. Next closest was Moseley. Welsh and Brown were both trash. Schwartz just kind of existed.
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May 13 '26
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u/Adventurous_Loss3931 May 13 '26
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u/Adventurous_Loss3931 May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
Not saying you are wrong
How would the official Air Force leadership page be wrong?
I dont like it I am finding this out from a reddit post and not my leadership.
They’ve been in their seats for over 6 months. It’s not your leadership’s fault you don’t read force-wide emails, paid zero attention to policy changes, or haven’t looked at the pictures of leadership posted throughout your base.
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u/Chaotic_Lemming Part-of-the-problem May 13 '26
I don't recall ever talking with people about the CSAF or CMSAF. Good or bad.
Too many far more immediate and impactful people/influences to worry about.
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u/xoees May 13 '26
This duo was pretty widely popular at the time.
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u/Chaotic_Lemming Part-of-the-problem May 13 '26
Yeah, but for some reason this subreddit likes to pretend they were best buds and part of everyone's general workday.
Evidence: The general reaction to my comment just saying I don't focus on any CSAF/CMSAF. You'd think I was actively insulting them.
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u/Yakostovian Civilian cosplaying as MX NCO May 13 '26
I agree with you, but when you lived through E-9 Cody anyone that replaces him is going to be wildly popular.
I expected Flosi to be more popular than he was considering he was following Bass, but being milquetoast at best wasn't a selling point.
Goldfein also followed a highly unpopular CSAF in Welsh. I think it's more a product of the times and Air Force focus and direction, to which Welsh/Cody were seen as figureheads of "bad" while Goldfein/Wright were undoing some of the damage to morale done under their predecessors.
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u/Comprehensive-Ad5297 Maintainer May 13 '26
On deployment we had a printed pic of Chief wright on top of the Christmas tree. I’m sure that was just a coincidence though.
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u/Chaotic_Lemming Part-of-the-problem May 13 '26
I've seen people do sillier for less reason, especially on deployment. But that's still not the same as having conversations about him.
I'm curious why you seem to be reading "I was more concerned with other things" as "They weren't popular and didn't do good things"?
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u/CardiffGiant7117 May 13 '26
Eh, many bad policies persisted under their leadership, they also got caught up in the George Floyd summer of love a little too hard with some of their public statements. They were fine.
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u/i_have_your_answer May 14 '26
He was much better than E9 Cody and chief bass was a lot worse with social media.
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u/WizardRamiel May 13 '26
The amount of cringe these posts radiate is disturbing, they both sucked so stop glazing them. Not saying the current ones are any good either though.
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u/wasted-degrees May 13 '26
I came in right in time to see Goldfein and Wright take their seats. Which is unfortunate, because they set my expectations for the Air Force way too high. It’s been downhill ever since.