My time in Squadron Officer School was a time of being “reblued”, as we call it in the AF. I spent some time online today trying to nail down the term, and the best that I can come up with is that it’s the time you spend in Air Force-specific training, where you talk about rules and regs and How We Do Things in the Air Force. It seems to be applied to some police forces, as well (in reference to their blue uniforms?). Additionally, it seems to be a term that one can apply to guns–applying blueing to them, which seems to be along the same lines as the idea of refinishing furniture. (Or so I assume, from all the queries about whether reblueing will reduce the value of an antique firearm.)
In other words, when we’re reblued in the Air Force, we get together, have some good old team spirit drilled into us, and the hoped-for end result is that we’ll “drink the Kool-Aid” (as one of my friends rather cynically put it) and enthusiastically sign on to the collective vision of the generals who lead the Air Force. What’s funny is that as you get older… or at least more experienced in the ways of the military… the schooling works less effectively. Yes, I experienced a bit of a surge of patriotic/military fervor, but nowhere near as much as I did when I went to my lieutenant-school five and a half years ago. And that, in turn, wasn’t nearly as effective as the near-brainwashing effect that Officer Training School had on my impressionable civilian mind six years ago. (When I got to my first assignment after OTS, I would bounce to my feet whenever anyone higher-ranking came within a 4-foot radius of me and all but braced the walls when they’d pass me in the hallways… My commander at the time, a major, pulled aside one of the other lieutenants there and asked, “Are they all like that???” It took me a few months to recover.)
Though perhaps the gradual draw-down from brainwashing to attempting to reason with us is all part of the design of the Air Force’s training… after all, one does assume that captains with a median age of 29 or so should have a slightly more realistic handle on how the world works than second lieutenants with a median age of 23. And if they’re not trying to achieve quite the same results, perhaps the training isn’t actually being less effective… it just has different goals. I don’t know–I’d assume that to find out would mean in-depth research into what the Air Force seeks to do with its professional military education. Which someday might be worth it… but probably not today!
I was struck by the comparative jadedness of the captains in comparison to our lieutenant counterparts. We spent much of our time trying to avoid further investment… when speakers would ask if we had questions, we’d all try to avoid making eye contact and shift lower into our chairs, hoping no one would say anything so that we could get out of the auditorium fifteen minutes sooner. (Of course in the joint sessions, there was always a starry-eyed lieutenant there to ask, “Um, excuse me, sir, but what advice do you have for young officers?” and offer carte blanche to a long-winded high-ranking sort… )
Actually, the lone civilian in my flight (we send a few DoD civilians to professional military education) pointed out that it’s rather like high school–the SOS students (captains) are the seniors and the ASBC students (second lieutenants) are the freshmen. Which is funny because it’s actually rather true. We had a bad case of senioritis and the sense that we knew better than our teachers, where (for the most part) they were ready to drink it in and accept other people’s visions about what the future could be. We found them amusing when we noticed them and they were in awe of us and/or tried to avoid us. I suppose it’s a good thing that human nature is so predictable!
For all that, it was (in my personal estimation) good to be reminded of the institutional values of the Air Force. I’m not sure that I wholeheartedly agree with all of them, nor perhaps with the way that they’re being implemented, but it’s good to be reminded of what you’re standing for. (And perhaps of what you’re trying to change from the inside…) Also, for the past couple years I’ve been interested in this idea of leadership–what does it mean to be a leader? How does one become an effective leader? What traits are good and what are bad? How much of leadership is personal style, and how much of it has to be universal? If I am to be a leader, how do I best develop myself so that my overall impact is positive rather than negative (or just neutral)? And while it certainly didn’t answer those questions completely, SOS gave me a good start to think about the answers and how I may want to direct my personal growth if I intend to continue the Air Force career (because the longer you stay in, the more leadership you’re signing on for).
Note: none of these pictures are mine, but they’re exactly what I did while I was there…
Posted by Kjirstin 
