Moving On…

I signed-out of the base today. My tenure with the IG is over and I’ll be moving back to the operational world shortly. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed these last two years and can honestly say for the first time in my career, I’m actually leaving things better than they were when I arrived. I can actually see the impact of my contributions to the AFMS. In this job, I effected change and it feels good. The things I learned here will make me a better leader and manager in the years to come.

Many of the AFMS leaders I’ve come in contact with while with the IG, weren’t very happy with my observations (which often resulted in inspection findings and sometimes program failures), but that’s the nature of the beast. They didn’t seem to understand that I had a responsibility to the Air Force to identify and report those program deficiencies that effected mission readiness. These individuals couldn’t see the forest through the trees and like school children would pout and whine when told that their stuff was fucked up! On the other hand, many, especially senior leaders, understood and appreciated my reports and expressed their appreciation and admiration.

I guess General George S. Patton said it best when describing the IG…

“A typical IG is a man past middle age, spare, wrinkled, cold, passive, non-committal, with eyes of a codfish, polite in contact, but at the same time unresponsive, calm, and damnably composed as a concrete post or a plaster of paris cast, a human petrification with a heart of feldspar and without charm or friendly germ, minus bowels, passion, or a sense of humor. Happily, they never reproduce and all of them finally go to hell.”

…and that suits me just fine!