And the pendulum swings...

  • Published
  • By Col. Charles Hurry
  • 934th Airlift Wing Inspector General
As the pendulum swings...

What do they want now? Over the last 30 years of my career I have found myself asking that question many times as each new uniform, deployment, PME, or EPR/OPR policy gets rolled out. I have heard it said that policies are like the weather, if you don't like it, just wait a little while and it'll change. The pendulum will swing back to the other side.

We have seen this throughout history. On the geopolitical level those who were our adversaries are now are our allies (Germany, Japan) conversely some former allies are no longer so friendly. (Iran) Interestingly, our best ally has sent forces to invade North America no less than twice (Great Britain) and Russia has changed from friend to foe and back again so many times that I'm not even sure which column they fall under right now. And so the pendulum swings...

In the fashion industry, the width of men's ties very predictably changes over time from narrow to wide and back to narrow again. In just the last 50 years, women's skirt lengths have risen from a modest floor length to the fashionably short miniskirt and back down again to somewhere below the knee. The pendulum swings...

And so it is with personnel policies. For a while job performance is the most important to show in a personnel file, then PME and education becomes of paramount importance, (with an occasional diversion to an emphasis on career broadening assignments). PCS moves are required to be more frequent in order to create airmen with a broad range of experience. Then the policy is changed to make the moves less frequent in order to save moving expenses. Again the pendulum swings...

As officers, NCOs, and airmen we will be continually faced with changing policies, loyalties, and priorities. In order to be successful both individually and organizationally we must be aware of current policies, loyalties, and priorities but also responsive to the changing goals and directives handed down to us, regardless of how many times we have seen the pendulum swing to and fro.
 
We must have not only the awareness of the current priorities but the foresight to know that those priorities will change. We must closely monitor the pulse of the present but keep our heads up and eye out for the changes of the future. It is both our curse and our blessing that this is so. So I recommend that each one of you accept the responsibility to comply with current policies to be the best and most capable airman for today, as well as accepting and embracing the inevitable changes to come tomorrow.
As the pendulum swings...