The Air Force Reserve may be an unrivaled wingman to the active duty force, but it's also a conflicted one right now, with air reserve technicians angry over a new policy mandating daily uniform wear on the job. And that's prompted some to increasingly talk like the union members many are.
Bristling at the new regs, some reservists intend to pressure the Air Force into scrubbing the new uniform policy - a demand that could have a ripple effect on Air Force missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Stop volunteering for Air Expeditionary Force rotations" is the call rebel Air Force reservists are making.
"We've got to do something to get their attention," said Master Sgt. Jerry Merrill, a KC-135 crew chief at March Air Reserve Base, Calif., and vice president of local 3854 of the American Federation of Government Employees.
Calls to boycott AEFs have been posted in a handful of messages included in an online petition against the policy, and Merrill believes reserve Airmen could begin acting on them.
Given the fact that there are active duty Army brigades getting ready for their third tour in Iraq, and these are year long tours, not the weenie 90 day Air Force stints, I hardly have any sympathy for them. Heck, most of the Army Guard has been deployed more than the average active duty airman. Not to mention they are serving in much more dangerous capacities. According to the site ICasualties, only 38 people in the entire Air Force have been killed in Iraq, less than even the Navy, and only 1/10th that of the Army National Guard. If these guys are too ashamed to wear their uniform, then what are they doing in the military in the first place?
