July 5, 2007: The U.S. Air Force has rebelled against the annoying late 20th century custom of creating many annual training courses to deal with persistent social or organizational problems. From now on, instead of spending nine hours a year attending training for things like suicide prevention, anti-terrorism awareness, handling classified data, sex related issues, and so on, only 90 minutes a year would be used for all these reminders. This move is very popular among those who have to sit through these sessions, and those who have to give them. The troops are also encouraged by such a bold move. In the past, every time another of these annual classes was added, there was grumbling about "spineless and clueless generals," and "damn politicians."

 

With a war on, these mandatory classes were getting in the way of increased workloads. Many subordinate commanders were reporting that, with so many troops working so much overtime, it was a real morale killer to insist that they attend these unpopular classes as well.

 

In the distant past, troops were warned once about a lot of this stuff, and NCOs were expected to make sure no one forgot. However, this is not a return to the old ways. The mandatory annual classes may be reinstated once the war is over, especially if anyone in Congress complains that air force generals are not doing enough to deal with one problem or another.