So I asked Chat GPT, “What is a ‘nonner’ in the USAF?” and this is what I got back. “In the United States Air Force (USAF), the term ‘nonner’ is a slang term used to refer to airmen who serve in non-combat, support, or administrative roles. The term is derived from the word ‘nonnuclear,’ which…

Commentary I’m a little bit of a history nut. Well okay, a lot of a history nut, especially military history. I also have a keen interest in observing people and how they behave. Military leadership has been a subset of those two items that have caused considerable deliberation and consternation on my part. Add to…

Commentary I’ve mentioned before that I really enjoy observing human behavior and one of my favorite scenarios is group interactions. Some of the best and most fruitful locations are military and civilian staff meetings. It’s great fun picking out the players and the posers and classifying them into their respective categories. Let’s just look at…

Commentary Sometimes heroes show up when you least expect them, and this is about one of those times. Most of my active duty Air Force time was spent teaching aircraft crew chiefs at Sheppard Air Force Base in the early 1980s. On this particular summer day, I had my class out on the flight line…

Commentary One of my favorite movies is “Twelve O’Clock High,” starring Gregory Peck, who, along with Jimmy Stewart, happens to be one of my favorite actors of all time. I recommend the movie if you haven’t seen it, and if you haven’t seen it then please watch the movie before reading on, or don’t be…

Commentary The Air Force says it wants to have resilient troops. Mostly, this is in reaction to the high suicide rate. It’s terrible, and wanting to reduce suicides is admirable and critical. But, in typical Air Force fashion, it resorts to training to fix a problem, and truthfully, the other branches probably do the same…