Change in business, military can be a necessary evil for all

Published Nov. 29, 2006
By Master Sgt. David McConnell
71st Flying Training Wing

Vance Air Force Base, Okla. -- No, this is not an article on how to implement change in your unit. There's not enough space, and I'm not the expert. Instead, I thought I would discuss some of the changes I've seen in the last 20 years.
By far, the biggest change and the one with most impact is the computer. Yes, we had computers back then. However, they were nothing like they are now. There was no Microsoft Corporation, so you had to write your own programs. In my high school computer class, I can remember writing programs and saving them to cassette tapes. During the first five years of my career, all administrative paperwork was done using a typewriter and copier. Just imagine retyping an enlisted performance report every time someone found a typo. If your office was lucky enough to have a computer, it was a Zenith Z-150. It wouldn't even make a good boat anchor compared to the computers of today. Very few people or offices wanted to use computers then. I don't know if it was because the office or people had to change or if it was because the computers routinely erased your work. Either way, it took a while for them to catch on. Fifteen years later, I can type this article at home on my personal computer and e-mail it when I'm finished. Computers have drastically changed the way we do business, but not always for the better.
Another big change with a great deal of impact is e-mail. E-mail certainly has facilitated our ability to communicate with a larger audience and across time zones. In "the good old days," we used telephones. Yes, they are archaic in some respects, but you knew the answer to your question when you hung up the telephone. You didn't have to wait three days for the person not to reply to your e-mail and then discover that person is out of the office for two weeks. Don't get me wrong, I use e-mail as much as the next person. However, I try to talk to the individual on the phone before I send that e-mail. I think e-mail has impaired our communication skills as much as it has improved communication.
The next change has to be the adoption of the battle dress uniform. BDUs replaced the utility uniform or fatigues in the mid 1990s. The fatigues were much easier to care for but the BDUs have a certain aura about them. There were so many changes to the uniforms in the last 20 years, I don't remember them all. Stripes, hats, nametapes, nametags, buttons, unit patches, command patches, belts and the list goes on. You name a uniform item and at one time or another, I think it's changed. Soon we'll wear physical training uniforms and a blue camouflage utility uniform. Overall, I think the uniform has definitely changed for the better.
How could I forget the "Cold War" and the Air Force restructure? As an old Strategic Air Command warrior, I would be remiss if I didn't mention SAC. When I first entered the command post 20 years ago, my job was simple. Decode the message, press the red button and pray. We only had one enemy. We knew their location, their capabilities, their tendencies and their limitations. They knew the same about us. Thank heaven that has all changed. Or has it? OK, SAC is gone but we still only have one enemy -- terrorists. However, we don't know their location, their capabilities, their tendencies or their limitations, but they know ours. As I leave the command post 20 years later, my job is still simple but the priorities changed. Pray, decode the message, press the red button and pray some more.
So I guess in 20 years not much has really changed. The Air Force has grown to accept the new challenges we face and I along with it. I think it's human nature to resist change. We are comfortable doing things a certain way. I hope that in the next 20 years, you too will see the Air Force and yourself grow and not accept "that's the way it's always been done."