USAF and USSF Core Values

USAF and USSF Core Values

• Integrity First: foundation of trust, consists of honesty, courage, accountability, and humility
• Service Before Self: servant mindset, includes duty, loyalty, and respect
• Excellence in all we do: continually advance craft, includes mission, discipline, and teamwork
• USSF Core Values:
  • Character: defend constitution, high moral character, includes integrity, honesty, candor, transparency, and dedication
  • Connections: common purpose, seek diversity, stronger together, includes respect, honesty, authenticity, and teamwork
  • Commitment: pursuit of mastery, leverage diverse strengths of teammates, includes achieving audacious goals, learning from experience, and seeking feedback
  • Courage: do what needs to be done, hold convictions, includes being steadfast, taking smart risks, and sharing thoughts and ideas

Problem Solving

• Problem-solving: purposeful act of observing a problem then deciding to solve it, after considering solutions and deciding upon one
• USAF/USSF Problem-Solving Methods:
  • OODA Loop Model: Observe, Orient, Decide, Act (useful when quick action is needed by single player with limited time)
  • 8-Step Practical Problem-Solving Method (PPSM):
    • Clarify and validate the problem
    • Break down the problem and identify performance gap
    • Set improvement targets
    • Determine root cause
    • Develop countermeasures
    • See countermeasures through
    • Confirm results and process
    • Standardize successful processes

Followership

• Five basic styles of followership:
  • Sheep: passive participant & uncritical thinker, simply complies, lacks initiative
  • Yes People: active participant & uncritical thinker, dependent on leadership direction, dangerous if orders contradict standards of behavior
  • Survivors: display qualities of each type of follower, rarely committed, seeks to minimize interpersonal/intellectual risk
  • Alienated: passive participant & critical thinker, independent, capable of high performance, focuses on past negative experiences, criticizes but rarely offers constructive input
  • Effective: active participant & critical thinker, independent, proactive, works well with others, has characteristics such as support, initiative, responsibility, truth-telling, and selflessness

Military Justice

• Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ): functions as a military justice system, provides a framework for military courts-martial
• Manual for Courts-Martial (MCM): provides guidance on military justice procedures
• Service members' rights within the military justice system:
  • Right to representation by counsel
  • Right to a fair trial
  • Right to appeal
• Functions of Staff Judge Advocate: provides legal advice, represents Air Force in legal matters, and advises on military justice procedures
• Functions of Area Defense Counsel: represents USAF/USSF personnel accused of wrongdoing
• Functions of Special Victims Counsel: advises victims of alleged sexual assault on rights and represents them in certain matters during courts-martial

Professional and Unprofessional Relationships

• Professional relationships: preserve proper respect for authority and focus on mission
• Unprofessional relationships: on or off duty, detract from authority of superiors, and negatively affect morale, good order, and discipline
• Policy: prohibits relationships that negatively affect unit cohesiveness, including command/supervisory, members of different grades/position, contractor personnel, and close friendships or romantic relationships
• General and specific prohibitions:
  • Officers: prohibited from engaging in unprofessional relationships with subordinates or those in a subordinate position
  • Effects of unprofessional relationships: undermine respect for authority, create conflicts of interest, and negatively impact unit cohesion

Establishing Expectations

• Importance of establishing expectations:
  • Identifies objectives/goals
  • Provides a roadmap for achieving objectives/goals
  • Links to standards and unit mission
• Guidelines for establishing expectations:
  • Understand the importance of expectations
  • Know when/where needed
  • Clearly communicate and understand expectations
  • Help subordinates make connections
  • Seek buy-in
  • Plan to track activities within each task

Wingman Intervention

• Barriers to Wingman and Leader intervention:
  • Personal: introverted, fearful, or embarrassed
  • Relationship: might upset family/friends, breaks unspoken code, pressured to go along
  • Organizational: career impact for self/others, rank/power, retaliation
• 3Ds for Wingman and Leader intervention options:
  • Direct: directly interact with the people involved
  • Delegate: pull someone else in to help
  • Distract: create a distraction to defuse/divert attention
• Applying the 3Ds to prevent sexual assault and interpersonal violence:
  • Directly interacting with the people involved to prevent escalation
  • Delegating someone to help diffuse the situation
  • Creating a distraction to divert attention and prevent harm