Air Force Officer Stratifications

My story for you all left off when I was in the midst of life as a space operator. I was living the life and having a blast, but it came at a personal cost which I briefly touched on in one of my previous posts. Perhaps I will go into more depth on that when I am ready. As an enlisted member my mindset was always to become the expert at whatever I was tasked to do, and improve everything within my realm of influence. As a NCO my realm of influence was smaller, so this ambitious feat was obtainable. As an officer I quickly discovered that while I could still attack my professional life with the same energy, I didn’t have the personal bandwidth to affect everything within my realm of influence; despite eagerly wanting to do so. That was my introduction to discovering my own personal cost. Getting struck while I was digging deep to pay that cost is an analogy for the past 18 months of my life.

Enlisted and Officer Mindset

Despite finding my own personal limit, adopting and applying the mindset of a NCO as an officer has served me well. Having a foundation of professional experience to draw from has been crucial to my success as an officer, and is likely why we as an Air Force officer corps seek out these skills as we hire our future talent. After reviewing hundreds of OTS applications, I could summarize what I look for in applications with the words maturity and professionalism.  If you want to hear more about that, leave a comment or shoot me an email and I’ll develop it further in a future post.

It took me about three years to begin to understand the difference between being enlisted and being an officer. One of the improvements I made a few years ago was creating a quick reference binder for my fellow space operators. I was not trying to replace our technical orders or job aids, but I recognized that there was a gap between what our operators needed and what the official guidance provided. My thought process was to fill the gap with a draft product, then formalize it through the appropriate channels. Luckily for me, leadership bought off on my idea and I didn’t get fired.

Part of what this binder contained was a printout of our weekly tasking document from headquarters. I wanted our guys to be able to quickly and easily reference our actual tasking so they could reflect on how each tasking was transitioned from receipt of tasking to execution throughout the planning cycle. Providing my guys with that binder was an example of my old role as a NCO because I recognized a need and filled the gap. Helping my guys understand the bigger picture of our tasking was my role as an officer. After their basic need was met, they could then advance to the higher level of knowledge by understanding where they fit in the larger context of the mission. It is there where a new level of performance is unlocked, and innovation and continuous improvement can be achieved.  In my opinion, this is the magic place that a unit can only achieve for a short period of time.

Stratifications

While I was living in this busy and rewarding place fighting for our mission, my squadron commander was fighting for my success as a future officer. At our wing, leadership meets together to stratify all officers in the wing twice per year. This starts at the squadron level then works upward to the group and wing. By definition alone, stratification is the arrangement or classification of something into different groups. In a practical sense as applied to Air Force officers, stratification is the process of “binning” officers in the following categories:

• #1
• Not #1
• Not on the list

This list is a 1-N list decided by leadership where the number N is defined as the total number of officers within each group.

When this process starts, commanders will pull all of their subordinate commanders into a room where each can fight for their people. The officers are discussed in groups which are separated by rank; Lieutenants, Captains, Majors, Lieutenant Colonels, etc. All officers within each group of ranks are ordered 1-N, which happens to be the same general process the OTS board achieves. Usually, the process entails a records review which includes the past OPRs, decorations, and maybe the SURF and fitness report. A SURF is essentially a bland, automatically generated resume which summarizes the facts of someone’s military service.

The commander is there to advocate for his or her officers. Ideally, all of the greatness is captured in the record. This is why “silly little admin things” such as the evaluations and decorations matter so much. If the greatness isn’t obvious to the board member after their once-over of the record, it may never be realized. The OTS applicant’s equivalent products are the Applicant Profile, commander’s recommendation bullets, and the Letter of Recommendation. This is why I stress the importance of those documents on this site. Unrealized greatness in a record is the same as a mediocre record.

This is where the member’s commander comes into play. The commander will tell his peers what is missing and why this officer deserves this or that number on the strat list.  I have heard back in the day when this process was practiced for MAJCOM Management Level Review (MLR) of records, fighting words and saliva could be exchanged across the table.  These days, the process is much more civil.  At the end of the process, the commander has a 1-N list of Lieutenants, Captains, Majors, etc.

Now imagine you are in a unit with 50 Lieutenants; how in the world do they come up with who is number 24 or 37?  One of my mentors put it this way:  ‘You take care of the top 10%, make sure the bottom 10% doesn’t break something or kill someone, and the middle doesn’t really matter.’  This is why I binned officer strats in the above three categories.  Keep in mind I am still just an ignorant Lieutenant, but I suspect that this brutal idea is more than just a theory.  I think a great deal of thought, bartering, and time is spent fighting for those top 10% of slots on the strat list.  A commander is usually going to know who belongs at the bottom because there will likely be officers with disciplinary issues or a PT failure.  The middle Lieutenants will likely just fall into wherever they fall on the list.  Please bear with me, I’ll put a positive spin back on these thoughts at the end.

Defining the Top

The top slots on this list matter the most, and this is why so much time is dedicated to deciding who belongs there.  Keep in mind that who’s list it is matters as well.  A squadron commander’s #1 Lieutenant means something much different than the wing commander’s #1 Lieutenant.  Here is a general breakdown of how I perceive this works.

• #1: The number one slot is normally reserved. This strat could be given to the commander’s Executive Officer, who almost by definition is #1 (think Commander Riker in Star Trek). Perhaps the commander has a Captain slot for Exec though; the #1 Captain will likely be the exec and the #1 Lieutenant will be someone else. Another way this slot is used is if the commander is trying to push an individual for a highly competitive program such as Weapons Instructor Course. To summarize, this start is often reserved to a specific position, and not necessarily a specific person.
• Not #1: This one is more interesting. First you have to consider how many total officers are within the category. I used the number Top 10% above but that is not always a hard and fast rule. In fact, it is unwise to use any “rule” when dealing with anything related to strats. This is largely a process which plays on the human perception factor and should not be defined as black or white. If there are only 9 Lieutenants, putting “#4/9 Flt Lt’s” on an OPR probably doesn’t make sense. If there are 300 Lieutenants, “#4/300 Wg Lt’s” is a solid strat. I have heard strats in this category be referred to as “hard strats.” To summarize, you are Not #1 but on the list if you have a rank-based strat on your OPR. Where a commander draws that line is a topic of continuous debate.
• Not on the List: Similar to how “#4/9 Flt Lt’s” may not make sense, strats such as “#8/9 Grp Lt’s” are not and should not be used. In lieu of highlighting that someone is low on the hard strat list, “soft strats” are created. Soft strats are commonly defined by duty position such as Flight Commander or Action Officer. You have to be really careful with these though, and stick only to very well known duty positions. You also have to consider which ranks of officers typically perform these duties. For example, a Flight Commander is generally a Captain billet, so being the “#1/10 Flight Commander” can be a solid soft strat for a Lieutenant. Being the #1/48 Space Operators” as a Captain may not make sense though, because a space operator can be a Lieutenant, Major, Civilian, etc. The fact is that the reader won’t know what the commander means by “Space Operator,” so the strat may do more damage than by just using the generic push line. Maintaining commander credibility is crucially important when related to strats. To summarize, you are Not on the List if you received a soft strat.

Tying It All Together

I have a lot more to say on this topic. Like I have mentioned elsewhere in my blog, my underlying passion behind this blog is to tell you all the things that I had to figure out on my own; things that no-one really likes to talk about. Authors such as Col. Ned Stark shouldn’t have to initially post the inner workings of O-7 promotion under a pseudo name to protect his career.

It is really easy to get too tied up in all of this strat nonsense. I used to be the most humble and eager NCO but I honestly feel like all of this strat stuff is changing the way I think about myself, and I don’t like it. I will go into more depth on that when I conclude this series. Here are some things I want you to take away from this post:

1. You are not your strat. You truly need to start your career by focusing on building the foundation of yourself, NOT your strat. As a CGO, we only have a very short period of time at the tactical level with our guys. As a cop that means pushing your flight of Defenders, as a space guy it means actually sending commands to your satellite. Dwelling in the trenches with your guys is something that you must cherish because once it’s over, it’s over. We will all end up behind a desk someday. If you rush to that desk you are only hurting yourself. I have seen far too many Lieutenants make this mistake, and it makes me really sad. I have seen far too many Colonels pin on O-6 and have no idea who they really are inside; and their leadership abilities suffer.
2. There is a time and a place. There is a time and a place for a strat. If you earn your way into the #1 Wing Lieutenant slot but for admin reasons there is no possible way to record it on your OPR, it is wasted. Similarly, Lieutenant OPRs and strats really don’t matter very much. The Major board happens around the 10 year mark so your Lieutenant OPRs will be buried under 8-9 years of other reports and decorations in your Major Promotion Recommendation Form (PRF) package. A strat can unlock future opportunities, so where you end up on the list will help you achieve your next goal. As a Lieutenant, we don’t need the #1 wing strat to lock in our next assignment.
3. Perspective. It is more important to know how all of this works than to be #1. It is important to know early on what the list is and where you stand, because it can help you know if you need to work harder or tailor your future plans. And finally, it’s important to know that there is more to life than the Air Force. You are more than just a stupid number your supervisor placed on your OPR. You have friends and family who love you, you make a difference in the lives of your co-workers whether you realize it or not, and at some point we will all cut ties with the Air Force. The question you should ask yourself is, Does my strat or my OPR change who I am, or who I want to be?”

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Mark 9:35