{"id":126649,"date":"2022-06-10T10:01:24","date_gmt":"2022-06-10T14:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=126649"},"modified":"2022-06-10T10:01:24","modified_gmt":"2022-06-10T14:01:24","slug":"female-afsoc-candidate-given-special-treatment-was-a-victim-of-people-chirping-about-cultural-norms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=126649","title":{"rendered":"Female AFSOC candidate given special treatment, was a victim of ‘people chirping’ about ‘cultural norms’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Air Force Special Operations Command shield, Color<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We talked about an Air Force female officer who was attempting to be the first woman to complete the Air Force’s Special Operations training pipeline a while back<\/a>. At the time there were accusations that the commanders of the program allowed the woman to continue despite her quitting (which is normally a line you can’t un-cross). There were also some suspiciously changed fitness standards.<\/p>\n

We now have an IG report on the matter, that of course exonerates everyone. From Air Force Times<\/a>;<\/p>\n

\n

Despite confusing fitness standards, Air Force didn\u2019t play favorites with female special tactics trainee, IG says<\/h3>\n

An Air Force inspector general investigation into alleged favoritism in the service\u2019s special operations enterprise concluded that leaders did not bend the rules for a female trainee who pulled out of contention for an elite combat job.<\/p>\n

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall green-lit the investigation after an anonymous letter posted to social media in January alleged that service officials are turning a blind eye to the captain\u2019s poor performance as she ventures to become the first female special tactics officer. But the four-month inquiry found that Air Force special warfare standards were not lowered specifically to benefit women.<\/p>\n

Leadership did, however, let the trainee restart after quitting late in the process. That did not amount to foul play, in part because Air Force rules did not expressly forbid reinstating pipeline dropouts, according to the watchdog\u2019s final report published Tuesday. Her valuable insight into cyber operations and as a woman earned her unique opportunities as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cFacts did not support the letter\u2019s claims of gender-based preferential treatment,\u201d the report said. \u201cThe letter\u2019s assertions are based mainly on \u2026 \u2018cultural norms,\u2019 knowledge of half the story and widely spread speculation fueled by special warfare students, instructor cadre and operators.\u201d<\/p>\n

About three dozen people provided sworn testimony to investigators or offered additional statements and information on related matters.<\/p>\n

Special tactics is the Air Force\u2019s name for a collection of commando jobs, including combat controllers, pararescue and special reconnaissance airmen, who are all led by special tactics officers. It\u2019s a small cohort within the far larger Air Force Special Operations Command, comprising roughly 1,000 operators, and is the service\u2019s most decorated community since the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n

The female captain, called \u201cCandidate X\u201d in the report, is one of only a few women who have attempted to earn a commando\u2019s beret since the Air Force opened the prestigious career fields to female airmen in 2016. None have succeeded.<\/p>\n

\u201cAFSOC and [Air Education and Training Command] are working together to ensure the training pipeline meets the demands of what we need for the operator of today and into the future,\u201d the Air Force said in a statement provided to Air Force Times Tuesday. \u201cOur commanders are meeting with their teams to ensure open communication about the investigation results and to address any questions\/concerns.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

More at the source, including their characterization as this all being “a web of misunderstandings.” It’s not as if the military has a policy written down in detail about everything, no matter how minor. Our elite special tactics training is apparently just cobbled together and wrapped in duct tape.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We talked about an Air Force female officer who was attempting to be the first woman … Female AFSOC candidate given special treatment, was a victim of ‘people chirping’ about ‘cultural norms’<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[220,187,236],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-floggings-will-continue-until-morale-improves","category-air-force","category-wtf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/664"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=126649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126649\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=126649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=126649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=126649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}