Schieffer: What I learned in the USAF

Forty-nine years ago this week, I got out of the Air Force after serving three years on active duty.

I got out on the same day I went in: 7 September. It's the one day I always put the date first and then the month, because that's how the Air Force did it. It just pops up in my memory that way.

I didn't join for noble reasons. I enrolled in ROTC in college because I didn't want to be drafted. But I learned more in those three years than I ever did in any school.

One of the first lessons was when I came up with some crazy idea, and my boss told me, "That might work, but first learn to do it our way; then you can try it your way."

Remarkably, it turned out the Air Force had figured out several things that had never dawned on me at age 22.

That saved me a lot of trouble down the line - this revelation that others might have ideas just as good as - or better than - mine.

The Air Force gave me the pride that comes from being part of something larger than myself, and the knowledge that comes from working and learning from others on a team.

Maybe it's unfair, but as I watch the mess we've made of our politics, I find myself asking, "Do you suppose these people were ever on a team? Ever sat down and really listened to what someone else was saying? Ever have anything on their minds but themselves?"

I know, I already said it's unfair.

But I keep wondering and thinking how much I learned after 7 September.

[NinthSt78]

I have many similar and mutual feelings there. A most memorable one was the small work party breaking drill bits trying to drill into armor plate. Super glue with a sawed-off screw-head glued on as well to make it look like we did it the right way solved the problem.

[bgtrfla]

I listened to your comments about what you learned in the Air Force. I joined the Army after high school in 1974 and then re-entered the Service as an Officer in the US Army in 1981. Your remarks about learning a sense of team is very true to me. I have used this approach in most of my life's endeavours and found it to be invaluable in helping me be successful. I do too wish more of our congressmen and women had the same sense of "team" to help make this a better country.

US Army 1974-1977, 1981-1991

[tsigili]

Politicians consider 'team work" the work of their party, and frankly, both political parties would be dictators to the American people, if they could, but........the democrats want to keep people poor, uneducated, impoverished, and on welfare, so they are easier to dictate to.

The Democrats are......."the welfare party".

[AOCGUY]

Can't say that is the dumbest comment I have seen here but clearly you have been practicing. Keep up the good work, you might make it to the top 10 list.

[illcountryboy]

Been listening to Rush to much - and we all know what a ditto is.

[amerilatino]

Granted, teamwork has it's place, but the fact is, a lame camel is racehorse designed in committee. All my young life I was told, "conform, conform, conform." Only under my own, individual efforts have I ever made any true progress; the two best times of my life were spent putting up and running the concession stand at the YMCA Bingo when I was 16, when I cut my first profit, and teaching myself CAD design. The times that I've been "taking one for the team," have been the most stagnant, unfulfilling times of my life. Perhaps I need to unlearn all the CR@P indoctrinated into me since High School, a la Kodachrome, and go back to that first Bingo Game.

[O_ReallyFactor]

At last: a commentary from a CBS news hack actually supporting the military - and a veteran to boot. Will wonders never cease!

[bobhobbs]

I got my draft notice in 1969, and enlisted for a 9 month school.
The experience was excellent for me: I got technical training, and learned teamwork, which I constantly used in my career (Electrical Engineering).
Our present reps in Washington show a great lack of teamwork.
I agree with Bob.

[b4uigo]

What a crock. 49 years ago there was No chance of being drafted. More likely it was the free tuition offered by the AF in going to school followed by three years of service to pay it back. But it sounds better to say I was "afraid of the draft". Disingenuous comes to mind in describing this claim. But then it fits the source.

[AOCGUY]

b4uigo - Over 82,000 American men were inducted into the Armed Services in 1962 as a result of the draft.

[AAnnie52]

The draft didn't end until 1973. In 1962 there was this little thing later called the Cuban Missile Crisis (the US was deep in the cold war with the Soviets then) so, yeah, there was a little drama to being a fly guy then. I'm old enough to remember the "duck and cover" routine.

[RealiteBites]

Bob, please ... what about that life lesson that if you want something done right, you do it yourself.

Washington doesn't know what to do - if you do, then you're lucky you've got the platform to say so.

If you don't, then how can you expect them to either?

The one area Washington is unified when it comes to policy is with regards to expanding 'free trade'. Bipartisan agreement doesn't make them right ...

[Jim1900]

I agree with Bob Schieffer 100%. A lot of the problems with immature people in this country (not just politicians) are because they never served in the military. That was generally not true in previous generations. You didn't have to go into the military because you liked it, you only had to learn from it.

[random_radar]

The kind of teamwork you learn in the military is unquestioning obedience to authority. As in subservience to authoritarianism. As in goosestepping fascism.

Applying militarism to government gets you Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and Maoist China. The rich and powerful elitists in America are anxious to implement that plan, but do the rest of us really want to be their slaves?

Frankly, judging by the knee jerk jingoist psuedo patriotism in the blogosphere, I would have to answer, yes, rank and file Americans support the coming police state. I will still oppose it and end up in the gulag because I know where it will lead and I don't want blood on my hands.

Wave good bye to what American once was and welcome the brave new world of totalitarianism.

[6591Hou]

Wow, your bias is remarkable to say the least.

The teamwork that is referred to in this article is the ability to work with others from diverse backgrounds in the completion of a common goal - it's unfortunate that you seek to portray it as anything else.

[Lima6]

What an idiotic rant.

Mr. Shieffer is not advocating the application of "militarism" to our government. If you'd ever been in the Air Force (or one of the other branches of the armed forces), you might be able to tell the difference between your La La Land fantasies and reality.

Hundreds of thousands of good people are serving in the armed forces tonight, offering their lives to protect your right to make such foolish statements. Every one of them took a solemn oath to support and defend the Constitution. That's the best insurance you will ever have against the possibility that America might someday degenerate into a police state.

Bob is absolutely right about the benefits that people gain by serving the people of this country. They include maturity and the ability to distinguish between fantasy and reality. Perhaps you should enlist.