Reserve chief: Tech uniform rule is a done deal - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Reserve chief: Tech uniform rule is a done deal

More than 2,400 Air Force Reserve technicians or their supporters have signed a petition seeking to reverse a new policy requiring them to wear their uniforms on the job, even while on civilian status.

The policy is in effect for reserve techs not covered by collective bargaining, but for those who have union representation it’s only a matter of time since, at the end of the day, the new policy will be the rule, said Lt. Gen. John Bradley, chief of the Air Force Reserve.

“This is not a negotiation about whether we’re going to do it. The decision is made. We’re going to do it,” he said.

Dealing with unions

Of the Reserve’s approximately 10,000 technicians, more than 6,600 are represented by labor unions, which require the Air Force to meet with local representatives about the changes.

What will happen, Bradley said, is that Reserve officials will meet with union reps for “impact and implementation” meetings. Basically, the Reserve will spell out the new policy for the airmen.

Reserve techs covered by collective bargaining who want to stick to the letter of their contracts may do so until it’s time for a new contract; the new uniform policy will be part of it.

But Bradley said the Air Force already has implemented the new policy, and though congressional approval is not needed, Congress will be asked to sign off on it.

‘My thought, my idea’

Bradley has thought long about the policy change, even before he became chief of the Air Force Reserve in 2004. But he did not reach the decision, he said, “in a vacuum.”

“I’ve done a lot of talking to a lot of people. I’ve talked to my own people extensively, a lot of senior people and not-so-senior people,” he said. These include Reserve wing commanders, staff people, major command commanders, and many enlisted leaders, including command chief master sergeants, all of whom think it’s a good idea, he added.

Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley is on board as well, which is bound to irritate some policy critics who quote from Moseley’s April 2007 “Vector” message, in which he said that being an airman “has nothing to do with a person’s rank, career field or uniform of the day.”

“He thinks it’s the right thing to do, as well,” Bradley said of Moseley, “but I’m the one who started it; it’s my thought, my idea.”

Technicians’ concerns

Reserve techs have many criticisms. They don’t want to buy and maintain additional uniforms, they don’t like the tone of the April 18 letter informing the union of the policy — which made it seem as if the change was a response to discipline problems — and they don’t like the fact they will operate as if they’re active-duty airmen, but they won’t receive the same benefits.

Cost to airmen stays the same

Of the new costs, Bradley said that they’re non-existent, and that the airmen will even save money.

“We’re going to issue them the same number of uniforms the active-duty airman gets,” he said. “Now they won’t have to buy civilian [work] clothes ... now they won’t wear out their civilian clothes.”

He sided with the airmen on the discipline question, distancing himself from the letter and saying the change has nothing to do with discipline problems in the Reserve.

“That’s not what this is about. We have very good order, very good discipline. ... I believe we’ll have a better future in the Air Force if we wear uniforms.”

But Reserve techs can forget about having active-duty benefits and pay extended to them.

“The only way to get active-duty benefits is to be on active duty,” Bradley said.

A changed force

The policy may be hard for many airmen to accept, but as Bradley sees it, it makes absolute sense, especially at a time when Reserve units are merging with active-duty and Air Guard units as associate units within the Total Force Integration program.

There has been a big change in how the Reserve serves, he said. The days when it was only a strategic Reserve are gone, just as they are gone for the Air National Guard, which also has become a necessary part of Air Force operations.

“For 40 or 50 years we were looked at as a strategic reserve [only]. Now we are really an operational reserve,” Bradley said.

“We are involved in everything the Air Force does, every day; that does not mean 100 percent of us, but we’re heavily involved in air mobility, strategic airlift, tactical airlift, air refueling, special operations, pilot training, advance flying training, space, air operations centers, AWACs, fighters, bombers. ... We have the most diverse major command in the Air Force when it comes to missions.”

Wearing the uniform on the job, all the time, fits into this vision, he said.

A “vision” paper published a year ago by the Reserve called the component “an unrivaled wingman” to the active-duty force, Bradley said, and “as a wingman you have some responsibilities. I don’t think you’re ever not an airman in our Air Force.”

Originally published Sept. 17, 2007