Yearly climate survey quantifies academic staff cuts (now over 15%) and associated collapse of morale at the US Air Force Academy; action requested

Dear friends - I am preparing a new op/ed, regarding the devastating results in the recent Defense Organizational Climate Survey (DEOCS) survey at USAFA, and am now looking for a traditional (print/online) newspaper to publish it. DEOCS is the mandatory, unit-level survey for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to assess command climate, intended to help leaders to foster healthier environments - issues that need substantial attention at USAFA today.

I wanted to give y’all on substack early access to the following link to a draft of this story (please click!), which is discussed in detail at this link. This story concludes with the following short call to action:

A. please forward this post broadly, via email and your social media channels, with a personal note, and

B. please send a short email to USAFA.HQ.BOV@us.af.mil (please click!) urging action, before January 30. This email could be as simple as the following (just copy/paste and modify to personalize your message):

to: USAFA.HQ.BOV@us.af.mil
subject: for Feb 5 BoV meeting: Request for transparency of ongoing RIF of DF

Dear USAFA BoV, HLC investigation board, SASC/HASC, Gen Bauernfeind, et al -

I am a …. <describe yourself here: concerned citizen, parent of a current/prospective USAFA cadet, 1989 USAFA grad, retired USAF Lt Col, former USAFA faculty/department head, etc>.

I am shocked to hear of the substantial decline of morale and the loss thus far of 136 (over 15%, and still climbing) of DF personnel at USAFA, as quantified in the recent DEOCS survey. Immediate action by the BoV and HLC is required to clarify the precise distribution of these staggering losses within DF, to stop this downward spiral of academics, and to clarify a robust and transparent process by which academics at USAFA will “pivot and refocus” appropriately.

Regards,
<your name>

The USAFA Board of Visitors (BoV), which is directly charged with overseeing matters such as the morale, curriculum, instruction, and academic methods relating to the Academy, normally gets about 10 such emails (explicitly allowed by Title 10 U.S. Code 9455) for each of their meetings. Let’s organize together to make it well over 1000. It will take each of us less than a minute, but our coordinated action is required now (before Jan 30). Recent events have emphasized one thing: for reason to prevail, our collective considered voices must not be silenced.