For those in the Active Duty Air Force, I am soliciting examples of "perception at the expense of reality" practices in the Air Force for a paper I am writing.  If you know of things done in the Air Force to give the perception of X while the reality of X is different please post here.  OPSEC issues can be avoided by PMing me and exchanging .mil email addresses for bullet exchanges.

For example, Mission Readiness Reports that read 100% mission capable despite known limitations to the mission due to manpower.

Another example might be powerpoint presentations which provide the perception of "cyberspace security" while the known reality is accepted practices which are blantantly insecure.  This is an example only.

Another example might deal with painting the grass or last minute changes and positioning of equipment before a General visits.

You get the idea...  Thanks greatly for any examples.

 

1. Mandating Blues on Monday to promote a more "professional" appearance, when it just reveals how out-of-shape most people are (It's harder to hide your love handles and pot belly in Blues as opposed to BDUs).
2. Appending the term "warrior" to everyone's EPR / OPR... regardless of whether or not they have been in combat.
3. EPRs / OPRs in general... "firewall fives"... need I say more?
4. Giving someone a decoration for helping clean up after a squadron holiday party, but denying someone else a combat action medal because they didn't fill out the paperwork correctly.
5. Gauging a unit's deployment "readiness" by how many of its members have mindlessly clicked through their required CBTs in the shortest amount of time possible.

For those in the production business how about being told "don't worry about the timeline" when actions clearly state, "worry about the timeline."

ORM and TQM are huge examples of perception at the expense of reality. ORM tries to quantify risk factors so that it will make things safer, whereas the programs design is to eliminate risk entirely. TQM is another horrible management fad that the USAF picked up back in the early 90s, and has not laid down since. Communism was also a great idea on paper, but not so much in practice.