I was talking in the hallway to a few Captains one morning when the squadron commander (the 560th FTS/CC) came up to us. At that time I was the “Special Assistant to the DO (Director of Operations), Number 2. Lt. Col. Byron Allen was the Special Assistant to the DO, Number 1. I had upward mobility, he didn’t…
Anyway, the commander asked if he could speak to me, indicating that he wanted it to be a “private conversation.”
“Sure Tom,” I replied, “what’s on your mind?” I replied with a ‘body language’ that told him I wasn’t going anywhere. This would have been in December 1987 and I was retiring in July.
“Have you heard of ‘my’ policy of not flying 3 times a day?” he asked, thinking he had ‘nailed me.’
“Why, yes Tom, I have,” I answered.
“Well, it appears that the other day, you violated my policy,” he stated as if he had nailed me.
“Okay Tom, let’s think about this for a second,” I replied. The Captains I had been talking with were now becoming somewhat amused, so I continued. “Your ‘policy,’ as I understand it, is a ‘WOM,’ a ‘word-of-mouth.’ If you want me to adhere to it, write it down. ‘WOMs’ are not legally binding. And besides I did not fly 3 times that day (12 December 1987), I flew 5 times that day!”
At the time the only limit we had to flying on any given day was no more than 6.5 hours in a day – and I had not exceeded that. I had 6.0 hours that day… and I knew it. So, I was just ‘playing’ with him. He was now in a engagement he could not win – so without saying anything else, he just turned and left. Nothing else ever came of it…
You have to know the rules…