This is ‘a’ Bullshit Flag. There are several versions ‘out there,’ but this one will suffice for my blog. I will ‘throw it’ on future posts when I decide something or another is “bullshit.” “And what gives me the authority,” you might ask. Simple – my blog!
In the mid-80’s we had an Ops Officer (Operations Officer) in the 560th, Callsign Polecat. He was a great Ops Officer.
On occasion he would call a squadron pilot’s meeting in Room 45 of Hanger 12. In those days that meant NO Shoe clerks (NO non-rated types.) I don’t think he could get away with that today because some shoe clerk would think we were talking about him or her, and have their sensitive feelings bruised. Anyway…
As we would come into the room, Polecat would hand each of us a “Bullshit Flag.” His ROE (Rules of Engagement) was simple: if any of us heard something that was ‘bullshit,’ we were free to wave the flag – then we would discuss the issue, without fear of retribution or ridicule. It worked well in our environment… and this was a technique I employed when I became a squadron commander.
The idea was, if you had ‘an issue’ that you felt was BS, and didn’t say anything about it, then you deserved to wear it…