The Air Force is reviewing dress and appearance standards for Airmen and will begin to more strictly enforce regulations, Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said in a video address to Airmen released on Facebook Jan. 10. The changes will start rolling out in the next 90 days.
New policies and standards will also cover other topics besides appearance. The main objective is to ensure rules and regulations are clear and not subject to interpretation or “selective enforcement,” Allvin said.
“This selective enforcement can lead to situations where the Airmen believe then they have the opportunity to do selective compliance,” Allvin said. “This is where the danger lies.”
Unclear or “complex” standards are “difficult to understand,” he added. And that has made them “more difficult to comply with, and maybe more challenging and difficult to enforce.”
Unified policies for the entire service help set the tone for Airmen to be “dedicated to the team above the individual,” Allvin said. “Better standards and accountability” will help Airmen be “proud not only to wear the uniform but have the discipline that is the backbone of the greatest air force in the history of the planet.”
The updates come in response to concerns Allvin and Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force David A. Flosi heard expressed by rank-and-file Airmen and senior leaders.
Specific policies are now under review and Allvin has told wing commanders to expect the first round of updates to be disseminated to commands in the next 90 days as final decisions are made.
Language will be revised to ensure policies, waivers, and procedures “are easy to understand, easy to comply with, and easy to enforce,” Allvin promised. “Along the way, we want to ensure they are aligned across the entire United States Air Force.”
Differences across commands and in enforcement have generated controversies in recent years. But the changes being developed now also flow from Allvin’s drive to unify the Air Force and diminish some of the cultural distinctions between Major Commands.
When Allvin rolled out organizational changes a year ago, he emphasized the new service-wide role for Air Combat Command, for example, which is now charged with ensuring force readiness across the Air Force. ACC Commander Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach has instituted more inspections and closer adherence to uniform policies over the past year.
Increased enforcement is not just about looks, Allvin said.
When “Airmen decide for themselves whether they should comply with a tech order or safety regulations, or other instructions … the damage is to property, is to our equipment, but most importantly, we get Airmen injured or killed,” Allvin says in the video, as the screen shows a photo of the burnt-out wreckage of a B-1B bomber that crashed as a result, according to an Air Force investigation, of lax standards enforcement. “That’s what’s at stake, and that is what is driving some of these decisions.”
Changes will be introduced in phases. “We’re not going to wait a year or two years to roll out an entire batch,” Allvin said. “As we make the decisions, we’re going to distribute them to the force to start enforcing as they come to you.”
Airmen can now expect tighter enforcement of regulations and commanders will be expected to hold more frequent formations and inspections.
“We’re also directing that episodically we have the formations to come together, in uniform, to do a couple of things,” Allvin said. “The first thing is to be able to look at yourself, look at your teammate, hold yourself and him or her accountable to ensure that you’re in standards, you are proud that you are wearing this uniform in a manner that befits the call to arms that we have answered. At the same time, it offers the opportunity for the command leadership to be able to share the very latest and updated guidance to ensure we are all on the same sheet of music.”
But even though standards are being revised, the imperative now is to take standards seriously and to enforce them appropriately.
“You do not need to wait until the next policy change comes out or the next standards update comes out to enforce standards,” Allvin said. “Enforcing standards shows your commitment to the institution.”