Some Improvement

We are still waiting for some type of action by the new BOD to indicate that they will interact with the members in a more transparent manner than the previous several boards. However to their benefit it is noteworthy that the entire BOD has viewed the Oldstar message board at least once this month. A great improvement over the previous BOD. The present president's (praise of the former president) in his recent posting left a bitter taste in many member's mouths. The present BOD needs to distance itself from the former BOD if it expects the entire membership to embrace it and support it's' goals and fture plans. A slow start but still waiting.

[worfusa2008]

It has been my experience (Street Hump with 27+ years) that those aspiring to move up the management ladder must, by necessity, mirror the "Comanche School of Management" adhered to by those above them to whose positions they would inspire. It is management's policy that Street Humps are nothing more than assets to be managed "for the needs of the Service". To often I have been witness to those who profess that "things will be different" when they are in a position to affect policy. To a man, once they are in a position in which they can affect change they go along to get along. Headquarters used to exist to help the Agents. Now, the Agents exist only to serve the pencil necks in Headquarters.
To date, I see nothing different in the AFAUSSS. If the AFAUSSS BOD should ever see fit to side with the Humps rather than with the Suits, I and many like me might rethink about renewing our membership. I left the Service one year before mandatory (age) retirement because I gave the Service everything I had. I had nothing left, the well was empty, and yet they wanted more. I left angry because when I came aboard in 1971 it was a great job. After I retired, The stomach pains disappeared in six weeks.
The "kids" to whom I talk to today look upon the USSS as a job and nothing more. The AFAUSSS has not only failed the retired SA's, but those "kids" who look upon it as a place to go when they retire. What to they get in the AFAUSSS? They get nothing but the same old same old from the Bosses who screwed over them while they were on the job.
The AFAUSSS needs to be run by Agents who were never Bosses. Unfortunately, this will never happen. We are tired of beating our heads against the wall. Scar tissue not withstanding, it does hurt and for what.

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." - Lord Actton

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Several years ago I was at an AFAUSSS meeting. One of the BOD members at that time was an idealistic egalitarian who has since been demonized by a recent BOD president as being always negative and a constant critic.

At that meeting the idealistic member stood up to speak, standing about three feet from a retired senior management Inspector. As the speaker extolled the virtues of AFAUSSS, one of the things he emphasized was that as retirees we all left our USSS rank and position behind and within our association WE WERE ALL EQUAL. The scowl on the face of the former Inspector didn't require a body language expert to read. He was incensed! This displeasure, to a lesser extent, could be seen on the faces of many other former USSS supervisors in the room.

Egalitarianism does not flourish in AFAUSSS.

When it comes to electing BOD members, as in all elections, name recognition is a significant factor in winning. That explains, to some extent, why so many of the BOD members are former supervisors. Their former positions and assumed superiority might affect their perceived disregard of the concerns and suggestions of the general membership.

It probably also explains a fawning obsequious attitude towards USSS Headquarters on the part of the BOD.

I'm afraid I can't hold out much hope to worfusa2008 that anything will change any time soon.


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All the past President's and board members of AFAUSSS have dedicated there time in a very professional and positive manner. It is not uncommon for an incoming President to acknowledge the accomplishments and appreciation of the past President and it's board members. This would be a good time for the few of you to become more TRANSPARENT and offer your expertise and wisdom to this newly elected board. Or, will you just continue to sit on the sidelines of this forum and share your comments back and forth with the same few posters accomplishing nothing. Hopefully, this forum will continue to be available for your venting....best of luck.

You are kidding are you not concerning transparency? You cannot be serious if you have followed postings on Oldstar over the past several years. Many many members have posted comments, suggestions, recommendations, asked questions, etc. etc. with no responses by the BOD as a group or individually. Most of these postings have been totally ignored. You have the gall to suggest that the members be more transparent when in the past if they received any response to their inquiries it was nothing more then vitriolic criticism which always attacked the poster than than the sposting. I think most of us you are referring to will wait to see if the present BOD members act and respond differently to the membership than the past BOD. You have no idea who is posting on this forum but I can assure you though personal contact with other posters here that there are many more than you can envision. AFAUSSS will continue to lose members until and unless there are numerous changes by this new BOD. They need to make a 180 degree turn. Praising the former president and his actions was a very poor start. They need to cut that association now. BTW best of luck to you also.

[Carl Shawver]

All the past President's and board members of AFAUSSS have dedicated there time in a very professional and positive manner. It is not uncommon for an incoming President to acknowledge the accomplishments and appreciation of the past President and it's board members. This would be a good time for the few of you to become more TRANSPARENT and offer your expertise and wisdom to this newly elected board. Or, will you just continue to sit on the sidelines of this forum and share your comments back and forth with the same few posters accomplishing nothing. Hopefully, this forum will continue to be available for your venting....best of luck.

"This would be a good time for the few of you to become more TRANSPARENT and offer your expertise and wisdom to this newly elected board."

You KNOW that this remark is ludicrous. Those who have offered constructive suggestions in the past have been demonized and vilified as complainers, trouble makers and obstructionists. One person in particular was characterized by the president of the board of directors as a "continual nay-sayer." (What happened to the rule that you couldn't criticize a person "with a nexus to the Secret Service" on the message board? Selective enforcement, I guess.)

Another critic of those who offered suggestions characterized their suggestions as "pompous pronouncements ... counterproductive to the conduct of (association) business" and called the suggestions "self righteous, self appointed expertise." He also referred to them as the "unwashed masses" and likened their suggestions to "graffiti on an underpass."

Answer this: Are you prepared to log on to leoaffairs with your real name and assure those who have suggestions for the operation of the association that in the future they will not again be similarly attacked? (I thought not.)

"Hopefully, this forum will continue to be available for your venting...."

I'm confident that it will be available. The determination of the owners of leoaffairs (who one former board of directors member erroneously thought worked at the Sheriff's Office where I worked) have demonstrated their firm commitment to free expression, within their Terms of Use, by defending their principals both in the local courts and in the court of appeals. They are not averse to litigation.

What you disparagingly characterize as venting is actually simply the free expression of opinion. Your prejudice against such expression is disclosed by your use of a pejorative word to characterize the remarks.

Under the current association message board rules, that forbid criticism of anyone with a "nexus to the Secret Service" it is impermissible to name and criticize anyone who contributed to the recent "tell all" book containing private information about people who we have protected over the years. This egregious violation of our unwritten code of silence about such matters cries out for condemnation. Of course that can't be done on the association message board. Are you prepared to publicly call for the cancellation of this rule? (I thought not.)

It WOULD be nice if the association message board was as open to free speech as leoaffairs, but the prospects for that are dim.

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Mr. Shawver, you summed it up very well. Sweet Taste will not respond to the questions you directed to him/her as he/she is just another apologist for AFAUSSS BOD. Thank the good Lord for forums such as LEO Affairs.