When I was in the Air Force I had a job manning the O.R. desk.  We were a combat F-4 fighter squadron based in Thailand in 1973. O.R. stood for ‘Operationally Ready’ and referred to the maintenance status of an aircraft.

My boss noticed that as the flight crews stood in line in the maintenance debriefing room after a mission they would listen to other pilots ahead of them describe problems they had with their aircraft and then when their turn came they would relate some of the same problems or having had time in line to think about it, come up with something else to complain about.

So he made me the ‘O.R. Debriefer’ with a separate desk and a sign to that effect. If a pilot had an O.R. aircraft he could bypass the line, sign a form I had already filled out and pop out the door headed for the O-Club. Our O.R. rate skyrocketed! Most of the time I wasn’t doing anything so I would bring two books from the library every day so that when I finished one I had another to start on.

What do you think? Is a person in charge of taking forms that state that everything is okay engaged in a BS activity?