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FB: Blue Book returns. The pocket copy of Air Force standards will be standard issue for new airmen.
The Air Force is bringing back its "little blue book" as standard issue for new airmen.
The small, bound copy of Air Force Instruction 1-1, an outline of Air Force standards and regulations, had been was standard issue until it and given to new airmen to place an emphasis on the service's core values and an overview of standards and regulations. It was phased out in the 1990s to save money. Former Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz again made it available to bases in 2013, but now But Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh has decided to bring it back as standard issue.
"We lost a tool used by good supervisors to drive home points," Welsh said Thursday today at an Air Force Association speech in Arlington, Virginia.
While there is no timetable yet, the Air Force is publishing them and will bring to them to new airmen "pretty fast." The goal is to have new airmen carry the small booklet in their back pocket as a quick reference. Sand that supervisors can use the book to refer could direct airmen them to what specific regulations and guidelines mean, and to enforce along with enforcing standards, Welsh said.
The decision to bring back the book came from a broader discussion of Air Force core values, Welsh said. Service leadership recently had discussed adding a fourth value: respect. The discussion began because of recent scandals instances in the service, such as sexual assault scandals and cheating. While the idea of respect is inherent in the service's core values — integrity first, service before self and excellence in all we do — "We thought maybe we would highlight it more by adding it as a core value," Welsh said.
Welsh directed wing commanders and major command leaders to discuss the possible change among their airmen, and Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force James Cody polled airmen during his base visits.
"The response was overwhelming, to leave it at three core values," Welsh said. "So we're going to leave the core values the way they are."
