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A virtual shame

The Air Force announced this week that enlisted airmen no longer will learn about a promotion from their commander. They’ll have to go to a Web site.

This is not progress.

Perhaps eliminating the human touch at career milestones is inevitable in a self-service age, where jobs once done by fellow airmen are the domain of automated Web sites and centralized call centers.

But that doesn’t make it right. Consider, for example, that when they first heard about the plan, Air Force command chief master sergeants hated it.

“I thought the wheels had fallen off the truck,” said one.

Many of those same chiefs have since grown accustomed to the idea. But it’s still hard to understand why.

Unlike other changes, such as the new virtual Military Personnel Flight and a virtual finance office, which can reduce the number of people needed to perform certain functions and save the Air Force time and money, the benefits of this move are hard to discern. De-personalizing the promotion process can only devalue the experience. And that’s not going to boost morale.

True, some airmen have always found out about promotions through the grapevine. But not all. And the idea that your commander can single you out for attention and celebrate the event has been a hallmark of the Air Force’s carefully orchestrated promotion process.

The virtual notification process will get the news to airmen faster, and Air Force officials are adamant that commanders will still congratulate their promoted airmen — if not as they get the news, then at least some time later. But the opportunity to engage an airman and share in his joy over a promotion will be lost forever. The opportunity to build on unit morale and to truly engage, one on one, with a superior will be lost.

That may be more efficient. But it is not better.