The Air Force has long been harassed by Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines for its gentleness, but that might not be a bad thing. After all, who wouldn’t want life to be less rubbish? This year alone, the service announced that it would allow Airmen to take their physical training test, put their hands in their pockets in uniform, and even (gasp) use a cell phone or drink water in walking in uniform.

Today, an Air Force base flies even closer to the sun by setting up parking spaces reserved for enlisted junior aviators. That’s right, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, on Tuesday announced that parking spaces reserved for senior executives would be reduced at the base exchange and police station, while dedicated spaces for junior aviators would be added.

Normally, base facilities like the commissioner and exchange have reserved places for senior leaders such as master sergeants, colonels and general officers, the base wrote. But these new places are allocated to Base Airmen to Senior Airmen, who represent E-1 to E-4 on the Defense Department’s enlisted salary scale. It should be noted that unlike more experienced Airmen, junior enlisted personnel typically must live on a base in barracks, so it is likely that they will frequent base exchanges and other facilities more often.

The last signs delimiting these spots will be installed in the coming weeks, and not too soon, according to some reactions on social networks.

“At every base we’ve been to, I’ve rarely seen these higher rank seats being used,” one commenter wrote on Facebook. “They always sit empty.”

“The majority of high-ranking reserved exchange spaces sit empty for weeks,” another wrote on Reddit.

Yet other reactions have been mixed. Junior enlisted servicemen are literally at the bottom of the totem pole on military land, so they rarely get the same benefits as their superiors. But some commentators were suspicious. After all, Tinker’s press release didn’t specify where in the parking lot the new reserved spots are.

“At the back of the lot, the farthest from the BX gate,” a Facebook commenter wrote.

“Round of the plot: the parking spaces are in a different area of ​​the base,” wrote another.

Others said the Tinker reserved parking situation was getting out of hand. For example, the press release states that there were also reserved spaces for the honor guard, alert vehicles, pregnant women and members of the Gold Star family. Yet others have called for more reserved parking spaces, such as for retirees or for E-5 aviators, so that E-4s are always encouraged to be promoted – although that is probably a joke.

“Why not just offer valet parking? Wrote a commentator on Facebook.

Apart from special parking spaces for disabled or pregnant people, the notion of reserved parking spaces seems to contradict the idea that “all men are created equal”, as stated in the Declaration of Independence of States. -Unis, or “first come, first served” and “dibs”, presented respectively by restaurants and playgrounds. It’s a nice gesture, but there may be more substantial things that institutions can provide for the well-being of young enlisted airmen. Keep in mind that Tinker was the same base where a colonel told a crew they failed with America because they turned down a dangerous training mission.

“I can’t express to you the level of disappointment I have right now,” Col. Gary Donovan, 552nd Air Traffic Control Wing operations group commander, told airmen in July after refusing to violate Air Force safety rules for performing a training mission aboard E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) jets.

If you spend time on an Air Force social media forum, you will find that parking spaces are not what many Airmen ask for in order to improve their lives. Instead, you’ll see calls to make the Air Force Personnel Center less of a pain; hire more aircraft maintainers so that they are not constantly exhausted; and make leadership less toxic.

“I’m a big believer in treating enlisted juniors better, but that just sounds a little silly,” wrote a commentator on Reddit reacting to the parking lot news.

All is not bad, however. Now, lower-ranking Airmen won’t have to wait that long to stock up on an energy drink of their choice before resuming a 15-hour shift at an understaffed store. Go Air Force.

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