Andrew...come back from a few days on "the boat" and here is this.
I have to tell you that this is either one of the most "hubris" filled missives I have read or you are suffering from a bad case of volunteer burnout (see last years Texas Monthly Bum steer issue where they go through the stages of burnout). Maybe it is both of them...
As best I can tell your missive boils down to three categories.
1. If someone ask questions or doesnt accept my answers on their face then they are being sarcastic or a troll or their question isnt legitimate. 2. If I (or the rest of the volunteers) stop volunteering then the entire organization turns to crap. 3. While we have had some bad things happen some due to serious errors...we alone have learned the lessons so we are invaluable.
You really should stop volunteering or even working for money because unless you are Barrack Obama (or George Bush before him) there are few jobs where almost everything one does is not picked apart" by the rest of the folks...particularly when one is underperforming. (see Dick Cheney's response to no WMD). My real job is testing the airplanes people like you sit back in comfort and ride in and I can assure you that during such an effort the "kibbitzing" from the audience is fairly high.
If you are volunteering at an organization then you are doing it for the members of the organization and about the worst thing one can do, is minimize the input of those members.
As for there being no volunteers unless "you" (generic) do it...lol
When I left on my last assignment there was a guy at our church (lets call him Jim) who was the ultimate volunteer. He started managing the coffee between sunday school and church and by the time I left a few years ago, he was doing everything from managing the Communion to the parking volunteers..he even had his own little office. The line from everyone was "If Jim doesnt do it, who will?"
While I was gone we had a minister change and the new person tired pretty quickly of Jim...and pretty much reduced his role back to the "coffee stand". Jim quit even that. Odd, there are other people who volunteer for every single duty and it actually runs a lot better because Jim was pretty much stifling new blood.
I've never got a straight answer from anyone as to how the Suitsat 2 deployment was missed and why. I have friends in station ops at JSC...I'll bet you money that the effort got so complex that it just missed the dates. I will find out! I know even thinking that is trolling!
LOL
Robert WB5MZO
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