Posted on 05/05/2019 6:20:48 AM PDT by robowombat
Afghan Air Force pilot training program in US ends after nearly half go AWOL
WASHINGTON – The Pentagon quietly ended a program to train Afghan Air Force pilots in the United States after nearly half of the course attendees disappeared, according to a Defense Department watchdog report released this week.
More than 40 percent of the Afghan pilots sent to train on the AC-208 Combat Caravan lightweight reconnaissance aircraft went absent without leave while in the United States, according to a quarterly report of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR. The report, which was released Tuesday, did not detail precisely how many Afghan pilots deserted the training program, which has been conducted at the Fort Worth Meacham Airport in Texas.
One class of Afghan aviators successfully completed the course in the United States, according to the report. Two subsequent classes have been suspended. Their pilots – the ones who did not desert – have already been sent back to Afghanistan, where they will continue training on Cessna-built aircraft capable of carrying Hellfire missiles, which has been used in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
article continues below related articles An Afghan pilot practices flying one of Afghanistan's new UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters at Kandahar Air Field on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017.
Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes Afghanistan’s Black Hawk program is short of pilots to fly them The family of Afghan flight engineer Mahboobulhaq Safi, 30, keep photos of their loved one, who was one of the most highly trained airmen in the Afghan air force and was assassinated on Aug. 27, 2018.
J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes Assassins threaten multibillion-dollar US efforts to keep Afghan airmen flying
The U.S. Air Force will also end another training program next year for Afghan pilots in the United States, according to the report. Training for Afghan pilots to fly the A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft will move to Afghanistan in late 2020, SIGAR reported.
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That training has been conducted at Moody Air Force Base, just outside Valdosta, Ga. While the program has also been plagued by desertions, SIGAR reported it will be disbanded because enough Afghan pilots will have been trained to fly that aircraft by that time.
In 2015, two Afghan pilots assigned to Moody disappeared, launching a manhunt. At least one of the missing men was later found in Virginia. Three other Afghan servicemembers who were reported missing in 2014 from a training exercise in Cape Cod, Mass., were apprehended in Niagara Falls, N.Y., as they attempted to enter Canada, officials said at the time.
Training for Afghan pilots on the A-29 was expected to continue in Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan after the program at Moody is concluded, SIGAR reported.
As of February, the United States has spent about $8.4 billion to support and develop the Afghan Air Force, including providing 170 aircraft, according to SIGAR. To date, the Afghan Air Force has 119 fully qualified pilots and dozens more in training.
Why not train them in anagram you cheese d!cks?
Why not train them in anagram you cheese d!cks?
When Russian aircraft are purchased with the training package, how many go AWOL in Mother Russia?
How about Chinese equipment training?
Maybe they jus don’t have the balls to be pilots.
Your tax dollars at work.
“As of February, the United States has spent about $8.4 billion to support and develop the Afghan Air Force,”
$8.4 billion would build a hell of a lot of wall.
L
This just in from Ilhan Omar: Someone deserted somewhere.
Maybe they only needed to know how to take off, but not how to land.
Hmmm
Maybe they got ‘suspicious’ when the training didn’t really include how to SAFELY land it.
Reminiscent of post 9/11 when flight school(s) said they had reported people wanting training on how to take off but really weren’t all that interested in learning how to land them.
If that info had been turned over to the FBI etal one would think action would have been immediately taken BUT since 9/11 the Russians(Chezchians(sp)) in the Boston Marathon were supposedly ‘given’ to the FBI (or CIA-who ‘couldn’t act on it) before the marathon was run, then the shooting in Florida where the guy put up so many redflags his own people were wondering why he was ‘walking the streets’.
Maybe the FBI weren’t alerted BUT from seeing the (reported) actions in and around 2016 elections, hard to tell what to believe and/or cast aside
Had two of them. Dumbest dogs ever!!
The Constitution of Afghanistan is explicitly Islamic. Any support for that nation is worse than a waste of money, it is aiding an abetting the number one enemy of civilization itself.Communism is only number 2 because Islam has a proven record of persistence.
WE like Afghanistan more than people FROM Afghanistan like Afghanistan:
Can there be any more CLEAR sign that we shouldn’t be fighting there..?
Who knows Afghanistan better than people FROM there..?
That right there is tripe-A grade “Sh*thole Country” certification
They disappear into these United States. How nice.
Very interesting. Thanks for posting. Jihad continues apace.
Lets invade more countries to “nation-build”, so we can have more Venezuelans here illegally.
They would rather drive an Uber here than have to live in Afghanistan, as a high prestige pilot.
This has been the situation in Afghanistan, since the communist takeover in the 70s. It became conventional wisdom to take advantage of any travel outside the country, to take your opportunity to make a break for it. Call it defecting, going AWOL, or whatever - the future seems brighter elsewhere. Afghanistan has had massive out-migration in the last few decades - one of the worst on Earth.
Until they have security/rule of law there, their prosperity will be constrained, and the young will continue to try to seek opportunity elsewhere.
Can we please just leave the Afghans in the stoneage and come home.
Lets face it, they are going to leave the Rare Earth Minerals to the Chinese, not us.
Perhaps we should review how THEY do it, and stop dropping bombs to get our way.
Personally, I care that our missiles work—not that Afghan girls get to go to school. Not my problem. I want USA girls to go to school.
Maybe they just don’t have the balls to be pilots.
“Tho you may think it strange
But wine and women play the mischief
With a boy who’s loose with change”
How Ya Gonna Keep ‘em Down on the Farm (After They’ve Seen Paree)?
Reuben, Reuben, I’ve been thinking
Said his wifey dear
Now that all is peaceful and calm
The boys will soon be back on the farm
Mister Reuben started winking and slowly rubbed his chin
He pulled his chair up close to mother
And he asked her with a grin
Chorus (sung twice after each verse):
How ya gonna keep ‘em down on the farm
After they’ve seen Paree’
How ya gonna keep ‘em away from Broadway
Jazzin around and paintin’ the town
How ya gonna keep ‘em away from harm, that’s a mystery
They’ll never want to see a rake or plow
And who the deuce can parleyvous a cow?
How ya gonna keep ‘em down on the farm
After they’ve seen Paree’
Rueben, Rueben, you’re mistaken
Said his wifey dear
Once a farmer, always a jay
And farmers always stick to the hay
Mother Reuben, I’m not fakin
Tho you may think it strange
But wine and women play the mischief
With a boy who’s loose with change
Chorus (sung twice after each verse):
How ya gonna keep ‘em down on the farm
After they’ve seen Paree’
How ya gonna keep ‘em away from Broadway
Jazzin around and paintin’ the town
How ya gonna keep ‘em away from harm, that’s a mystery
Imagine Reuben when he meets his Pa
He’ll pinch his cheek and holler “OO-LA-LA!
How ya gonna keep ‘em down on the farm
After they’ve seen Paree’?
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