Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Missing U.S. Air Force Major Jill Metzger FOUND
abcnews ^ | 982006 | JONATHAN KARL

Posted on 09/08/2006 3:07:09 PM PDT by show me state

Edited on 09/08/2006 3:58:09 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8, 2006 — Air Force Maj. Jill Metzger, who vanished Monday in Kyrgyzstan, has been found and now is back in Air Force control, ABC News has learned.

"We are elated to have Jill back with us," said Air Force spokesman Col. Scott Reese. Local police notified U.S. officials that she had been found at 1:15 a.m. local time in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Air Force officials say she was found alone and appears to have been beaten. Officials say she is "coherent," in "relatively good condition" and is talking to investigators. She is also undergoing medical evaluation.

Officials would not comment on the circumstances surrounding her disappearance and said the investigation is ongoing

The news brought elation to Metzger's family.

"It's a dream come true. The most significant event of our lives," said Kelly Mayo, Metzger's father-in-law. Mayo said he has not spoken to Metzger yet, but believes she had been kidnapped and "whoever had her dropped her off on the side of the road."

Metzger vanished on Monday afternoon in Kyrgyzstan — a poor, predominantly Muslim country in Central Asia. Since shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, Kyrgyzstan has been home to a strategically important U.S. military base that supports operations in Afghanistan. The government is generally pro-American, and in recent years has experienced sporadic clashes with Islamic fundamentalists.

Just 10 days before deploying to Kyrgyzstan in April, Metzger married Air Force Capt. Josh Mayo. They had already bought tickets for a honeymoon in Jamaica later this month, he said.

"We were going to take Jet Skis out, have a couple of romantic dinners. It is very disappointing," said Mayo

Before her disappearance, Metzger was last seen out shopping with five others from the base. The group briefly separated inside a department store in the center of Bishkek, several miles from the base. They had agreed to meet a short time later, but Metzger never showed up.


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: feetsdontfailmenow; jillmetzger; kyrgyzstan; major; majorjillmetzger; majormetzger; majorstoryaboutmajor; metzger; mia; missing; rdtfflames; runawaymajor; shavedhead
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 361-380381-400401-420 ... 441 next last
To: ElkGroveDan
The MEN were raped?

Of course, their captors were Muslim Arabs, were they not?

They have a saying, "A woman is a duty, but a boy is a joy", or something like that.

381 posted on 09/11/2006 2:09:59 PM PDT by El Gato
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 90 | View Replies]

To: El Gato

"Now if we could just get enough "He Men" to volunteer to take those the positions of the those female mechanics, truck drivers, etc."



A point I make constantly, we have the largest pool of males ever, we have a small military compared to recent generations, but we can't get enough young men to enlist.

I can find more patriotism now than at any time in my life, yet I find little enthusiasm among young males to serve a hitch in the army or marines.


382 posted on 09/11/2006 2:18:50 PM PDT by ansel12 (Life is exquisite... of great beauty, keenly felt.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 380 | View Replies]

To: SmithL
I loathe myself for laughing at that.

Ditto. * snicker, snort *

383 posted on 09/11/2006 2:20:00 PM PDT by TChris (Banning DDT wasn't about birds. It was about power.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: American Cabalist

I believe you are the only one to respond to what I thought, is a pretty good starting point for a discussion.


384 posted on 09/11/2006 2:20:36 PM PDT by ansel12 (Life is exquisite... of great beauty, keenly felt.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 366 | View Replies]

To: higgmeister

Sounds like my family, my grandmother on my mom's side grew her own chewing tobacco and kept a pistol.

They took her pistol away when she shot the ceiling to break up my uncles, she then started sleeping with a hatchet.

My mother picked cotton, and fruit, and vegetables, as they followed the crops.
As a more mature woman she became a construction inspector.


385 posted on 09/11/2006 2:36:56 PM PDT by ansel12 (Life is exquisite... of great beauty, keenly felt.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 368 | View Replies]

To: Shermy

Just ran off for one last fling before she gets married.


386 posted on 09/11/2006 2:40:50 PM PDT by albee (The best thing you can do for the poor is.....not be one of them. - Eric Hoffer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: TUAN_JIM
According to AF Personnel Center, the average time to pin on Major's leaves is 10.7 years. That would make one about 32, assuming an Academy, ROTC, or OCS commission right out of college, and no prior enlisted service. She is 33 according to the CBS story.

I suspect newly promoted Marine Majors just *look* older. :). Plus many of them would have had prior enlisted service, as do many AF majors and captains I have known.

387 posted on 09/11/2006 2:49:22 PM PDT by El Gato
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 102 | View Replies]

To: TUAN_JIM
I just looked at the promotion board order for the Marines for 2006. The most junior Captain in the zone had a DOR of Jan 02. That would be about 4 1/2 as a Captain. You make Captain in 4 or so. So 8 1/2 years is the minimum, with promotion in the zone. Plus the promotions would not take effect immediately after the board meets. Below the zone most junior Captain had a DOR of Dec. 02, so it can be done in a year less than that. (Promotion to 1st LT is automatic for the fully qualified, and that to Captain almost so, because the promotion percentage is so high. Even I made Captain. :)

I could be off a year, because they keep changing the promotion point for 1LT and Captain, in all the services, and at least in the past, they weren't all the same anyway.

388 posted on 09/11/2006 3:00:20 PM PDT by El Gato
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 102 | View Replies]

To: Varda
I think women should not be in combat zones although I'm not sure what status Afghanistan has now

Afghanistan is a combat zone. Kirghistan, where she was deployed is not, other than in the sense that most any 3rd world country full of Muslims, even nominally friendly ones as in this case, is something of a combat zone.

As it happens, one of my sister's in law is from Bishkek, Kirghistan. She's not a Muslim though, but is ethnically Ukrainian (mostly). It's somewhat backwards, but no more so than say the major cities of India or Mexico. It's not Afghanistan, technically or culturally.... Still it is full of Muslims, many of them who are also at least partly Mongols. Scary combination, eh?

389 posted on 09/11/2006 3:09:41 PM PDT by El Gato
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 152 | View Replies]

To: catroina54
she didn't know never to be alone/unescorted in a sharia country ?

1) Don't think it is one, not yet any way. It's majority Muslim, but other groups live there as well.

2) She was in a group of 5, apparently inside a store, she separated from the group *inside the store*, and was apparently kidnapped then.

The full story, or most of it, will probably come out sooner or later. Parts fairly soon, parts much later, if ever.

390 posted on 09/11/2006 3:14:20 PM PDT by El Gato
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 206 | View Replies]

To: Varda
There's no way around that combat finds people but there are some situations more dangerous than others.

In this war, working in a prominent office building has proved about as hazardous as flying a fighter or driving a tank. Truck driver or convoy escort does seem to be more hazardous than either, statistically speaking.

391 posted on 09/11/2006 3:23:50 PM PDT by El Gato
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 241 | View Replies]

To: Lumper20
Why did the Major decide to go it alone?

I'd hardly call wandering off, with notification, to the rug department while your companions looked at jewelery, "wandering off". AFAIK, there haven't been much problems from the locals in Bishkek.

392 posted on 09/11/2006 3:26:18 PM PDT by El Gato
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 224 | View Replies]

To: usmcobra
She wasn't in a country where she could grab the first available train or plane out of there

Why not? They have scheduled airline passenger service, and even their own national airline. Not that I would want to fly on it, but they have it.

My sister in law (actually my wife's SiL) was a stewardess on it at one time. She also makes a mean birthday cake, gives a good haircut, and can disassemble and reassemble an AK, blindfolded, and shoots well enough, (various handguns, her .270 bolt action and presumably an AR-15, if her hubby still has it) to keep up with her husband, stepson and (at one time) father in law, and that's darn good. I certainly can't do it). She's also pretty nice looking, if a bit thin.

393 posted on 09/11/2006 3:34:30 PM PDT by El Gato
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 268 | View Replies]

To: American Cabalist

I rarely play the sexist card, but in this case I must.

I agree with you 100%.

If the Major's name was John who showed up in the shape she was in, we would not see so many doubting Thomas's.

She deserves a hell of a lot more respect than she is getting.


394 posted on 09/11/2006 3:34:38 PM PDT by Protect the Bill of Rights (quent)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 309 | View Replies]

To: pepsionice
I will assume that she left the store for a very stupid reason, and that this entire episode

I would assume she didn't leave voluntarily. A surveillance camera might not give a clear and complete enough picture to tell about that though.

395 posted on 09/11/2006 3:37:16 PM PDT by El Gato
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 287 | View Replies]

To: bruinbirdman
They do if they have asked to resign their commission and the colonel says, "You'll be a major if you stay in." Though I was a lowly grunt, my dad was capt., combat engineer '41 duration and reserve to '52.

You don't have to resign your commission, although you may have to convert it to a reserve commission if you have a regular commission, to leave active duty.

I never resigned mine, even when ARPC (Air Reserve Personnel Center) asked me to. Instead I lost weight, and found an active reserve assignment, which I later lost because I couldn't keep that weight off. I was transferred to the retired reserve list in '92.

Had a get together with some of guys from that last "unit" this past weekend in fact. Not all were guys, but only guys showed up this time ... one of the gals is still an active reservist, and wears two stars on each shoulder. :)

Anyway, the "Captains don't re-up" comment was made because "Re-up" means "reenlist, and officers don't enlist, they are commissioned. They don't serve for a fixed period, although they may have an obligation to serve for a fixed period, after initial commissioning or after a training or education assignment. Right now the AF is allowing separated officers in certain career fields to return to active duty and if they do, they encure such a commitment. (Pretty short one though).

396 posted on 09/11/2006 3:50:37 PM PDT by El Gato
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 274 | View Replies]

To: TankerKC
...and there is no below-the-zone to Major anymore.

There is in the Marines. The latest promotion board order had the most junior in the zone Captain and the most junior eligible below the zone Captain listed. There was 11 months difference in their date of rank.

397 posted on 09/11/2006 3:52:30 PM PDT by El Gato
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 276 | View Replies]

To: Romanov
The Kyrgyz are not what you would call orthodox muslim. They drink like fish and party hard.

And they don't like "Russians", or others from the European parts of the old Soviet Union. Understandable from their point of view. The Major, being blue eyed, and fair of skin, may have been mistaken for one of those, at least initially.

Still I'd imagine there are some "more observant" Muslims in the country, particularly out in the hinterlands.

398 posted on 09/11/2006 4:00:33 PM PDT by El Gato
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 284 | View Replies]

To: TNdandelion
The June Cleaver role is a relatively new idea. Throughout most of history, women have survived under extremely harsh and oppressive conditions. I appreciate the concern, but my sisters around the globe and throughout history have survived tougher things than combat. And I'm in no way suggesting that combat is easy. Have you ever tried giving birth in a combat zone while trying to protect and feed your children while your husband is either gone to war or dead? Give us a little more credit. We don't break that easily.

The defense of women is a Christian view, that they are the 'weaker' sex and ought to be protected by men.

When she loses the protection of men, that is all she can do, try to survive.

399 posted on 09/11/2006 4:04:07 PM PDT by fortheDeclaration (Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? (Gal.4:16))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 354 | View Replies]

To: higgmeister
There will be a time when you will be glad that American women can fight and kill instead of being helpless victims.

Just following the traditions of the pioneer women. They knew how to shoot and weren't shy about doing it in defense of their family or propery. In that sense, I'm already glad.

400 posted on 09/11/2006 4:05:59 PM PDT by El Gato
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 315 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 361-380381-400401-420 ... 441 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson