Posted on 02/09/2007 10:56:28 AM PST by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
February 9, 2007 (by Franklin Fisher) - Two airmen - including one who pleaded guilty to trying to throw a frog into a running jet engine - were punished in separate courts-martial at Kunsan Air Base, officials there confirmed Tuesday. The other airman was punished after pleading guilty to breaking into a dorm room and stealing property.
In the incident involving the frog, Senior Airman Welland Wilkerson, an aircraft maintainer, was sentenced to reduction from pay grade E-4 to E-1, 30 days in jail and a reprimand. He's assigned to the 8th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, part of Kunsan's 8th Fighter Wing, also known as the "Wolf Pack."
The incident occurred sometime last year and was reported to authorities in September.
Officials said Wilkerson tried to throw a frog into the engine but missed, said Master Sgt. Anthony Davis, a wing spokesman.
Another airman subsequently threw a frog into the engine.
"After this incident, our wing checked the engines," Davis said. "They did a scan for damage and no damage was found from the incident."
The incident was videotaped in an area where filming is banned without authorization, Davis said.
In September, Kunsan-based agents of the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations were told by their OSI counterparts at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, that a video clip had been posted on a personalized MySpace page showing "an individual throwing a frog into a running F-16 engine intake," Davis said.
"Subsequent investigations revealed Airman Wilkerson was involved in the incident," Davis said. "Because of the nature of the incident, Airman Wilkerson was removed from any duties that required him to perform aircraft maintenance."
"There's still an ongoing investigation," he said. "So more details about the event are not something we can talk about right now."
He could only add that an investigation into "the actions of others involved in the incident is continuing." He was unable to provide further details.
Wilkerson pleaded guilty to two counts of dereliction of duty.
He was tried by summary court-martial Friday before Maj. Timothy Kodama, summary court officer.
In the larceny case, Airman 1st Class Brent Schneider, of the 8th Maintenance Squadron, was sentenced to reduction from E-3 to E-1; forfeiture of $1,000 per month for six months, and six months in jail.
Col. Steven A. Hatfield, chief military judge for the Pacific Circuit, imposed the sentence Monday after Schneider pleaded guilty to larceny and housebreaking. Schneider was tried under the rules for special court-martial.
He unlawfully entered the dorm room of another airman and stole a computer and other belongings, Davis said.
OSI agents searched Schneider's dorm room and "discovered the computer and the other belongings that didn't belong to him," Davis said.
"Corrected? Obviously you've never been in the military and trusted your life to another. You're dead wrong."
Obviously, you are prone to irrational outbursts that have no basis in fact.
Been in and out, probably before you were born. Flew many, many miles. Trusted my life to all kinds of people, that most would run from today.
Ever fly with a full bird captain drunk on his a$$?
Ever fire up an A-3 with the Old Man standing beside you smoking a cigarette?
Skip the know it all melodramatics and get a life.
Heh...you flew on those WHALES??????
HEHEHE,
Was present and accounted for when three navigators were on board one on a short trip from Guam to the PI.
After they were done screwin around, they bailed out 1,000 miles off the coast of Japan. Seems they got lost and ran out of gas. (3 yes count em, 3 navigators on board, I sh!t you not sailor)
Pilot got out just before flameout.
Never seen one come apart ... have done FOD checks. Have never tossed FOD or FROG into engine. I think the frog thing was dumb, and wouldn't do it... but engines are designed to eat birds without coming apart.
OMG...THREE navigators????
I am sure they were wondering if they really wanted to get rescued or not...
Mmmmmm
Crunchy frog....
Mmmmmmm
Yes. In reality, an engine should withstand a frog pretty well. But who wants to take a chance, right?
I had to clean bird guts out of an intake one time. Pretty nasty business, and in that hot intake, the smell...
Yum ... burnt feathers.
You should have seen the write up they got from Gampa Pettibone in the Naval Aviation News magazine.
One was the crew navigator, one was a Willie navigator crossing over to whales, (it was his training flight) and one was a P-3 guy on his way to PI for some conjugal relief.
They got picked up by a Norwegian freighter.
True story, I got witnesses and a magazine article to prove it!
Good ol Grampa Pettibone! Is he still around? There were some REAL hair raising stories in there...
I don't know if that one is still around. PC Navy now and all that. They pulled no punches and it got rough!
This frog thing would have made it right to the top.
They were still flying a few Whales when I was in...looked like they were from another era, using those big ass cables to cat them off.
As they were.
Hey, another era was right. The A-3s were one thing, but the EC121s were just a blast from the past fun. (no fun to fix mind you, just fun to fly in).
I got a chance to see an F-14 one time. Then I was out.
I did get to see the Harriers. Couple of jar heads came flyin into Cubi and did a little show off number, you know, dancin around about 20 feet off the deck. We were drunk at the time and it caused us to think real hard about what we just saw. I mean, this was Clutch Cargo stuff right in front of us!
Hellovathing it was.
Beavis and Butthead join the Air Force.
True, the jet engine was unlikely to come apart. But unlikely is the operative word. Remember, Murphy sides with the hidden flaw and there is a good reason you always stay out of the plane of rotation when firing those suckers up.
At least the engine did'nt croak.
AARGH!
Oh man, that one was baaaaaddd.
I love it.
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