Posted on 06/21/2007 8:33:22 AM PDT by SkyPilot
Leave of absence for major who disappeared
Officer serving at Manas said she was kidnapped
HENDERSON, N.C. — The Air Force officer who disappeared in Kyrgyzstan in September and reappeared three days later will take a leave of absence from the military to spend time with her husband, her mother said Tuesday.
Maj. Jill Metzger talks with family members in September 2006 after arriving at Moody Air Force Base, Ga. Metzger's mother said the major will start an 18-month leave from the military to spend more time with her husband. A Moody spokesman said he could not discuss Metzger's status.
Maj. Jill Metzger’s 18-month leave will start next month, said her mother, Jeannette Metzger.
“It’s just a temporary thing, just to give her a chance to get her life back together,” Jeannette Metzger said. “She hasn’t been with her husband — the Air Force did not put her with her husband — so this is a way that she’s going to be able to be with him until she decides what she’s going to do.”
Jill Metzger, who grew up in Henderson, is married to fellow Air Force officer Joshua Mayo.
Capt. Gary Arasin, a spokesman for Moody Air Force Base, Ga., where Metzger is stationed, said he could not discuss Metzger’s status. Since she returned to duty in late October, Metzger has continued her work in the mission support squadron, which oversees personnel matters for the base, Arasin said.
Metzger was stationed at the U.S. base in Manas outside the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, when she vanished Sept. 5 while on a shopping excursion in the city. When she reappeared three days later, she said she had been kidnapped.
The Justice Department and Air Force Office of Special Investigations are looking into the matter. Capt. Christine Millette, a spokeswoman for the Air Force, said OSI hoped to complete its investigation soon.
I don't know what the story is - did she crack up under the stress of a 4 month deployment?
An office mate told me Newsday published something about her hanging around locals that she shouldn't have been with. I can't find that story.
There were rumors on FR that she was fooling around with another officer at Manas Air Base, and got pregnant and went off to have a secret abortion because she was about to go on her honeymoon with her husband when she returned from deployment.
I cannot substantiate that at all. If anyone has any information, please post it.
I will tell you what I do know - the Air Force does not just grant folks 18 months of frickin leave so they can be with their spouse!
There is something rotten in Denmark about this whole story.
Mother: Air Force major who disappeared for 3 days to take leave
She should be working for NASA...
hahaha....
18 Months of leave? I have never heard of anything like it. Something else is definately going on.
LOL...I was thinking this is kind of anachronistic. Even when an officer is detailed to pursue an advanced degree, diplomatic assignment, etc. their duty status is not changed.
Extended Leaves of absence were, I thought, entirely a thing of the past..i.e., after Patton participated in the 1912 Olympics, he went to the French Cavalry school, largely on his own dime, IIRC, and at another point in his life, went sailing in the south Pacific for several months, again, on his own dime.
Right...didn’t Patton go on that sailing trip right after he was kicked in the head by that horse playing polo?
He was lucky he didn’t kill his entire family and himself in the process, if that is so.
Too weird, what do you think of this??
Why is this lying affirmative action appointee still in the service?
She is a disgrace to the service and to the country.
If she was a white male she would have been disciplined, punished and given a dishonorable discharge long ago.
Exactly!
sniff sniff, smell that? something smells here......
Come on now, it’s the Air Force. They only do 4 month deployments, so being allowed an 18 month leave of absense (without pay I’m sure) shouldn’t surprise anyone.
I think she probably had a nervous breakdown or something similar. Once upon a time, somebody like that would have been given a medical discharge or even a general discharge, depending on what they did and their condition at the time, and allowed to quietly go on with their lives.
I’m surprised that it has taken this long for some action to be taken. It’s odd that she’s just being given leave, though, and not discharged. There may be more to this story than we know.
I feel sorrow for the husband. I’m sure he has a lot of questions in his mind?
Does she get to sell back any of her leave that isn’t used up? I know the strenious 4 month tour them AF “warriors” have puts to shame the 15 month quick and easy tour the Army awards their soldiers with...
An 18 month leave w/pay is only possible if you call it “Basket Leave”.
In this case it’s “Basket Case, Leave”.
If they just wanted to give her time with her husband, they could have shipped them to the same base and given her a makework office assignment. If she needs 18 months to recover, she probably should receive her discharge.
Good one!
That was my own first thought... but, of course, FReepers will tell you that NASA is a big government-run bureaucracy and our military is totally different! </sarc>
It takes 18 months for a Gao’uld symbiote to mature...
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