In Close...
Posted on 06/05/2008 10:38:22 AM PDT by PurpleMan
Don’t forget the nutballs thought the accidental nukes flown between two US bases on the B-52s was some sort of elaborate scheme to threaten Iran.
Sh**-canning some Clinton subversives.
Better late than never I suppose.
Hope President McCain appreciates the gesture.
In Close...
Losing the top brass is probably not a bad thing. There has to be a doctrine rethink. And Navy is ahead of AF with the thinking part.
Mind your manners, follow the rules, fight the war you are at. Those would be good rules for whoever steps up to the plate. Wouldn't hurt to see another Gen. Quesada up top again, but that's just this zoomie's opinion.
/johnny
I believe you have a major point about the UAV’s! They should be controlled by the ground forces, in country, where and whenever possible! The Air Force resisted this. They wanted qualified pilots to stick fly them from wherever (Fla?). The Marines and Army want a Sgt. on the ground controlling them. The Air Force is the reason there are not more UAV’s in the air over Afghanistan and Iraq!
The USAF also wanted every UAV to file a formal flight plan.
Coalition Air Strikes Kill Militants in Afghanistan
[Helmand Province]
DefenseLink.mil | 06/05/08 | American Forces Press Service
Posted on Thursday, June 05, 2008 07:09:32 PM by Enchante
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2026755/posts
And there would be a lot more Army troops on the ground 24/7 if it were not for Air Force and the Navy pulling "in lieu of" taskings for the Army.
Air Force enlisted folks are being sent over to Iraq to drive convoy trucks. Air Force medics are flying on Air Force helicopters to provide dust-off support to the Army. Navy engineers are being sent to disarm IEDs.
Every Army troop currently in country was flown in on an Air Force transport plane. Every piece of mail to or from a troop goes on an Air Force transport plane. There are not just UAVs, but Air Force flown ELINT and CAS and JSTARS all supporting the troops on the ground. And a significant number of those Air Force CAS and airlift, and yes, UAV drivers live in country.
And yes, when you pull a trigger, kill people, and watch them die on your TV screen, it does not matter if you are in an M1 in Iraq, or a Predator control station on Indian Springs NV, the effect on the mind and soul is the same.
It appears at this point Mosley took responsibility for what happened on his watch. If Mosley, to quote MacArthur, just "fades away", he will have demonstrated more character than Sanchez or Batiste ever had. But that jury is still out.
It is also about having nuclear tipped warheads on the cruise missles when the B-52 landed at Barksdale AFB with the missiles without people not know they were on board.
Just a short time ago there was a report from the Nuclear Inspection people that did not go all that well which I would think on top of the two incidents triggered their resignations. Would say the timing had to do with their report since it is recent.
Here is the reason IMHO — look at the timing:
Flaws found during inspection of ND Air Force unit
May 30, 2008 - 6:51pm
By JAMES MacPHERSON
Associated Press Writer
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - The Air Force wing blamed for a foul-up in which a bomber mistakenly flew to Louisiana armed with nuclear missiles will have to be retested after coming up short in an inspection.
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the Air Force conducted a weeklong inspection of the Minot Air Force Base’s 5th Bomb Wing beginning May 16, said a base spokeswoman, Maj. Elizabeth Ortiz.
“It was a very thorough and important inspection that highlighted areas for improvement, especially in areas of training and discipline,” Ortiz said. “That’s what we’re working on and that’s where we’re focusing on.”
The Air Force said it would not release the inspection findings, saying the report was classified. The Air Force Times, citing a copy of the report, said the base received an unsatisfactory grade and inspectors found security breakdowns during mock attacks at the base.
The Air Force Times said inspectors saw a security forces airman playing video games on his cell phone while standing guard at a restricted area. Another airman nearby was “unaware of her duties and responsibilities” during the exercise, the newspaper said.
Col. Joel Westa, the Minot Air Force Base commander, did not return telephone calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.
An Air Force spokesman, Maj. Tom Crosson, stopped short of saying the base flunked the inspection but said, “There were areas identified needing improvement.”
The base will be retested in 90 days.
“Had there not been areas of needing improvement, the team would not go back in 90 days,” Crosson said Friday.
The 5th bomb wing was recertified in the handling of nuclear weapons in late March. It had been decertified after a B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed last August with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles in Minot and flown to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.
The Minot wing’s decertification last year cost Westa’s predecessor, Col. Bruce Emig, his command, though he had been base commander for only a couple of months when the August incident occurred.
Ortiz said Friday that the base’s B-52s would continue to be armed with nuclear weapons.
“The bomb wing remains certified to continue operations,” Ortiz said. “But we’ve got some things to work on, and we’re doing that.”
(Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
By JAMES MacPHERSON
Associated Press Writer
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - The Air Force wing blamed for a foul-up in which a bomber mistakenly flew to Louisiana armed with nuclear missiles will have to be retested after coming up short in an inspection.
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the Air Force conducted a weeklong inspection of the Minot Air Force Base’s 5th Bomb Wing beginning May 16, said a base spokeswoman, Maj. Elizabeth Ortiz.
“It was a very thorough and important inspection that highlighted areas for improvement, especially in areas of training and discipline,” Ortiz said. “That’s what we’re working on and that’s where we’re focusing on.”
The Air Force said it would not release the inspection findings, saying the report was classified. The Air Force Times, citing a copy of the report, said the base received an unsatisfactory grade and inspectors found security breakdowns during mock attacks at the base.
The Air Force Times said inspectors saw a security forces airman playing video games on his cell phone while standing guard at a restricted area. Another airman nearby was “unaware of her duties and responsibilities” during the exercise, the newspaper said.
Col. Joel Westa, the Minot Air Force Base commander, did not return telephone calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.
An Air Force spokesman, Maj. Tom Crosson, stopped short of saying the base flunked the inspection but said, “There were areas identified needing improvement.”
The base will be retested in 90 days.
“Had there not been areas of needing improvement, the team would not go back in 90 days,” Crosson said Friday.
The 5th bomb wing was recertified in the handling of nuclear weapons in late March. It had been decertified after a B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed last August with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles in Minot and flown to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.
The Minot wing’s decertification last year cost Westa’s predecessor, Col. Bruce Emig, his command, though he had been base commander for only a couple of months when the August incident occurred.
Ortiz said Friday that the base’s B-52s would continue to be armed with nuclear weapons.
“The bomb wing remains certified to continue operations,” Ortiz said. “But we’ve got some things to work on, and we’re doing that.”
Thanks!
Every one of the Air Force security forces personnel that arrived at my base at the same time as I did have already deployed to the Sand Box. My MTL in tech school had deployed twice, and we were short of instructors because many of them had as well. There’s a plaque up at Goodfellow AFB, for one of my fellow Airmen, who was the first female Airmen killed in Iraq. She died from an IED, and was barely 21 years old. How’s that for eating steak with a two hour work load? People on here disgust me.
From my experience, service hatred is akin to racism. The guy who says he hates all black people, but never really gets to know any. The Air Force guy who says Army grunts and Marines are stupid but has never been friends with one. The Army and Marines grunts who think that the Air Force and Navy live on golf courses drinking martinis. Everyone picking on the Navy for being gay. It’s one thing when we sing jodies in basic. It’s another thing to demean and insult another force that is fighting for the country’s survival.
I am lucky enough to have been chosen to work in a joint environment. My NCOIC is a navy Chief, and the Commander is a Naval Captain. My Honor Guard commander is a Marine, of course. You would NEVER hear them say any of these things about the Air Force. The same I would NEVER say anything bad about their service branch.
I consider myself lucky, as well, for my friends. My best friend in college, whom I still talk to to this day, is a commissioned infantry officer. A weight lifting buddy from high school is a Marine SSgt. Again, you would NEVER hear these things from their mouth.
But then again, I consider these people as my “Band of Brothers”. Unlike the ignorant pigs on this site.
Thanks so much for your informative post and thank you for your service to this country. It is good to get good insights from those like you that know what they’re talking about in contrast to those who just think they know everything.
As a 28 year member of the Air National Guard, I too can attest to the hard work being done both here at home and abroad to fight the war on terror. We went from “Weekend Warriors” to a 24/7 operation in a matter of hours on 9-11 and continue to this day. We have flown thousands of hours for Homeland Defense and done multiple rotations into the desert. Our personnel have been deployed all over the world and to the southern border, responded to Katrina and to wildfires and other natural disasters around the country and the world.
This is being played out throughout the Active Duty Air Force, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard.
In addition, Air Force members are being tapped for “in lieu of” positions to augment the Army. Highly skilled, specialized Airmen are being sent over to stand guard, wash trucks, protect convoys or type paperwork, while their jobs back home get spread out over the thinned down crowd left to pick up the “slack”.
While I can’t speak to policy set at the highest levels of either the Air Force or the Army regarding tour lengths or other such things, I can sure tell we that we are busting our humps every day to fight this war and protect our homes.
Well said my FRiend.
I would like to add to your post that those ignorant pigs who criticize those who served or are serving were never there.
DevSix nails it....bunch of civilians calling for more drones might not have been the best call.
You are right on. The Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 was created out of the services not being able to work and operate cohesively. That’s when jointness became the way of the war fighter. I was an Air Force pilot, but I went to the Navy War College and learned a lot about my fellow patriots. I used to think the same way about Marines, Sailors and Soldiers, but I learned through experiece that the sterotypes were pure BS. After NWC I went to a joint tour with the Army and had a Marine General as my boss. I learned more about jointness and teamwork during this 2 year tour than I did in the previous 14 years. It’s really amazing to see all the amateurs on this site commenting about their perception of how things probably went down with the CoS of the AF. They should all go to work for the MSM, they need more ignorant, second guessing arm chair quarterbacks. Most of them probably don’t have a clue what the Chief of Staff of any armed service job is...it’s to train and equip, not fight wars, that’s what the theater commaders do. When war time operations such as training and shipping (equipping) goes awry the top guy must answer. I’ll bet these problems never happen again with new leadership at the helm.
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