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There’s one problem with that flight suit found in the Iraqi Desert. I’m a former Air Force crew member, with combat and combat-support missions over Iraq and Bosnia. Before any mission of that type, it is standard procedure to “sanitize” your flight suit, removing all patches except for your name tag.

Additionally, pilots and crew members remove personal identification items from their wallets, except for their military ID card and whatever cash they choose to carry. Everything else—credit cards, driver’s license, personal photos—stays behind, in the care of life support or unit intel personnel.

Based on my experience as an aircrew member, it’s almost inconceivable that Scott Speicher would fly into combat with a unit patch on his flight suit. It’s also worth noting that the article you reference doesn’t mention another salient fact; the flight suit discovered in 1995 was in remarkably good shape—almost new, by some accounts.

Nomex is a tough material, but three years in the desert would produce obvious signs of wear and tear on the flight suit. The fact that it was not found at the burial site is also telling; so is the fact that you can buy/sell military patches on line. Based on the publicity surrounding the Speicher case—and the possibility that Saddam’s thugs may have captured, tortured and killed the Navy pilot—the Iraqis certainly knew what squadron he was assigned to.

Finally, the reported location of Captain Speicher’s remains is very suspicious. Two kilometers away is certainly not consistent with a pilot who died in the aircraft. And don’t forget, Speicher apparently carved his escape and evasion “symbol” in the desert floor at the crash site, a process that took several minutes to complete (the symbol must be big enough to be seen from the air by rescue forces, so it’s not a matter of scratching it quickly with a stick or your boot.

The family of Captain Speicher still wants answers on how he died. And rightfully so.