Posted on 05/08/2017 7:24:53 AM PDT by angcat
An airman assigned to the 18th Munitions Squadron has died after falling from Aha Falls, officials from Kadena Air Base, Japan, said Saturday.
(Excerpt) Read more at airforcetimes.com ...
So sorry your friend suffered such an accident. Condolences offered. Japan is usually a very safe place.
Thank you
I was assigned to the 18th Wing back in 1980. I will pray for Shannon, her family and you. God bless.
I’m sorry for the loss but I can’t get past this - an airMAN is a woman? Can’t call her an “airwoman”? “Airperson” do it. Why do women want to be men?
I’m very sorry about your friend’s death.
Prayers for my fellow Airmen.
Sad news. Nature is dangerous, so we must treat her with respect.
My son and I were fishing a few years ago at a small river near our house that has been built up with flood walls all along its bank. During a lightning storm we tried to hide under a bridge to prevent us getting hit, but when the water went from ankle deep to knee deep in four minutes we knew we were in big trouble. Just before that a lightning strike took out a railway electricity distribution box and lit the neighborhood up. We moved out then and finally just climbed the wall at the very first place we could find. After we threw the gear on the pavement and crawled over the fence, we looked down and saw the water was six feet high and moving at about 30km or more per hour. Yeah, we would have died had we not moved right when my son told me he was getting scared and I knew he was right. Be aware, smart and safe outdoors.
A woman in the U.S. Air Force, be she enlisted or officer, is referred to as an “Airman”, similar to a woman in the U.S. Marine Corp being referred to as a “Marine”, a woman in the U.S. Navy being referred to as a “Sailor”, and a woman in the U.S. Army being referred to as a “Soldier”. It’s a non-gender-specific term that has worked well since 1976.
Bad deal. You expect to risk your life in the military, but to die in an accident like this, particularly at this well attended swimming area, seems unfair.
RIP to one who volunteered to serve her country.
Is that the area of the tragedy?
When I hear ‘waterfall’, I think something like Niagra Falls.
I have to remember there are many kinds of falls.
This here seems more like rock formations with tricking water, but it may have a different impact when seeing the scale in person.
If she was in a place like this, I can see how someone may easily slip off one of those big smooth boulders while preparing to take a dive. My sympathies for the family and her friends.
Nature has both beauty and danger available to all.
From the pictures, it looks just small enough to encourage dangerous play, and just big enough to kill you if you make a mistake. Or just get unlucky.
Crew Chief, 418 AGS (RF-4C) 1980-1982
Been to the falls many times
I know Gary is devastated.
No. Women or men, they’re proud to be Airmen. This has been tried by the PC princes on several occasions and the response has been overwhelmingly, “Don’t change our name. We are all Airmen.”
Colonel, USAFR (Ret)
I’ve been there many times and its a beautiful place. She must have hit her head on a rock. It’s a very safe area. When I was stationed in Okinawa, 1991-1994, 4th Marines, we would take our young boys there and have a blast!
We have one or two of those a year here in Western NC.
There’s always someone who doesn’t respect the combination of a slick surface, fast current and long drop to a hard landing.
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