Bragg Ends Confinement Of Soldiers

Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer ^ | August 15, 2002 | Henry Cuningham

[TankerKC]

And they wonder why recruitment is down. I certainly wouldn't like to be held against my will for a 'missing secret item'. Just another case of officers on a power trip.

Do you know something beyond what is in the article? Have you ever been involved in a Report of Survey for lost equipment? Money, careers, and security are at stake.

[TankerKC]

When were you in SAC? I was enlisted in SAC from 81-90. I've been an officer since '90. I can tell you that the Airman of today gets treated MUCH better that we were then. Now, it seems that everything revolves around making the NCO happy. When I was at Wright-Patt in '97, the Commander got all of the officers together to tell us that we needed to be more respectful to the Orderly Room staff. The Airmen in there would sit at their desk talking on the phone (often with personal calls) when a customer (officer or enlisted) walked into the room.

[cynicom]

KC... SAC 1950....Crew officers were mostly retreads, dragged back against their will at the beginning of the Korean war. Most of the enlisted crew were young, 25 and under, mostly college grads that were avoiding the army. Most ranged from engineering majors and one med student to music majors.

With this mix, it was not a very military type operation, however, we had a job to do, we did it and did it well. We got drunk together, covered for each other to thwart the military minded.

The only time we put out one of our own was an A/C that made a takeoff while drunk. He was cashiered, but again,had it been an enlisted passenger, he would still be in the brig.

[Britton J Wingfield]

My money is on an encrypted radio or night vision. Crypto is a big freaking deal.

[Tailback]

My National Guard unit was locked down for 8 hours for a pair of binoculars, they "appeared" magically after the CO said he was going to call the MilDep and have us put on active duty until they were found. (I didn't really believe this but apparently someone did) A sensitive item is usually weapons, pro-masks, night vision everything, GPS, and commo gear. Losing a weapon on a jump is a little different than just losing one on a field exercise. Twice a day NCO's are supposed to do a "sensitive items check" where you visually verify every item by serial number. At least that's how my scout unit did things, but then again, our active duty OCE's thought my old scout unit could hold it's own against most active units.

[Pern]

I admit, I don't know anything else other than what was in the article. In the Navy, if it were involving weapons or classified material, the NIS would immediately begin an investigation. I can't say I know too much about how the Army would handle it.

When I said it must be officers on a power trip, I'm baising that on my Naval experience.