Tag: US Air Force

US Deploys F-22s to South Korea As Show of Force

The US has used another show force against the Kim regime by doing a fly over of South Korea with its F-22 stealth fighter aircraft:

Four U.S. F-22 stealth fighters flew low over South Korea on Wednesday in a clear show of force against North Korea, a day after South Korea’s president warned of the North’s collapse amid a festering standoff over its nuclear and missile ambitions.

The high-tech planes capable of sneaking past radar undetected were seen by an Associated Press photographer before they landed at Osan Air Base near Seoul. They were escorted by other U.S. and South Korean fighter jets.

Pyongyang will likely view the arrival of the planes flown from a U.S. base in Japan as a threat as they are an apparent display of U.S. airpower aimed at showing what the United States can do to defend its ally South Korea from potential aggression from North Korea.  [Associated Press]

You can read more at the link, but in the last few weeks in response to the North Korean provocations the US has deployed an additional Patriot battery to South Korea and did a fly by with a B-52 from Guam as well.

Air Force Reminds Servicemembers About Unauthorized Political Activity

Here is something that all servicemembers should keep in mind this political campaign season:

In a year that will undoubtedly be headlined by politics both national and local, the Air Force is warning airmen to watch what they say and how they say it.

With the 2016 presidential election just nine months away, the Air Force released an informational video last week, reminding airmen of Department of Defense regulations on discussing politics on social media.

In the video, Tech. Sgt. Holly Roberts-Davis cites a long-established DoD directive that prohibits active-duty military members from directly participating in partisan political activities, but includes updates as the policy relates to social media.

Things like campaigning for a candidate, soliciting donations to a particular campaign and even wearing a military uniform to a partisan political event have long been outlawed by the military, Roberts-Davis says in the video. But 21st century ways of communicating have extended those same concepts to the online world.

Roberts-Davis says active-duty military members are generally allowed to express political views on social media platforms, but there are several important caveats.

“If that social media site, or your post identifies you as on active-duty … then you must clearly and prominently state that the views expressed are those of you as an individual only and not those of the Department of Defense or your service,” Roberts-Davis says.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

Northrup Grumman Wins Air Force Contract to Build Next Generation Bomber

It will be interesting to see what aircraft Northrup Grumman comes up with.  I wonder if a drone capability was even considered?:

Northrop Grumman has won the coveted Air Force contract to build the next-generation stealth bomber, the Pentagon announced Tuesday.

Northrop Grumman beat out a competing Long Range Strike Bomber design offered by Boeing and Lockheed Martin to build up to 100 new aircraft set to reconstitute the nation’s aging fleet of 159 conventional and nuclear bombers.

The program is highly classified and the Air Force did not offer many details on the design or a prototype illustration of the new bomber.  [Stars & Stripes]

Airman to Receive Air Force’s Highest Non-Combat Honor for Taking Down Terrorist

Great job by this airman who was involved in taking down a terrorist before he could fully launch his attack:

The Air Force is awarding Airman 1st Class Spencer Stone its highest noncombat honor, the Airman’s Medal, for his heroic actions aboard a Paris-bound train, the Air Force announced Monday.

Stone, Alek Skarlatos and college friend Anthony Sadler took down a gunman wielding an AK-47 and box cutter as he began an assault on a high-speed train headed for Paris late Friday.

The trio have been hailed as heroes in France, where they were awarded the Legion of Honor, France’s highest honor, on Monday by French President Francois Hollande.

“What the gunman did not expect was a confrontation with our very own Captain America. Believe it or not, that is what Airman Stone’s friends nicknamed him during Air Force technical training,” Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James told reporters Monday when announcing the medal.

If it had not been for Stone’s actions, James said, “I’m quite sure today we would be sitting here considering a bloodbath.”  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

Airman Tries to Have Conviction For Passing HIV to Partner Overturned

This appeal court case depending on how it goes may end up helping this Special Forces Colonel who is being charged for getting a female partner infected with HIV:

A Kansas airman accused of aggravated assault for exposing multiple sex partners to HIV at swinger parties in Wichita will have his appeal heard this week before the nation’s highest military court.

The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces will on Tuesday take up the case against David Gutierrez, an appeal the defense contends could upend similar prosecutions in the U.S. military.

“This case will have the potential of decriminalizing sexual contact with someone with HIV,” defense attorney Kevin McDermott said.

Air Force prosecutors have declined comment.

Gutierrez was a sergeant at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita in 2011 when he was stripped of his rank and sentenced to eight years behind bars.

In addition to aggravated assault, Gutierrez also was found guilty of violating an order to notify partners about his HIV status and to use condoms. He was also convicted of indecent acts and adultery. He has not been accused of actually infecting anyone with HIV.

In his appeal, Gutierrez has challenged whether the risk to his sexual partners was high enough to constitute aggravated assault, arguing that laws covering exposure to the disease are outdated since the statistical probability of heterosexual transmission is low and medical advances have made the disease treatable.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but I do not see how giving someone HIV should not be considered a crime of some kind regardless of how treatable it is now a days.  It is something that at least permanently negatively alters the life of anyone who catches it and can lead to deadly consequences.  Also of interest with this story is that Gutierrez is also claiming he is not guilty of adultery since his wife participated in the swinger parties.  It will be interesting to see how this case turns out and its ramifications on the UCMJ.

Air Force NCO Faces Trouble for Prior Conviction

Here is another story of a servicemember sent to jail on he said, she said evidence and he didn’t even commit a physical assault:

A hard-charging senior enlisted leader finds himself suddenly sidelined in his mission and his stellar career, ordered home from the war zone amid an investigation into a criminal record arising out of a domestic confrontation a full decade ago.

The probe into the 2006 civilian prosecution of then-Tech Sgt. Eric Soluri highlights the Air Force’s ongoing challenges in fully and fairly holding airmen accountable for their conduct. It’s a responsibility under heightened scrutiny today as all services work to eliminate a reputation for minimizing conduct and policies harmful to women. And it underscores how misconduct by some airmen may fall through the cracks as hundreds are being kicked out of an Air Force cutting end strength by separating those who have had even minor blemishes on their service records.

Whether Soluri’s civilian prosecution escaped the full notice of his chain of command or was ever part of his Air Force record is unclear. However, he quickly recovered from an incident that could have ended his career to a fast track to E-9.

In November 2004, when he was working as an E-6 recruiter in Massachusetts, he threatened to bash in the head of his former girlfriend with a candle jar. The woman, a staff sergeant at Hanscom Air Force Base, told authorities they’d been arguing when he demanded she rub his feet and dance naked for him. She refused. Soluri was convicted in a civilian courtroom two years later of threatening to commit a crime. He served 14 days of a six-month jail sentence and was court-ordered to attend a batterers program and undergo a psychological evaluation.

His career should have been over. Soluri himself expected as much, and unsuccessfully petitioned the judge to remove the jail time from his record. But he remained in the Air Force, and just months after he walked out of jail, in June 2007, he was selected for promotion to master sergeant.Soluri was promoted two more times, to the top one percent of the enlisted force, at a time when the slightest infraction — failed PT tests or administrative discipline, for example — has ended the careers of thousands of airmen.  [Air Force Times]

You can read the rest at the link, but Soluri denied what the girlfriend claimed:

When interviewed by the detective in January 2005, Soluri denied the allegations. He said the woman made up the story because Soluri had threatened to tell the staff sergeant’s leadership about her alleged drinking problem. Soluri also accused his former girlfriend of striking his son from a previous marriage.

Morrison reported those allegations to local child and family services officials, but the matter was dropped.

So the only evidence used to convict the NCO was the girlfriend’s testimony about a threat and he did not even physically assault her while his testimony about her committing child abuse was dropped.  I do not know who is telling the truth, heck they both could be lying, but this is another perfect example of how hard these domestic violence cases are to adjudicated.  That is why his leadership at the time likely let him stay in the Air Force instead of taking action to kick him out.

What I am wondering is what Soluri answered on this security clearance background check in regards to whether he was convicted of committing a crime.  If he lied about that then he should be charged.  Even if he was honest about his prior conviction and did nothing wrong to cover it up, his career is likely over after all this negative publicity.

Ideas to Save Money the Air Force Has Rejected

The Air Force Times has an article about ideas airman submitted that helped save money. Of more interest were the ideas submitted to save real money that the AF rejected:

FIVE COMMONLY REJECTED
These ideas are commonly submitted and have been, and will continue to be, rejected, Yepsen said.

The five most common:

1. Overseas housing allowance
Modify the overseas housing allowance system to allow the government to recoup the housing allowance not utilized by the member. This idea can’t be implemented because overseas housing allowance is governed by policy external to the Air Force.

2. Temporary duty air travel
Allow members to book travel at fares lower than the government contracted rate. This idea can’t be implemented because temporary duty air travel is governed by policy external to the Air Force.

3. Commissary privileges
Open the commissary to civilians and contractors who work on base. This idea can’t be implemented because commissary privileges are governed by policy external to the Air Force.

4. Terminate Tops in Blue
The cost of the Tops in Blue program is 80 percent covered by nonappropriated funds, with a significant portion coming from commercial sponsorship dollars. After each Tops in Blue show, base and wing commanders provide feedback; these surveys indicate that 96 percent of commanders feel that Tops in Blue is an excellent value to their Airmen and to the Air Force. Additionally, MAJCOM commanders in 2011 overwhelmingly expressed the need for Tops in Blue. Based on this feedback, the service believes the program brings outstanding value and is an excellent tool for morale-building, community relations and recruiting.

5. Stop fallout money
Modify end of year spending habits to limit wasteful spending. The end of year closeout process is a deliberate process that carefully executes prioritized Air Force needs.

Number 1 has been discussed here quite a bit at the ROK Drop and the best way to implement this would be to have the servicemember and military split whatever the difference in cost savings is. For number 5 this is a colossal waste of money every year throughout the government I never see ending. Anyone else have some money saving ideas that the military should consider?

Atheist Claims He Was Denied Enlistment Due To Refusal To Say “So Help Me God”

If this is true than I do not see how the Air Force is going to win on this issue:

An atheist airman at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada was denied reenlistment last month for refusing to take an oath containing “so help me God,” the American Humanist Association said Thursday.

And in a Sept. 2 letter to the inspectors general for the Air Force and Creech, Monica Miller, an attorney with the AHA’s Apignani Humanist Legal Center, said the airman should be allowed to reenlist without having to swear to a deity, and instead given a secular oath. Miller said the AHA is prepared to sue if the airman is not allowed to reenlist.  [Air Force Times]

You can read the rest at the link, but the Air Force is blaming Congress for the wording of the enlistment.