Air Force crew punished for using aircraft to pick up a BMW motorcycle

[MotoNews]

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Five crew members of the U.S. Air Force Reserves are downgraded after it emerges they chartered a Hurcules plane on a detour to pick up a motorcycle...

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[Hosstage]

Seems a proper use of government equipment!

[TEWKS]

They have got to fly, they’ve got to load unconventional cargo, sometimes (ok maybe not ) if they weren’t making a profit on it no big deal. Don’t do it again but no big deal. That’s my ruling!  

[Scott9999]

Seems like a B.S. charge made by a perfumed prince pseudo warrior (I won't speculate on the gender of the CG involved).

 

My unit worked with the (US) Navy Reserve Air components quite a bit.  They needed to fly to keep their quals up.  They WILL fly those hours.  They can fly more when they have missions to fly.  They fly a lot less when they fly empty.  So, it was a bit of a symbiotic relationship between other Navy Reserve units and Naval Air.  We created missions for them; they flew them.  We got the heck out of the useless (for training) reserve centers on weekends, and out to active Navy components in Norfolk or San Diego, or wherever we could scrounge real world work and training (for our own quals).  Win-win. 

 

It was almost funny.  We'd be at "Harrisburg International Airport" (i.e. Pennsylvania) after the airport tower closed.  We'd walk out as a unit in uniform (i.e. cammies, whatever the uniform was for the base/region we were traveling to) onto the tarmac, literally at the end of a runway.  We'd wait.  And wait.  The ops officer or XO would walk a half mile to a phone (1980's) and call them.  They were delayed, mechanical issues.  They'd be there "in an hour".   So, we waited an hour and twenty minutes, wondering if our scheduled reserve activities in Norfolk (or wherever) weren't about to be scrubbed.  Then we'd see a spec of light in the distance.  It got bigger.  "Ok, boys, get ready ....".   The plane came in hot.  Brakes hard, spins a 180 degree circle.  A door flops open, and a petty officer signals us to come, yelling "hurry!".  We all scurry in, carrying our Seabags or other equipment.  The last couple of members board as the plane is already in motion.  Total time for the plane on the tarmac, maybe as little as 60 seconds.  We're hurried to our seats, the P.O. goes through 15 seconds of safety instructions mostly saying "strap in tight'.  The aircraft bolters, almost feels like it's running JATO rockets.  Extreme angle lift, rapid turn, military evasive maneuvers, we see flares out our side window.  I'm thinking "Oh, sh*t, what the hell have we gotten ourselves into ...".   Anyhow, it was fun times with Naval Air. 😁😎

 

If this USAF unit diverted to an airport along their route to pick up a member's motorcycle, it was just another mission component.  (Those missions and quals do involve flying to civilian airports, all over the country).  There was absolutely NOTHING wrong with what they did, morally, or per military regulations, unless they deceived someone in their CofC or fraudulently filled out paperwork.  That USAF crew commander could draft flight plans to wherever he wanted, if he had the budget to do so, and could justify the mission as training. 

 

As C.O. of a couple of different units, I'd have no problem (or worry) picking up a service members personal property, aboard ship, plane, train, or duce-and-a-half.  If it doesn't interfere with the legitimate mission, doesn't detract in anyway, then it's probably enhancing it.  Maybe some civilians would consider it "waste, fraud, or abuse", but I would have no problem back then defending the mission.  Today's military?   I'm sorry, but logic no longer seems to apply to today's US military's operations.   Junior officers are prosecuted for murder for prosecuting civilian impersonating enemy targets in a combat zone.  So, unless you're politically well connected (e.g. like Hunter Biden, as an instant, push-button Navy Reserve Lieutenant doing crack cocaine), you're at risk no matter what you do.  But, I digress .... 😡.