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Letters

Not ready to retire

I had to smile after reading the short article in the March 23 issue on the Missouri Army National Guard retiring its last UH-1 Huey [“Goodbye, Huey,” Around the Air Force]. As the article noted, the UH-1 had 8,551 hours and was 35 years old.

The reason for the smile was I was climbing into a 40-year-old UH-1N with over 10,900 hours on it for a night-vision goggle flight around Washington, D.C. It is one of 19 UH-1Ns — with similar age and hours — that serve in the 1st Helicopter Squadron at Andrews Air Force Base, Md.

The 1st Heli’s Hueys expect to serve the Air Force District of Washington — as will Space Command’s UH-1s — for years to come, but when they do finally retire them, I’ll be looking for your article.

Patches for sale

Sometimes I shop at second-hand stores, and I constantly see used battle dress uniforms for sale. The problem with this is that most of the uniforms still have command and squadron patches on them, and sometimes even the airman’s last name.

Today, I saw a man wearing a BDU coat with more patches on it than I could count. Each branch of the military was boldly dis¬played across his back. Under that were several squadron patches. I can only assume that this man thought he was showing his American pride. I found it to be offensive and rude.

If he really had been active duty at one time, which I doubt, he would have known how inappro¬priate his attire was. I think it is a disgrace to the uniform and to all of our military to see our uni¬forms being worn this way.

Please, if you want to donate your uniforms, remove all of the patches. Donate the patches, at least, to the base thrift shop or see if another airman can use them. Our patches are to be earned, not purchased at a public thrift store. Only those that serve should have the privilege of wearing them with pride.

A new kind of CMSAF

I would like to comment on the upcoming selection of the next chief master sergeant of the Air Force [“5 prospects for top enlist¬ed,” March 23]. I feel that it is cer¬tainly time that the next CMSAF be a woman.

Women in the Air Force have come a long way since I first en¬listed in 1966, when women worked in administrative or med¬ical positions for the most part. Just look at how many chief mas¬ter sergeants are women now, and they get the same respect as their male counterparts.

We are in a changing environ¬ment and this is a great time for the Air Force to step up and let the world know that our women are worthy of the highest enlisted position in the Air Force.

Where are the African- Ameri¬can or other minority chief master sergeant of the Air Force nominees? As a retired chief mas¬ter sergeant with 30 years of ac¬tive-duty service, I have ques¬tioned aloud the lack of diversity in the selection processes of our top enlisted airman.

The last African-American in this top position was the late Chief Master Sgt. Thomas N. Barnes (1973-1977), who served with dis¬tinction during those turbulent times of the 1970s, when the Air Force was laden with race and gender problems. It is ironic that Barnes was selected as a healer for those problems and there has not been an African-American selected to this prestigious posi¬tion since. Barnes was also a leader in professional military ed¬ucation for our enlisted cadre.

I question aloud again — where are the minority chief master sergeants, and why are they not considered worthy of leading the enlisted corps?

In support of D.C. schools

The article “Bolling considers on-base charter school” [AirForceTimes.com, March 12] did not in¬clude appropriate coverage of the District of Columbia public schools that proudly serve Bolling Air Force Base families. The arti¬cle could have elaborated on the fact that many Bolling Air Force Base parents do choose to send their children to traditional public schools in Washington, D.C.

In fact, our neighborhood school educates dozens of Bolling Air Force Base children who arrive by bus each morning. I would hope, prior to any follow-up articles, you could talk to some of the parents of the Bolling Air Force Base chil¬dren to ask them about their expe¬riences with some of the high-per¬forming District of Columbia pub¬lic school locations. We believe that our school compares favor¬ably with many of the available options. My wife and I, D.C. resi¬dents and a proud military family, appreciate that our fellow military families have chosen our neighbor¬hood school while they’re assigned to Bolling.

Disaster waiting to happen

My first day at Officer Training School, I met Ken, a big blond kid who played football to get through college. He wanted to fly and was headed to navigator school after we became baby lieutenants. He went on to crew KC-135 tankers.

While I was stationed in Califor¬nia, Ken’s KC-135 flew into March Air Reserve Base. I was on duty and drove out in my security po¬lice vehicle to his aircraft, where he invited me onboard. It was the first time I was ever in a KC-135. Then I got the lecture about how important the in-flight refueling capability is to the overall combat flying mission of not just the Air Force, but the entire U.S. military. Of course, as a ground-pounder, I was nodding my head and think¬ing, “Look at the pretty airplane.”

But Ken was right.

When I attended Army infantry school, I got a stark lesson in logis¬tics. It does not matter how well service members are trained — if they do not have the beans and bullets to prosecute that war, they become an overtrained waste of manpower or, worse, they become dead at the hands of the enemy.

Ken separated from the Air Force to fly for an airline, but died in a plane crash only months after he left his KC-135. After his death, every time I saw a KC-135 land, I thought of Ken. Living next to the flight line of Altus Air Force Base, Okla., home of KC-135 training, I thought of Ken a lot.

The U.S. military’s mission is to be able to project global presence on demand. That means Air Force planes loaded with soldiers and Marines headed into harm’s way at a moment’s notice. We do not have an aircraft that can fly to any point in the world without stop¬ping to gas up along the way. The pivotal link in our global reach is refueling aircraft in the air.

But our KC-135 fleet is pushing 50 years old. Would you put your family in a 50-year-old car, head across country at 70 mph and feel safe?

The Air Force needs new tankers now. We needed them 10 years ago.

We are going to start losing KC-135s. Old things break and hu¬mans get hurt, but when old planes break at 30,000 feet, they crash and aircrews die.

And now our new president wants to put the tanker purchase on hold for five more years. We do not have five more years to waste. Build the new tanker now, the KC-135 needs a rest and we do not need to lose aircrews because of greed. Isn’t our new chief of staff an airlifter?