This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Air Force

  • New PACAF Commander Announced

    The USAF has announced its next Commander for PACAF:  Lt. Gen. Lori Robinson.  She’s currently the Vice-Commander for Air Combat Command.

    Lt. Gen. Robinson won’t be the first woman to command one of the Air Component Commands.  And she won’t be the USAF’s first female 4-star, either.

    But I do have to admit one thing about the announcement gives me pause.  And it’s not the general’s gender.

    It’s also not her leadership ability.  It’s exceptionally rare for someone to get to the O-9 level without being a good leader.

    It’s the fact that she’s not a pilot.  She’s an air battle manager.

    Call me old fashioned, but I think someone who commands an organization with a mission of flying in combat simply needs to be someone who’s been a pilot themselves.  (The previous female Air Combat Component commander – at AFRICOM – reputedly was a longtime transport aircraft pilot.)

    But I’m neither an aviator nor a zoomie.  Maybe I’m wrong.

    Comments?

  • AF First Sergeant Bob Renning saving the world

    AF First Sergeant Bob Renning saving the world

    Bob Renning

    TSO sends a link from the Star-Tribune which tells the story of Air Force First Sergeant Bob Renning who pulled Michael Johannes to safety from his burning car by bending part of the door with his bare hands to free the motorist;

    The drama began around 6:30 p.m. Sunday when Renning, who was driving with his girlfriend, looked in his rearview mirror and saw a vehicle behind him on fire. Johannes, the driver, apparently did not know his SUV was burning, so Renning started slowing down in an attempt to get his attention.

    Renning’s girlfriend rolled down her window to try to alert Johannes, too. But by then, Renning said it appeared Johannes’ vehicle had stopped working and pulled over to the freeway shoulder.

    Renning stopped about 200 feet in front of Johannes. As his girlfriend called 911 and identified their location, Renning got out of his car.

    He started to sprint when he saw flames and smoke “rolling around” the SUV. When he got to the SUV, the flames had intensified and the interior was filled with smoke. He couldn’t see anyone inside. He pulled on the door handle, but it wouldn’t open. Then he spotted Johannes frantically pounding and kicking against the passenger-side window.

    Johannes couldn’t get the door open after the locks and power windows failed. Realizing he had to work fast, Renning gripped the top of the door frame with his fingertips, braced his foot against the door — and pulled. The door then bent in half and the glass shattered, the State Patrol said.

    Renning, a member of the Air National Guard who lives in Woodbury, isn’t a body builder. He isn’t even especially fit, he admitted.

    “I’m just a slightly overweight Air Force First Sergeant, for crying out loud,” he said with a chuckle.

    1SG Bob Renning

  • AF Secretary has no stomach for her job

    AF Secretary has no stomach for her job

    Deborah James

    Blaine sends us a link to the Washington Times which reports that Air Force Secretary, Deborah Lee James took a ride with the Air Force Thunderbirds while they were performing at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, and it turns out that she wasn’t quite prepared for it;

    But Tuesday’s F-16 flight did not go as planned in the cockpit for Ms. James, a former House defense staffer, Pentagon official and defense industry executive.

    “Someone got the bright idea to invite her on the airplane,” said a source familiar with the incident. “She got violently ill.”

    […]

    [Secretary James said] “While at Nellis, I also was fortunate to fly along with ‘Thunderbird #4’ and actually participate in a scheduled practice with the entire USAF Air Demonstration Team. They are tremendous Ambassadors in Blue, performing in front of more than 100,000 in Oklahoma last weekend. I also learned to wait to eat lunch until after Thunderbird practice is complete!”

  • New Details About the 341st Missile Wing’s Failed Inspection

    In August of last year, the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom AFB, MT, failed a major security inspection. It passed a re-inspection a couple of months later.

    At the time, Air Force authorities declined to reveal details of the reason for the failure.

    Yesterday, the Associated Press revealed the reason for that failure. From an AP article in the Air Force Times:

    Armed security forces at a nuclear missile base failed a drill last summer that simulated the hostile takeover of a missile launch silo because they were unable to speedily regain control of the captured nuclear weapon, according to an internal Air Force review obtained by The Associated Press.

    The previously unreported failure, which the Air Force called a “critical deficiency,” was the reason the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana flunked its broader safety and security inspection.

    The Air Force Times article is fairly lengthy and provided additional details. IMO it’s worth a read.

    The incident was one of a series of problems occurring recently within the US strategic nuclear community.  As a result, the SECDEF ordered a pair of parallel nuclear reviews earlier this year.  Those reviews are currently still in progress.

  • Poll: Army most important service

    Hey, that’s not me talking, it’s the poll of Americans from Gallup at the Washington Times;

    Gallup started asking Americans about the importance of U.S. military branches in the 1940s, using a variety of questions over the years.

    Americans until the mid-2000s always viewed the Air Force as the most important branch of the military. While it still ranks high today, it no longer dominates, the pollsters said.

    Importance does not necessarily equal prestige.

    The Marine Corps has consistently been considered the nation’s most prestigious military branch, even if not the most important, with nearly half of Americans — 47 percent — saying they respect Marines the most.

    The Air Force was a distant second, with 17 percent saying is was the most prestigious branch, said the poll.

    “Despite successful Navy SEALs raids that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011 and helped rescue the captain of the merchant marine vessel Maersk Alabama from pirates in an incident that was the basis of the movie ‘Captain Phillips,’ the Navy’s image has not benefited,” Gallup noted.

    Yeah, this is me gloating over here; Chief Shipley and I have a running email battle in regards to Army/Navy insults. Maybe the Navy needs to make more movies about what .01% of their personnel do to improve their image.

  • Along With the A-10, Wanna Guess What Else The Air Force Wanted to Ax?

    If you guessed the U-2 – formerly the TR-1 – give yourself a pat on the back.

    Yes, you read that correctly.  Although I don’t remember hearing much about it at the time, buried in the USAF’s fleet retirement proposals back in February was a proposal to retire the U-2 along with the A-10.  The stated reason was that RPV’s could now perform the mission at an acceptable cost.

    Color me a bit skeptical.  In prior years, the USAF had stated outright that even our latest RPVs couldn’t perform that mission an affordable cost.  And despite recent improvements in the efficiency of RPV operations (and thus lower operating costs), not long ago the USAF also said that RPVs still don’t provide equivalent SIGINT and IMINT capabilities to those provided by the U-2.  I’m guessing that’s still the case today.

    As I understand it, RPVs today still can’t carry some of the U-2’s sensor packages – so either the platforms or their sensors will have to be substantially “improved” to do so.  And we all know that improvement will be a “snap”, and will be really cheap and quick too.

    Oh, and the USAF is also scaling back it’s proposed RPV fleet, too.

    Congress appears to have put the kibosh on this proposal for now.  For once, maybe we owe Congress a bit of thanks.

    Hey, I realize the USAF needs to modernize.  But throwing the baby out with the bath water has always seemed to me to be, well, kinda stupid.  And regarding the U2, IMO it looks like exactly that was what the USAF was proposing.

    Must be something in the water that the Air Staff drinks these days.  Maybe the old Cold War TAC insult is becoming apropos again:  “Hell, those boys done been SACumcized – and forgot how to fight a war!”

  • More About “Tops In Blue”

    TAH has recently covered the complaints of the USAF version of “Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show”, Tops in Blue.  Well, it turns out that some former Tops In Blue performers have come “on-line” in an Air Force Times article to defend the program.

    I’m not going to re-hash either the original complaints, the discussion thereof, or the latest Air Force Times article here.  I’m Just providing a follow-up, in case any of our readers are interested.

    If you’re interested, here’s the AF Times article.  Read it for yourself.

  • PJs rescue Chinese fishermen

    563rd Rescue Group

    Eggs sends us a link which tells the story of PJs of the 563rd Rescue Group who were getting ready for their readiness exercise when they got a call from the Coast Guard to aid in a rescue of the crew of a Chinese fishing vessel off the coast of Baja Mexico, according to the Air Force Times;

    Five hours later, the first HC-130J Combat King left Davis-Monthan with six pararescuemen aboard. After refueling, the HC-130J completed the 1,100-mile flight to the scene, and the six PJs parachuted into the sea with an inflatable Zodiac boat. They sped toward a Venezuelan-flagged tuna fishing boat that had picked up some of the sailors.

    At the boat, the pararescuemen were directed to an “infirmary” — about the size of a walk-in closet — to treat nine survivors. Two sailors died before the airmen arrived. Six are missing.

    For two more days, the pararescuemen treated the survivors in the makeshift infirmary, until they could get within range for Pave Hawks to fly out and retrieve the patients. Two of the surviving sailors sustained serious burns.

    “On a tuna fishing vessel, the environment was not as sanitary as we’d like,” said 1st Lt. Benjamin Schmidt, combat rescue officer with the 48th Rescue Squadron.

    According to the article, not only did the PJs have to overcome the working conditions aboard the boat, there was a language barrier, too. that operation successfully completed, the PJs got a day’s rest and went off to their training exercise.