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Tell-all interview covers Iraq withdrawal, nuclear report, procurement and more The June 5 forced resignations of Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley — the first time in U.S. history the top uniformed and civilian leaders of any service were ousted simultaneously — shocked the Air Force and highlighted deep fissures between the Pentagon and Air Force leadership. Wynne sat down July 9 for a wide-ranging discussion with Military Times editors and reporters, explaining why he was really fired, what went wrong with the nuclear enterprise, what can be done about Iraq and how he sees the future of the Air Force. The questions, answers and order of questions have been edited for clarity. Q. Why were you fired? A. Secretary [Robert Gates] and I had some long-standing disputes about the funding for F-22. ... We had a dispute about the future. We had a dispute as to whether or not you should spend your time worrying about the strategic effects of the future, or you should spend your time on the war as it sits. So I think [me] going out and viewing a little bit about what’s the future was construed as the secretary of the Air Force distracted from [his] duties. ... If [Gates] didn’t want somebody on his staff, the [defense] secretary should pick the time and the place and tell [me] to leave. I’m just amazed at the circumstance. Why didn’t [he] just call me in and say, “Time to go”? Q. So you think the report by Navy Adm. Kirkland Donald detailing the Air Force’s nuclear problems was just a convenient excuse to fire you? A. I think it was. Q. Wasn’t Gates brought in to fix Iraq, and not as much to worry about the future? A. I would say it this way: He was hired to be secretary of defense. ... One of the things he has been doing very heavily is managing the war, but I wouldn’t say that was why he was hired. He was hired to be secretary of defense. Q. How did you and Gates envision the future, and where was the disconnect? A. He thinks the nature of our engagements is going to be these insurgent wars for the next 20 years, and that we ought to maybe focus our resources to provide all the equipment and all the means and methods to combat this insurgent war. And if you need money, where you should go for that money is in that strategic margin that I think he would characterize that we have against all the competition that you could surmise. [Editor’s note: The ‘strategic margin’ refers to the U.S. air and sea power advantage over other nations.] I made a big deal about maintaining the strategic margin … and that we’re going to be out of Iraq pretty soon and we better figure out how not to have an upset whereby we erode the strategic margin to the point where somebody thinks they can take us. ... The way we came at the subject clearly set up a policy differentiation. Q. Is Gates too closed-minded? A. I would offer only that when I was in sessions with him [my] views were not accepted. ... As secretary of the Air Force, I didn’t really feel engaged in the [war]. Everything was a straight line of command and control right through the combatant commanders, and sort of our contribution was a byproduct. Q. What should be done about Iraq? A. This is now a police action ... and the question is, when does this police action stop? ... I think the Army has done a marvelous job of corralling the insurgency, reducing the strife, creating auras of stability in many of the areas. And I think now is probably a good time to start taking advantage of that. ... [My withdrawal plan] turns out to be the use of the reachback ... to begin to extract administrative personnel out of Iraq. Essentially if I take a battalion of administrative people out of Iraq, I now take the force protection requirements for that same battalion. And if I can run it all using the Internet in a distant place, why not? In the same vein that the way the Air Force is currently running unmanned air vehicles from [the continental U.S.], why can’t I run some of the administrative attributes? It does worry me that we’re beginning to sell 52-inch TVs in the Green Zone. How long are we going to be there? And where is it in our psyche that we must occupy the capital of a country? ... How do we begin to reshape ourselves so that we can maybe steer a course that allows us to reduce our forces but not reduce the firepower that is so necessary for stabilization and governance? Q. What should you have done differently about the nuclear parts that got shipped to Taiwan? A. In 1991, the parts that were shipped ultimately to Taiwan were downgraded from being nuclear controlled to being just security controlled. ... It wasn’t really characterized and controlled as a nuclear item. That having been said, I think one of the things ... I could have done differently is gone back and [looked at] that as to whether all of those parts that were essentially taken off of the nuclear control list should have been re-entered. Q. What could have avoided the Minot-Barksdale nuclear incident? A. I think enforcing “train as you fight” would have helped. ... If we would have managed that and the discipline characteristics as if we were going to war, we would have probably saved ourselves the embarrassment. Q. What did you think of the Donald report about the Air Force’s nuclear management? A. He looked at us from a Navy perspective. ... I think his guys, because of their nuclear submarine background, did not see a shop with things on the floor as being a very good shop because on a nuclear submarine, everything has a place and needs to be in that place. So I think they just see things very differently than we do. The fact that we have 500 sites with nuclear components, and they don’t, leads us in different directions about how we delegate responsibility. I think all of that played into the report. Q. Why do you think the Air Force should buy more F-22s when we have no close competitors for air superiority? A. Right now, when ... you’re not sure if the F-35 is going to work, [ending F-22] is a bad decision. It’s introducing a little too much risk into the strategic environment. I’m concerned that [F-35] has not yet gone through testing and that it is at the very point where the F-22 was when it was delayed 10 years. ... And so I worry about our ability to escape and evade an integrated air defense system in the future if you’re going to restrict the number of fifth-generation airplanes that we might have. Q. Do you think the drawdown of the Air Force by 40,000 airmen was the right decision? A. We had to do it because we would never have gotten started on the issue of recapitalization without showing some pain and strain on behalf of the Air Force. We could not be big and new. We had to be smaller and arguably newer. Q. How did the Air Force botch the tanker selection process so badly? A. I think the Air Force overcomplicated it. They really wanted both competitors to be almost even so everybody had the best chance of [winning]. ... I think here is one of those cases where Boeing had probably assessed that their prospects were dimming. ... I would say they systematically began to build a case [for a protest], and I’m not sure that they shared everything that they could have shared with the Air Force along the way and essentially were building ... a “Pearl Harbor” file that could be used later [in a protest]. ... There’s a feeling in the Air Force that maybe we were as transparent as we could be and maybe Boeing wasn’t. Q. How can Air Force procurement be fixed? A. My sense ... is we became overcomplicated, and we actually need to go back to ... where you have a lot more subjectivity. ... If the products are in fact similar price and similar character, why can’t the customer then choose a best value? ... I would basically get rid of life-cycle procurement and go back to hard dollars. What is the government contracting for? ... Now all of the sudden it involves military construction, it involves [environmental factors], it involves all these aspects that I don’t have any control over in the future. Fuel usage and fuel costs in 2025? I can’t even predict them for August. Staff writer Erik Holmes compiled this report.

Very suspecious first post...

In the old days the Flt CC ranking decided everything. The first 6 guys in my class was separated by less that .01 of a point. We did not find out until later, but the Capt navigator in our class had served on a hard crew in BUFFs with the Flt CC for two years. The Flt CC moved the true #1 dude who had busted one ride in UPT down just enough in his rating to allow the Capt to finish #1, despite a 17 down grade "I" check bust. The really sad thing, the dude who should have been #1 wanted a B-52 from day one...he lived BUFFs, he finished #2 and in the days of the banking system, there were no B-52's as he ended up picking 9th in the overall draft (five UPT bases and we picked 4th). He got a KC-10 which the #3 wanted, did his time then separated, it truly fvcked the entire class. Perhaps that is why only 5 of 26 dudes in my UPT class are still in the USAF, including the Nav who should not have finished #1.

You guys kill me...I owe you ALL beers! Party at my house tomorrow (Saturday), @ 1500, if you can find it, beers, bourbon, and ribs are on me.

Gents, Thanks for the kind words, I am truly humbled. CH

Los Angeles Times May 6, 2008 Pg. B10 Man Pleads Guilty To Lying About Medal By Scott Glover, Times Staff Writer A Pomona man who once boasted of being awarded the Medal of Honor pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to lying about receiving the award, the nation's top military honor. A subdued Xavier Alvarez, 50, who sits on the board of directors for the Three Valleys Municipal Water District in Claremont, admitted to violating the Stolen Valor Act, a recently enacted federal law that makes it a crime for a person to falsely claim he or she was awarded medals for service in the U.S. armed forces. Last fall, Alvarez became the first person to be charged for making this type of verbal misrepresentation. "We have to guard the honor of our nation's military heroes, and this prosecution was a small attempt to do that," said Assistant U.S. Atty. Craig Missakian. Under the plea agreement accepted by U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner on Monday, Alvarez probably will be placed on probation when he returns for sentencing July 21. Federal prosecutors said Alvarez portrayed himself as a Marine Corps veteran and war hero while campaigning for the water district seat last year. Boasts about his supposed 25-year career in the Marine Corps and his wartime heroics were so well-known that he was dubbed the "Rambo" of the water board. After his election, while speaking at a meeting between his board and that of a neighboring water district, Alvarez made the specific claim that he had been awarded the Medal of Honor by Congress. Prosecutors have a tape of the meeting. In court Monday, Alvarez wore slacks, a guayabera-style shirt and black-rimmed glasses as he responded to Klausner's questions. The judge accepted the plea after Alvarez said that no one had pressured him to take the deal, and that he believed it was in his best interest.

No

I shit myself while reading it.

How about you just STFU and not speak unless spoken to...or if you need to bark out "Two", "Bingo", "Leads on Fire", "I'll take the fat one", or "This round is on me". In all seriousness dude, in my experience, the fastest way to acceptance and thus upgrades, is to keep your pie-hole shut and stay in the books. The guys that impress me are the ones who don't make excuses, fess up when they make a mistake (I still make them on every flight), and apply lessons from their mistakes. One common trap that I saw a lot of young dudes fall into (except the really good ones), was what I called the "sigh factor". I would see dudes and dudettes who had been in school forever...elementary school, high school, college, UPT, survival & RTU...when they finally get MR checked out, they let out a big sigh and want to relax. They had passed all of the hurdles and for the first time in a long time they could take a breath. Then they would realize they are living in Destin with a great beach and tons of girls and crap to do. No longer being forced to study, they wouldn't. Six months after a dude became MR, I would give them a no-notice and Bam...most had forgotten at least 50% of what the learned going through RTU. Don't fall into that trap. The "acceptance" you mention will also happen after you go on your first deployment. You work hard and play hard and usually end up living in tight quarters. People will truly know what type of dude you are....good dude, good pilot, hard worker = acceptance. Asshat, hamfist, sherker = every Friday night line from here to eternity.

I just dumped USAA, I've been a loyal customer for 20 years, but they drove me to it. I own two houses in Florida, one I live in, the other I rent out, they cancelled the policy on the one I rent out. The truly maddening part is the house they cancelled is one that the USAA financial advisers advised me to buy (saying I could rent it out someday), I used the USAA buyers advantage program to purchase it, and I used USAA to finance the mortgage. BL- They told me to buy, they helped me buy it, they own the mortgage, but they won’t insure it? YBFSM!!! I sent them a note and taking the following actions; 1. Cancelled insurance on three cars. 2. Moved my wife’s Roth to another company. 3. Moved my Roth to another company. 4. Moved a conventional IRA to another company. 5. Moved my son’s 529 to another company. 6. Moved my checking account to another bank, closed account. 7. Moved my savings account to another company, closed account. 8. Moved my money market account to another company, closed account. 9. Cancelled Homeowners on another property in SC. 10. Cancelled Homeowners on primary residence. 11. Cancelled my USAA Visa. 12. Cancelled my Wife’s USAA Visa. In the letter I attached about 8 pamphlets USAA sent me promising to be there for the military family...whatever. F@ck USAA

Porn Star

AMX

It was briefed at ACSC...so it has to be true...in WWII, the U. S. Army Air Corps lost more aircraft and personal to training accidents than they did to combat.

At no point in your rambling, incoherent response was there anything that could even be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul! #1. Flight 19 was a flight of FIVE, not four TBM Avengers, not F4U Corsairs. #2. A SINGLE TBM Avenger, not four....errr, five, was found during the Challenger recovery. The wreckage was raised in 1990, but positive identification could not be made. The only thing freaky is your nonsensical post.

Good read Brick. Oddly enough I met Harmer two weeks ago, he is the new 33 FW WG/CC, I guess the report served him well.

Things like "Ball Collapse"...

Completely disagree...Specifically... "But you guys are kidding yourselves if you think all this hate has nothing to do with the fact that the guys now populating the place have been homesteading on the Florida panhandle for their entire careers." Do you know this to be a fact, or are you pulling it out of your arse as an assumption? Not all Gunship guys camp at Hurlburt their entire career, I've PCSed 8 times, how about you? These are the most dedicated dudes I've ever met. I know a few dudes who just left on their 17th rotation. The way this move will most likely happen....deploy for 90-120, return and immediately pack your bags, forced sale of you house for a loss in a shit housing market, arrive at new location with over-priced homes and almost no choice, unpack, 60 days later leave your family in said shit hole and deploy for another 90-120. Asking for a little stability and a little less suck in their home life is not a lot to ask. I volunteered to do this job and I've always gone where the man has told me to, so please don't insult my intelligence with made up facts that you know jack shit zero about. Bottomline, If I have to eat a rotten egg, I will, just don't expect me to smile while I am doing it. Oh yeah...Clovis is a shit hole.

My next gun...

You could not be more wrong...it matters to me where I am stationed and more importantly where my family lives when I spent 5 months a year down range. You are guessing wrong dude. I've been doing this a LONG time, and I've never met a single person like that in the gunship community. Oh yeah, Clovis is a shit hole.

They "call" Clovis home and live there by choice. The USAF folks going there have NO CHOICE. Clovis is a shit hole.

Well the mudslinging has begun. A few AFSOC dudes who will soon be PCSing to Cannon put together a video with pictures from a recent visit. If you look at the comments on the Youtube page, the debate is already getting ugly. I heard second-hand that this video made it to a recent mayoral debate, their answer...and this is takes the cake..."If they don't like it here, let them volunteer to go to Iraq". Hey Clovis... Boycott Clovis New Mexico EDITED by Baseops -- Clip Inserted Below:

In the 45 year history of the KC-135, has anyone ever bailed out of one?

Britain: Harry's Afghan deployment over LONDON - Britain's defense chief decided Friday to immediately pull Prince Harry out of Afghanistan after news of his deployment was leaked on the U.S. Web site the Drudge Report. Air Chief Marshal Jock Stirrup, chief of the Defense Staff, said he decided to withdraw the prince after senior commanders assessed the risks, the Defense Ministry said in a statement. Harry, third in line to the British throne, has been serving on the front line with an army unit in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province since mid-December. He was originally due to return to Britain within weeks, but "the situation has now clearly changed," the statement said. The decision was based on concerns that worldwide media coverage of Harry in Afghanistan could put him and his comrades at increased risk. The ministry asked the media not to speculate on Harry's location — or how and when he would return — until he was back in Britain. British officials had hoped to keep Prince Harry's deployment secret until he had safely returned, but they released video of him serving in Helmand Province after the leak appeared on the Drudge Report. The ministry deplored the leak by "elements of the foreign media." "However, this was a circumstance that we have always been aware of and one for which we have had contingency plans in place," the statement said. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the prince had demonstrated that he was an exemplary young officer. "The whole of Britain will be proud of the outstanding service he is giving," he said. Harry, 23, is the first royal to serve in a combat zone since his uncle Prince Andrew flew helicopters during Britain's war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands in 1982. Tours to Afghanistan usually last six months; Harry has served 10 weeks. Harry conceded in an interview filmed last week that when he returns to Britain he could be a "top target" for Islamic terrorists. "Once this ... comes out, every single person that supports them will be trying to slot me," he said. The deployment plan had been disclosed to reporters, with no specific date, but was not reported previously because of an agreement between the Ministry of Defense and all major news organizations operating in Britain, including The Associated Press. The news blackout was intended to reduce the risk to the prince and his regiment. Harry was supposed to go to Iraq with the Blues and Royals regiment in May last year but the assignment was canceled because of security fears. Iraqi insurgents made threats on Internet chat rooms, saying he would not make it home alive. Harry trained at Sandhurst military academy and joined the Blues and Royals as a cornet, the cavalry regiment's equivalent of a second lieutenant. After being held back from his Iraq assignment, the prince threatened to quit the army if he was not given the chance to see combat. Harry said his older brother, William, who also graduated from Sandhurst and is training as a military pilot, is jealous of his deployment. As Britain's likely future king, Prince William is unlikely ever to see combat. Helmand province is where most of the 7,800 British soldiers in Afghanistan are based. It has seen some of the country's fiercest combat in recent years, with NATO-led forces fighting the Taliban and al-Qaida militants. Harry's work in Afghanistan has involved calling in airstrikes on Taliban positions as well as going out on foot patrols. He spent part of his deployment at a base 500 yards from Taliban positions, the military said. Since Harry's arrival, his battle group has been responsible for around 30 enemy deaths, a Ministry of Defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. Video showed the prince in camouflage fatigues walking across arid and dusty terrain, calling in air support, firing a machine gun and patrolling the streets of Garmsir, the southernmost part of the province. He has since left Garmsir, and his current whereabouts are being kept secre

David A. Fulghum/Aerospace Daily & Defense Report One of the pilots of the B-2 stealth bomber that crashed Feb. 23 reported a fire at takeoff from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, which was followed quickly by loss of control of the bomber, according to a senior Air Combat Command (ACC) official. The stealth bomber rolled uncontrollably to the right and fell between the taxiway and the ramp at 10:45 a.m. Guam time just after passing the control tower. It was attempting a takeoff toward the seaward end of the runway. The two pilots ejected with one being hospitalized. A dark plume of smoke arose from the crash site and civilians outside the base reported a second explosion about 30 minutes after the initial impact. The aircraft can lose one or even two of its four General Electric F118-GE-100 17,300-pound thrust engines and still take off, so it’s unlikely that engine failure was to blame, says a retired U.S. Air Force pilot who has flown the B-2. Moreover, early suggestions that the aircraft struck birds or stalled in a steep takeoff climb also have been dismissed as unlikely. Also, the weather was reported as clear. The bomber Spirit of Kansas, tail no. 890127, was the second in a four-aircraft flight that was ending its deployment and taking off for return to home base at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo. They were being replaced by six B-52s as a forward-based, heavy-bomber force in the Pacific. The loss cuts the number of combat-coded B-2s to 15 from 16 out of the total force of 21. The force has a minimum aircraft requirement of 19 airframes. The other three B-2s later returned to Whiteman, where the wing commander has declared a “safety pause” for the fleet, ACC officials say. During the pause, procedures are being reviewed with the pilots and training is at a standdown. However, if the stealthy bomber is needed for an operational mission it is cleared to fly. The aircraft that crashed rolled off Northrop Grumman’s line in 1989 and had accumulated 5,176 flying hours at the time of the crash. Early testing indicated that the aircraft would remain structurally intact for about 40,000 flying hours. Analyses also posited that the rudder attachment points would be the first structural failure item. This is the first B-2 crash, but another of the Air Force’s heavy bomber fleet, the B-1, has suffered a number of seemingly similar in-flight emergencies. A pelican-sized bird ripping through fuel and hydraulic lines downed the first, a fuel-fed fire on takeoff destroyed another, a fire in the instrument panel over Kentucky struck another and a fourth was abandoned by its crew about 100 miles short of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean while returning from a bombing mission in Afghanistan.