Rough Landing Iraq

[eagl]

See, that's the thing...  A butt chewing would have been enough.  But no, they had to put it down on paper.

I can't count the number of times I've gone out with the guys, had one drink at the beginning of the party, then driven myself home.  I know that I am personally capable of sticking to those limits.  The one time I ever tested my judgement, I put my keys in the host's key basket before taking a sip of my second drink, and I stayed the night.

So...  I should get a formal reprimand because I rely on math (one drink per party) and my own judgement to keep out of trouble?

It just isn't proportional to the crime. Hell, no crime was committed.  No harm was done.  It's even a stretch to say that poor judgement was exercised, because they had a plan and followed it.

The problem of course is that when A1C Snuffy tries to emulate Lt Hotshot, he may not have the same ability to stick to a plan like that, and he'll end up driving while over the legal limit or wrecking his car.  That's the real issue.  So many airmen are getting hit with DUIs or getting into fatal alcohol related car wrecks that the officers are being told they have to hold themselves to a standard of behavior that takes personal judgement out of the picture entirely.  It's important to understand that we're being told that we cannot be trusted to use our judgement because a small percentage of the force consistently exercises poor judgement, and it is getting people killed.

Treat people like children and they will be unable to act like adults.  There is a battle going on now in the USAF where young troops, both officer and enlisted, are being shown that they should not exercise any judgement because they'll get roasted if they're wrong, but then they're put into combat where they have to suddenly learn good judgement or they die.  Some supervisors are teaching judgement skills regardless of how much trouble it gets them and their troops into, because for every person that gets into trouble for making an honest mistake, there will be a dozen who's lives may be saved by a good judgement call.

[Golfer]

AH!  I just read 'formal reprimand' rather than a 'verbal reprimand'

Eh...They needed a good 'talking to' but if the officer is a dick then he'd get written up.  Sucks, but the same situation could have ended worse.  I know 2 kids killed by drunk drivers, one the night he graduated from High School, driving his drunk friend's brand new firebird and got Tboned by another drunk driver.  He was the only one killed.

The other was killed last may about 200yds from his house when a guy ran a stop sign at about 60mph.  I just found out about this one recently.  He, his brother and I had been friends since we were real young, now one lives in PA, one in FL and im back in Ohio so we don't keep in touch.

I take alcohol and driving very seriously and I don't tolerate it.  DD's don't drink, period.  I dont know if I'd write them up, I'd take more pleasure in administering the pain myself.

[eagl]

Yea.  My Dad was a career CHP traffic officer and I grew up reading the CAHP association magazine.  It had pictures and writeups of about 20 accidents each month.  It didn't take long to notice that most of the pictures with lots of blood were the result of drunk driving, and that pretty much set my opinion on drunk driving for life.

Being a libertarian at heart though, it bothers me when the popular solution to any given problem is to remove judgement from the picture.  I'd rather make drunk drivers walk or take the bus than try to teach kids that alcohol is somehow evil.  Alcohol abuse leads to bad behavior, and it is a conscious decision that people make that leads to that abuse.  If you can't handle your likker, don't have the first drink.  If you MUST have that drink, check into rehab and get yourself sorted out before you kill someone.  But that's a choice, and people should be taught to make good choices, not taught to avoid choices in the first place.

And on general principle, I also agree that DDs should not drink at all.  I just like giving people the option to exercise good judgement when the opportunity arises, and that always depends on the situation.  Is it ok to have one beer at the pre-game tailgate when I'm driving the gang home after the game?  

We're afraid to teach people how to think because heaven forbid they might make a mistake, so we can't count on people using good judgement anymore.  That education process ought to start before it's an issue that could result in someone's death.

[Raubvogel]

It was a MC-130 Combat Talon aircraft, that's why it has the funky radome on the nose.

[Raubvogel]

Originally posted by Nefarious
Possibly some Elint Bird?

Nope, all of ours were sitting on the apron this morning...or so I heard.