Well the details on why former 8th Fighter Wing Commander Colonel Bryan Bearden lost his job have now come out:
The former commander of Kunsan Air Base was relieved of his job earlier this month because the base’s maintenance group did poorly on a performance assessment in the spring, and again on a reassessment in September, the new commander said Friday.
Col. Jerry Harris, who assumed command of Kunsan’s 8th Fighter Wing in mid-November, said the decision to relieve Col. Bryan Bearden was an “eye-opener” that left many puzzled.
“When a commander comes in, they need to fix the issues of the wing they were given,” Harris said.
Bearden was relieved of his duties Nov. 10 by Pacific Air Forces commander Gen. Howie Chandler due to lack of confidence in the colonel’s performance.
“The decision was driven solely by duty performance factors,” a Kunsan news release said at the time.
Bearden was halfway through his one-year tour at Kunsan when he was relieved.
The 8th Fighter Wing, which includes two F-16 squadrons and four other groups, received an overall rating of “satisfactory” during the routine Unit Compliance Inspection in April. The inspections are conducted by Pacific Air Forces inspectors, and the ratings, which range from “outstanding” down to “unsatisfactory,” become an official measure of a unit’s performance.
The 8th Maintenance Group, which is responsible for the upkeep of Kunsan’s F-16s, received a “marginal” rating on the April assessment, the second-lowest score. PACAF re-inspected the maintenance group in September, and gave the group another “marginal” rating.
During a second re-inspection, which began Nov. 10, two days before Harris arrived, inspectors decided the major problems had been corrected, he said.
“Had this been a first look, [the maintenance group] would have been rated an excellent,” he said. [Stars & Stripes]
If the Wing Commander lost his job due to the maintenance inspection issues I would hope the unit leadership of the 8th Maintenance Group was relieved as well since they are the ones directly responsible for the maintenance issues to begin with.
2:15 pm on November 30th, 2008 1
You have to give it to the Air Force, sometimes. The Army only relieves people for ethical and moral problems, and rarely for performance-based problems unless someone gets killed or severely injured. The Army makes excuses for its commanders’ maintenance shortcomings on account of personnel shortages, but it’s hard to get stuff fixed when no one wants to work outside of 0900 and 1700, and they’re all too busy golfing and watching NASCAR on the weekends.
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2:33 pm on November 30th, 2008 2
Nope…the guy in charge always gets shit-canned first to send a message, and then if things don’t improve, the lower rungs of the ladder start to be taken out one by one until the guy doing the relieving is satisfied.
That really depends on your branch and/or post. I can tell you that in ADA and many 2ID units, the slave-driving politicians stop at nothing to get that top block, and a 0900-1700 duty day is the exception and not the norm. We’re happy if it’s 0900-1700 on Saturday and Sunday, though, because that allows for some hangover recovery time.
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5:57 pm on November 30th, 2008 3
I’m not buying the whole story. Unless there has been a drastic shift in the way things are done most ORI ratings are decided before the team arrives. If command has a fair hair boy they are looking to promote you can bet he will get a good rating no matter how screwed up things are. It is almost unheard of in todays AF to relieve a commander based on an inspection rating. One of the few I know of was the nuke incident recently and I’m sure someone above the AF directed that.
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6:24 pm on November 30th, 2008 4
I have to agree with Pete. I’m not buying it either.
(Maj.) Gen. William L. Holland’s comm squadron got an unsatisfactory on an Osan ORI. He also lost 2 or 3 aircraft (one from a preventable bird strike). He left quietly left Osan after a year and a half instead of the normal 2 years. It has only been good assignments and another star since then.
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8:21 pm on November 30th, 2008 5
I’m not in the military, but I thought the explanation sounded suspicious, especially after reading this statement:
During a second re-inspection, which began Nov. 10, two days before Harris arrived, inspectors decided the major problems had been corrected, he said.
How timely. Guess there won’t be any more heads rolling. In the private and public sectors, unsatisfactory evaluations may be legitimate or they may be a weapon to get rid of someone.
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