Comments on: Kunsan Commander Lost His Job Due to Inspection Failure

By: gogo

gogo — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:23:28 +0000

Yes, you are correct, it must be a conspiracty theory, that is the only logical explanation. In they wanted to fire him, so they rated the Maintenance Group marginal twice. All of the inspectors were in on it and were told what rating to give. Or perhaps the maintenance group was directed to perform poorly, put pilots lives at risk and earn a Marginal so that they could fire the commander.

By: Sonagi

Sonagi — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 02:21:15 +0000

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.

By: Free Ride

Free Ride — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:24:35 +0000

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.

By: Pete

Pete — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 23:57:56 +0000

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.

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:33:39 +0000

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.

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.

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.

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.

By: Unsatisfied LG DACOM Victim

Unsatisfied LG DACOM Victim — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:15:03 +0000

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.