Thu Jul 26, 2007 8:30 pm
As an ex-USAF Public Affairs officer, I'm surprised that the Lt. Col. wrote the reply...or was allowed to write it.
Back in my assignments the rule was never respond to a member of the public that way. After all, they were taxpayers.
I'm glad things have changed.
One story from the old days.
I was assigned to Goodfellow AFB, in San Angelo, Texas in the mid 80s. Now Goodfellow is not a flying field, but T-37s from nearby UPT bases would land at the local airport to refuel and get free Snow Cones (nice and cool and good for your dry throat after breathing oxygen) from Ranger Aviation.
We used to get noise complaints because the Tweets would sit at the departure end of the runway for a minute or two (or three) while the IP and student did their work. And having first generation jets, the 37s emitted a very annoying whitsle.
One guy called all the time. One day he said "If they don't cut it out, I'll get my rifle and I don't know what will happen".
I wrote up the complaint and handed a copy to the AFOSI, who in turn called the FBI. The next time the FBI was in town, they payed a little visit to the gentleman and reminded him that threatening a government aircraft and personnel was a real no-no.
Never heard from him again.
Back in my assignments the rule was never respond to a member of the public that way. After all, they were taxpayers.
I'm glad things have changed.
One story from the old days.
I was assigned to Goodfellow AFB, in San Angelo, Texas in the mid 80s. Now Goodfellow is not a flying field, but T-37s from nearby UPT bases would land at the local airport to refuel and get free Snow Cones (nice and cool and good for your dry throat after breathing oxygen) from Ranger Aviation.
We used to get noise complaints because the Tweets would sit at the departure end of the runway for a minute or two (or three) while the IP and student did their work. And having first generation jets, the 37s emitted a very annoying whitsle.
One guy called all the time. One day he said "If they don't cut it out, I'll get my rifle and I don't know what will happen".
I wrote up the complaint and handed a copy to the AFOSI, who in turn called the FBI. The next time the FBI was in town, they payed a little visit to the gentleman and reminded him that threatening a government aircraft and personnel was a real no-no.
Never heard from him again.
Fri Jul 27, 2007 2:47 am
Question:
Didn't we have a thread with the exact same theme, probably a year or so ago? The location was Phoenix too, as far as I recall.
Saludos,
Tulio
Didn't we have a thread with the exact same theme, probably a year or so ago? The location was Phoenix too, as far as I recall.
Saludos,
Tulio
Fri Jul 27, 2007 5:12 am
Tulio wrote:Didn't we have a thread with the exact same theme, probably a year or so ago? The location was Phoenix too, as far as I recall.
Yes, it is the same incident and it happened in May or June '06.
Fri Jul 27, 2007 10:34 am
Back when I first started flying attack helicopters, I was flying the AH-1S Cobra in Mainz, Germany. It was in the early 80s, before the wall came down and we had a very complex community structure that of course included the U.S. Army, German and British air power in a very small air space structure. One of the favorite activities of the local anti U.S. faction was to call multiple times a day and make noise complaints.
To deal with this the Army put a full Col in charge of an area that dealt with this and other community relation issues. I happened to be the Staff Duty Officer when he finally broke down and had the following exchange with a local German guy who called almost every day.
German: Col _____, we have experienced additional damage from the overflight of our city by the U.S. Army Helicopters.
Col: Sir, How do you know it was a U.S. Army Helicopter, Sir, and not a Bundeswehr (German) helicopter?
German: The imperialist U.S. has more helicopters than anyone else in the world and are clearly the most destructive. And besides I saw a large "U.S. Army" sign on the side, these always do the most damage to our quiet community.
Col: I would like to correct you and solicit your help in the future. The U.S. doesn't maintain the largest fleet of helicopters in the world. If you happen to see a large helipcoter with a "Red Star" on the side, please call us promptly, they can be very damaging. Oh, and as a side note, please be advised if you do make that call, we will probably be flying a number of sorties in your neighborhood as well.
We got far fewer noise complaints after that.
To deal with this the Army put a full Col in charge of an area that dealt with this and other community relation issues. I happened to be the Staff Duty Officer when he finally broke down and had the following exchange with a local German guy who called almost every day.
German: Col _____, we have experienced additional damage from the overflight of our city by the U.S. Army Helicopters.
Col: Sir, How do you know it was a U.S. Army Helicopter, Sir, and not a Bundeswehr (German) helicopter?
German: The imperialist U.S. has more helicopters than anyone else in the world and are clearly the most destructive. And besides I saw a large "U.S. Army" sign on the side, these always do the most damage to our quiet community.
Col: I would like to correct you and solicit your help in the future. The U.S. doesn't maintain the largest fleet of helicopters in the world. If you happen to see a large helipcoter with a "Red Star" on the side, please call us promptly, they can be very damaging. Oh, and as a side note, please be advised if you do make that call, we will probably be flying a number of sorties in your neighborhood as well.
We got far fewer noise complaints after that.
Fri Jul 27, 2007 11:57 am
EDowning wrote:Back when I first started flying attack helicopters, I was flying the AH-1S Cobra in Mainz, Germany. It was in the early 80s, before the wall came down and we had a very complex community structure that of course included the U.S. Army, German and British air power in a very small air space structure. One of the favorite activities of the local anti U.S. faction was to call multiple times a day and make noise complaints.
To deal with this the Army put a full Col in charge of an area that dealt with this and other community relation issues. I happened to be the Staff Duty Officer when he finally broke down and had the following exchange with a local German guy who called almost every day.
German: Col _____, we have experienced additional damage from the overflight of our city by the U.S. Army Helicopters.
Col: Sir, How do you know it was a U.S. Army Helicopter, Sir, and not a Bundeswehr (German) helicopter?
German: The imperialist U.S. has more helicopters than anyone else in the world and are clearly the most destructive. And besides I saw a large "U.S. Army" sign on the side, these always do the most damage to our quiet community.
Col: I would like to correct you and solicit your help in the future. The U.S. doesn't maintain the largest fleet of helicopters in the world. If you happen to see a large helipcoter with a "Red Star" on the side, please call us promptly, they can be very damaging. Oh, and as a side note, please be advised if you do make that call, we will probably be flying a number of sorties in your neighborhood as well.
We got far fewer noise complaints after that.
Thats a good one!
Fri Jul 27, 2007 12:27 pm
There used to be a sign in a previous squadron that went something like this:
"HAVE A NOISE COMPLAINT?"
"DID THE AIRPLANE LOOK LIKE THIS?"
<photograph of Su-27 Flanker>
"IF NOT, THEN WHAT ARE YOU COMPLAINING ABOUT?"
"HAVE A NOISE COMPLAINT?"
"DID THE AIRPLANE LOOK LIKE THIS?"
<photograph of Su-27 Flanker>
"IF NOT, THEN WHAT ARE YOU COMPLAINING ABOUT?"
Fri Jul 27, 2007 4:44 pm
One morning last week CH-47's came over my house as I was getting ready to go to work. Rattled the windows and knocked the dust off the rafters! Loved every second they were over the neighborhood!
A little later in the morning another group of six or eight came over the office right about 500 feet. Would have traded anything to have been looking down from the rear deck of one of those big green monsters...
Thank You and Keep Up the Good Work ARMY AVIATION!
P.S. - In 10+ years of fighting wildfire, I have been supported by a number of aviation assets in some "interesting" situations. All have been helpfull but the Chinooks are the only thing I have seen actually put-out the fire
There have been a couple of times I feel I owe somebody in green a cold one for turning the tide on my fires!
A little later in the morning another group of six or eight came over the office right about 500 feet. Would have traded anything to have been looking down from the rear deck of one of those big green monsters...
Thank You and Keep Up the Good Work ARMY AVIATION!
P.S. - In 10+ years of fighting wildfire, I have been supported by a number of aviation assets in some "interesting" situations. All have been helpfull but the Chinooks are the only thing I have seen actually put-out the fire
There have been a couple of times I feel I owe somebody in green a cold one for turning the tide on my fires!