Air Force Personnel Assuming Non-Traditional Roles in Iraq (combat!)

[Barrett808]

Air Force Personnel Assuming Non-Traditional Roles in Iraq, Afghanistan
Voices Magazine Newswire
By Jon E. Dougherty
11 October 2005

| Voices Magazine | In an effort to augment a U.S. Army strained for manpower, the Air Force has begun assigning thousands of ground personnel in combat roles to support Army operations.

The Los Angeles Times reports that some of the new roles for airmen include acting as interrogators, prison sentries and gunners on supply trucks.

In all, some 3,000 Air Force personnel are being assigned these new roles, and some are being deployed for as long as 12 months rather than four.

...

Air Force officials told the Times they expect to deploy another 1,000 ground personnel in combat- and combat-support roles over the next few years, but they don't plan to make these jobs "core competencies" within the Air Force.

The U.S. Navy is also undertaking non-traditional roles. The paper said by summer the Navy expects to have retrained 3,000 to 4,000 sailors as prison guards, cargo handlers and for other jobs that have traditionally fallen to the Army.

(more)

http://www.voicesmag.com/Archives/News/oct2005/air_force_non-traditional_iraq_101105.htm

[okieinpain]

1. well once this gets out there goes their recruiting numbers.

[OregonBlue]

2. Good. Air Force won't like this and neither will Navy personnel.

Hope they start having the same recruiting problems that Army and Marines have now. When will they get it. Stop this charade and bring the troops home!!

[aquart]

3. You mean, roles they WERE NOT TRAINED FOR????

[Nickster]

4. and roles they won't be properly equipped for.

[MildyRules]

5. Well

They are using Security Forces AFSC for gunners and guards, roles they are trained for. And the AF has linguists who can be trained as interrogators. This isn't that big a stretch.

[Wilber_Stool]

6. I'm just wondering

how he's going to get the Coast Guard over there.

[MildyRules]

7. Some ARE there already.

[LostinVA]

8. MANY of them are over there....

Instead of here, esp. shocking since they are part of DHS.

[Coastie for Truth]

9. Here's how

1.

2.

3. "Reload" past the ad.

4.

5.

and a lot more.

[mopinko]

10. do you ever wonder how many soldiers we actually have?

and what the fuck they have been spending all those trillions on? i mean, aren't there supposed to be a million some soldiers out there? i know a lot at brass and desk jockeys, but still....

[MildyRules]

11. AD Army end strength

for FY06 is to be 502K

[Bigmack]

12. Those Bastards... (repost)

... they just keep sending people who have no business in a war zone.
- - - - -
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/243001_wardead01.ht...
Saturday, October 1, 2005
Roadside bomb kills Yakima reservist
By MIKE BARBER SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Last February, 45-year-old Lawrence Morrison Sr. was a guy with a wife and two sons in his 10th year with the U.S. Postal Service in Yakima, where he helped load mail trucks.

Then an official government telegram arrived at his home calling him to the war in Iraq from inactive reserve status, where he had remained since retiring early from the Army in 1995.

A sergeant first class and a medic with the 490th Civil Affairs Battalion from Fort Bragg, N.C., Morrison knew that the terms of his retirement meant he could be called back to military service at any time, but after a decade away he hadn't counted on it. He arrived in Iraq in June and was looking forward to a break from war, counting the days until a two-week leave began in October.

On Sept. 19, Morrison volunteered for a mission with U.S. Marines during which he was fatally wounded after a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle in Taji, Iraq.
- - - - -
Army medics don't travel with the Marines... trained Navy Corpsmen do. What the hell was this guy doing on a Marine mission... at 45 years old and 10 years retired?
- - - - - -
Airman killed in Iraq http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123011980
9/30/2005 - SAN ANTONIO (AFPN)  -- An improvised explosive device killed a female Airman during a convoy mission supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Airman 1st Class Elizabeth Jacobson, 21, was providing convoy security Sept. 28 near Camp Bucca, Iraq, when the vehicle she was riding in was hit by an improvised explosive device.

The Riviera Beach, Fla., native was assigned to the 17th Security Forces Squadron at Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas. Airman Jacobson had been in the Air Force for two years and had been deployed to Iraq for more than three months.

She is the first female Airman killed in the line of duty in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
- - - - -
What the hell was a female Air Force person doing providing convoy security? I know women are in the combat zone these days.... but... with all apologies to anybody in the Air Force... airmen (and women) have no business doing convoy security duty.... they're not trained for it.

[MildyRules]

13. "What the hell was a female

Air Force person doing providing convoy security? I know women are in the combat zone these days.... but... with all apologies to anybody in the Air Force... airmen (and women) have no business doing convoy security duty.... they're not trained for it."

She was trained for it. She was security forces; it's part of their job.

[Bigmack]

20. Are you sure?

Live fire? Some kind of Infiltration-type course that familiarized them with incoming/overhead fire? Familiarization with nearby blasts?

Let's not forget the Jessica Lynch incident.

Maybe it's just my ancient Marine Corps sense of (fucked up) superiority, but I was a grunt, and we got TONS of experience with lots of shit coming in and lots of shit going out long before we ever faced it for real. Lots of schools, etc.

If they put the Junior Birdmen(women) through some serious training, I take back everything I said. If they gave them some half-assed classroom training and practice riding around in trucks, and a couple of hours on the rifle range, I stand by what I said.

[shanti]

14. these stories make me SICK!

N/T

[neverforget]

15. But the College Republicans are fighting the war at home so the

soldiers and Marines don't have to fight it here. :eyes:

[tabasco]

16. There's a lot of war supporters among the rear echelon types...

that never go near the action.

Maybe this will make them less gung ho?

[AirmensMom]

17. OK, now I'm really scared!

:scared: :scared: :scared:

[MildyRules]

18. No need to be

Unless he has a security forces AFSC...

[daleo]

19. Next to go: Postal carriers.

They can use their experience in delivering things for the government to good effect.

[happydreams]

21. What was that about a "cakewalk"?That is what

one of Bush's aides said just before the invaision. Wesley Clark predicted months ago that the US army will be destroyed in Iraq. It's starting to look that way.

[0007]

22. 3,000 to 4,000 sailors as prison guards? Holy Moley!

Won't be long before the Air Force and Navy recruitments will be down.

[classysassy]

23. The commander in thief that should read chief

sorry about that great leader.When the enlistee raised his hand and repeated those solemn words that he or she would follow the orders of the thief,sorry that should read chief,and all others appointed over them,I believe that gives great,honorable leader the right to transfer his boys and girls to other branches of his services.