This little news piece that
The DEWLINE pointed me to has me ready to punch walls, grab the USAF PAO Officer and give him an extended session of wall to wall counseling.
The
BASTARDS at Wright Patterson have the audacity to call a busted airplane a
WOUNDED WARRIOR!
Check out this article and see if your blood pressure doesn't rise...
by Daryl Mayer
88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
8/23/2011 - WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- Sadly,
we've seen too many comrades return home bearing the scars of war --
enough that the term "wounded warrior" has become entrenched in the
American lexicon and merits millions of hits on Google.
So when a 'wounded warrior' - a veteran which has stood ready to answer
its country's call -- flew into Palmdale, Calif., on August 16, it
could've passed as yet another sad and noble story.
Except that aircraft number 0332, the B-2 bomber named the "Spirit of
Washington," hadn't received its scars in battle, but from a horrific
fire in February 2010 that left it unable to fly.
Marooned on the island of Guam, the aircraft needed to travel to
Northrop Grumman's maintenance facility in Palmdale. Six thousand miles
across the Pacific is normally a cakewalk for an aircraft that was
designed to project U.S. power to any spot on the globe. But the Spirit
of Washington was going to need a lot of work just to get off the
ground.
What ensued over the next 18 months was nothing short of a herculean
effort, according to Col. Mark Williams, Aeronautical Systems Center's
B-2 Division Chief.
"This was a truly amazing effort with tremendous teamwork between my
folks in the B-2 Division, B-2 System Support Branch, Northrop Grumman,
Global Strike Command, Air Force Materiel Command, Global Logistics
Support Center, U.S. Transportation Command, and the Air National
Guard," Colonel Williams said. "A very large group of people came
together to bring this aircraft home."
Early on, the team set a goal to have the aircraft in Palmdale before the end of the 2011 fiscal year.
"We budget for three aircraft every other year to receive Programmed
Depot Maintenance (PDM)," Colonel Williams said. "It was an aggressive
goal, but we wanted to get 0332 to Palmdale before the end of FY11 as
our third PDM."
Getting a team on the ground was the first order of business and
Northrop Grumman basically deployed a team of engineers and technicians
to work with the Air Force. The task list was long and included
rebuilding some structural components, work that typically is only done
at the depot.
"Our goal was to make the aircraft safe to fly. We knew it would be
going straight in for depot maintenance and didn't want to duplicate
anything. But there were some depot-level items that needed attention to
ensure our flight crew would be safe," Colonel Williams said.
The colonel dispatched two of his best from the division to be his eyes and ears on the ground.
Lt. Col. Greg Tolmoff deployed and learned how to inspect and certify
the repairs to ensure every task was performed to standard. Senior
Master Sgt. Keith Sanders used his 16 years of experience as a B-2
Maintenance Crew Chief to help guide and assess progress.
"I can't say enough about how Greg and Keith performed," Colonel
Williams said. "I'm extremely proud of the dedication they displayed
during periods of long hours and family separation."
Once the aircraft was ready to again take the skies, the entire team
outlined a comprehensive plan to fly the aircraft home. They established
very strict controls on weight, altitude, and speed to lessen stress on
the airframe. In-flight refueling was used to prevent ever having to
take on the weight of a full load of fuel and a support aircraft
followed along to assist the flight crew with avoiding turbulent weather
and coordinate with air traffic control.
"The 141st Air Refueling Wing (ANG) deployed to Guam from Fairchild,
Washington, and provided KC-135s for refueling and to serve as a support
plane," Colonel Williams said. "That allowed us to put a team of
Northrop engineers in the support plane where they could monitor the
aircraft's performance and offer technical advice to deal with any
issues."
Fortunately for all, this "wounded warrior" took to the skies like the
proverbial phoenix traveling the entire distance without incident and
landing in Palmdale more than a month ahead of schedule. It now starts a
24 month PDM process that will completely return this veteran to
operational duty for the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman AFB, Mo.
Looking at a photo of 0332 silhouetted against Joshua Trees and the
rising California sun taken as it prepared to land in Palmdale, Colonel
Williams has the look of someone who witnessed something amazing.
"I'm going to make that photo my new computer wallpaper," he said.
Spare me the reasoning that this is said tongue in cheek. Too many have actually received this title and their lives will be changed forever because of it.
You lessen their sacrifice by calling a piece of machinery a "warrior"...
You can't be part of a war fighting organization and not realize how UTTERLY STUPID AND DISRESPECTFUL SUCH A COMPARISON IS!
The USAF needs to pull this article today. Confine it to the scrap heap of history and give whatever dumbass that approved it an official letter of reprimand....or better yet, save the paperwork, take his butt behind a sandberm and get his mind right.