Getting out???

[Flyjets]

Reserve

Straight from the rumor mill (sort of):

If you decide to bail, a good place to look for a reserve job is in the F.R.E.D. world. Being a former airlifter, you should have no problem getting hired. In case some haven't heard, they are busting up Dover and sending about half of the FRED's to the reserves. The CP at the Dover reserve unit said that the Memphis Unit is in the process of standing up. The other two bases are rumored to be Wright-Patt and Martinsburg, WV (Air Guard). One of our CP's at the airline I flew for was the WV air guard commanding general until 9-11, then he went to play with the Afghanis. Before he left, he said that if they do turn Martinsburg into a FRED unit, then he will lose alot of people because the older heads will not want to re-train into another plane (currently Hercs).

I am still in Dela-where? after getting kicked out of the AF over the anthrax vaccine scandal three years ago. It has been all over the news here about the C-5's going to the reserves to be replaced by the -17's. Transitions are supposed to be complete by '08. One of the U.S. Senators from here has had a woody for the -17's for a long time and has been pushing hard to make it happen. That is the history behind it.

Food for thought for anyone interested.

 

[Gumbydammit]

Not to sound like a total idiot, but...what is a FRED?

 

[Flyjets]

Not to sound like a total idiot, but...what is a FRED?

FRED is a nickname for the C-5. It stands for F-ing Ridiculous Economic Disaster (referring to the maintenance nightmare that it is).

C-17 was known to us as Barney (Fred's little buddy). Some also called them Buddhas because thay are short, fat and everybody worships them.

 

[Gumbydammit]

Now THAT is funny...thanks!

 

[Steve]

Re: Reserve

Straight from the rumor mill (sort of):


I am still in Dela-where? after getting kicked out of the AF over the anthrax vaccine scandal three years ago.

.

Anthrax vaccine scandal? Whats that all about?

 

[Flyjets]

Anthrax Saga Way Too Long

Steve,

The anthrax scandal story is way too long type here. You can go to http://www.majorbates.com/ and get part of the story. Basic story is the company that was making the anthrax vaccine was not up to par and was making substandard vaccine. Mixing, temperature, and quality control issues were just a few of the 38 different FDA violations that the company received just before being shut down. They finally shut the facility down and made them clean it up. Unfortunately, some of us had to sacrifice careers to get enough press involved to get action. The irony in my case is that the day that I was kicked off base was the exact day that the letter came from the Sec. of Def's office that said the vaccine program would be slowed until they could get more FDA approved vaccine. Of course, the Pentagon would not admit they were wrong in their initial thinking (regardless of the evidence we put in front of them) and stop the action against us. They just labeled us as trouble makers and mavericks who didn't obey orders and kicked us out (I actually took three of the shots, by the way). If we were wrong, then why did they shut the facility down?? My squadron of 250 of the healthiest humans on the planet (military flight crews) had 15 people with autoimmune disorders after taking the shot. In perspective, one-half of one percent (approx) of the general population gets autoimmune disorders. We have our chief flight surgeon on video tape saying that if he had 5 people on base with autoimmune disorders, he would be jumping up and down trying to find out why. This was during a commanders call just after the base commander said no one else at Dover AFB would take the vaccine until he got some answers. That commander was fired the next day and sent to a cubby hole in the Pentagon. So, we had approximately 6% of the healthiest people in the world with autoimmune disorders and now all of the sudden (after the commander was fired) the chief flight surgeon is saying "they would have gotten sick anyway." hhhmmmm.... I personally saw one of the severe cases happen in front of me. We flew from Dover to Travis in the second week of Dec. '99. When we came back, one of our engineers took shot
four and was paralyzed by Christmas Day with an advanced stage of Guillion Barre Syndrome (autoimmune problem). That broke the camels back for me. I saw that happen with my own eyes. That, along with my own reactions and the other evidence, was enough to convince me. Here is the scandal part.... we have the evidence (documents) where one particular Admiral, who shall remain nameless for legal reasons, but who was chairman of the joint chiefs in a not-so-long ago decade was given a significant amount of stock in the company that made the vaccine because it was owned by a foreign entity. Since that foreign entity knew that our gov't could not contract with a foreign entity, that foreign entity gave the stock to mentioned Admiral (while still in command) and everything was wonderful in scandal land.

I said I wasn't going to get into this didn't I?... Well, Steve, this is a paragraph to the novel. Some people don't believe that any evidence that we presented was true (even the pictures, medical records, emails, and documents of money changing hands), and that we are trouble makers, etc. Some people took all six shots and never got more than a snotty nose. Some took two and died a few days later. You can go to the link above and go to the gov'ts site http://www.anthrax.mil and draw your own conclusion.

My apologies to the person who started this thread. I did not mean to hijack it.