McPeak backs Kerry

[ShawnC]

McPeak, I remember him on the Democrat response on Saturday, he said he was CSAF during ODS, was he the CSAF that got relived for talking to the media, or was he the replacement of that guy?

 

[LJDRVR]

McPeak, I remember him on the Democrat response on Saturday, he said he was CSAF during ODS, was he the CSAF that got relived for talking to the media, or was he the replacement of that guy?

McPeak was the squirrel that replaced Michael Dugan, a great guy and real leader who unfortunately didn't understand the inticate dynamic and politic of interfacing with the national press on matters outside of his immediate scope as a service chief. A real shame, Mike Dugan was a stand-up guy, with quite an excellent reputation with those folks that worked for him in USAFE. Flew Spads in Vietnam if memory serves me right. (I narrated his retirement ceremony.)

 

[SMOE]

My favorite McPeak story goes like this:
He was getting a briefing from a SAC LtCol who happend to be wearing his bag and back then, the left shoulder of the flight suit was open game to whatever patch you wanted to adorn it with. At the end of the briefing, McPeaks only question was, "is that patch authorized?".
The great purge of unauthorized unit patches launched at that point. I was in the 16th SOW, 16th SOS at HRT at the time. NONE of the Spec Ops patches had ever gone through the AF Historical Research Center and thus were "unauthorized". At the end of the process, we not only got some real polically-correct patches, we were stripped of the 1st in 1st SOW because, according to "Tony", there can be only one "1st".
To determine who should have what unit designation, historical records were researched. Points were scored for wars fought, campaign streamers, etc. The 1st SOW was waaaaaaaaay out ahead of the 1st Fighter Wing so it was deemed that aerial victories should be the tie-breaker. So, "Tony's" gift to Spec Ops was having the unit re-designated 16th SOW. The lineage of the 16th is it was a P-40 unit guarding the Canal Zone during WWII and was DE-ACTIVATED during WWII.
Thanks "Tony"

 

[dgs]

McPeak's endorsement for Kerry--another good reason to vote for Bush!

 

[SMOE]

I was part of the 17th TAS up at Elmendorf. It became the 517th because they wanted to use the 17 for the C-17. The squadron had been the 17th since inception..never changed. Moved around alot but a direct line back to day one.

Great idea Tony...you moron.

If that bozo were to tell me that grass was green and sky was blue, I'd have to go outside to check. The fact that he endorses John "I'll sell my sister for a job in the White House" Kerry doesn't surprise me. By December they can have a beer together and try and figure out what went wrong.

He also gave the 21st TAS to a C-5 outfit. They had to add insult to injury by putting "C-5 Galaxy" on the patch!
If Kerry and "Tony" were to have a beer together, it will probably be an O'Doul's.

 

[YeOldeProp]

Here's some more to the story from SMOE on how the 1st SOW got railroaded in the points game by McPeak and his travelling snake-oil friends. Not only were aerial victories worth points, but the number of aces you had in the unit counted for big points (and yes, there were a few aces from the spec ops side). But dear old Merrill felt there should be no points for those who were awarded the Medal of Honor (think there were 5 from the history of the 1st SOW). I can remember one of our long time O-6's ready to explode when the number crunching came out in our favor, then reversed by the scam SMOE tells us about.

McPeak also scammed Congress when he implemented the composite wing process and put it in motion without getting the go ahead from Congress or the JCS to spend the money to do so. AF went into debt and took a couple of hard knocks in the budget process for years due to McPeaks arrogance and total disregard to the logistics required. But he did it with a great cover...the new uniform shenanigans were all over the front pages and being bitched about in every bar and barbershop in the military. Pretty good diversion...a few million dollars of uniform change versus billions of dollars of structure change. Those who survived the composite wing process can fill us in on whether it was worth it or not...
Not really the kind of ex-military politician I want running part of the USA...

 

[KC-10 Driver]

I don't like to get into political threads on this forum, but I just had to reply to this one...

The sad thing is that the general public will see McPeak as a retired 4-star, and that is all. They won't know about the mess he made, or about the multitude of terrrible things his legacy left behind.

Kerry gets the worst CSAF in history to endorse him, and the public only sees the 4-stars on his shoulders.

 

[TonyC]

You mean you guys didn't like the flightsuits with epaulettes and extra zippers on the hips?




I've not heard a single good thing about McPeak, except maybe that his "transformation" of the Air Force helped convince me to get out.

 

[KC-10 Driver]

One other thing about McPeak...

He had made some comments about one of the Academy T-3 crashes several years ago (the one in 1996 which killed a classmate of mine).

My classmate, the IP of the T-3, had previously been a C-141 pilot. McPeak supposedly said that had the IP been a fighter pilot instead of an airlift pilot, then the crash probably would have never occurred.

That was the ultimate in arrogance and insensitivity. Even worse from someone in his position.

 

[jointops]

OK, OK,

I can't resist another story of 'DA MAN. Flew C-21s out of Andrews while he was Mr. Head Honcho. Typical DV mission for him. Get the aircraft ready to go and re-positioned in front of Base Ops an hour prior to his arrival.

He shows up (late as usual) and during the taxi out he finally turns to the IP and tells him to "Screw the checklist, we're late."

We're holding short and without clearance he begins to taxi onto the active runway. When the IP questions what he's doing (followed shortly by the tower) he replies, "This is ridiculous, don't they know who I am?"

We finally make it up to Bedford and he's obviously aiming for brick one and the IP comments that he seems to be aiming short. No change in pitch. Again, IP comments. NADA. Tower directs him to go around. No reaction from him at all. IP physically and verbally takes control of aircraft and he wouldn't relinquish control. I couldn't believe this idiot was allowed to fly.

When I'd heard he endorsed Kerry I knew which side of the fence I'd land on. Actually I knew 4 years ago, but you get the point.

Happy landings