Though the Air Force celebrated its 50th anniversary in September, its festivities were undercut and dampened by widespread problems.
In addition to five unexplained mishaps involving military aircraft, the Air Force has been caught up in drastic down-sizing, hypocritical double-standards, resignations, widespread discharges, sexual harassment and had the viability of its supersonic stealth bombers challenged.Consider these reasons to celebrate a 50th birthday:
- After citing differences with the Pentagon about blame for 1996 terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia, chief of staff Gen. Ronald Fogle-man resigned, leaving Gen. Ralph Eberhart at the helm.
- Secretary Sheila Widnall, the only female civilian head of a military service, is leaving to return to academia.
- Last month, a mandatory stand-down in training flights was ordered following a series of air crashes. They included the spectacular midair breakup of an F-117 stealth fighter during a fly-by in Maryland and the collision between a German military aircraft and an Air Force C-141 transport plane that killed nine Americans.
- Earlier this year, the Air Force faced the bizarre situation of an A-10 pilot flying of course during a training mission and crashing into a Colorado mountainside with a cargo of two 500-pound bombs, which never were found.
- Severe public scrutiny and criticism resulted after the removal of its only female bomber pilot, Lt. Kelly Flynn, for adultery and disobedience.
As if that were not enough for this seeming star-crossed service branch, the Air Force placed the blame on its own commanders and pilots for the crash in Croatia of a military transport plane carrying Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and 34 others. And it announced that due to high stress levels and low wages, it would be 350 pilots short of its minimum requirement next year.
Other than that, it has been a splendid season for flying. The tragic melodrama in the sky could not get any worse.
Though several of these occurrences are attributable to outside influences, a common thread of weak leadership and poorly maintained equipment runs throughout. Unfortunately, this isn't a slip-shod private business or less-than-essential government agency, we are talking about what had been considered by many as the crown jewel of our nation's fighting forces.
That jewel has lost its luster, which must be restored for the sake of a healthy national defense. Accountability for the spate of problems must begin at the top, and with renewed and replaced upper leadership spread downward throughout the entire organization.
Flying high and proud must once again become the credo for which the U.S. Air Force is known worldwide.