Military Times announces water is wet

The Military Times has apparently been doing an investigation that has led to them publishing an article that is the equivalent of announcing water is wet.

Investigation Finds Disturbing Connection Between Defense Cuts And Deadly Military Aviation Accidents

So....they're telling us that reducing funding has caused more accidents? Whoa! Who would have thought it!

On a more serious note, it's kind of a mixed information article. Yes, accident rates are up, but the worst of them, Class A, are actually fairly low. What is way up are Class C accidents, which cause in the neighborhood of $50,000 or more in damage.

From 2011-2017 there were 7590 accidents recorded. From 2013-2017, which was during sequestration, there were 5500. Of those, 6,322 were Class C, 744 were Class B ($500,000-$1.9M), and 524 Class A ($2M or a fatality). According to the Air Force, 2014 was their safest year, and 2017 was the second (as far as Class A accidents go), so their Class A record is down, but their Class C rate is up.

taskandpurpose.com...

Scale back the global hegemonic empire and there wont be so many accidents.

I think it’s funny when people say water/fish are not wet. Lmao.

a reply to: Zaphod58



Pigs have now flown. I actually like something you had to say......

a reply to: Zaphod58

I love it when Civilians talk about Military Topics. It's like High School students explaining Geometry to Pythagoras...SMH.
a reply to: Zaphod58

Running a country by committee..Its painful..

originally posted by: IgnoranceIsntBlisss
Scale back the global hegemonic empire and there wont be so many accidents.

Nah, just need less Obama's getting elected to decimate the military.

And in other news, it has been reported that snow is cold!!

a reply to: SecretsoftheBlueApples

I don't know which is funnier, that they had to do an investigation to figure this out, or the people that are surprised by it.

a reply to: TinfoilTP

Since hardly any US troops have died in Syria, thanks to Obama deploying Al Qaeda as "our" Merc force, you should be praising Him. Unless US troops dying in your wonderlust of global destruction is your desire.

Its disgusting actually.

Some of the blame goes to congress and we are still feeling the disastrous consequences of the sequester.
Some of it goes to the brass who clearly had to have known there was an issue (not just in aviation)
And mostly the blame falls on us. We as citizens need to hold politicians accountable if they don't hold the military to the same standard. I can't walk up to a general and tell him to get you %^&^ together. But a member of the armed forces committee can

I know water is wet that is why I don’t drink it. The fish urinate in it too.

I wonder how much money we don’t have was spent on that investigation.

Boy this is some hard hitting investigative journalism, isn’t it?

Am I the only one smelling a Pulitzer Prize in the making?!

Or they want you to think that we need more military funding? I highly doubt any of these issues directly reflect military spending.

a reply to: RiverMasonMusic

Readiness, flight hours, and pilot retention are all at the lowest rates I've ever seen. It's not so much about more money as it is putting what they have in the right places. They've been pushing operations for going on 17 years, which has resulted in deferred maintenance, which results in major backlogs and broken aircraft, which results in reduced flight time, which ends up with more accidents. More than one person has told me that units that are deploying are taking aircraft from units that aren't so they can have enough good aircraft to deploy.

I would hazard a guess that the "Military Times" is as good of a source of info as the "Federal Express".

i usually go with the individual first...

having a generation that eats Tide Pods and snorts condoms might have something to do with an increase of accidents too

A good chunk of the men and women who have died in aviation incidents over the last few years, at least since 2012, have been friends of mine. People I served with both at home and overseas.

We were just told to do more with less. I have more maintenance hours and flight hours in my short time in than most get in a decade during normal operations.

Technology isn't filling the gap, crews aren't getting the rest they need, or the ACTUAL training they require to perform their jobs, and the risks we take only go up as time goes on.

We left shot up aircraft in Afghanistan for the next CAB to use.

Everything here isn't just a matter of budget, it's also a matter of priorities with respect to training, education, and technology adoption that would free up soldiers to train better and rest more which increases readiness.

I also believe there's a generation gap that needs to be addressed. Today's soldier-candidate is woefully unprepared for basic combat training and they really do lack a certain level of discipline. There were so many complaints from line units about the quality of soldier showing up from AIT that they sent the Drill Sergeants back in, but I think that too is a band-aid for a much larger problem: The well is poisoned, and what passes for leadership in the military these days will not long endure.

originally posted by: SecretsoftheBlueApples
I love it when Civilians talk about Military Topics. It's like High School students explaining Geometry to Pythagoras...SMH.
a reply to: Zaphod58

I agree. Much like when Pythagoras would have his students explain Geometry to him so he could gauge their progress, and correct them as needed, the process of civilians talking about Military Topics is also extremely helpful and important
I'm assuming SMH stands for So Much Helpfulness thats a good one! I'm gonna start adding SMH to posts where I address an issue which I find to be particularly helpful, or maybe just whenever I'm in a good mood!...SMH.