"U.S. Air Force General Commits Suicide" - Why?

I find this very strange. It could quite possibly be nothing, but the coincidence of his being involved in last summer's missing nukes story is what has me concerned. Hand gun to chest (not head?) when your wife and daughter are home seems wierd too, you would think a person would want to spare their family the drama. Does anyone have more background on this guy?


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Air Force officer in Alaska dies in likely suicide
By DAN JOLING – 1 day ago

ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska (AP) — The officer who commands an air force wing in Alaska has died of a gunshot wound that likely was self-inflicted, authorities said Monday.

Brig. Gen. Thomas L. Tinsley suffered a gunshot wound to his chest late Sunday night and was pronounced dead within a half hour, said Col. Richard Walberg, who assumed command at Elmendorf Air Force Base after Tinsley's death.

The weapon was likely a handgun, Walberg said.

Medical responders who rushed to Tinsley's home on base were unable to save him. Tinsley's wife and college-age daughter were home at the time.

Tinsley was named base commander in May 2007. He had served as an F-15 instructor pilot, F-15C test pilot, wing weapons officer, exchange officer and instructor with the Royal Australian Air Force.

His previous 22-month assignment was executive officer to the Air Force chief of staff, Gen. T. Michael "Buzz" Mosely, who resigned in June under pressure in an agency shake-up.

Mosely, the Air Force military chief, and Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne, the agency's civilian head, were held accountable for failing to fully correct an erosion of nuclear-related performance standards. One concern was a cross-country flight in August of a B-52 carrying armed nuclear weapons.

reply to post by kosmicjack


Yes, very suspicious. As was the nuclear missle debacle that is mentioned in the article. It could be a legit suicide out of shame.... but we aren't a part of this forum to discuss legitimate suicides.

reply to post by Karlhungis


My thoughts exactly. This coupled with all of the pre-election false flag talk has me paying attention. Guilt seems like a possible motive.

reply to post by kosmicjack


According to the article, he wasn't even being investigated. That doesn't necessarily eliminate guilt, but it certainly limits it I would think.

reply to post by Karlhungis


As far as guilt, there never really was a very good accounting for what happened with the nukes. But a whole bunch of people involved have died...


cryptogon.com...

The odds of all of those people randomly dying are pretty slim.

reply to post by kosmicjack


What if General Tinsley knew what was coming in the future and did not want to be a part of what was to take place. A general is more likely to be given highly classified information and may have been given orders that he would not except or carry out because of the worldwide consequences to humanity. This is only speculation and we as the populace have no clue most of the time what is going on behind closed doors. My condolences to his family. Rik Riley

reply to post by kosmicjack


That is an unusual number of "random" deaths....

BTW: I think this thread will get more attention if you change the title to:

!!!!"U.S. Air Force General COMMITS SUICIDE!!!!!" -Why!!!!???

reply to post by rikriley


I think it's an interesting possibility. My only other thought along those lines is then why not a murder/suicide? You would think that he wouldn't want his family to endure anything awful that might be planned. This is why I lean toward guilt for a missing nuke, if anything.

He may have been following orders at the time of the nuke incident but then he could have started to question the intent of the mission.

Just spit-balling here...

Originally posted by rikriley
reply to post by kosmicjack

 

What if General Tinsley knew what was coming in the future and did not want to be a part of what was to take place. A general is more likely to be given highly classified information and may have been given orders that he would not except or carry out because of the worldwide consequences to humanity. This is only speculation and we as the populace have no clue most of the time what is going on behind closed doors. My condolences to his family. Rik Riley

the only problem i have with this theory, is to be a general you have to know people and things. not just anyone can do this. generals are deffinately eletists. i would think anyone in this position would already have to be willing to do anything for the powers that be. and would probably have already done something big to put "nwo" plans into action. that is unless the man had a change of heart. then the whole guilt thing would make sense.

I believe you hit the nail on the head and we must all beware that something or some major event is coming. Think about this our elected officials will crawl into bunkers like rats in a hole and leave the populace to be exposed to what ever happens on the surface.

It is very apparent the elected representatives take care of themselves first and have our interests as secondary otherwise they would spend some of the billions they throw away on shelters to protect the population. Rik Riley

reply to post by kosmicjack


Excellent find! Keep an eye on this for the eventual updates like, why 'apparent' suicide, and why 'likely' an hand gun. Also, while I hate to consider the morose, isn't it unlikely that a suicide would shoot himself in the chest knowing that it often leads to survival. Don't most handgun suicides take a 'head-shot' form?

It's almost as if the reporter is pre-positioning the article to highlight the 'questionable'.

If it was a suicide you would think he would have left a note for his family. Could someone have snuck in the house without the wife and child hearing? Why don't they KNOW it was a handgun. If it was a suicide wouldn't have been there beside him? Also, if it took thirty minutes for him to die, wouldn't he have been able to say something? If it was murder, wouldn't the killer shoot him in the head to make it appear to be a suicide?

Seems to me that a chest shooting reflects more of someone being angry and shooting at him or an accidental shooting? I'm just speculating here.

While the death of anyone (particularly a responsible officer) involved in a major Foxtrot-Uniform involving nuclear weapons is worth looking into, there are some rather mundane possibilities here.

"Why don't they know it was a handgun?"
The police probably do know. They may have some reason for not telling the press. They could still be trying to eliminate foul play (in which case, they might want to keep the exact weapon out of the papers).

"Why did he shoot himself in the chest?"
Trying to figure out why a suicide picks any particular method is a guessing game at the best of times. Why shoot yourself at all? Why hang yourself from the overhead door rail in the garage? We can't exactly ask him. Shooting yourself in the chest isn't (unfortunately) uncommon...a good friend of mine killed himself that way about ten years ago, and two years ago, some idiot intentionally shot himself in the chest while driving. Note to that now-ectoplasmic (description deleted by my sense of decency)...if you want to kill yourself, that's your business, but killing three people with your suddenly-unpiloted car is major bad karma.

"Why did he kill himself at all?"
Again, unless the suicide leaves some form of note, motives are always hard to guess. That said, you don't get stars on your shoulders (or the CEO's office, in the civilian world) by drifting up the ladder on a rising tide of fairy dust. People at the top tend to be driven individuals, and a lot of them identify with their jobs. General Tinsley was 'the man in charge' when a huge fiasco (or a Major Dark Conspiracy) took place (or was exposed) on his base. It cost him his command, it cost the Secretary of the Air Force and his former boss their jobs, and effectively ended his career. People have killed themselves over less, so you can't rule out depression as a possible motivator.

There could be other explanations...his wife might have shot him for reasons unknown (I'm not putting this forward, but it is a possibility that the police will have to eliminate), or shadowy assassins from the military-industrial complex could have infiltrated his home, shot him once in the chest, and departed without leaving any forensic evidence or witnesses.

Why would a senators aide die the same way the same day?

www.abovetopsecret.com...'

Strange.....

Although we really don't know the full story, could one or possibly several nuclear missles be missing/ if so, no wonder he or they took his life. This makes me think of another strange incident that happened recently.

We had a nuclear sub fail to report in at the regular interval. This made news very sparingly, and I think they finally were able to reestablish contact with it although I believe it was after about 18hrs of being considered a non contact emergency.

Makes one think about how the premise of a "hunt For red october" could very well happen.

One thing I can guarantee is that if we did "misplace" one or several nuclear missles, it would not be reported to the general public.

1) There is an ongoing investigation and they have not yet determined it was absolutely suicide.

2) Col. Richard Walberg did state, in the press conference, that it was likely a handgun

3) Col Walberg lived across the street. Here is his account of what happened:

"He and his wife went to bed at about 10 p.m. Sunday and the base command post called about 10 to 15 minutes later.

"The individual on the end of the line was fairly agitated and said there was a report of a gunshot at Gen. Tinsley's house and people are screaming."

The colonel bolted out of the house with his wife behind him and met Col. Eli Powell, the 3rd Medical Group commander and an orthopedic surgeon, inside. Powell, who lives next door to Walberg, had also received a call. He started resuscitation efforts on Tinsley as family members watched."

4) I'm less likely to think that the nuke angle may be as much of an issue as the procurement angle, since they just announced they are launching an investigation. I've been trying to find info to see how much the Chief of Staff's office was involved at the time.

I am posting the content of the anonymous post above mine that can't be seen yet:

"1) There is an ongoing investigation and they have not yet determined it was absolutely suicide.

2) Col. Richard Walberg did state, in the press conference, that it was likely a handgun

3) Col Walberg lived across the street. Here is his account of what happened:

"He and his wife went to bed at about 10 p.m. Sunday and the base command post called about 10 to 15 minutes later.

"The individual on the end of the line was fairly agitated and said there was a report of a gunshot at Gen. Tinsley's house and people are screaming."

The colonel bolted out of the house with his wife behind him and met Col. Eli Powell, the 3rd Medical Group commander and an orthopedic surgeon, inside. Powell, who lives next door to Walberg, had also received a call. He started resuscitation efforts on Tinsley as family members watched."

4) I'm less likely to think that the nuke angle may be as much of an issue as the procurement angle, since they just announced they are launching an investigation. I've been trying to find info to see how much the Chief of Staff's office was involved at the time."

Thanks and please keep us posted.

This has certainly shaken up the local community here.

It is also interesting to note that this week our Senator Ted Stevens was indicted on 7 counts of corruption -- and faces jail time. He is the longest-serving Republican in the Senate. Very powerful, very big news.

Two nation-making news stories from a state that rarely receives such press.

I think the Sen. Stevens issue is designed to distract people away from the General's suicide ...

reply to post by MystikMushroom


Yeah, I'm kind of surprised it isn't getting more play on ATS, what with the missing nukes connection. I know we also have other members from Alaska as well as yourself.

THis is very similar to the "Suicide" of a former CNO around either 1996 or 1998, he suppoidly killed himself over two V medals same death self inflicted shot to the chest, even though 99.999% of male suicides by gun are to the head.