Reflecting on AF policy
When I went to my son’s Basic Training graduation at Lackland AFB, I chuckled to myself the whole time I was there. It seems the Air Force had gone completely nuts in regards to preventing accidents involving pedestrians and automobiles. The speed limit on the base was like 2 mph, there were no sidewalks along roadways. Pedestrians carried two flashlights and wore a reflective belt everywhere. The nanny state had gone nuts.
Well, according to the Stars and Stripes, that anal type of over protectiveness has followed them to war.
Airmen concerned about becoming glow-in-the-dark targets are sounding off about those shiny Air Force safety belts that clash with their cammies.
Airmen — and other servicemembers — have taken their gripes and giggles about the belts to the Web by starting a Facebook page titled (what else?): “I hate reflective belts.”
Air Force policy requires the belts to be worn during reduced visibility, such as inclement weather; on a flight line; and when a commander deems necessary, said Paul Carlisle, acting deputy chief of Air Force Ground Safety, via telephone from Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.
They must be worn in traffic environments, whether it is on a street or in a parking lot, he said.
The purpose is to increase airmen’s visibility, Carlisle said.
Yeah, that kind of negates the effect of camouflaged uniforms, doesn’t it?
Here are some of the comments on Facebook;
Chuck Norris was reported to round house kick people in the face who wear diso belts. Mr. T latter “pittyed the fools” for being so gay.
Reflective belts actually wear Chuck Norris to keep them safe at night.
Do pilots have to wear them when they eject?
It automatically deploys with the chute and it has it’s own emergency beacon.
it is the cooooolest when you have to wear them in Iraq. I picture the Taliban just laughing their asses off looking at a bunch of disco belts running around. We look like homos
I don’t know, on a slow news day when no one is sending me links, it just seemed funny.
Category: Military issues
Heh, Farva hates them too. Just a wee bit nuts…
On Ft. Hood we had to wear them when we rode our motorcycles 24/7. I think it may be Army wide now. I have dodged too many flying cars on 0-dark-30 runs to bitch about wearing them with PT gear. Everything in it’s place though.
The Air Force… so easy, a caveman could do it.
I was out at Creech AFB yesterday. No sight of them at all.
I go to Nellis once a week or so, and the only people I see them on are people in PT gear, and the guys on the FL.
If they made everyone put them on it would probably ruin their golf swing or something.
Back in the day when we had fatigues, the reflective stripe was sometimes sewn into the back of your field jacket. When I joined we were issued them for working on the flightline. Never knew anyone to wear them for PT. I’m okay with wearing them on the F/L. Some places are dark and it’s easy to get run over by a vehicle or even a jet if you’re not careful. Once off the line, we were always supposed to take them off. If anyone’s shooting at the F/L, they’re probably aiming for a jet anyway. Guess things have changed since I retired
I also attended my son’s AF graduation this year and thought it rather humorous if not a bit overcautious.
Having spent 23 years in the Navy, 3 tours with the Marine Corps as a corpsman, we considered the AF an alternative military lifestyle.
“We look like homos”
Dear Air Farce pukes,
If the shoe (or assless chaps) fits….
What AF people are so pissed about (I was one till earlier this year) is not the fact that reflective belts are mandated on the flightline or in places where it is actually needed.
The AF leadership, being extremely risk-averse and paranoid about making rank, are often influenced by a particularly odious brand of overzealous REMF (I was a REMF too, but not of this nature)Officers SNCOs commonly known as “Shoeclerks”. They have gone above and beyond enforcing the reflective belt requirement in places where it actually makes sense, and it has gotten to the point where wearing reflective belts is required in the daytime and even in the Chow Halls of some deployed locations. At one undisclosed base in SWA, this is reported to have caused a legal inquiry and a forced modification of the base regs because Marines stationed at that location (not required by their command to wear the belts) were not allowed into Chow Halls.
crap that should read “Officers and SNCOs”