Keeping it classy (Updated)
We posted a photo on our Facebook page yesterday of a young woman in an Air Force uniform tonguing the figure on a POW/MIA flag. It was pretty disgusting and I didn’t feel like putting the image on the blog. But, by the end of the day, the Air Force released a statement about the photo, according to Stars & Stripes. You can click over and see the picture, but I don’t believe it belongs here;
“I want to make it clear that this is not a reflection of Airmen who wear this uniform; it is a case of poor judgment of one Airman … to say we are disappointed would be an understatement. We are gathering all the details and will take appropriate action at the appropriate level. Our Airmen fully understand the significance of the POW/MIA flag and the sacrifice of the men and women it honors,” Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James Cody said in a statement.
The woman in the picture has been identified as Staff Sgt. Cherish Byers, currently with the 92nd Security Forces Squadron at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington State. She has been promoted since the picture was taken and it went viral over the last 48 hours, so that may change.
I guess folks still haven’t learned to not take pictures of their bad behavior despite evidence of reasons they shouldn’t in the past decade or so.
ADDED: Obviously, she still doesn’t understand that what she did was wrong and why it was wrong;
Category: Shitbags
Here’s a news item related indirectly to what ‘cherish’ the brachik did, which gives substance to my guess that she’ll be shown the door.
http://news.msn.com/us/misconduct-forces-more-soldiers-out
Basically, when you embarrass your employer, you are more than likely going to lose your job, as Lindsey Stone found out the hard way. Her public behavior, recorded and then published on the internet BY HER, cost her and her two friends (enablers) their jobs because it cast a sordid, sleazy air on the establishment where they worked.
This bratchik ‘cherish’ has the same behavior pattern – I can do what I want, and ain’t nobody can tell me I cain’t – and I’m not actually sure it comes from bad parenting. I think it has more to do with children in adult bodies than anything else. If not, then tell me why it takes until these children are nearly 30 before they grow the hell up?
Yep – she’s right. I never made Airman of the Month. We didn’t have that in the Army. And as far as the impact of old photos being leaked, although not as spectacular as the Abu Ghraib photo “leaks”, her outstanding pic still embarrasses all of the men and women in uniform and can be used for years as a disgraceful example of stupidity. One of the things that used to set us apart from our enemies was the maturity of our young troops and the bad guys knew it. Her excuse is a typical example of a “Me” generation type of person who has no business being in the military. She sullies the hard work and attitudes of the rest of the young folks who work so hard to make a difference in today’s military.
Someone needs to come up with some parody lyrics for “Cherish” by The Association. I’ve been trying but I’m not coming up with anything decent. There are some talented folks around here who could do it justice, I’m sure.
Cherish is the word for the dumbass I’ll describe,
All the feelings that I get when I see her lick that sign,
I don’t know how many times I wish that I could slap you,
I don’t know how many times I wish that I could stomp you.
Cherish is the word that I use to descriiiibe,
An ass hole with her tongue on a dirty billboard sign,
Wish you’d gotta a really bad tongue cut on the sign
Wish you’d caught the scorching clap justa’ lickin’ that sign,
Cherish is the word I use…..to descriiiiiibe.
An AAAAASSSSSS HHHHOOOOOLLLLLEEEE. (slowly)
Sorry folks best I could do on short notice. 😀
@40 MrC2Show:
Thanks. I was wondering if her statement about that photo being “3 years old” was suspect.
Don’t think that the Air Force can do anything about disciplinary action. But they sure as hell can kick her ass to the curb when her enlistment ends, and I hope that when they do, they give her an RE code that ensures she can never again serve in the armed forces.
@40 MrC2Show Question. Does the Air Force still call them SPs, Security Police? That’s what they were called when I was in. I wondered if they had come up with a more “high speed” handle because the Sps I knew didn’t like it. They thought is sounded like “Shore Patrol” and most wanted to be called MPs like the Army. Thanks
we are called SF (Security Forces) now…
Race card in 3…2….1….
Marine_7002: dunno about that. Article 134 can be used to punish any act that is “prejudicial to good order and discipline” or which us “of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces”. A good military prosecutor might be able to make it stick if it went to court-martial based on a violation of the latter clause.
Wow. I expect none of the regulars here ever did anything foolish, ill-advised, or just plain stupid during their time in service? Must be nice to be so perfect.
Maybe she’s dismissive because she’s getting slagged about something that happened 3 years ago?
Yes, it was stupid, crass, and even idiotic. If we kicked out everyone who had done something like that while serving we would have damn few people left.
After that all the jumping to conclusions about here without any actual data is just sad.
With the Air Force in the midst of their Hunger Games right now about retention, I would not be surprised if she is out by the end of the year.
@59 Well Casey…we do in fact have the ACTUAL DATA! The photo speaks for itself. Three years ago? What is the time limit on bad conduct? She chose to do this…in your words, stupid, crass and idiotic deed and seemed quite proud of herself. She chose to have it photographed. Is she so dumb she does not know the speed of the internet?
As to bad, foolish behaviors. No one here would say they never committed a foolish deed or made a bad choice. But they were not dumb enough to be so proud of their stupidity that saw fit to photograph it just for shits and giggles. I have made my mistakes and foolish choices. Some I was caught for and stood tall before the man. I took my lumps and learned my lessons. She on the other hand apparently learned nothing. She made no apology at all. In fact she only offered lame excuses for herself and her actions.
So, if you are going to be a sock puppet for her then take this message back to her. She will find NO SYMPATHY HERE for what she did and certainly none from me. In fact I only offer her my disdain.
60: Retired AF NCO, I think they are already at their numbers for RIF.
@40 – Sparks – I think SFS has about 4-5 CDC volumes (thin books), could be wrong. But wasnt much to grasp at all. Especially at Fairchild I imagine that has been her first and only base.
If she was at a nuke base, I would cut her slack on promotion or job appraisal. We had alot of fuck ups at Volkel. Thats where I ran into 3 guys who all had crazy line numbers for promotion.
In the post above I wrote about one guy getting Staff at HYT and another at 9th year. One dude had line number 3 and the other one had line number 6.
Her facebook statement is probably a lie about 3 years ago. She was a no striper years 3 ago. She probably made Staff off her first or second try. I am about to go look in AF global to see whats up with this chick.
@56 Sparks – my apologies, not they are called Security Forces now. Their office symbol is SFS. Byers works for 92 SFS/S30C which is base patrol I believe. I think they have like 3-4 flights, maybe more. You know the Air Force has been trying to become a bit too PC. Like the dining hall is now called the D-FAC. Don’t call air reserves weekend warriors. Now call them Citizen airman.
Just to see how much or how many SFS people are in the AF, 2 years ago, nearly 3000 SFS tested for Staff Sgt, thats crazy compared to other career fields. Why their cutoff scores for SSgt is low.
@59: Wow; did you just use the old “those that have not sinned, let them cast the first stone”?? Weak sauce. She wasn’t that young when she did that. She was an E-4 and I can tell you that when I was an E-4, I didn’t do something so disrespectful and then have my picture taken doing it. That shows that she doesn’t have the judgement that someone who is a NCO should have. I wasn’t even that disrespectful as an E-2. Maybe you would think different if it was something that was important to you? Otherwise, fuck off.
@63 and @64 TheC2Show. Thank you. That helps and yes things sure have changed since I was in. We were beginning to head into all the PC as I was getting out. Sounds like it has only gotten worse. Nothing kills productivity more than lame, useless programs and lectures, meant for the few well known, problem people but which ALL have to suffer through. Because they didn’t want to single out individuals for bad behavior. I am sure that due to Cherish Byers’ stupidity there will now be mandatory Power Point classes for all to attend on how to act in public and in uniform regarding proper respect to honored signs, symbols and flags.
@66 Sparks – Yep, basic training got a lot softer…way softer. People are overly sensitive and Air Force is finding ways to waste money and time on pointless things.
You hit it right on the head. I still work as Civilian/reservist(few more months before they kick me for medical) and pretty sure they will be making powerpoint slides (AKA CBTs now) about how to respect honored symbols, flags, etc.
I bet her Byers punishment is going to be “presentation on MIA/POW flag and patch – Explain the history” as her punishment.
Yeah, Casey, since I was in the Navy before you were even a twinkle in someone’s eye, I can tell you that I saw Marines and sailors doing absolutely stupid, idiotic things that got them put on report, but never once did I see ANY of them show the kind of disrespect toward the missing and dead that this brain-dead bratchik shows.
And frankly, this bimbo’s exhibitionist drama queen behavior would have gotten her flabby ass kicked out of the Navy on an ‘unsuitable’ evaluation real quickly.
I guess my generation was simply raised to have some respect for the dead and missing, and yours was raised to be a bunch of self-centered, spoiled, obnoxious, little snots.
Let me know when you learn the meaning of respect.
Man, this broad is special, isn’t she? As former CE in the Air Force, our strong dislike of SF was almost legendary. Apparently, there is a rivalry between Army Engineers and MP’s that I have seen in my brief time as an Engineer officer. That said, rivalry or not, this poor excuse for an Airman makes us all look bad and she’s too stupid to understand that. I dunno, an Article 15 and possibly a bar to re-enlistment seems fair to me. Remember what Ron White said…..”Stupid is forevah!”
The *POINT* young Casey, *IS* that she should *NOT* have *PUBLISHED* that photo to her Facebook Page. Any employer, even private can and will dismis an employee for conduct that could or will bring *ANY* undue attention to their organization and MORE so, if the employee is in “uniform” so to speak.
IF she were working for me and I caught wind of it, bet hers and your ass someone would be front and center, explaining to me why I should *NOT* let them go because they had a *silly little* picture taken of them, doing something stOOpid while wearing my *COMPANY UNIFORM*.
Mustang2LT; I don’t recall too many troops not getting along with MP’s but I do recall experiences with dependapotumases whose spousal unit held a higher rank than me and after them letting me know how high the rank was, said spousal unit had a chance to clarify things to higher command. And I recall best, that happened TWICE. I learned early on, refer them to the Company Commander, CSM OR Provost Marshal. Provost Marshal was always the better for entertainment value though…
@31 and others who question the quality of the people going through AF basic training. Both of my kids were full of stories of ignorant, disrespectful people who didn’t take their oath or their responsibilities seriously. I honestly don’t know why they were there, it certainly wasn’t service before self or patriotic fervor.
Neither of my kids were surprised at this, disgusted yes, and sad that it besmirches their Air Force.
As an aside, it’s not an age thing, it’s a culture thing. My kids are 20 and 22 and there is no way either of them would even think to do something like this.
@59: If she doesn’t like being called on something unprofessional that she did, maybe she should not have allowed herself to be photographed doing it.
I did allot of Dumb shit when I was a Kid, I also did allot of dumb shit when I was a new recruit. I would have never ever done anything like that. I guess it comes with a value system.
The other part is these kids think everything they say or do needs to be tweeted, facebooked, Instagram or whatever is the latest mass communication fad.
So she screwed up with her action then, and her reaction now. In a few months she will be able to say when I used to be in the AF, and that is a shame. I hope she can get her act together and salvage her future.
@74 Enigma….
Part of the blame is the Air Force actually. Each and every day I come to work. I get messages from Comm or PA saying “like us on facebook” or “share some of your base pictures with us and use facebook”
Air Force overly promotes Facebook to the point that there are clowns do things like this. As someone else said, you probably would have figured that she would have cleaned up her FB account instead of being a dumbass NCO.
I wonder if she even supervises someone.
@42 Marine_7002
That stupid bitch you referenced disrespecting the Tomb of the Unknown and the idiot who took the pic both lost their jobs over the incident according to Stars and Stripes.
http://www.stripes.com/news/us/women-in-arlington-gesture-controversy-lose-their-jobs-1.198097
Also note that she was a thirty year old living at home with her parents in Massachusetts at the time. Probably one of those youthful geniuses who kept re-electing Kerry. Now there’s someone who sure respects the military and its traditions, hmmm?
@59–did I do dumb shit? You betcha. Did I get caught? More than once.
But did I do anything DISRESPECTFUL, or anything that would bring shame to my name or my service? Never dreamed of it, scooter.
You may run along now.
@77.
You hit the nail right on the head.
@59, that flag that she is intentionally dishonored is a symbol that represents and pays respect to those of us that were captured in Wartime, imprisoned, tortured,… , as well as those lost Warriors who never came home. To me, what she did is the equivalent of disrespecting the United States Flag as well as the graves of those that that Flag represents, let alone the former POW’s and MIA’s that are still alive today. She also did it in full uniform, and that is an insult to all who have ever served! Actions have consequences, and she needs to be held accountable for what she did, NO ifs, ands, or buts!! It’s not a First Amendment issue, or one of personal expression at all, when one enlists in the US Military, they are held to a higher standard of conduct than those who don’t. SHE VOLUNTEERED to join, and in doing so, she made herself accountable to Military Standards of Conduct!
I wouldn’t even let her make me a sammich.
She was immature and by the sound of her response still does. I am angry that she not only did that but also does not think she did anything wrong. What’s worse is that people are defending her. Uh hello?! She’s insulting every single person who served was a POW or is MIA by doing so. How is that right? I hope she gets in trouble. She does not deserve her rank.
As our old Maintenance chief used to say “Airman, you better get down on your knees every night and thank God I am not your supervisor.” All I can say is its a good thing she didn’t work for me.
@58 Hondo: that would be wunnerful. She needs to get her ass kicked at a court-martial. Would be interesting to hear from one of our resident military attorneys about the chances of that happening.
@76 Poetrooper: I remember that, and I remember all the apologists who flocked to her defense…the usual shit like “oh, she’s young and just made a mistake”, “she didn’t mean any disrespect,” “she should be forgiven”, and so on, ad nauseum.
Some things just can’t be forgiven. Or forgotten.
Marine_7002: JAGC did somewhat in a comment above (he’s a currently-serving JAG). While I agree with him that it’s probably not a slam-dunk, I think the case would be worth pushing if the individual was offered an Article 15 (NJP) and refused it. And I think the case would have a better than even chance of resulting in a conviction.
Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James Cody
And when the attention crosses his desk, the pain inflicted upon you will be 1–severe, 2–long-lasting.
She better have a “come-to-Jesus” moment most ricky-tick.
That worst thing about her actions is that she is unapologetic. She doesn’t feel that she really did anything wrong and that no apology is necessary. I’ve worked with people like her before. As a Tower Chief, I threw one out of the tower, ruining her career (She went crying to the ATC Chief who actually considered putting her back on duty). The second, I just threatened to bodily throw out of the tower. He learned real quick to shut his mouth.
@57 – You were dead on. Race card already played by one of her supporters.
http://thelibertyzone.wordpress.com/2014/02/16/why-should-anyone-forgive-cherish-byers/
Jonn, you need to add the second pic, or start a new thread about this. This is a failure of leadership. From her immediate supervisor, all the way up the chain. Whether it was her home station, or where she was attending Leadership school remains to be seen.
She is a POS!
No arguments there.
When Jonn posts the second pic, can one of you photog experts get a clearer pic of the objects and people in the background? It shows exactly where the pic was taken and the participants. Lots to be said there…
For once, it’s something I understand. When it’s Army and Navy, I take a backseat. This is an Air Force fuck up. That I understand.
Seadog, as you said last night on my blog, it looks like a black male taking the photo in the reflection in the glass. Byers is below, making an asshat of herself, and the white female is licking the glass in the center of the shot. They’re all idiots.
When Stars and Stripes and the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force have your name and not in a good way, the PAIN TRAIN is on it’s way.
She’s most certainly going to lose that strips and maybe her job.
She should be consider for a OTHD or maybe a General discharge and just made a civilian again.
Um, she will not receive very severe punishment as would a say, white male would.
The USAF treats minority women very preferentially, which goes a long way to explaining her accolades.
She is an arrogant, disrespectful joke of a Airman who no longer deserves to wear the uniform.
If this comes out in the mains stream media, the race card will be played at the speed of light.
@88: Where is this second pic you speak of??