I have long said that of all my personal possessions I am most proud of my Honorable Discharge from the United States Air Force. No, I didn't go to the 'Nam; I enforced military law and provided physical security at Howard/Albrook in the Panama Canal Zone and on Andrews AFB in Maryland (although at the time Air Force One had its own Security Police squadron, the 89th MAC Security Police. General base security and law enforcement was provided by the 1002md Security Police, commanded by Chief of Security Police Major "Bullwinkle" Sullivan. That was my outfit.)
Things have changed, and a bit too much for my liking.
The first time I saw the new USAF logo was about a dozen years ago when I saw it painted on the water tank at Andrews AFB (Now "joint base Andrews", and I have plenty to say about this new "joint base" crapola; but not in this post). The new logo is a modification of the "star and bars" markings on the wings and fuselage of USAF aircraft, with the "bars" twisted up to suggest "wings".
That was bad enough, but yesterday I got my first close-up personal look at the new USAF "Class-A" uniform (for those of you unfamiliar with military terminology, "Class A" means one step below "formal" black-bow-tie. It's the uniform that General Staff officers have their official portraits taken in.) Horror of freaking horrors, that "winged star" logo has REPLACED THE NATIONAL EAGLE as the CAP DEVICE! (The "cap device" is that emblem on the front of the hat, for all you draft-dodgers out there).
That, combined with the new tailoring of the "class A" uniform, makes our USAF warrriors look like pilots of Air Italia. Cheese and rice.
Back in my day, enlisted people wore a cap device consisting of the National Eagle surrounded by a circle; while officers wore a larger eagle by itself. These symbols denoted a martial quality very effectively. This new logo denotes "fruitcake".
And let's just have a word about the new designation for the USAF's law enforcement entity: "Security Forces". Gah. And the motto: "Defensor Fortis" (defender of the forces)? Cripes. LAME-O.
The first designation for this entity was "Air Police". This was changed to "Security Police" to reflect the fact that we provided both law enforcement and flight-line security to the USAF. Now, for some reason, military police personnel in USAF find themselves called "Security Forces" (although the badge and the vehicles still say "POLICE" very plainly).
And by the way, why in hell is it that EVERYBODY in USAF is running around in camo fatigues as if they were all going to be deployed halfway around the world in about ten minutes? They tell me that it is to "display readiness" for combat "at a moment's notice". Well, fine. So why is it that the Security Poli... oops, Security Forces who see Obama off on Air Force One are dressed like the staff of Pasta Fazool Airlines?
Well?
Posts
2 comments:
They haven't changed the cap device to the new winged emblem. The only Airmen that might be wearing that on their caps are the honor guard. Is that maybe what you observed?
Congrats, Anonymous;this is exactly the kind of comment I allow here. And yes, that would be the Honor Guard I observed. Thank heavens there isn't some general wearing that thing on his hat.
The design however looks absolutely ridiculous, and they ought to do something like standard cap devices plated in gold for the honor guard. Like In said, with that goofy thing they look like they fly for Pasta Fazool Airlines. Thanks for reading the Alexandria Daily Poop!
Post a Comment