two Afgan nationals missing

[cat tech]

Afghan flight training members missing from Moody AFB
Dave Miller, Christian McKinney
Posted: 12/08/2015 7:22 PM
LOWNDES CO., GA (WALB) – Two Afghan national flight team members, maintainers, or aircraft mechanics, who have been training to fly with the 81st Fighter Squadron at Moody Air Force Base, are missing.
Multiple law enforcement agencies received an alert from Moody Officials. They referred all initial calls to the Air Force Press Desk at the Pentagon. Phone calls to that office have not yet been returned.
Moody Air Force Base later issued a release by email:
Two male Afghan air force students did not report for duty yesterday at their regular maintenance training at Moody AFB in Valdosta, Georgia. Both are assigned to the 81st Fighter Squadron. They have been at Moody since. February 2015 and were screened prior to their arrival in the United States more than a year ago. The students have trained alongside American counterparts for the entirety of 2015 and do not pose any apparent threat. There is a well-coordinated process among federal agencies to locate the individuals as quickly as possible and return them accordingly to the proper authorities to manage their present situation.
The search for those missing comes almost 11 months after a special ceremony was held to officially reactivate the 81st Fighter Squadron out of Columbus Air Force Base in Columbus, Mississippi, charged with training the Afghan airmen. The base began receiving the new airmen in February.
In August of 2014, the Air Force selected Moody as the stateside training location for Afghan A-29 Super Tucano pilots and maintainers.
The Air Force said that Moody would support 20 planes, 17 Air Force instructor pilots, and 24 maintenance and support personnel, to train a total of 30 Afghan pilots and 90 Afghan maintainers over the next four years.
The Air Force said the The 81st Fighter Squadron is a ‘tenant unit’ at Moody AFB, and falls under command of the 14th Operations Group and 14th Flying Training Wing at Columbus AFB, Mississippi.
Lt. Co. Jeffery Hogan assumed command of the fighter squadron in January, and remarked that the Air Force had “never done this mission in this way before, ever.”


wonder where they are?

[Alvarez Kelly]

I've been to Moody AFB. Maybe the gators got them. :-)

[bubba.50]

"no threat but please return to authorities ASAP." they wouldn't lie about the no threat would they? surely not anyone in our government. probably they just went out for a nice after dinner stroll or some other completely harmless venture? no threat huh? R-I-I-G-H-T!

[cat tech]

I've been to Moody AFB. Maybe the gators got them. :-)

Gators, gnats, or skeeters. All are bad in that part of the country

[dkf]

Why do we have Afghan nationals working on our planes and training to fly them, especially over here in the states?

[MUSTANG]

They are being trained in the US on lesser grade aircraft than the US utilizes as part of the Arms transfer that goes on with our new "Allies". Quite common to bring foreign students to US military for training on various aspects of US tactics and weaponry. I would surmise these individuals are supposed to be receiving "Train the Trainers" type training. They would return to their country of origin and train their fellow countrymen as well as act as in country resident "Experts".

One of the assumptions is that we bring these students to the US so they can become aware of the US, it's culture, and our goodwill to mankind. Does it work? Lots brought here over the last few decades from many countries, yet the position and respect the world holds the US in has deteriorated over the decades.

In my attendance of the Marine Amphibious Warfare School with about 250 US Marines, we had about 15 Foreign Students. Same goes for many of the military higher level schools and foreign students.

[Love Life]

They were on the maintenance side, not pilot side.

[Tackleberry41]

I feel all warm and fuzzy since the govt says their not a threat.....oh wait their the same people who only now are figuring out the 2 shooters form San Bernadino were radicalized in 2013.

[C. Latch]

I'm unashamedly pro-immigration but I draw the line way short of having Afghan nationals come here to do any sort of training on military equipment.

As a side note, my stepfather was a T-38 instructor during Vietnam. He swears to this day that his Vietnamese students acted more like NVA than south Vietnamese.

[paul h]

They were on the maintenance side, not pilot side.

No problem, not like people maintaining planes would ever plant a bomb in them...

[Love Life]

True, just putting out the real scoop.

[Hogtamer]

LL, BOLO! Your neck of the woods and there's a brewery nearby they may be drawn to! No description given so here goes....eagle beak, good tan, some facial hair shifty eyed and nervous. check the local titty bars first as they prolly like beeg booosum american weemen.

[dtknowles]

Gators, gnats, or skeeters. All are bad in that part of the country

Maybe they got crosswise with some Crackers? Might never be found!

Tim

[sparky45]

Maybe they contracted the dreaded 3S's.

[Love Life]

LL, BOLO! Your neck of the woods and there's a brewery nearby they may be drawn to! No description given so here goes....eagle beak, good tan, some facial hair shifty eyed and nervous. check the local titty bars first as they prolly like beeg booosum american weemen.


I have their photo's and service passport photo's as well. One of them looks rather young...

[762 shooter]

Here they are.

http://i68.tinypic.com/a0xzdk.jpg

762

[Char-Gar]

They got used to the good life here in the US of A and don't want to go home. They know what that place is like.

[fatnhappy]

We had a couple Afghan officers pinched at Niagara Falls a year or so back. They were trying to "defect" to Canuckistan.
They were shipped back and most likely executed for desertion.

You want to find these 2, check the brothels and goat ranches. They'll turn up.

[leeggen]

I keep telling you guys it is the sheep farms, goats are smarter than to turn their back on them.
CD

[Artful]

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xat1/v/t1.0-9/12341342_10153639462476131_8964252619249669625_n.j pg?oh=2298a06ed54f771f232258afec2794d3&oe=571AD1AC

Appears these may be the missing personnel

[DougGuy]

We are a nation of misfits so there's no need to shame all immigration. You just gotta pick the good ones and let them in while filtering the dirtbags. Steve Jobs, creator and founder of Apple, the son of a Syrian immigrant. Myself born in Canada, adopted and brought to the United States by US military parents. Built and repaired US Navy warships back in my shipyard days. Guess I should have started tinkering with computers back when a 250mb hard drive was the size of a brick and cost $2500.00 maybe I would have struck it rich like Steve did?

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Maybe it was about seeing how a proportion of Americans soil themselves on the internet about their race and religion. Until their visas expire it is a contractual matter, between them and those who employed them and paid for their tickets.

In the days when the British had an Indian Army, Afghans were considered liable to occasional religiously inspired mutiny. In exchange for that you got extraordinarily good soldiers, even for a force of which a few ancient Germans and Japanese have hard memories, and extraordinary loyalty as long as it was on a personal basis. For the latter, see "internet" above, and the thought of how you would like being talked about like that.

I thought they were there so that the Afghans don't look as blatantly set up to take the fall as the ARVIN were.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

We are a nation of misfits so there's no need to shame all immigration. You just gotta pick the good ones and let them in while filtering the dirtbags. Steve Jobs, creator and founder of Apple, the son of a Syrian immigrant. Myself born in Canada, adopted and brought to the United States by US military parents. Built and repaired US Navy warships back in my shipyard days. Guess I should have started tinkering with computers back when a 250mb hard drive was the size of a brick and cost $2500.00 maybe I would have struck it rich like Steve did?

Not to mention the majority of Donald Trump's wives. It was F. Scott Fitzgerald who said that the rich are another country, so it could be argued that they never assimilated.

[ozarkhillbilly49]

mustang i hate to say this but that tucano is not a lesser aircraft. fly it fer 6 months work on it fer a hour.most of our stuff is fly it fer 2 hours work on it for a week. that tucano in the hands of a dedicated close support tactical pilot is a deadly piece of equipment. like many here i can't help but wonder what them boys is up to tho!!

[Artful]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMxHAclYi5Q

[merlin101]

They were on the maintenance side, not pilot side.

" Two Afghan national flight team members, maintainers, or aircraft mechanics, who have been training to fly with the 81st Fighter Squadron at Moody Air Force Base, are missing."

[Love Life]

" Two Afghan national flight team members, maintainers, or aircraft mechanics, who have been training to fly with the 81st Fighter Squadron at Moody Air Force Base, are missing."


They referred all initial calls to the Air Force Press Desk at the Pentagon. Phone calls to that office have not yet been returned.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

mustang i hate to say this but that tucano is not a lesser aircraft. fly it fer 6 months work on it fer a hour.most of our stuff is fly it fer 2 hours work on it for a week. that tucano in the hands of a dedicated close support tactical pilot is a deadly piece of equipment. like many here i can't help but wonder what them boys is up to tho!!

Any ground attack aircraft is a deadly and terrifying weapon if you don't have the means to defend against it. It is a well designed turboprop aircraft, very good indeed from the point of view of maintenance in an adverse environment. It can carry advanced guided weapons - which an eleven-month technical trainee can't make. But the aircraft itself is a trainer derivative, and doesn't offer very great advantages over the WW2 Sturmovik or Typhoon, and these men's knowledge is unlikely to be any more marketable to the enemies of the USA than Lee Harvey Oswald's.

[Hogtamer]

Any word on this?

[ozarkhillbilly49]

hey ballistics. have to agree with you that the tucano is a trainer derivative. there are a lot of nam era ground pounders still kicking today because of the a-26 skyraider. big old ugly radial in the nose making power. any air support beats nothing. to many times we are sending troops out with limited or no air support today. maybe we should should buy some stormovics and typhoons. shoot maybe a tucano or 2. at least our troops mite have a chance of better support. i was taught that the most dangerous weapon in the world is the human mind. and we have 2 men loose with god knows what on there mind. and maybe other training we don't know about. hopefully they have just discovered beer and strip clubs. i would truly love to come to scotland. from the shows i have seen it is beautiful country full of many old and beautiful things. unfortunately health and money issues will probably keep me in these old hills here.all the best there ballistics. hope you have a good Christmas surrounded by family and friends !!!

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Thank you for those kind thoughts. The Tucano has great advantages over the A-26 in serviceability and the weapons it can carry. But if its maintenance contained any secrets harmful to the USA, it would surely be easier to buy them from the many Third World nations which operate it. Or see if Embraer will sell a maintenance manual.

As to the viability of technologically unsophisticated combat aircraft, the example which comes to mind is also from the Second World War. The money spent training a Lancaster bomber crew of seven would have been enough to put them all through a degree at Oxford or Cambridge. Even leaving concern for life out of it, technology which improves the protection of that investment is surely worthwhile.

[ozarkhillbilly49]

ballistics thank you for the kind words. you obviously are a sound conventional military thinker. unfortunately we are dealing with unconventional warfare here. what is a jet airliner full of fuel?? obviously a nice guided incendiary missile. in unconventional warfare it is not the knowledge of a simple and effective tool like the tucano that is the problem. it is the other knowledge and skills these men may have. like i said the most dangerous weapon in the world is the human mind. the ability to look at something for what it really is.like a airliner going into a building. simple but effective. 25 dead for over 2000 enemy casualties. 100 to 1 kill ratio. not bad. san bernadino. 14 dead for 2 casualties.7 to1 kill ratio. it's things like those that set folks on edge. to many people go through life without realizing what some things really are. as for the arvin i got some of their rifles for sale. never fired. only dropped one time. i figure i earned the right to report on what i saw from a lot of arvin troops. not all but a lot. like i said i hope they just dicovered beer and strip clubs. don't think it would be the first time guys from the moslem part of the world training over here found the party life!!again a merry christmas to you and all your family!

[Artful]

Gentlemen, you seem to be mixing two aircraft together...
Douglas A-1E Skyraider
http://www.richard-seaman.com/Wallpaper/Aircraft/Attack/NakedFanny2oClock.jpg

Douglas A-26 Invader
http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1304/4658309846_21b173573f_b.jpg

[deep creek]

I'm unashamedly pro-immigration but I draw the line way short of having Afghan nationals come here to do any sort of training on military equipment.

As a side note, my stepfather was a T-38 instructor during Vietnam. He swears to this day that his Vietnamese students acted more like NVA than south Vietnamese.
you mean they actually wanted to fight???

[ozarkhillbilly49]

them nva boys was tough and smart!!

[sparky45]

Maybe this was their doing: https://westonkablog.wordpress.com/2015/12/14/large-muslim-weapons-bomb-cache-found-in-missouri/

[dtknowles]

Maybe this was their doing: https://westonkablog.wordpress.com/2015/12/14/large-muslim-weapons-bomb-cache-found-in-missouri/

While I find the explosives cache disturbing a lot of conclusion were drawn in the article without substantiation.

Tim

[sparky45]

Exactly why I asked if anyone could verify the article.

[dtknowles]

Exactly why I asked if anyone could verify the article.

Sorry that was not clear. If you are asking a question, try using a question mark.

Tim

[sparky45]

My bad, hope I didn't offend your punctuation sensibilities.:razz:

[dtknowles]

My bad, hope I didn't offend your punctuation sensibilities.:razz:

The question mark would have completely changed my understanding of you post. From a suggestion or answer to an inquiry. Punctuation was created to make communication more effective, if used properly it helps a lot. I get it wrong sometimes too, no big deal. We don't need punctuation in verbal communication because we use pause or tone of voice to do the same thing. You can't just write like you would talk, it does not send the same message.

Tim

[Artful]

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdhwwpYqoC1r1a7kno1_500.jpg

There that should clear this punctuation problem up.

:lol:

[freebullet]

Lol yalls funny