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Showing posts from November, 2018

Smoke doesn't always mean fire - The Epilogue

I didn't expect to write a epilogue at the end of this story; although in fairness I didn't expect many people to read this story outside my circle of friends, both personal and professional. However, I have received a lot of questions either through Reddit threads, comments, replies, or direct messages on the 20 Years Done Facebook page. Even though I have told a chronological account of the SrA Tyler Perkie story , I think it's important to reflect on some of the events and provide a bit more insight into my thoughts or experiences. Let's talk about loyalty first. I'm sure Lt Col Martin and his cronies saw my behavior as disloyal. But to me he didn't really earn my loyalty beyond the cursory loyalty I was required to give by law [i.e. follow lawful orders]. Like many people, I am loyal to my ideals above all else. That isn't to say I'm not a loyal person. I'm just loyal to those that share my values and concepts of right and wrong, justice

Smoke doesn't always mean fire Part VIII

This is the eighth chapter in this story. Make sure you start at the beginning here , as this won't make much sense without context. As we left off, I was bringing what evidence I had gathered to the Luke AFB IG office. Because I was filing a complaint against members of the 54th Fighter Group, a detachment from Luke Air Force Base, I had to coordinate at Luke. So I brought my research into active duty F-16 EORs and my running log of the events up to that point to the IG. It's important to remember that I didn't have the 137 pages of court documents from Lt Col Martin's trial as my FOIA request was still pending release. First let me summarize my complaint. I made a protected communication which is defined by the  Whistleblower Protection Against Reprisal Under Title 10, United States Code, Section 1034 (10 USC 1034)  outlined in AFI 90-301   as communication to:  '6.3.2.1. Member of Congress or a member of their staff.  6.3.2.2. An inspector general o

Smoke doesn't always mean fire Part VII

Spoiler: This won't be the final installment, there will be [at least] a part 8. This story begins here , it's important to start at the beginning. When I transferred the recording to the court, I knew I was not only destroying my career but I was also willfully making my remaining 18 months a living hell. It didn't necessarily have to be that way, I just knew the climate in the 54th Fighter Group and I knew what to expect. Although no one could talk about it with me, everyone knew I had recorded Lt Col Martin. Essentially I was no longer included in important conversations. When I would be asked to go to the squadron to talk about our production planning or vision, Chief Fraley would stipulate that I leave my cell phone at my office. I asked other Lead Pro Supers if they had the same requirement and they said Chief Fraley didn't mention it to them at all. The new squadron commander Maj Beebe had a standing policy that no cell phones were allowed in his of

Smoke doesn't always mean fire Part VI

A photo that is completely unrelated to the outcome of this article If you've been following this story you have probably been waiting for this episode for awhile. May 20th came and I was no where near that circus. However, I did request all the court documents, which to me is almost better! For your benefit I have un-redacted [dacted?] these documents the best I could. I'm confident in the names I've implanted either by context or duty title, however some I couldn't figure out so I left them redacted. I apologize this article has taken so long to write, there was a lot of court documents and analysis [as you'll see]. I also detoured to address SECDEF's 80% fighter MC rate mandate . At the bottom of the article I will be providing the full court transcript, however my commentary will be restricted to the parts that are germane to the story. Although I have included page numbers in my comments if you wish to find the captured text in the documents. Bo