Two members of the Blue Angels, the Navy’s Flight Demonstration Squadron, have been “removed” from the team due to an alleged inappropriate relationship.
The two members of the squadron — one of them an aviator — were pulled from the unit by commanding officer and flight leader Capt. Kevin Mannix on Sunday, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity since he was discussing a personnel matter. The names of the people involved were not released.
For the remainder of the season, the team will be flying five jets during its shows rather than the standard six, the official added.
According to the Blue Angels’ Web site, the team does not maintain a “spare” pilot who could fill in when another member can’t fly.
Uh, OK. For many people, sex is one of the most important activities in their life.
For some nutballs, sex is one of the most important activities in everyone else’s life.
He’s not a rocket man anymore.
“For the remainder of the season, the team will be flying five jets during its shows rather than the standard six, the official added.
According to the Blue Angels’ Web site, the team does not maintain a “spare” pilot who could fill in when another member can’t fly.”
What, is the Navy that short on fighter pilots? Can’t we borrow a few from the Air Force?
# 2 OvenMaster
“Can’t we borrow a few from the Air Force?”
LOL That was pretty funny. Everyone knows the Navy has the best pilots.
“Uh, OK. For many people, sex is one of the most important activities in their life.
For some nutballs, sex is one of the most important activities in everyone else’s life.”
True in general, but you are forgetting what these people do for living and how risky it is. If people died because someone overlooked something minor because they were dealing with their love interest – who’d you blame? That kind of thing always happens in relationships, by instinct. Blue Angels are simply not the profession where the leaders can allow “small mistakes”.
“behavior unbecoming an officer”
in the military, this is an actual chargeable offense.
i truly hate to admit it, but i’m with pedro on this
What ever inappropriate means…
# 5 dusan maletic
“True in general, but you are forgetting what these people do for living and how risky it is. If people died because someone overlooked something minor because they were dealing with their love interest – who’d you blame?”
Pardon, are you crazy?
So people with dangerous jobs ought to have no love life?
Great idea, let them make their jobs with balls swollen to the size of melons and constantly bad attitude. Because love and sex are so distructive.
I’m sure what this is all about is some inappropriate relationship on the work place thing.
Those who think this is inappropriate need to recognize that love relationships at work are extremely common and likely. And they might become a problem but most people can deal with them professionally.
#6, grog,
I agree. If I ever agreed with peedrool I would hate to admit it too.
So our military personnel can’t be trusted because they might want to have sex with a partner? Jesus Christ on a pogo stick, I would much rather have a pilot that got laid flying a $100 million plane than one that is daydreaming about wishing he could get laid.
Wonder is Tom Cruise is still free…hmmmmm…or his fellow Travolta, he’s a pilot too…Clint?
When you join the US Military you are under a different legal code. The Uniform Code of Military Justice, (UCMJ) other wise known as ‘rocks and shoals’. It is much more strict that the civilian legal code.
So this isn’t a case of ‘Gotcha’ Justice. The same penalty can be given for Adultry, and has been. (Remember the female B-52 pilot a few years back?)
#2
Um no. The Blue Angels are an elite squadron of pilots that have been specially trained in acrobatic maneuvers. They will of course find another pilot but it will require extensive training before that pilot is ready to perform with the rest of the squadron.
#8,#9
The military has absolutely no problem with personnel having sex as long as it is not with other members of your own team or with personnel over which you have command. If a pilot wants to have sex before they fly, then they should do it with civilians.
I don’t see where this merits any comment at all until some details are presented.
# 12
Right. I was not aware that this was a military thing.
Sure, they need to restrict this to stabilize the chain of command. No idea how restrictive they are, but they have in fact rules for this.
Looks like some of you have sex problems similar to the Brass.
This is too strange for me to comment on it.
America, what time do you live in?
pj
#18, Bryan,
Look up the terms “Fraternization” and “Conduct Unbecoming” as they relate to the UCMJ.
Maybe that is the problem. Antiquated ideas and codes. So tell us, what makes an officer so much better than an enlisted man that they can’t fraternize? Why do officers need a separate “club”?
“Antiquated ideas and codes. So tell us, what makes an officer so much better than an enlisted man that they can’t fraternize?”
#19 you need to wake up. The military is not a corporation, it is a place where men and women go to kill or be killed. The Officers, for better or worse, make decisions that keeps them alive or gets them dead. It is not a question of being ‘better’. There has to be a separation between the two groups.
Let me guess, your days in the military are 0 and you learned all you needed to know about the military was from Top Gun and Iron Eagle.
Maybe you can guess what movie this is from, it is appropriate here-
“My existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don’t want the truth because, deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said “thank you” and went on your way. Otherwise I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand at post. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to.” – Col Nathan Jessup
Heh, heh, heh. He said, “members yanked”.
Fraternization is an antiquated offense? So should we just let commanders start sleeping with their admin clerks in the S-1 now? Why should outdated rules get in the way of love after all? We’ll just overlook when he keeps his girlfriend from going on those dangerous convoys so she doesn’t get hurt. Special trust and confidence, ha!
As it is, we don’t know anything about what this guy did. All we can do is speculate that it is either fraternization or adultery. Both of which are serious offenses that are detrimental to good order and discipline. But, we don’t know what we don’t know, and it could be something else entirely.
#22 Fellow Lawyer – exactly
Nice to see ‘tards chime in with their opinion of how the military should be run…..
Quoting movies.
From “The Sand Pebbles”
Captain addresses crew on Flag Day in China.
At home in America, when today reaches them, it’ll be Flag Day. For us who wear the uniform, every day is Flag Day.
It is said there will be no more wars. We must pretend to believe that. But when war comes, it is we who will take the first shock, and buy time with our lives. It is we who keep the faith. We serve the flag.
The trade we all follow is the give-and-take of death.
It is for that purpose that the people of America maintain us.
Any one of us who believes he has a job like any other, for which he draws a money wage, is a thief of the food he eats, and a trespasser in the bunk in which he lies down to sleep.
Movie takes place in 1926 after the “war to end all wars.”
The one thing that has changed is that it is not always the military that will take the first shock.
The fly boy nicknames were “pitcher” and “catcher.”
1. Rules of fraternization do NOT only apply to officers.
2. The goal isn’t to keep military members from having sex. The goal is to keep military members from having sex with people whom they command, or are under the command of. It’s not prudishness, or political correctness. The same rules apply in many corporations; it applies in 100% of corporations which take proactive steps to prevent sexual harassment suits. In case you haven’t noticed, most love affairs do not end well.
3. Blue Angels aren’t selected for their flying skills. They don’t actually do anything in the air that any other navy fighter pilot couldn’t do. They DO get a lot of stick time, so they may be more proficient than average. They’re mainly selected for being straight-up role models because their primary duty is as recruiters, not pilots. (“When he takes a shit, his spine forms a perfectly straight line pointing toward the center of the earth.”, or as we called ’em in NROTC, “straps”.)
4. The UCMJ isn’t something that they “forgot” about. It’s very much on the mind of every serviceperson just about every day. They knew they could get in trouble for what they were doing and they were arrogant enough to think they could get away with it. It might actually not be that big a deal for a run of the mill line officer, but since the morality of these guys IS under scrutiny, his (their) career(s) are essentially over.
I love this; for once I am “in the know” on something.
I happen to sit a few desks over from a former Blue Angle. He is still in very good contact with the old members and he has a pretty good grasp on what happened. We have all decided not to pass judgment on the situation knowing what we know, which is a hell of a lot more than any of you.
I find it amusing that everyone is ready to weigh in on the matter without knowing the details and then speaking as experts on something that you obviously know little about. We in the military don’t run around telling all of you how to run your show.
Sit around and pass judgment if you will (and I know you will) but we do live by a different code, get over it.
#11- You are quite right, adultery is a punishable offense.
#12- The Blue Angels #7 Pilot is the “bitch” pilot who will eventually fill this roll. They start out as the “do it all” man and learn the show over a period of a year or more. The Blues will go out west for the first quarter of 09 and move up #7 to the #6 jet and add a new #7 to the squad.
#17- Love this country or leave it.
#19- What type of codes should we be using, the same type of ethics codes employed by those on Wall-street, Enron, Fannie Mae? It worked so well for them….
They asked. I told.
Wow, the ignorance of the military on this board is just scary (a sad fact is that these same idiots will be in charge of the military in January).
The pilot in question had a relationship with someone in his direct chain of command. That is a big deal in the military in general and for good reason.
In this case, their may have been no lives in danger because of it, but these are the Blue Angles, like the Air Force Thunderbirds, these are the elite of the elite in pilots, the public face of their respective branches, and are they are suppose to be the shining example of an officer in the US Navy, and US Air Force.
Like I said their are good reasons why fraternization is not allowed. The Military is the only job in the world where you can order a person to do something where you know for sure it will cost them their life. If a jet needs to go up in order to complete the mission, an officer can order those under him or her, to go out and launch that jet even if their are mortars falling all around it.
This is even more so the case where it comes to the relationship between the enlisted personnel and the officers. Their is definitely a wall between the two ranks, since you do not want the officers developing personal feelings for those that they will be leading, perhaps to their death. The enlisted need to look up to the officer, the leader, as just that. Not a buddy, or pal, but professional trust. This is why the officers have their own club, and the enlisted have their own clubs as well (i.e. the NCO club, and Airman’s club)
If you have never served in the military I know it may be hard for you to understand this, but if they allowed this behavior to stand it would undermine discipline throughout the Navy.
This isn’t about sex, folks, it’s about military discipline. If the pilot was a superior officer knocking boots with a non-commissioned officer, it’s a violation. Plain and simple.
It’s about chain of command. It’s about conduct unbecoming an officer.
#30 Bob – “but if they allowed this behavior to stand it would undermine discipline throughout the Navy.”
That is the aim of many who rail against military codes of the ethics, etc. They hate the military and want it to be gone.
Paddy-O,
Yep, they rage against the wind and shake their fist.