# Airman throws frog in F-16 engine



## Aggie08 (Mar 5, 2007)

F-16.net :: Airman sentenced for throwing frog in F-16 engine

March 3, 2007 (by Erik Slavin) - A staff sergeant who watched as one airman attempted and another threw a small frog into a running F-16 jet engine received three months in jail and a bad conduct discharge in a Kunsan Air Base courtroom Friday night.

Staff Sgt. Aaron F. Wilson, of the 35th Aircraft Maintenance Unit, also received a reduction in rank to E-1 on three specifications of dereliction of duty.

Military Judge Lt. Col. Eric Dillow sentenced Wilson to four months in jail, but the sentence was reduced due to a pretrial plea agreement.

The incident was filmed using Wilson's camera and posted on his public myspace.com Web site, where it remained for nine days.

The grainy video displayed the 8th Fighter Wing's "Wolf Pack" tail markings.

Kunsan's fleet of 41 jets was grounded so every engine could be checked for potential problems following the frog toss, said wing vice commander Col. Preston Thompson, a former F-16 pilot instructor who testified Friday.

Thompson "got calls from all over the Air Force (asking) "What's wrong with the Wolf Pack?'" following the grounding, he said.

More than 400 maintainers worked over the weekend to check the engines and dispel the possibility that other engines were similarly mistreated, Thompson said.

"I cannot fathom someone intentionally putting something down the intake of an aircraft," Thompson added.

The single-engine F-16 was being checked on June 26, 2006, inside a "hush house," where maintenance work is performed when noisy engines are cranked up at high capacity.

One of the first things maintenance airmen are taught is not to bring any foreign objects into the hush house, including cameras or debris, several non-commissioned officers testified. 

During testimony, prosecutor Maj. Jennifer Kramme showed Master Sgt. William Beasley II a foreign object no bigger than a pebble and asked if one of them was dangerous.

"To smaller (engine) blades, this could be catastrophic," Beasley replied.

Defense attorney Jonathan Wasden countered during closing arguments that according to General Electric, the F-16 engine could withstand a hit from a four-pound bird moving at 750 feet per second.

However, others testified that the smallest objects could cause cracks and other problems that could grow over time.

Last month, Sr. Airman Welland Wilkerson was sentenced to 30 days in jail and reduction in rank to E-1 for throwing the frog at the engine, although he missed. Wilkerson's sentence was commuted to reduction in rank to E-2 by the wing commander, legal officials said.

A trial date has not yet been set for Staff Sgt. Herman Elizee, who ultimately tossed the frog in the engine.


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## evangilder (Mar 5, 2007)

What a knucklehead.


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## Jared (Mar 5, 2007)

Stupid...


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## Bullockracing (Mar 5, 2007)

Wow, I'm so proud...


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## lesofprimus (Mar 5, 2007)

Story doesnt say WHY the morons did something like this...


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## Wildcat (Mar 5, 2007)

What the hell were they thinking? Theses blokes Should have known better.


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## FLYBOYJ (Mar 5, 2007)

If I was the maintenance officer I just would of had him shot!


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## evangilder (Mar 5, 2007)

I image that's what the pilot would want, Joe!


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Mar 5, 2007)

They did it to make a video and post it on myspace. Red the artical in the Stars and Stripes a few days ago. Some heads are going to role.

I hate idiots like this. It is the gusy that dont do the flying that do the stupid ****. Whenever there were non flying personel around my aircraft I was allways in the area watching.


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## Gnomey (Mar 5, 2007)

Retards.


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## R-2800 (Mar 5, 2007)

what a way to get discharged......idiots


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## trackend (Mar 5, 2007)

No Comment


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## Matt308 (Mar 5, 2007)

The Airforce should put it in their safety training curriculum to reinforce how all actions have consequences.

"HOW TO RUIN YOUR CAREER AND GO TO JAIL IN ONE SIMPLE ACT"


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## mkloby (Mar 11, 2007)

A bad conduct discharge stays on your record and carries the equivalent of a federal felony conviction. Obviously people don't realize that you can kill people by doing such stupid crap.

I know a former Marine pilot that crashed an F-4. He was a FCF pilot, and the maintenance officer had falsified records... he didn't go into great detail but said, "At least it only hurts really bad when you first hit."

The maintenance officer and chief were canned. I hope they received courts martial.


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## Matt308 (Mar 12, 2007)

...and it follows them into the civil world.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Mar 12, 2007)

We had a guy that falsified maintenace records. Got his ass fried. I would have thrown him in jail with the dishonorable that he got.


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## Thorlifter (Mar 12, 2007)

I don't really understand how the whole 20 year pension military thing works, but unless that Staff Sgt had his 20 years, why reduce him in rank to a E-1 first, then boot him out? I'm thinking if he could draw a pension, that would GREATLY reduce the amount he could get. Right?


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Mar 12, 2007)

You reduce them in rank to E-1 first and normally forfiet of all pay and allowances if they are in jail. If he recieves a dishonorable discharge he will not recieve a pention even if he has 20 years. You have retire under honorable conditions to recieve retirement pension. Even if you let him retire you make him retire as a E-1 and then he does not recieve that much money.


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## mkloby (Mar 12, 2007)

Thorlifter said:


> I don't really understand how the whole 20 year pension military thing works, but unless that Staff Sgt had his 20 years, why reduce him in rank to a E-1 first, then boot him out? I'm thinking if he could draw a pension, that would GREATLY reduce the amount he could get. Right?



Adler's right. You can retire at 20 years. The way it works is after 20 years you retire with 50% of your base pay (averaged from your last 3 years base pay). For every year after that, you accrue an additional 2.5%, capping out at 75% for 30 years.

Anyway, getting reduced in rank not only hits your pocketbook, but going from a Staff NCO to an E-1 is a tremendous slap in the face. Any sense of pride that you had in your career is likely gone, just like your career! It all depends upon the nature of the offense.


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## Matt308 (Mar 13, 2007)

...all over a silly prank. I've seen people throw away careers from watching computer porn. But endangering live(s) takes the cake.


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## comiso90 (Mar 13, 2007)

I know a guy in base supply at a Mississippi AFB who received a call from a Texas AFB inquiring about a specific aircraft part. With his feet up on the desk he put the phone down for 5 minutes and answered "yeah, we got that." without checking the stock. They dispatched a C-130 from Tex to Miss. just to pick up the part.

Yep ... no part.

He lost 2 stripes got a LOR and was presented with a bill for $30,000.

I later heard he got a lawyer and didnt have to pay the $30,000.


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## Matt308 (Mar 13, 2007)

That doesn't suprise me. We had a wiseguy use his credentials to get into a 121 (Carrier Operator) cockpit. The pilot said no go. He made a stink, delayed the flight. He spent a couple of days at the beach.


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## Joe2 (May 3, 2007)

That poor poor little frog...


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## Lucky13 (May 3, 2007)

Must be thousands of other and better ways to make a video about the air force to put on the MySpace.....
I guess that he's not the most popular person among the other maintaners nowadays....
Idiot!


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (May 3, 2007)

He is certainly not a maintainer anymore. I know we would have stuck him in the tool room, or made him the 1SG or COs bitch.


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## FLYBOYJ (May 3, 2007)

Not me....


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (May 3, 2007)

Hey Careful FBJ you are only going to fuel the forigners who judge US gun control laws with that pic!


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## FLYBOYJ (May 4, 2007)

DerAdlerIstGelandet said:


> Hey Careful FBJ you are only going to fuel the forigners who judge US gun control laws with that pic!


You have a point....

They are in uniform though - I wonder if that makes a difference?


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## mkloby (May 4, 2007)

FLYBOYJ said:


> You have a point....
> 
> They are in uniform though - I wonder if that makes a difference?



Now it's police state brutality! Stupid! You can't win!


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## Soundbreaker Welch? (May 7, 2007)

Sounds like a pretty dumb thing. I would think three months in jail would be too short for the Military.


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## bigZ (May 7, 2007)

The RSPCA would come down *HARD* on him for that over here.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (May 8, 2007)

And believe me they are going to come down on him hard in the States too...


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