Posted on 02/22/2012 5:33:57 AM PST by jaydubya2
The world of military aviation is an environment intolerant of screw-ups. You might think the career of a US Navy junior lieutenant who intentionally shot a live missile at an Air Force F-4 during a training exercise, nearly killing two airmen, would have been over. Instead, the Obama administration has nominated him for promotion to Admiral.
The Washington Times reports that among the list of nominees submitted to the Senate by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta (pictured) is navy Reserve Captain Timothy W. Dorsey who, on September 22, 1987, was taking part in a non-fire flight exercise over the Mediterranean in an F-14. He was reportedly given a command to simulate a missile firing, but instead armed a real Sidewinder missile without telling his back-seat radar intercept officer, and shot down another Air Force plane. Its two pilots ejected moments before the RF-4C exploded.
The 1988 investigative report was scathing. The Associated Press got a copy through the Freedom of Information Act. It reads, in part, "The destruction of USAF RF-4C was not the result of an accident, but the consequence of a deliberate act. His subsequent reaction demonstrated an absolute disregard of the known facts and circumstances.
“He failed to utilize the decision-making process taught in replacement training and reacted in a purely mechanical manner. The performance of Lieutenant Timothy W. Dorsey raises substantial doubt as to his capacity for good, sound judgment."
Vice Admiral Kendall Moranville, who had headed the 6th Fleet, added, "We necessarily rely on the self-discipline and judgment of pilots to prevent such incidents...Nothing, in my opinion, can mitigate Lieutenant Dorsey’s basic error in judgment."
Retired F-14 pilot Jon Ault tells the Times, "I would never have guessed he’d ever make it to commander, much less admiral...I thought his career was over back when the shoot-down happened. He refused to accept any blame...I mean, the guy did it on purpose."
In the nearly 25 years since the missile incident, Dorsey has built a resume which includes becoming a reserve intelligence officer, then inspector general. He's also earned a law degree from the University of Richmond. But how did his career survive that 1987 incident, and the harsh reviews which followed?
It's probably just coincidence, but at the time of the incident, Dorsey's father, James Dorsey, was commander of the aircraft carrier USS America. A year later, he became assistant deputy chief of naval operations at the Pentagon and later became a three-star vice admiral.
Captain Dorsey currently serves as inspector general for Navy Reserve Detachment 106 in Norfolk, VA. He declined to discuss the 1987 incident with the Times, saying he's about to take a Navy Reserve intelligence post, and a high profile in the press would be inappropriate.
“John McCain destroyed three planes during his brief flying career.”
Ace earned his nickel on his final flight in 1968....
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_11_16/ai_61361646/
That is EXACTLY the type of military commanders dictators, or in this case wanna be dictators" want. They do not want critical thinkers, because they tend to come to the conclusion that dictators are bad, and need to be overthrown, or they decide that firing on their own people, on behalf of said dictator, or in this case said wanna be dictator, would not be a good thing to do when ordered to.
It would appear that - given the cretin-like ship naming decisions, coupled with the Supt of Anapolis saying that diversity is the most important thing - to this latest incident - that the Navy is now the official “politically correct” service. (Not to say that the AF and Army are not far behind.)
As such, it’s time for my beloved Marines to declare independence from the girly girls currently pretending to be leaders and declare their independence.
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I remember this now. Navy pilot who shot down an Air Force recon aircraft. This dip$h!t should have been cashiered and given brig time back then.
The answer to your question is that he had military sponsors and political sponsors who made sure he continued his military career as a reservist until such time as he could be moved up the ranks and the record buried in the dust. You can add to that the fact that his father is a retired admiral who was still on active duty at the time and the commander of the carrier USS America and also a pilot. He never took any responsibility for his actions in any way.
Very often it is who you know and who you blow.
WHY were live missiles loaded onto his plane?
If you read the article it explains that little tid bit was another mistake among the list of mistakes, leading up to the big one.
The article also explains this pilot would, on his very first cruise screw up so bad he would for the rest of his career, not be allowed to pilot a naval aircraft.
Who knew that career would be longer than one obligation, much less a few days past the point of the big mistake, and a reserve officer as well. I’ve known folks who made pretty serious mistakes in the military, and survived.
I guess I now know another.
We had no end of confusion as a Navy P-3 squadron deployed to an Air Force base while our runway was bring re-surfaced...
So I’m guessing Janis Karpinski will be the next Army Chief of Staff, right? Maybe they can clone Benedict Arnold and make him Chairman of the Joint Chiefs or something.
LORD GOD,
PLEASE PREVENT THIS TRAITOROUS HIDEOUSNESS
May all involved find it blowing up in their faces and causing a great angry furor.
in Jesus’ Name.
Post-mortem baptisms are already UP.
I recall this very well. It was a joint exercise in the Med flying from the USS Saratoga, which I was also flying from at the time. In a well briefed exercise, against a friendly USAF adversary, he was cleared weapons hot by a controller, so with no further thought he offed a sidewinder.
The AF crew had no idea and when the Fire Warning lights appeared they thought they had experienced a major engine failure. They punch out and were brought aboard by the SH-3 squadron. They still did not know what happened until, while being check out in the ships medical, the Captain came down and apologized for the shoot down.
The perp was an admirils boy and was known to be particular about logging all his time in his personal logbook, something not really necessary since we had our military logbooks, as he was planning on a future airline job. Basically his focus was not where it was supposed to be.
Panetta’s a Marxist, and this Captain has clearly demonstrated his bona fides for the upcoming Feds vs People civil war.
Just like these rulers in our land and the globe have been doing for more than 100 years--reportedly even including George Washington:
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http://twoday.net/static/omega/files/quotes_from_people_who_consider_us_subjects.htm
Live ordnance in training is not at all unusual, especially when on a deployment. Recall in 1987, in the med, we still encountered Soviet, Libyan, and other bad actors routinely.
I knew we were in real trouble when a memo came down saying that it wasn’t fair to evaluate Officers by their performance in combat. They could be evaluated based on their picture, their height and weight, and how fast they could run two miles, but, you couldn’t evaluate them on how they did in combat.
Heck, why not? He was already one fifth of an ace.
Just from reading your reference, it appears to me that Dorsey's dad being an admiral had something to do with lack of a court martial.
second to last paragraph
Of course we cannot forget horrible Holly Gralf and the lesbian sisterhood. Why did the navy take its more than sweet time to get rid of her. That allowed her to stay in long enough that her last rank of CAPT (O-6), she was at that rank for three years where she can collect her retirement at that level instead of O-5.
Well, I can’t speak for all of course. Were you ever stationed at NAS Jax?
``If called upon to do so, I`ve been trained to react decisively and smartly. In this most unfortunate mishap, I believe that I indeed reacted decisively and, at the time, with the information I had received and interpreted, believed I was acting smartly.
Parrotting words his defense counsel gave him. It is inconceivable that somebody in a TRAINING EXERCISE would EVER believe that arming and firing a live piece of ordnance at a manned aircraft was either “decisive” or “smart”.
Just makes me boil. I don’t know how this guy even got into the reserves - we (USAFR) do actually have standards.
Colonel, USAFR
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