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To: SMEDLEYBUTLER
I am indeed the person I say I am...and how dare you? What kind of disgusting human being would send a grieving mother a picture of the mangled plane where the charred remains of her precious child lay for five days while the site was investigated? It just shows how truly desperate you are. You should be ashamed of yourself. I don't have to defend one thing to you - I live with the hell that the Osprey leaves in its wake every single day of my life. I owe you nothing, as I have already paid the heaviest price. None of you who push this piece of crap could ever repay me, or the other families who have had to pay so dearly themselves, so those like you can fill their pockets with the spoils that come from shoving the Osprey Death Program down the throats of anyone who will listen. You aren't a general by any chance are you? Otherwise, you must own stock in the program.

Moreover, how dare you smear the name of someone who is dead and not able to give his side of what happened? It is glaringly obvious that you were not sitting next to him, so you really have no first hand knowledge of what happened in the aircraft that night. But, let's pretend Maj. Brow did make a mistake - perhaps a horrible error in judgement that caused the April crash. How do you explain the other crashes? I suppose they were Maj. Brow's fault too. He was "The Best of the Best", but not really that good? I suppose all those pilots had no idea what they were doing - that darn plane is just too complicated for their simple minds??? It seems that anyone who was within shouting distance had something to do with the April crash. No way could it be that the aircraft itself was at fault because it is a piece of junk. If the Osprey is so wonderful, why are officers having to run around covering up for the mechanical issues? Why are they "adjusting" the true test results? In another article I hold in my hand, it discusses the very topic of safety and potential cover up. It states that "The V-22 that crashed last April in Arizona, killing all 19 Marines on board, makes that all too clear. That craft had spent only 135 hours in the air since the Marines took delivery of it three months earlier. Yet it had required 600 repairs while the Marines had it...one repair for every 15 minutes it was flying." Since you think so highly of this piece of trash, I suggest you sign yourself - better yet, YOUR child, up as test pilot, passenger and then cadaver...I dare you. Put your life where your mouth is.

If you are calling yourself a Marine, you should hang up your uniform as your very essence disgraces the title. Instead of being vindictive and offensive, you should be thanking me on your knees for giving up a young man who was so dedicated to his country that he gave his life training to fight for the very freedom that allows you to be hateful to his grieving family and not be punished for it. My son, and the others who were sacrificed with him were not drones. They were young men who had their whole lives ahead of them until someone like you stole it away. How you live with yourself is a mystery to me. It has been my belief that a Marine watches out for his Brothers, he does not lead them to slaughter. Thank God one Marine had the courage to say "enough is enough" and revealed what was really going on with the program. He is a hero to us, and he personifies Semper Fidelis. His courage is beyond measure. Again, if you are a Marine you must remember what that is, because it is obvious you have lost it somewhere along the way. He is living proof that not all are excited to get that aircraft going.

As for the report, do your homework, just like I had to do when I chose to learn all I could about my son's death. I will correct one part of my statement, however. According to the report I hold in my lap, the lead aircraft skidded 330 feet. I did not say it exploded...I said "Thank God it did not explode". I have had the great honor and privilege to speak with wives/mothers of Marines who were on the lead aircraft. What they say coincides with the report...so once again, I do not care what someone who was not there has to say. Some of these kids suffer still from what happened that night. You don't watch your Brothers burn to death, look death in the eye yourself, , and not have it affect you. I think the words spoken by a Commanding Officer to a Marine mom I know sums it all up perfectly..."The MV-22 Osprey is a black mark on the history of the Marine Corps." A simple statement to be sure, but more truthful than anything else I have heard. I could not have said it better myself.

Now...go away...and let me do what I have to do...that being, protect others from the likes of you. If I save one family from having to senselessly and needlessly visit the graveyard to be with their dead child, then I have accomplished something with what is left of my life.

And to those of you who fight the fight...I cannot thank you enough. Your efforts are well noted. I have no doubt you will stand before these Marines one day in heaven, and you will do it with honor, which is more than I can say for some. Carry on!
65 posted on 07/16/2003 7:17:17 PM PDT by marinemomof1
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To: marinemomof1
Quit emoting and try being objective. The photograph, which is in the public domain for anyone to see, proved that you were not being truthful. Nighthawk 71 did not roll 450 feet and end up in a ravine.

You aren't a general by any chance are you? Otherwise, you must own stock in the program.

No to both questions. Not affiliated with the program in any way whatsoever. Are you affiliated with or own stock in United Technologies?

But, let's pretend Maj. Brow did make a mistake - perhaps a horrible error in judgement that caused the April crash. How do you explain the other crashes? I suppose they were Maj. Brow's fault too. He was "The Best of the Best", but not really that good?

There's no pretending about it. Brow violated NATOPS procedures and caused the deaths of 18 other Marines besides himself. Pilot error was the cause of the Marana crash and that's a fact. Brow was a former KC-130 pilot, not a rotorhead and had limited experience in rotary winged aircraft, desribing him as the best of the best is simply not true. The actions of the aircrew in the New River crash contributed to the accident. Other Ospreys experienced hydraulic failures and safely landed. Sweaney and Murphy violated NATOPS and continued to fly an aircraft they were trained to immediately land if the FCS did not reset. One of them continued to press the FCS reset inducing further anomalies to the FCS. The crash at Quantico in 1992 was due to a design flaw which resulted in an engine fire. However, there is a high probability that the aircrew exceeded airspeed limits on the flight from Florida which may have accelerated the pooling of flammable materials in the intake. The Delaware crash was caused by a miswired gyro.

In another article I hold in my hand, it discusses the very topic of safety and potential cover up.

Once again I ask you to provide me the documented source of that report.

Yet it had required 600 repairs while the Marines had it...one repair for every 15 minutes it was flying."

Helicopters require ~16 hours of maintenance for every hour of flight. I suggest you look at the VIDS MAF board in any helicopter squadron production control office as well as the repair history of any military helicopter. That number of repairs is not unusual particularly for the aircraft in question. EMD and LRIP aircraft traditionally require a number of repairs, most of which are minor.

I think the words spoken by a Commanding Officer to a Marine mom I know sums it all up perfectly..."The MV-22 Osprey is a black mark on the history of the Marine Corps."

Please provide us with the name of that officer.

Put your life where your mouth is.

I'd glady fly aboard an Osprey before I'd fly on a CH-46.

It has been my belief that a Marine watches out for his Brothers, he does not lead them to slaughter.

The actions of John Brow killed your son. If you had read the data from the FDR and the after accident report you'd know that. It wouldn't mave mattered what rotary winged aircraft was being flown that night. If Brow had flown any of them in the same manner as he did the Osprey your son and 18 other Marines would still be dead. That's an indisputable fact.

I did not say it exploded...

I didn't say you did.

You don't watch your Brothers burn to death, look death in the eye yourself, , and not have it affect you.

I've helped clean up the crashes of four EA-6Bs with the loss of 11 pilots/ecmos including pulling charred body parts out of trees and swamps. I've seen the effects of a pilot who executed a command ejection while inverted and sent three aviators downward into a pine tree forest. I've seen the decapitated head of an ecmo still strapped into its flight helmet at ALF Coupeville on Whidbey Island. I witnessed a Marine recruit kill himself at the pistol range at Edson Range, Camp Pendleton. I witnessed a Marine recruit drown in the pool at MCRD San Diego. I saw a drunk Marine and a drunk sailor get hit by a train while fighting on the railroad tracks outside MCAS Iwakuni in Japan. So save me the holier than thou sanctimony lady because you haven't seen anything that I haven't.

69 posted on 07/17/2003 8:37:09 AM PDT by SMEDLEYBUTLER
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