{"id":597,"date":"2014-11-04T23:37:13","date_gmt":"2014-11-04T21:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/?p=597"},"modified":"2014-11-04T23:37:13","modified_gmt":"2014-11-04T21:37:13","slug":"loss-of-confidence-us-air-force-fires-two-more-nuclear-commanders-disciplines-third","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/?p=597","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Loss of confidence\u2019: US Air Force fires two more nuclear commanders, disciplines third"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two Air Force nuclear commanders have been fired, with a third facing disciplinary measures, after the service cited a \u201closs of confidence\u201d in their ability to lead their units, once again drawing attention to troubles within the US nuclear corps.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"US<\/a>

US Air Force Nuclear Commanders-fired (Photo by Reuters)<\/p><\/div>\n

The terminations come as the Air Force continues to reckon with leadership problems. Earlier this year, nine nuclear commanderswere fired<\/a>in connection to a test-cheating scandal, which implicated dozens of missile launch officers.<\/p>\n

Col. Carl Jones, the No. 2 commander of the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, was the most high-profile of the two commanders to be dismissed on Monday. Jones was responsible for 150 Minuteman 3 nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles \u2013 the Air Force has 450 total \u2013 but his superiors determined there was \u201ca loss of trust and confidence in his leadership abilities.”<\/p>\n

According to Air Force Global Strike Command spokesman Lt. Col. John Sheets, Jones displayed conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman, as well as mistreatment of those below his rank.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn four separate instances, Jones acted in a manner that degraded his status as a senior officer and wing leader, including maltreating a subordinate,\u201d<\/em> Sheets told AP.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"U.S.<\/a>

U.S. Navy F-18 Hornet Fighter Aircrafts (Photo by washingtonpost.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Jimmy “Keith” Brown was also fired due to questions over his leadership, with Sheets saying he \u201cengaged in unlawful discrimination or harassment.\u201d<\/em> Brown apparently \u201cmade statements to subordinates that created a perception within his squadron that pregnancy would negatively affect a woman’s career.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Finally, Col. Michael Pagliuco, commander of the 91st Operations Group, was disciplined for failing to \u201cpromote and safeguard the morale, well-being and welfare of the airmen under his command.\u201d<\/em> Details of his punishment were not released.<\/p>\n

Based on the statements made by Sheets, it is unclear if the latest round of discipline meted out by the Air Force is directly related to the cheating scandal that erupted last year and claimed the job of its top commander. At the heart of the matter was that officers were texting each other the answers to the exams they needed to pass.<\/p>\n

Back in January, some 34 nuclear missile launch officers were implicated<\/a> in the scandal and stripped of their security clearance. In March, nine nuclear missile base commanders were fired. They were not found to be explicitly involved in the cheating, but they were let go for failing their leadership responsibilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was cheating that took place with respect to this particular test. Some officers did it. Others apparently knew about it, and it appears that they did nothing, or at least not enough, to stop it or to report it,\u201d Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said in January.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Source:<\/strong>\u00a0November 04, 2014 <\/span> (RT -USA<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two Air Force nuclear commanders have been fired, with a third facing disciplinary measures, after the service cited a \u201closs of confidence\u201d in their ability to lead their units, once again drawing attention to...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[453,333,454,455,205,358,412,97],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=597"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":600,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597\/revisions\/600"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}