Washington Post Article

[Tex Houston]

Paragraph extracted from a "Washington Post" article headlined 'Military
looking at Guantanamo security breaches' published in today's Colorado
Springs "Gazette".

Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
suggested Wednesday the investigation has been expanded beyond the
espionage-related arrests of Army Capt. James "Yousef" Yee, an Islamic
cleric at Guantanamo Bay, and Air Force Special Airman Ahmad al-Halabi, an
Arabic translator at the prison.

I have been out of the USAF for a lot of years but really try to keep up but
can any current member explain to me just what an Air Force Special Airman
is and what makes them special?

Regards,

Tex Houston

[Gene Storey]

It's a Typo. Other articles have identified him as a "Senior Airman"

A "Senior Airman" is what we used to call a Buck Sgt, but they don't
allow Buck Sgt's anymore, and an NCO is now a trained leader, and
usually on his/her second enlistment.

Typo's are quite common in newspapers, and doubly-so in the Internet
versions.

"Tex Houston" > wrote
> Paragraph extracted from a "Washington Post" article headlined 'Military
> looking at Guantanamo security breaches' published in today's Colorado
> Springs "Gazette".
>
> Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
> suggested Wednesday the investigation has been expanded beyond the
> espionage-related arrests of Army Capt. James "Yousef" Yee, an Islamic
> cleric at Guantanamo Bay, and Air Force Special Airman Ahmad al-Halabi, an
> Arabic translator at the prison.
>
> I have been out of the USAF for a lot of years but really try to keep up but
> can any current member explain to me just what an Air Force Special Airman
> is and what makes them special?
>
> Regards,
>
> Tex Houston

[B2431]

>A "Senior Airman" is what we used to call a Buck Sgt, but they don't
>allow Buck Sgt's anymore, and an NCO is now a trained leader, and
>usually on his/her second enlistment.

Actually SrA and Sgt were two different ranks. The SrA is not an NCO and the
Sgt wass. In 1976 they started the SrA program. An enlistee was to hold the
rank of SrA for one year before being promoted Sgt. Both were E-4s.

After 1 June 1977, Amn, A1C and SrA wore stripes with dark blue stars and Sgt
and above wore stripes with matching stars. After November 1980 the old style
Amn and A1C stripes were no longer authorized.

I don't recall exactly when they got rid of Sgt altogether, but it was in the
1988 - 1990 time frame. Now no USAF E-4 is an NCO and they have reinstituted
the old style stripes for Amn, A1C and SrA.

Oh, and while we referred to Sgt as "buck sergeant" there was no such rank.


Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

[Gene Storey]

"B2431" > wrote
>
> Oh, and while we referred to Sgt as "buck sergeant" there was no such rank.

As in "young NCO buck." I guess the USAF "buck" Sgt is now a Staff Sgt (E-5).

[George Shirley]

Tex Houston wrote:

> Paragraph extracted from a "Washington Post" article headlined 'Military
> looking at Guantanamo security breaches' published in today's Colorado
> Springs "Gazette".
>
> Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
> suggested Wednesday the investigation has been expanded beyond the
> espionage-related arrests of Army Capt. James "Yousef" Yee, an Islamic
> cleric at Guantanamo Bay, and Air Force Special Airman Ahmad al-Halabi, an
> Arabic translator at the prison.
>
> I have been out of the USAF for a lot of years but really try to keep up but
> can any current member explain to me just what an Air Force Special Airman
> is and what makes them special?
>
> Regards,
>
> Tex Houston
>
>
Beats me. When I was a boy in Texas and anyone would say someone was
"special" the person was either retarded or gay. Reckon that doesn't
apply here though. <BSEG>

George