The VIP ““comfort pallet’’ wasn’t the only thing egregious about Ashy’s flight. At a time when USAF personnel and equipment are stretched thin around the globe, the C-141B had been flown, empty, from McGuire AFB, N.J., to Rhein-Main in Germany, where it was refueled and flown, again empty, to Naples (map). The next day, after a formal change-of-command ceremony, Ashy and his aide flew to Colorado, where the crew lay over for the night. Then the C-141B flew to Andrews AFB, Md., to drop off the chef before returning to McGuire. In all, the mission tied up an $8.5 million aircraft and crew of 13 for four days. Total cost to the taxpayer: between $120,000 and $200,000 – including $4,000 just to return the chef. Ashy could have bought a ticket on a commercial jet for $1,464.24.
Besides being a blatant waste of money, this incident is about deception and the art of diffusing responsibility. I learned of it from disgruntled soldiers who were denied seats on the flight. I started digging and was initially told that 20 other passengers had been on board – but that was just the first lie. Reporters for ABC’s ““20/20’’ and I interviewed dozens of officials at NATO, the space command and the air force’s Air Mobility Command (AMC). We got conflicting answers to almost every question we asked, even though the air force insists it has nothing to hide. Perhaps it’s an institutional response to bad publicity, or perhaps, as one colonel whispered, ““Ashy’s pulling every string he can to kill this story.''
Military personnel are supposed to use commercial transportation unless there are special circumstances. Ashy refused to be interviewed, but his spokesman at the space command, Col. Dave Garner, said there were no commercial flights from Naples and that Ashy was needed at his new post fast. Yet had the change-of-command ceremony been held one hour earlier, Ashy could have easily flown to Rome and caught the daily TWA or Delta flight to New York – both had empty seats – then taken a connecting flight. Col. Randy Starbuck, Ashy’s executive officer in Italy, knew on Aug. 25 what his travel needs were – he had 16 days to arrange the farewell hoopla and still find Ashy a commercial flight.
Starbuck said he requested ““whatever aircraft was in the stream’’ and was surprised when he recognized the plane assigned to Gen. Ronald Fogleman, now air force chief of staff. Fogleman’s spokesman told me his boss approved the flight. Garner insists that Ashy, too, was ““shocked’’ to discover he was flying on a C-141B with VIP accommodations. If so, he should have raised hell and nailed those responsible.
Other aspects of the story didn’t check out, either. One AMC officer told me the C-141B was dispatched because the crew needed training. But another officer said that if anything, this crew was overtrained and exhausted. What’s more, there was no great rush for Ashy to take over the space command; his predecessor’s tenure had been extended until the end of the month. Garner said Ashy was needed to observe the launch of a Chinese missile – but when I asked why his deputy couldn’t fill in, Garner said lamely, ““The deputy is a Canadian and couldn’t be trusted.’’ Then there’s the matter of Ashy’s aide, Senior Airman Christa Hart. She was listed on the manifest as his ““dependent,’’ so airport personnel assumed she was his wife, who had actually left a month earlier. Garner said Hart was on board because her mother was ““dying of cancer.’’ But Hart told me that while her mother did have surgery, she was back at work and feeling fine.
Garner, who has since been hospitalized for stress, also insisted that it’s not the general’s fault ““that the air force did something stupid.’’ That seems to go with power: FDR once sent a destroyer to pick up his dog Fala; earlier this year several White House aides used Marine Corps choppers for a golfing trip. But that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable, especially when defense dollars are in short supply. In fact, while Ashy was misusing military resources, more than 200 navy aircraft, most of the Marine Corps’ Second Air Wing and three entire army divisions were designated ““not combat ready’’ because they didn’t have the money for fuel, parts or maintenance.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, a longtime critic of military waste, thinks Ashy should resign and reimburse the Treasury. The Pentagon’s inspector general is also investigating. Ashy, a former fighter pilot, has a reputation for excess: he is relocating his new office in Colorado to get a better view (cost: $96,800) and ordered a road cut through the median in a base street because he didn’t like making an extra turn (cost: $7,400). Yet such waste and abuse is common in the military: the air force has nearly 200 aircraft tasked almost exclusively to ferry VIPs, costing tens of millions of dollars a year. AMC now says it has tightened the rules concerning such missions. But the brass must go further and employ the World War II gas-saving slogan for each flight: is this trip necessary?
Oh, yes, Nellie, the cat. She had a proper boarding pass and Ashy personally paid her $85 fare. That may have been the only thing square about the whole trip.
Ferrying the general to his new post tied up an $8.5 million aircraft and a crew of 13 for four days.
Total miles 14,650 Flying time 31 hours Cost Up to $200,000
