City Government
Pentagon Releases Boise Photos
February 25, 2015 
After nearly a week, the GUARDIAN has obtained official USAF photos which prove Madame Secretary Deborah Lee James visited Boise. It literally took Pentagon clearance to get the pictures.
Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James presents a coin to 1st Lt.
Heidi Caye, an environmental manager with the 124th Medical Group, for her
outstanding performance at Gowen Field, Boise, Idaho, Feb. 19, 2015. (Air
National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Joshua Allmaras)
We jokingly called into question whether or not the USAF Secretary actually came to Boise when all legacy media were banned from photographing her or any of her meetings.
The local politicos including Team Dave and all of the Washington delegation stood before the cameras and were liberally quoted in their quest to keep the Idaho Air National Guard mission at Gowen Field. The Department of Defense is considering moving the unit to Mountain Home to consolidate the mission and reduce costs.
Citing the usual “it means jobs and economic stimulus,” the locals lobbied the secretary, but no opposing views were presented and the public was not allowed any voice. It was a well orchestrated event for a very select group. Even Ada County Commishes were left off the guest list.
While a move may have some negative economic impact on Boise, it could also have a positive impact at Mountain Home and not subject Bench residents to the extreme noise of the F-35 fighter in the future. From a military standpoint, it makes sense to fly high performance jets in the desert away from civilian air traffic and not over the most densely populated area of the state.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Feb 25, 2015, 12:28 pm
Hopefully the F35 program will be scrapped. Stealth technology is a waste of money due ever better advancements in detection, and nobody really thinks it will work out well in the role it is being built for.
Based on the endless wars we are now engaged in, maybe we need to spend the money developing a hybrid camel that can go farther and faster on a gallon of water.
If the F35’s are dumped in our lap, I suggest we move Dave Bieter and Butch Otter into new official housing and offices right next to the airport.
Feb 25, 2015, 12:51 pm
Wow. Like a Bluetick Hound on a coon trail.
Here are some that didn’t take DOD clearance. Instead it was 10 seconds on Google.
This article has THREE photos of her on the base.
http://www.mountainhome.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123439966
Here is one on her PUBLIC Facebook page:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/10984230_923069714378692_6577086669700236694_n.jpg?oh=a7babab605c1446c2f58d09003ac8705&oe=55877168&__gda__=1434086625_290a1510119490182a736dc8ddd30cba
Feb 25, 2015, 2:01 pm
Considering we can have air superiority over Iraq with a school bus tied to a balloon… The F-35 is not needed and is already outdated technology. It’s just a jobs program. Reminds me of when Lockheed forced the useless and dangerous F-104 on NATO.
However, I’d support a substantially improved & unmanned F-22 fighter-bomber derivative to scare the Chi-Coms and Rus-Coms.
I think a spaced based antiaircraft and ground attack laser weapon is the future though.
Feb 25, 2015, 3:28 pm
We can do so much better!
Our ability and need to make big war quickly still exists but we are able to do it much more efficiently now. Our Military is still many times what is needed to crush any other nation in a few days or weeks… or 30 minutes with nukes. The military actions in the desert lands were/are a replacement for the massive cold war spending… and probably motivated by the Bush family “friendship” with the Saudi family. I strongly support the downsizing of our military. I support the downsizing of our global police actions too. We should not be involving ourselves in other people’s problems nearly as much as we do. Kill bad guys? You bet… but taking 40 years to do it is a fraud on the American people by the military industrial complex.
Did you know that at any given time, five of our eleven super-sized aircraft carriers are in port getting a years long paint-job, not to mention the two-dozen mini-carriers and hundreds of other ships? ((If we were in real danger of massive strategic attack the Navy would not line three to five of these ships up in the same harbor as they do sometimes… the USAF would not put all the B-52s & B-2s on one or two bases.)) Our military is 35% need and 65% jobs program. Downsizing will also mean many of us will need to find other work… and our government and corporate leaders will need to move away from the cold-war economics addiction. Imagine if this kind of money was poured into clean energy ideas or clean water ideas or safer transportation, or medical research… or human behavior/political research to prevent hostile conflicts over resource allocations… Heck, we could even pay off Obama’s credit card.
The sky’s the limit if we can get the Curtis LeMays’ of the world back into the fire extinguisher box… and move to a new phase. Do not misunderstand me… several leadership teams such as those in Iran and North Korea just simply need to instantly vanish as they are beyond hope. And I very well know I make my wild-idea statements from a safe home in a safe land… made safe by laws… and men/women with guns. But, we can do so much better.
Feb 25, 2015, 9:30 pm
Lockheeds needs come before the needs of the country… and don’t you forget it.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/02/25/nato-commander-glad-to-have-10s-back-in-europe/
Feb 25, 2015, 9:44 pm
Zippo’s national defense posture seems to be:
a destroyer in every port and a B-52 at every municipal airport.
Or maybe a tugboat and a Cessna to support lack of spending.
Zippo, it would REALLY suck if you got your way and you are wrong.
The reason “5 of those carriers are in port” is because when the others return, those 5 have to take their place. (That’s not literally but for your misconception it might mean something). Of course, you are not the one having to deploy for 8-12 months, so no matter how many or how long to you- someone else has to deal with it.
btw, we only have 10 active carriers.
Maybe you are reading the same Jane’s Book as Rick is reading about USAF nukes.
And B-2s are out of 4 different bases, 52’s are out of 2. So that’s 6 different bases. 😉
That only 6, probably cuz too many whiners don’t want nuc bombers (or f35s) flying over their backyards. So when F-35 are only on 2 bases cuz nobody wants em- Zippo is going to say, “they would not be on only two bases if we needed them”.
Perhaps our military is 35% need and 65% just in case. Let’s call it national insurance. You know, like when some American ship civilian captain needs a Navy sniper to save his asss from a Somalia pirate; or when the rescue team needs a ride to Africa to save kidnapped chilren; or to transport stuff to Haiti after a quake or hurricane; or to keep YOUR price of oil down to something affordable; or to keep the container ships moving so everyone can buy their Apple iPhones from China.
You know? Insurance.
My government required health insurance is 1% need and 99% just in case. So it’s all relative.
Feb 26, 2015, 2:07 am
So it is wasted money! Those big ships will be space junk in the first few minutes of a nuke war… as will the airbases, therefore we only need a couple of them to harass the little countries who can’t sink them. We have 10 to 13 super-flats because it is a jobs program. It is waste. Submarines are going to be the only surviving weapon system after 30 minutes… everything else should be made much much less.
If F-35 goes to MHAFB and Gowen shrinks the money is still in the Boise economic impact zone. Win Win.
Cold War thinking Eastie… 1991 was a long long time ago.
Feb 26, 2015, 11:04 am
Zippo, send a telegram to Putin to remind him of that. You might cc: Kim Jong-un and his buddies in China buying flat-tops, stealth fighters, and super subs.
Also, Zippo, your “two-dozen mini-carriers” is also off. Where do you get your information?
Feb 26, 2015, 8:47 pm
Wow there seems to be a bunch of arm chair quarterbacks when it comes to combat systems. How many of you have served in combat recently? Stop believing the first stuff you read! Zippo you truly sound like Chamberlain ! Remember what he let happen!
Feb 26, 2015, 8:51 pm
Oh I forgot mention does anyone remember when air guard had F-4’s and there loud afterburning twin engines! No one complained then! That argument is a mute point!
Feb 27, 2015, 8:13 am
Chamberlain was pre-nuke, pre-cruise missile… all that hardware is extremely vulnerable now against a country that can reach out and touch it. (Heck, they nearly sink from a laundry fire) Therefore we should cut way back on these obsolete 80 year old ideas.
Perhaps you’ve not read ALL my posts. I’ve repeatedly expressed my disgust at how the mighty US military industrial complex and political leadership seem to be chronically confounded by a rag-tag bunch with cheapo Soviet light-weapons, a camcorder, and secondhand supplies from Goodwill New Jersey. Thus after watching this sham for near forty years I’ve concluded we the people are in fact being scammed for the spending it creates. Read the pentagon papers… then call me names.
17 years ago… F-4G was a noisy pig to be sure, but F-35 bigger ship, is louder, will be at night, homes now surround the airport.
Cut it all by 60%, now!
((Airstream all packed! Check back in a few months editor… keep up the good work. 😉 ))