Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Incinerated frog meat tastes just like a big chicken dinner

Think of the weirdest case you ever handled at a court-martial. Okay, got it? Now compare it to United States v. Wilson, No. ACM S31348 (A.F. Ct. Crim. App. Aug. 11, 2008) (per curiam). SSgt Wilson was convicted of willful dereliction of duty for intentionally violating his duty not to -- and I swear I'm not making this up -- throw a small frog in front of an F-16 jet engine, allowing it to be sucked into the intake. That's got my weirdest case beat hands down (or flippers down, as the case may be). Rather than charging SSgt Wilson with willful dereliction, I wonder if there was any thought to charging him under the ADA -- the Amphibian Disintegration Act.

SSgt Wilson was unhoppy with his sentence, which included a big chicken dinner. AFCCA nevertheless found the sentence appropriate, reasoning: "The appellant correctly points out that the frog ingested into the engine was small, soft, and ultimately caused no damage. Nonetheless, the offenses of which he stands convicted are serious." The court noted that after the incident came to light because one of the frog fryers put video of the cookout on the Internet, 41 planes of "the famed Wolf Pack," as AFCCA colorfully calls the 8th Fighter Wing, were grounded for two days for inspections, forcing "hundreds of personnel to work extra hours to ensure the aircraft were safe."

How do you suppose the French Air Force cooks its frog legs?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, no damage, dude. Except for the frog.

Cloudesley Shovell said...

Hmmm, the Amphibian Disintegration Act or the classic Art. 134 offense, Abusing a Public Animal.

All joking aside, SSgt Wilson got off easy. 41 front-line combat aircraft get grounded for 2 days thanks to his idiocy. I'll bet the folks at Air Force Appellate Gov't had fun writing that brief.

At least Wilson didn't set fire to his own airplane while it was in flight, like this dufus:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,356187,00.html

Phil Cave said...

You have to remember that FOD is a serious concern in the aviation community.

OK, so that could be Frog Object Damage as opposed to Foreign Object Damage.

So this would be a case of just desserts.

Anonymous said...

Navy had a similar case in July 2008, US v. Malone. Accused stuck a rock helo enginge (charged Art 80 ad 134) he got 9 months and a BCD.

Anonymous said...

the inane ramblings of dimentia...

Christopher Mathews said...

I'm with cloudsley on this one. This guy's not getting a lot of my sympathy.

Anonymous said...

So the USAF discovered how to make one of the most iconic french dish (not the only one : escargots anyone ?). This may be nevertheless a sign of decadence : soon you'll start to wear berets and guzzling pints of overpriced wine while joyfully endorsing nearly-communists policies. The positive aspect of all of this is that since you want to punish us for not going to Iraq you've finally discovered how to fry frogs with your F-16... Congrats !