My 'Dumbass Airman' Story

 I was stationed late in my Air Force career at a base, and about five miles away was a second Air Base (it's best not to mention either of the locations).

One day...an associate of mine at the second base (supervising around six folks) simply noted that Airman X...a guy who'd been at the base for six months was becoming a problem.  

It was a simple story.

Airman X arrived at the site....performed up to standards, never was late, and never had to be 'jerked-around'.....for about 90 days.  

Then one day....Airman X met Airman Wendy.  Airman Wendy was a dental technician....had various body tattoos....several piercings, and you'd probably describe her as eccentric, freaky, and weird.  

Over the course of 90 days....Airman X underwent a transformation.  He got a couple of body piercings, and had a public physical event with Wendy (with three or four folks watching).   Then on one weekend....X decided to get a particular piercing in a sensitive part of the body....in the barracks TV room....with Wendy doing the job, with a audience of a dozen folks observing. 

On Monday, this got back to the First Sergeant.  There was a fairly long counseling session that my associate had to endear, with the 1Lt of the shop and division chief attending, with X and the First Sergeant.  It was one of those drop-dead sessions where you were told what behavior was acceptable and what could not be acceptable.

For about three weeks....things ran fine.  Then the unit held a holiday bar-b-q....where Airman X and Airman Wendy arrived....both with some weird barb-wire head piece.  

The division chief (Lt Col) told my associate in the midst of this bar-b-q....come Tuesday morning....he was to accompany the Airman to his office.  

What transpired that Tuesday.....the Lt Col had gone to base legal and done his homework.  Out came the fitness paperwork....declaring the Airman not mentally fit.  

Up until that point, in most cases I'd seen in kicking people out....it normally took around two-to-three months to discharge people....unless they were nutcases.  

In this case, Airman X was walked to each point requiring dismissal, and the discharge paperwork was finished on Friday morning.  Flight arrangements were arranged for Saturday morning, and he departed Germany.  

It was one of those things where everyone in the shop was told not to bring up Airman X's name again or get into conversations about Wendy, the barbed-wire, or the piercing in the TV room.  It was to be forgotten history.

This ending Airman X's career, and his intense relationship with Airman Wendy?  Well.....yeah.  That's the thing about it.  Wendy stayed on....never affected by any of this.  The medical folks didn't see anything really wrong with her behavior.  That was the one odd part of the story....she continued on.

I've wondered about Airman X, and what became of him.  He probably asked himself later....where he went wrong, and how he got all messed up with Wendy.  Life is that way....you stumble into a pit and usually climb out.  In this case, he just kept lingering in the pit, and getting deeper as each day went by.