U.S. Air Force: ShortFormBlog

19:29 • 4 months ago

New Mexico judge awards “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”-discharged service members back pay

181 U.S. military veterans who were discharged under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy will receive their full back pay following a judge’s ruling on a lawsuit filed by the ACLU in New Mexico.
$13,000 is the average amount that each former soldier, sailor, Marine or pilot will receive as a result of the lawsuit, which granted full back-pay to any member of the U.S. military discharged during or after November 2004.
$2.4M will be paid out in total by the Pentagon, which had originally halved the separation pay of any service member who was discharged under the old “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. source

10:08 • 11 months ago

Tags: awol u.s. air force germany sweden david hemler air force airman 44 • Permalink

U.S. airman surfaces in Sweden nearly three decades after going AWOL

Think you can keep a secret for 28 years? Beat this guy. David Hemler, 49, evaded capture for nearly three decades after going AWOL from the U.S. Air Force after becoming a peace activist. Hemler said he didn’t know what he was getting into with the military and that they wouldn’t dismiss him after he requested. So, in 1984, he left his Germany-based squadron and moved to Sweden, where he has a wife and kids. He’s lived there so long that, as you’ll hear in the video above, he has a pronounced Swedish accent. The Swedish government promised not to extradite him if he went public with his tale, according to Hemler. So here he is.

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New Mexico judge awards “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”-discharged service members back pay

U.S. airman surfaces in Sweden nearly three decades after going AWOL