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Airmen Bomb Silly Safety Belt Rules, on Facebook

* By Noah Shachtman Email Author
* October 29, 2009

You’d think men and women who handle heavy weapons, fly the planet’s most advanced airplanes, and take care of multi-million dollar equipment could be trusted to go outside at night without wearing a day-glo safety belt. The United States Air Force would beg to differ.

Instead, airmen are ordered to wear the reflective accessories from the late afternoon on. That goes for domestic installations, and for war zone bases, too. Just like the rule about puttering around at 25 miles an hour or less in your military vehicle.

The whole thing has got airmen pretty annoyed, as you can imagine. So about 2,900 of them have taken to Facebook to stage an informal, online protest against the safety belt regulation — and to make all kinds of fun of it. 400 folks have joined in the last day.

“Do you think Vietnam would have turned out differently if we had warn reflective belts? Could we have caught Osama Bin laden a long time ago if we were less reflective?” gripes one frustrated airman.

“There are confirmed snipers around the perimeter of the flight line…here, put on your reflective belt so you don’t get run over by a fire truck!” laughs another.

“Nothing says ‘I joined the wrong service’ than wearing your belt indoors, on shift. Way to go Air Force,” sighs a third.

But the group’s brightest highlight might be the mock PowerPoint presentation on the long history of the safety belt at war. “If not for the reflective belt, George Washington would’ve lost boats in the ‘fog of war,’ thus rendering his crossing of the Delaware River pointless.”

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“Do you think Vietnam would have turned out differently if we had warn reflective belts?