Wheres the Bus Station?
As their uniform was denuded, airmen complained that they were being mistaken for bus drivers. This writer, when stationed in Baltimore, was approached one day by a woman who demanded to know why the transit company didn’t run vehicles north on Charles Street. The strip-down operation continued until Headquarters committed a tactical error. It ordered members to remove their “US” lapel insignia. That was too much. Outraged troops likened the action to burning the flag. Were we ashamed to be Americans? Did we have to copy the British in everything? Why not just put everybody into pinstripes and derbies and be done with it? Flooded with such complaints, the Pentagon rescinded the order, and the drive to unclutter the uniform ground to a halt. Not long after that, in fact, the trend was reversed. During one of the Air Force’s recurring bouts of poor retention of personnel, somebody decided that specialist badges for a few of the hardest-to-hold skills might help relieve the problem. It wa
