The nation’s elite aviation units suffered another embarrassment when an officer at the 602nd Air Cavalry Brigade was found to have taken his pilot’s helmet for an AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopter off base without authorization and taken it home.
The debacle came to light after photographs of the pilot, a first lieutenant, and his girlfriend wearing the high-tech helmet were uploaded to the Internet, and netizens began to circulate it, saying it was another breach of discipline and security in the military.
News reports indicated the pilot had been trained to fly the US-made helicopters for a squadron based at the 602nd Brigade, which is in the Sinshe area (新社) of Taichung.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The 602nd is one of the army’s three main elite aviation units, along with the 601st Brigade and the Pingtung-based Altitude Special Service Company.
According to an internal military investigation, the transgression occurred in 2013, when the pilot in question took home the helmet when he was assigned for helicopter flight-training at an aviation base in Hengchun (恆春), Pingtung County.
“On the way to the air base, the pilot made a stopover at his girlfriend’s house in Pingtung. The girlfriend was curious about the pilot’s headgear and she put it on, and posed for photographs with it at her home,” Army Command Headquarters Office spokesperson Major General Huang Kai-shen (黃開森) said.
Huang said the helmet for the AH-1W Super Cobra has only simple communication devices, and does not contain the advanced visual sensors and weapons controls of the Integrated Helmet and Display Sight System of the Apache AH-64E attack helicopter.
Huang confirmed the pilot was also carrying four pieces of netting used to camouflage military vehicles, which he left at his girlfriend’s house.
Media and netizens also circulated photographs of the pilot displaying a photograph of three shells from a T-25 artillery gun, which angered more people, who said it was evidence of a lax attitude to the handling of equipment and ammunition because he had taken them off base to show to civilians.
“The pilot in question has been grounded from flying and, pending the conclusion of our investigation, he will receive punishment in accordance with military regulations,” Huang said.
Huang said the artillery shells had not been in the pilot’s possession.
“Those came from a friend, surnamed Chen (陳). He picked up the unexploded rounds from a target range and sent the pictures by e-mail, so the pilot was not in possession of the artillery shells,” Huang said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) denounced what he called the misconduct and lack of discipline of the nation’s troops when he questioned Deputy Minister of National Defense Admiral Chen Yung-kang (陳永康) at the legislature yesterday.
“Officers and soldiers are handling weapons and equipment as though they are toys. Military bases are now like playgrounds for these men,” Lee said.
“How can the public have trust and confidence in the armed forces?” he asked.
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