Air Force Has Troops Remove Names, Unit Patches from Uniforms During Deportation Flights

The reenactment would be more convincing if they arranged the aircraft to look like train cattle cars and packed the deportees more tightly inside.

Next you'll tell me they're wearing pointy white "balaclavas".
- ICE is already wearing non-pointy ones to hide their faces while they illegally detain people.
  
  Makes sense, they don't want to be pointed out from a lineup for just following orders.

https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Air-Force-Senior-Leaders/
Pick one. Assign blame.
- Gary Ashworth was the first name i saw and he has a very punchable face
  
  I agree, but James Slife looks more like the fall guy.

No names, no unit numbers, no way to definitively recognize any given individual at a glance?
So... hypothetically... someone who's not part of one of the active units, but who has the uniform, the ability to act the part, and the information required to make it happen, might be able to blend in with the oppressors during a military operation? Hmm.
o but pfft don't listen to me. I'm just a wild-talking stoner with ADHD
#stonerthoughts #hypothetical #justgirlythings #lol
- If someone's got all that, then they're active military members. Also, the squadron would instantly recognize you as a new face and you'd suddenly become the center of attention within minutes. Even if you have a convincing story, everyone wants to know where you sit in the chain of command. Hell, the way civilians stand would make you stick out.
  
  Sometimes, even active military members disagree with what they're being made to do. If multiple units interact for the first time, would a new face still stand out? What if a person isn't dressed the part long enough to even be spoken to? Or if someone in this scenario has military experience?
  These questions are rhetorical, of course. I left the details open-ended in the first comment for a reason - I don't know what exactly is going to happen every minute in the coming future. But, I can imagine scenarios occurring where lacking immediate and accurate ID of an individual in uniform can be taken advantage of. That's all.
  
  I literally have every piece of issued flight gear I was given, including my helmet and O2 hook up... I've been retired for 12 years. They don't take it back and give it to someone else when you leave.
- As a person from a military family, they'd clock you instantly. Once you live among military people, you begin to be able to spot who is or isn't military instantly. Even not being in the military myself, I can almost always at least guess their branch and get within a rank or 2. I've never seen my dad not get branch and exact rank within a couple seconds of talking to someone
  
  On the other hand, I am a disabled adult who has never served or even been eligible for military service and yet I am still asked a handful of times a year 20 years after the last traumatic event I experienced if I have served, and with what branch. It's not always a sure thing. Traumatized neurodivergent people get close enough to fool some.
- This comment is a delight.

Are we the baddies?
- Always have been 🌍👨‍🚀🔫👨‍🚀
- I mean - yes.

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- I am not sure leaving now and letting people who may not have scruples about illegal orders remain is a good idea. If anything, it may be the opposite.
  
  Hopefully, if the information gets out and enough people walk away, it would severely limit the ability of those who remain to do awful things.

Fuck's sake

Same thing they did when beating up and shooting BLM.
Edit: It’a really hard to find any report on the events during the BLM protests. I distinctly remember many mentions of the LEOs involved in shooting “rubber bullets” at protesters and beating them not having any identifying information on them. No names, no agency tags, nothing.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/05/politics/law-enforcement-badges-protests/index.html
- Wasn't it like that for several days, nobody even knew who is abducting people from the street?

So, they are considered unlawful combatants? And therefore do not get the protections afforded under the Geneva Conventions, right?
Right?
- Talk about jumping 4 steps down the road.
  They are uniformed. No global convention or agreement mandates those elements be on a uniform. The nametag, unit patch, and other items on the uniform are just ways that force happens to enhance identification within the unit.
  They are identified as uniformed members of a military force. This satisfies the convention.
  None of this matters or applies at all given that there is no combat occurring that would fall under the Geneva convention. So they could be plain clothes officers and it wouldn’t apply.
  Trump is a sack of dog turds, and what he is doing is largely stupid speed run overreach, but this hyperbolic shit just harms credibility of the already massive list of shit he is violating.

So like a secret police force? Hmmm where have I heard that term before...
- One might call it a secret state police. Or maybe 'Protection Squad' or something. Maybe it'd sound cooler in German.

Not enough shame even so

Hey gang, I'm very closely related to this field and wanted to share some insight into this!
This is VERY COMMON practice for these situations. The idea is not to cover up inhumane tactics, but protect our personnel. While I'm sure a majority of these individuals are simple illegal immigrants who have no ill intentions, there are criminal gangs being caught up in this. Not the entire gang is being picked up, just the illegal immigrants. So the policy of removing identification from the uniforms is to protect the military member and their family.
These commands come from the highest level, meaning each individual service member is not making the decision for themselves, but they are being commanded as a whole. Much as some might not like the connotations associated with this, it is a common practice and relevant due to the stated purpose of these missions.
- This is VERY COMMON practice for these situations.
  No, no it's not. Maybe when operating in dangerous missions while deployed overseas.... While working on American soil? No.
  None of the other branches being ordered to do similarly sketchy quasi unconstitutional work have removed their identifiers, none of the other branches have opted to classify the work they are doing.
  The Air Force has a pretty well known history of racism, rape, and Christian nationalist in their command structure. Out of all the branches it doesn't surprise me at all that the Air Force is the branch falling over itself to follow trump's orders.
  
  Out of all the branches it doesn't surprise me at all that the Air Force is the branch falling over itself to follow trump's orders.
  I'm not sure how you can imply that you're familiar with how the military operates and then say something as ignorant as this.
  All branches of the military "fall over themselves" to follow the orders of the President. That's literally how the chain of command works.
  Be upset at Trump for assigning shit missions, but it's incredibly ignorant to attack any specific branch of the military for following lawful orders.
  What do you picture the alternative to be? That some Airman should get himself court marshalled for refusing the order to remove his name and unit patch?
  Could you explain how transporting people to their country of origin is an illegal order?
  Or, maybe explain how you would handle the order as an enlisted soldier?
  
  No, no it’s not.
  Yes it is, those are Fly Away Security Teams (FAST) or Ravens. Go look it up, 95% of the official Air Force photos of FAST/Raven show people without nametapes, example taken from here.
  Furthermore:
  I can just take my top off if it's not too hot. My t-shirt does not have a nametape
  I can just buy a nametape that says "Smith" or something common and you wouldn't know the difference.
- This is VERY COMMON practice for these situations.
  Maybe it shouldn't be. You know, what with accountability being a thing that people should be held to...
  
  Should an airman’s family be targeted by cartels because they flew cartel members back to their home nation?
  
  Not wearing nametapes has been a thing for decades, long before Trump was president.
- What is brownshirt?
  Courtmarshall is probably not what you want in this. That's specific to the UCMJ, which would discipline them for NOT removing identifiers. You probably want them to go through civilian courts if that's your goal. Which probably means you're thankful for Trump's push for increased executions.
- Thank you for sharing your perspective and informing us that cowardly evasion of accountability in the execution of inhumane operations is a common practice in the service. Some folks out there might not have suspected this already.
- They always have another option: walk away.
  
  That is literally not an option for a very large majority of these service members. That'll be an Article 15 for sure, maybe a courtmartial.
- Seriously, what is a brownshirt?
- The idea is not to cover up inhumane tactics, but protect our personnel
  No, its just to cover up crimes against humanity. Let's be real here, and yes, I was also an aircraft crewmember.
  The best way to protect them is to not put them there in the first place, for a law enforcement operation.
- We're just trying to hide our identity while committing crimes acting on orders from the Criminal in Chief because all of our white robes and hoods turned pink due to a MAGA cap that somehow ended up in the wash.
  Got it.
  
  Fly Away Security Teams/Ravens haven't been wearing nametapes for decades, this is nothing new.
- They're just rounding up the dangerous Jews, I mean illegal immigrants. Everybody relax.
- Gross.
- Being in America without paperwork isn't a criminal charge, it is civil, so they aren't even here illegally, by the definition of the law. They are undocumented immigrants, not illegal.
  The Nazis are trying to change the narrative to make it sound like there's an evil scary cabal of people trying to destroy out country, to move the arrow away from pointing at the Nazis in power.
  
  like there's an evil scary cabal of people trying to destroy out country
  Have I got some bad news for you.
- to clarify you are saying this is is so a random airman’s kids aren’t targeted by the cartels because they flew some cartel members back?
  
  That's the general idea, yes.
- I'm far more concerned with the safety of people trying to survive than the bullies holding guns
- Every individual has the power to make a decision even if that decision would exit them from the situation. Maybe more people should stand up to authoritarians
- This is what they say about riot police in oppressive regimes, about prison personnel, about people from special agencies doing surveillance and even arrests.
  I think you can see where I'm going. Removing identification is more harmful than the threat to "the military member and their family".
- What’s your favorite film? Starship Troopers? Go back to redditstormfront.
  
  I get what you mean but Starship Troopers is a critique of war and militarized states.
  
  Hell or High Water. Fantastic utilization of visuals combined with smooth and enjoyable music. Love the whole trilogy, but this is my favorite of them.
- How do you speak with the whole boot on your tongue?