National Guard helicopter lands on private property; elk antlers stolen

hank4elk said:
Gaurdies. We called them draft dodgers in my day.
Usually low life's taking the low road. Officers were worse.
I hear the spinless rules changed a few years back.

Plenty of trespassers after sheds around here. Lots of part time workers. They never worked a full day in their life at a real job.
Never got into shed collecting much. Have 2 from bulls I took.
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No shame in avoiding conscription/slavery if you have the sense God gave a goose.
 
The antler issue is interesting and I am glad that charges are being pressed. But I hope there is some serious career fallout and consequences also for essentially joyriding a 5-20 million dollar piece of government equipment in an unprofessional manner. Conduct unbecoming an officer/pilot, misuse of government property, etc. We can’t condone behavior that implies they can do what they want with govt helicoptors of all things. If they took a pickup truck off base to joyride and raise hell, that alone should be a big deal. What about issued weapons? Aviation has specific risks, responsibilities, and costs that far surpass a few antlers or a tresspass ticket, as much as that is warranted. An example needs to be made, and publicly.
 
Wildabeest said:
Agree with the points on sheds being different than deadheads or live wildlife. Not a lawyer, but I’d lean towards the “possession is 9/10ths of the law” doctrine. In other words, whoever possesses the shed thus owns it. If it’s on my property, then I possess it. If it’s on public, it is unpossessed and therefore not owned by anyone and free for the taking absent any restrictions on shed hunting there. To play @schmalts just for fun, if it’s in my dog’s mouth being retrieved, is that considered my possession? 🤷‍♂️
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On federal lands you can't remove firewood, minerals, archaeological artifacts without a permit
 
Bullshot said:
The antler issue is interesting and I am glad that charges are being pressed. But I hope there is some serious career fallout and consequences also for essentially joyriding a 5-20 million dollar piece of government equipment in an unprofessional manner. Conduct unbecoming an officer/pilot, misuse of government property, etc. We can’t condone behavior that implies they can do what they want with govt helicoptors of all things. If they took a pickup truck off base to joyride and raise hell, that alone should be a big deal. What about issued weapons? Aviation has specific risks, responsibilities, and costs that far surpass a few antlers or a tresspass ticket, as much as that is warranted. An example needs to be made, and publicly.
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I don’t know how the Guard runs things, but in the Marine Corps there would be 0 question, these guys would be phucked and in a big way. We used to do lots of things for training back in the day that may have been done in conjunction with legal activities. Like cross country training…while lobster is on sale in Maine, in Nov when it’s nice to chase pheasants in ND, to grab a pair of boots your GF left in MT, a buddy’s wedding in WA, sockeye run on the Buskin…all things that happened to have been going on once you landed. Take stuff like that away and it’s not as appealing to stick around and deal with the BS.
Once charges got dropped and it made the news these guys will be lucky if they get to retain their VA benefits. Careers are over for sure. Hell, in the USMC their CO would have already been fired.
These guys won’t get a week of desk duty like when I took my dogs on a trip 😂. I’d bet a large sum an example will be made. It isn’t going to end well for these guys.
The somewhat ironic piece of this is that this is what the military kind of looks for in its pilots, risk takers. Before pilot selection you take a test that has some questions in it that you don’t think are serious, but it is a personality assessment you can certainly fail. They want Maverick from Top Gun type people, not Bill Gates types. Obviously these guys took things too far. Bad deal for them.
 
Bullshot said:
The antler issue is interesting and I am glad that charges are being pressed. But I hope there is some serious career fallout and consequences also for essentially joyriding a 5-20 million dollar piece of government equipment in an unprofessional manner. Conduct unbecoming an officer/pilot, misuse of government property, etc. We can’t condone behavior that implies they can do what they want with govt helicoptors of all things. If they took a pickup truck off base to joyride and raise hell, that alone should be a big deal. What about issued weapons? Aviation has specific risks, responsibilities, and costs that far surpass a few antlers or a tresspass ticket, as much as that is warranted. An example needs to be made, and publicly.
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This reminded me of the few times we gave out administrative actions to members who took government vehicles off base to get food in a drive-thru.
 
Labman said:
I don’t know how the Guard runs things, but in the Marine Corps there would be 0 question, these guys would be phucked and in a big way. We used to do lots of things for training back in the day that may have been done in conjunction with legal activities. Like cross country training…while lobster is on sale in Maine, in Nov when it’s nice to chase pheasants in ND, to grab a pair of boots your GF left in MT, a buddy’s wedding in WA, sockeye run on the Buskin…all things that happened to have been going on once you landed. Take stuff like that away and it’s not as appealing to stick around and deal with the BS.
Once charges got dropped and it made the news these guys will be lucky if they get to retain their VA benefits. Careers are over for sure. Hell, in the USMC their CO would have already been fired.
These guys won’t get a week of desk duty like when I took my dogs on a trip 😂. I’d bet a large sum an example will be made. It isn’t going to end well for these guys.
The somewhat ironic piece of this is that this is what the military kind of looks for in its pilots, risk takers. Before pilot selection you take a test that has some questions in it that you don’t think are serious, but it is a personality assessment you can certainly fail. They want Maverick from Top Gun type people, not Bill Gates types. Obviously these guys took things too far. Bad deal for them.
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To be clear, were doing AFTPs, not joy riding. Landing a helicopter can’t really be considered risky behavior in the world of flying helicopters. There is also the question of whether or not they actually landed on private land or land locked state land. That will likely be determined by a jury at this point. Either way, the crew is pretty much screwed for shining a bad light on the guard and will be made an example of.
 
Tradewind said:
so what is a nice set of antlers worth?
asking for a friend
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It’s going to cost these 3 guys six figures worth of pensions and medical benefits they will never see. If they were active duty it would be in the seven figure range.

I’ve seen many fall on their sword for booze and/or women, a couple guys booted for cheating at land nav, and heard about the C5 crew running a Moly ring on the E coast from Germany. Ending a career and a pension/lifetime of benefits over elk antlers is a first for me.
 
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Labman said:
It’s going to cost these 3 guys six figures worth of pensions and medical benefits they will never see. If they were active duty it would be in the seven figure range.

I’ve seen many fall on their sword for booze and/or women. Ending a career and a pension/lifetime of benefits over elk antlers is a first for me.
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They won’t lose their VA benefits. Unless the have considerable active duty time, they won’t lose much in the way of pension. Biggest loser will be the MTNG.
 
ismith said:
They won’t lose their VA benefits. Unless the have considerable active duty time, they won’t lose much in the way of pension. Biggest loser will be the MTNG.
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I hadn’t ever really dug deep into it but had been lead to believe anything other than honorable discharges could affect GI Bill eligibility.
 
TheGrayRider said:
Veterans joke:


“How do you know there’s a pilot in the room?”


“They’ll tell you.”
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I am on a board with a retired pilot. While I respect him for his service, he is the most nauseating person I know. I started timing how long it would take in a board meeting for him to bring it up, last night it was 30 seconds. Came up another half dozen times during the 45 minute meeting.
 
alecvg said:
I am on a board with a retired pilot. While I respect him for his service, he is the most nauseating person I know. I started timing how long it would take in a board meeting for him to bring it up, last night it was 30 seconds. Came up another half dozen times during the 45 minute meeting.
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I believe you, alecvg. Exhausting. I quickly learn to avoid them.

Happy hunting to all, TheGrayRider a/k/a Tom.
 
Maybe they thought it was National Forest or BLM land and they were just trying to beat other government employees at their game.
 
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