Maj Gen Pineda Misconduct Investigation Hits the News

[MIKE]

Air Force Times story: http://www.airforcetimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-2440696.php

[Pylon]

Air Force Times story: http://www.airforcetimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-2440696.php

Wow.   

[ZigZag911]

[/quote]

Ok, but a CAP course will not advance his standing with FDLE. He's already a senor special agent.
[/quote]

Keep in mind that ACSC  (as well as SOS and AWC) is an Air Force course which CAP officers have the privilege of taking...this fact would probably impress many emloyers.

[CAPLAW]

 

I have faith in the General's integrity.  We should support our commander and let the I.G conduct the investigation and we as officers should not generate any rumors.

[mikeylikey]

 

I have faith in the General's integrity.  We should support our commander and let the I.G conduct the investigation and we as officers should not generate any rumors.

Do you by chance work for NHQ?  Just thought I would ask.  WE as officers should be in pursuit of the truth.  Who has generated rumors.  For all we know, the allegations are true.  We will only know once the investigation is over. 

[MattPHS2002]

Mikey,

I agree with you but if the allegations are exactly as Mr. Hayden asserts we will never know what exactly happened.

[CAP428]

Who has generated rumors.  For all we know, the allegations are true.  We will only know once the investigation is over. 

True.  For all we know, the allegations could be true.  But in America, people are presumed innocent until proven guilty, not presumed guilty until proven innocent.  So yes, endeavor for the truth.  But we should support our National Commander.  There is nothing wrong with that.  After all, he is the commander over us.

[Lancer]

The Air Force Times article stated:

"Raymond Hayden, until recently a CAP officer, said Friday that he completed the 18-month correspondence course for which Maj. Gen. Antonio Pineda, CAP's national commander, received credit."

This course is an online course through the AFIADL system yes? If so, then my first thought would be to check access logs for IP address information.

Like others, I hate to speculate, but I'm really having problems with one person crying 'lack of integrity', this late in the game to boot, when it's their own lack of integrity that, allegedly, created this incident. As much as I want this to be the hogwash we all believe it to be, I certainly hope for Mr. Hayden's sake that he speaks the truth or forever be looked at shamefully by those that know him.

[Major_Chuck]

Great.  Now the AF Times is running the story.  How is this going to look to every Air Force Officer who's attended this course.  "We give a bunch of volunteers the privledge of taking one of our courses and look what happens."

Whether this is true or not we're going to get the black eye for it.

Thanks Tony Pineda, Thanks Mr. Hayden,  thanks Munger, and "NOTF".  Your feuding is harming the greater good.

[SJFedor]

If only it were that simple...

It's actually done on paper, ACSC is a series of tests covering a whole bunch of different topics, not sure really, well above my pay grade, and you complete the tests as you go along, they're proctored by a TCO, and sent to AFIADL for grading. They're done on one of those scan-tron sheets they stick in the machine.

They can be done online at a Test Control center at an AFB, but, like someone else mentioned, you might go to do it and get a response of "Civil Air What?" when you attempt to take it. But that's controlled by AF personnel, and would be extremely hard to cheat on, because that would involve identity fraud and fun things like that.

I've tried to stay quiet on this, but here's my pondering. If Pineda had Hayden do these tests, I'm wondering, who was the TCO administering the test? It said Hayden was the "director of education" I'm guessing professional development officer, but not the Test Control Officer. Doesn't that mean that someone else would know about it?

[Lancer]

It's actually done on paper, ACSC is a series of tests covering a whole bunch of different topics, not sure really, well above my pay grade, and you complete the tests as you go along, they're proctored by a TCO, and sent to AFIADL for grading. They're done on one of those scan-tron sheets they stick in the machine.

Well, paper retains fingerprints and handwriting recognition is useful too. I'm hard pressed to believe those test sheets have been destroyed.

[Ricochet13]

Amazing . . . . sounds like a bunch of 10 year olds at lunch recess.  Sorry didn't mean to insult 10 year olds.  Don't feel sorry for anyone involved in this mess.

[Pylon]

Amazing . . . . sounds like a bunch of 10 year olds at lunch recess.  Sorry didn't mean to insult 10 year olds.  Don't feel sorry for anyone involved in this mess.

I don't know if any of us feel sorry for those involved, but a great many of us feel sorry for the damage to CAP's reputation and image that's taking a severe clubbing as a result of this little spat.

[JohnKachenmeister]

Officers, including general officers, screw up in the Air Force all the time, and the Air Force replaces them and moves on.  I don't see any long-term effects for CAP out of this incident no matter how it turns out.

Unless Pineda gives himself a third star, then... Back to the purple epaulets!

[SJFedor]

Unless Pineda gives himself a third star, then... Back to the purple epaulets!

I think it'll be lime green epaulets, orange flight suits, and severely modified USAF service dress uniform. Short sleeve blue shirt with blue shorts and red socks up to the knees. With khaki colored shoes.

^ next corporate uniform combo

[Johnny Yuma]

The hot water is getting hotter...

Maj Gen Pineda now being investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, according to the Miami Herald:

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/16291787.htm

Why would the FDLE be involved? Its not a crime to cheat. Its just unethical which in this country is also not a crime.

Any time an LEO has a serious accuastion laid upon him like this there will be an investigation. It goes to his credibility in a court of law. 

If memory serves, FDLE also certifies and revoke LEO commissions for the entire state and they're hell on any sort of unethical behavior like he's accused of.

IF, I say, IF, he's found to have had Hayden take his exams he'll likely lose his job at FDLE and lose his certification, making him ineligible to work in Law Enforcement at least in Florida. Probably anywhere else as well.

As to the media coverage: Pineda is well known to the Miami area media from various cases he's worked, including some major gang related crime figures as well as the trouble in the state child welfare issues of late.  A quick Yahoo! search on "Tony Pineda FDLE" will bring some of them up. AF Times probably got the story off the news wires and being the USAF AUX ran with it.

This is going to go one of 3 ways: If the charges are unfounded completely he'll stay on and nothing's going to touch him the rest of his term.

If the charges are found to be inconclusive he'll probably be " encouraged" to resign as NHQ/CC by the BoG and/or FDLE to prevent further embarrassment to either organization.

If they're found to be true, stick a fork in him because he's done.

[DNall]

I don't know if any of us feel sorry for those involved, but a great many of us feel sorry for the damage to CAP's reputation and image that's taking a severe clubbing as a result of this little spat.

Exactly.

This supposedly happened three years ago. There won't be much if any physical evidence.

Air Force Times huh? Welcome aboard OSI. No doubt they'll take it now. Stand aside & let them do their job. I think AU/IG was probably already on top of it since fraud/thier test proceedures are at stake. 

My greatest doubt on this is that it occured when Pineda was already a Colonel. If that's the case, then there was no advantage from completing ACSC. If he thought it was too hard, then he could have just withdrawn & no one would know or care. That's wnat makes it curious. And that's it for me, I'm outta this one.

[Earhart1971]

CAP surpresses new ideas and vision

Your views that CAP Leaders surpress new ideas and vision, is not unknown to me. The Boards at CAP are locked into small thinking.

The problem with Air Force Officers, (by the way I am an Air Force Vet) is they know about the Air Force and do not understand CAP or have a vision for CAP. 

And the Air Force does not fund us. Its Congress and the Air Force would slice and dice us to nothing, if Congress did not have a bunch of CAP members.

[Psicorp]

Amazing . . . . sounds like a bunch of 10 year olds at lunch recess.  Sorry didn't mean to insult 10 year olds.  Don't feel sorry for anyone involved in this mess.

Unfortunately, due to the possible reprecussions of this, we are all "involved in this mess".    What gets me is Mr. Hayden's thirst for vengence/justice/the last word without any thought to the organization as a whole.  The only thing that matters in his  diatribe is the accusation against our National CC.  His grief against anyone else is immaterial and is nothing more than the political debauchery we've all come to know and love. 

So what we have is an Officer who did something he knew was wrong (or should have), felt mistreated by other Officers, got himself between a rock and a hard spot and asked for help, was denied, and so to make himself feel better (or to wage a personal crusade) he writes a letter to News of the Force rather than have a sit-down with CAP legal and/or the I.G. (or whatever the proper chain of command for such an issue is).

The relationship we have with the Air Force is a privilege.  What we didn't need is for the Air Force to think we're an organization without integrity and all we've strove for is now at risk.  Gee...thank you Mr. Hayden...I'm glad you  feel better.

And that's all I got to say about that.

[JohnKachenmeister]

It doesn't matter how this turns out.

TP guilty or innocent, it is an embarrassment to all of us. 

The fact remains that a senior officer is making accusations about cheating, admitting in the aiding of cheating, and admitting conduct which almost amounts to blackmail. 

If the accusations are true, we will have a major scandal to embarrass us.

If the accusations are false, we are still left with the embarrassing fact that one of our senior officers (until recently) is a rotten, spiteful liar.

No good can come of any of this.

But, that being said, it is ONLY an embarrassment.  This will not shake CAP to its foundations.  We will replace the disgraced officer or officers and we will move on.

The Air Force also suffers such embarrassments from time to time.  At Patrick AFB we've had officers and senior NCO's involved in a sex scandal, providing a female airman to the chief of the inspection team, and a couple of NCO's who were also court-martialled for cheating on exams.

They have already replaced the people involved, and the incidents are now part of history.

"Bad news goes away."  They teach you that truism at Public Affairs School.  Let it happen, (since you can't stop it anyway), take the action necessary, and allow the sordid matter to pass into history.