F-16 Fighting Falcon News

January 24, 2011 (by Asif Shamim) - Airforce officials are keeping quiet about a commander with the Alabama Air National Guard who could possibly face charges following an investigation that he had received nearly $96,000 in unauthorized compensatory time and had regularly flown an F-16 on personal trips.
The Montgomery Advertiser obtained a report via the Freedom of Information Act, in which an unamed wing commander of the 187th Fighter Wing, was ultimately found to have committed four violations of National Guard and Air Force regula­tions.

However the Advertiser was able to gain access to the officers name through its sources and named him as Col. Jeffrey Smiley.

The complaint was filed with the Secretary of the Air Force in January 2009 and contained a total of eight allegations against Smiley, four of which were found to be unsubstantiated.

It is understood at least three investigations were carried out on behalf of the Air Force Inspec­tor General. The final one was con­ducted by the Alabama Na­tional Guard which found that there was evidence to substantiate three of the allegations, while a fourth was was then upheld by the Air Force Inspector General.

Two of the upheld complaints are listed below:

• Abused the compensato­ry time provisions of the Ala­bama National Guard Tech­nician Personnel Manual by accumulating excessive com­pensatory time and convert­ing it into additional flight training periods and increas­ing his annual salary;
• Improperly used govern­ment property for personal use by flying a unit F-16 to Houston to visit family on numerous occasions during his first year in command.