Air Force Defends C-17 Crew's Stopover at Scotland Trump Resort …..
The U.S.
Air Force is defending an aircrew's decision earlier this year to make a scheduled stop in Scotland and stay at a luxury resort owned by President Donald Trump.
The seven-member crew of a
C-17 Globemaster III flying to Kuwait followed all proper procedures and protocols when they stopped at Glasgow's Prestwick Airport and when they booked their stay at Trump's Turnberry resort for a mission in March, the Air Force's top spokesperson told Military.com on Saturday.
"Every two-and-a-half minutes an Air Force transport aircraft takes off or lands somewhere around the globe. As our aircrews serve on these international airlift missions, they follow strict guidelines on contracting for hotel accommodations and all expenditures of taxpayer dollars. In this case, they made reservations through the Defense Travel System and used the closest available and least expensive accommodations to the airfield within the crews' allowable hotel rates."
"While we are still reviewing the trip records, we have found nothing that falls outside the guidelines associated with selecting stopover airports on travel routes and hotel accommodations for crew rest," Thomas added.
"The Trump property -- at $136 a night -- was less expensive than the Marriott property -- $161 a night -- and both were under the per diem rate of $166," Thomas said.
Thomas said the crew, consisting of seven active-duty and Guard crewmembers from Alaska, stayed at Turnberry when en route to Kuwait, "but it doesn't appear the Trump property was used on the return leg."
"With the Global War on Terror and Operation Inherent Resolve drawing down, countries have become increasingly less accommodating with diplomatic clearances, quiet hour waivers etc. [and] Prestwick has none of those restrictions, and the U.K. allows pretty much blanket diplomatic clearances for us," said an Air Force instructor pilot who flies mobility aircraft.
The instructor pilot provided photos of his aircraft parked on the ramp at Prestwick in May.
He noted that he found it unusual Prestwick is the new "in spot," but added it has given some relief to other bases like Ramstein which typically see a heavy traffic of cargo aircraft and tankers, and Lakenheath, which already hosts an abundance of fighter aircraft.
"Now with Prestwick we can typically cut an East Coast stop -- which saves time -- and we relieve pressure on Ramstein," he said.
"A nearby Marriott property was used," Thomas said.
For the March Prestwick incident, Thomas said that a local agent on contract with the U.S. government "assisted with the reservations and indicated that there wasn't a room available closer to Prestwick Airport."
"The hotel was 54 minutes from ... Prestwick, but that is not a remarkable distance to travel to receive government-rate lodging," he said.....snip~
https://www.military.com/daily-news/...mp-resort.html
Uh oh.....Major fkn oops by the Leftness, their Democrats, their lame Stream media.
Now the Collective May connipt and throw $#@!fits and scream at the sky. Oh and at least put some effort into the tantrums so it looks real.