U.S. Air Force General, Thomas L. Tinsley, Dead from Gunshot Wound to Chest
July 30th, 2008Interesting Coincidence: Tinsley’s previous boss, Michael “Buzz” Mosely, resigned in the wake of the Minot Nukes incident.
Via: AP:
The officer who commands an air force wing in Alaska has died of a gunshot wound that likely was self-inflicted, authorities said Monday.
Brig. Gen. Thomas L. Tinsley suffered a gunshot wound to his chest late Sunday night and was pronounced dead within a half hour, said Col. Richard Walberg, who assumed command at Elmendorf Air Force Base after Tinsley’s death.
The weapon was likely a handgun, Walberg said.
Medical responders who rushed to Tinsley’s home on base were unable to save him. Tinsley’s wife and college-age daughter were home at the time.
Tinsley was named base commander in May 2007. He had served as an F-15 instructor pilot, F-15C test pilot, wing weapons officer, exchange officer and instructor with the Royal Australian Air Force.
His previous 22-month assignment was executive officer to the Air Force chief of staff, Gen. T. Michael “Buzz” Mosely, who resigned in June under pressure in an agency shake-up.
Mosely, the Air Force military chief, and Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne, the agency’s civilian head, were held accountable for failing to fully correct an erosion of nuclear-related performance standards. One concern was a cross-country flight in August of a B-52 carrying armed nuclear weapons.
Walberg said Tinsley was not under investigation or undue stress.
“As far as stress, sir, this job, by nature of being an Air Force officer in a nation at war, is stressful,” he said. “Undue stress, no.”
Representatives of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology will do a report and declare whether Tinsley’s cause of death was suicide, Walberg said. Such reports take about 30 days.
that brings the death toll to 7 by my count
http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/2007/112107Lindorff.shtml
Can you say “catastrophic and catalyzing”?
Yeah, and here’s another Weird coinkydink.
http://www.military.com/news/article/b52-crash-victims-identified-.html
Wonder how many of the six that just died in this crash were part of the “greeting party” for the B-52 that came in from Minot?
I smell Dick Cheney’s bad breath all over this story.
Wow! Nice find. Well, now that all the “boy scouts” are out of the way, absconding with a nuke won’t be such a big deal! It’s for our own good, after all.
I just reread the Tinsley piece, and caught this: “The weapon was likely a handgun, Walberg said.”
LIKELY? They don’t KNOW?! Don’t tell me, after he shot himself, he threw it so far away that no one could find it.