"OK, here is the deal with jason plemmons. He told me all of this right after he got back. He was sitting around sunday night and decided he wanted to get out of here for a little bit (he intended to come back) so he went to the library to get an atlas and find out how to get to Dartmouth college in Mass. There was this chick that goes there that was in our AP calc class in high school and he wanted her. Anyways he figured how to get there and the next day he asked his squadron ops officer after school if he could borrow his car to go get his books he left at his sponsors that he needed for class. He let him have the car and he left around 1600. (turns out both of his sponsors had been tdy for 2 weeks and he had never been over there) The car was a [1996 White Nissan Altima]. He drove all night to about either ohio or iowa and pulled over at a rest stop. It was late at night and he figured that the car had been reported stolen so he was going to take off the license plates but then he figured that would be too suspicious. Then he tried to sleep for 45 minutes but he couldn't because he was too worried about getting caught so he started driving again. He basically drove non-stop to dartmouth. When he got there he had no idea what dorm she was in and she didn't even know he was coming so he found a pay phone and called her and told her he was standing outside of the dorm. She brought him up and said his parents had called her so he called his parents. He called his parents who then informed him that the Academy was "looking" for him. His parents then called the Academy and said they knew where he was, the Academy said good tell us and we'll go get him. (basically make a big scene at dartmouth and arrest him). His dad is a Col. in the AF and said no, here is what is going to happen, his AOC will pick him up at c-springs airport the next day at 2 or so. So jason spent the night out there (I don't know if she made it worth his drive or not) and drove to boston airport and flew back. this was right before spring break and the firstie wanted his car but he didn't want it driven back so jasons parents had to pay $2000 to have the car transported back here on a flatbed and then paid 10 cents a mile put on it for wear/tear. They also paid for the guy to have a rental car over the break which was expensive too. Jason had to go see a lawyer and then went to gen hopper. Apparently gen hopper said that this little incident "won't kill you." which jason took to mean that he could stay here, but apparently some people were pushing pretty hard to get him out. I think it meant he would actually get out of levenworth in a few years. So he resigned and he ended up owing the Academy a ton of money because they wouldn't take back any of his stuff. It was funny because the day he left I saw him at the clinic getting all that free over the counter stuff from the pharmacy and putting it in his bag. He said since the Academy screwed him he was trying to screw them. When I asked him why he did it, he said "i don't know, it wasn't a very rational decision." he used to mow lawns for awhile back home and now he goes to a junior college and works at the book store." (Look for a White Nissian leaving the reservation in the painting)

Well, 14 days till recognition was coming, and our squad comm said he wanted something special to let EVERYONE know there were 14 days until recognition. Well, we stepped up and did just that.

Brendan Burke and I came up with the idea to paint the strips, and we decided to get some paint. He got the money and the afternoon before went out and bought the paint...but it wasn't water soluble. He figured interior paint was all water soluble, but he got latex instead, which isn't remotely.

Well around 0030 we went to work. Simon Palfery, Patrick Comiskey and I got the paint and a roller, and started with what Scott Crabtree deemed the "Power strip" from our squad, down the west side of the air gardens, and into Mitchell hall. We did this one cuz it was the strip we had to run every morning because we "couldn't bring it weak and go over and drop our books at
Fairchild and not have to greet". Well, we decided to just put a single roller wide strip down instead of taking the time to paint the whole strip. (so the white marble showed on both sides). Anyway, we painted the whole strip, and still had TONS of paint, so we added the entire strip in front of Sijan down to the west side of Mitch's, stopping to give the "Midas touch" to the fire hydrants on the way. We then went on to paint a big gold box around where wing staff and the colors stood for formation, and then painted a huge 14 about two full blocks high and two wide right where we formed up to march.

We tested it to see if it would come off. After the first square we knew we were in trouble but we figured the hell with it and did it anyway. It was late at night but I still remember several people walking by and all saying pretty much the same thing, "I hope that stuff's gonna come off." Of course everyone knows how that came out. [Half the class was scrubbing the next day.] I know we didn't mind too much because our squad was pretty sadistic for training and at least that way, we weren't getting trained. It did get all the freshmen in our squad and extra WKP after Recognition, though, because all our upperclassmen (and even our AOC) thought it was really cool. My AOC did get to spend some good, quality hours in General Hopper's office though, covering for us. Oh, one more little thing: while everyone else in the wing was doing "duty, honor, country" or "prop and wings," after the incident our three left faces became "water, soluable, paint"-- kind of as a joke and kind of as a taunt to the upperclassmen.

John Blocher & Patrick Comiskey
ex-Killer Cobras