Reservist Says It Was Coincidence That Crew Attended Sonics Games

A McChord Air Force Base reservist says it was just coincidence that a November Air Force flight-training trip stopped in two cities on nights the Seattle Sonics were in town.

Maj. Alan Kifer, 45, of Enumclaw, Wash., says he and others on that trip bought tickets with their own money and saw Sonics basketball games on their own time. He said they are being made scapegoats in a misunderstanding.

Kifer made his remarks Sunday in San Antonio, where reservists from across the country had gathered for training exercises the same weekend as the National Basketball Association All-Star game.

He said he chose the location to make a point. Many reservists were attending the game on their free time, Kifer said, “doing exactly what we are being punished for.”

The Air Force announced plans on Feb. 5 for disciplinary action regarding the C-141 stops in November at Charlotte, N.C., and near Indianapolis, where some crew members attended Sonics games against the Charlotte Hornets and Indiana Pacers.

The Air Force announcement did not identify those who were penalized, whose ranks reportedly range as high as full colonel.

Kifer is the first of the men to identify himself publicly.

“I still can’t understand how or why the allegations grew to what they became,” he said Sunday. “It came out in the media and it mushroomed. The next thing I knew, the Air Force chief of staff was on national television, agreeing it was an outrage.”

Officials at McChord said they cannot comment on Kifer’s contentions until personnel matters in the case are handled.

Kifer said he did not attend the All-Star game, is not a basketball fan and had not attended, before the November trip, a professional game in 14 years.

Kifer said he planned the November mission and that the destinations were determined by the training requirements of an aero-medical wing based in Salt Lake City, the tanker wing at Grissom Air Force Base in Indiana and other aircraft participating in a low-level airdrop training exercise.

The nightmare began, he said, when the ground crew at Charlotte parked the Air Force plane next to the Sonics team jet.

A National Guard lieutenant saw the two planes from the Pacific Northwest side by side, drew a conclusion and called a local TV station to complain about wasted tax dollars, Kifer said.

Crew members hadn’t considered attending the Sonics game until they saw the team plane, Kifer said. They bought tickets from scalpers and attended on their own time, he said.

The plane’s pilot had advance tickets for the Pacers game in Indianapolis, where the Sonics played the following night, but he bought them after the training plans had been made, Kifer said.

A government van was used to get to the Indianapolis game, Kifer said, but only because no rental vehicles were available. The crew paid for gas and parking, Kifer said.

“We are not criminals,” he said. “We’re scapegoats.”

Punishment ranged from letters of admonishment to reductions in grade and pay for nine crew members and the unit’s two highest-ranking officers.