Airmen speak out against reflective belts

[unhappycamper]

Airmen speak out against reflective belts
By Tom Spoth - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Dec 4, 2009 12:30:54 EST

Complain all you want. It won’t do you any good. That reflective belt that offends your sensibilities isn’t going away.

The Air Force is standing firm on the uniform accessory you love to hate: You will wear a neon yellow strap on base to keep you from getting run over in the dark.

“We believe our current policy is solid, and we believe it is valid,” said Paul Carlisle, acting deputy chief of Air Force ground safety. “When (airmen) wear the reflective equipment properly, it provides a significant increase in visibility.”

The reflective belt has been around — no pun intended — for decades and the safety policy in place since at least 2004. But you didn’t start venting your frustration so publicly until August, when a bored airman created an “I Hate Reflective Belts” page on the social networking site Facebook.

The airman, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, shared the page with just 10 friends. Today, with the help of a little media buzz, the Facebook group numbers more than 16,000 and is still growing.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/12/airforce_belts_120409w/