Shot Down

On Sept. 22, 1987 an American pilot named Tim Dorsey shot down a U.S. plane during a flying exercise. The incident could have ended his career, but it didn’t:

“Dorsey offered compelling evidence that something was changing in the Navy. Every time he was up for promotion, a selection board reviewed his performance and the record of the shootdown. They’re required to consider any ‘adverse information’ in their decision. There’s actually a mark in a personnel record, called a Field-Code 17, that signals to members of a selection board that there’s a black mark in the officer’s past. That code stays in the officer’s file. In Dorsey’s, it pointed to hundreds of pages of testimony about the shootdown, flight records, even an invoice that itemizes millions of dollars in damage he caused to US government property.

“During every promotion review, the shadow of the shootdown hung over Dorsey. But it never overtook him.”

Source: Washingtonian
Published: Jun 3, 2013
Length: 34 minutes (8,614 words)
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