Month: June 2010

Gazette Chronicles Weinstein Method

The Colorado Springs Gazette, which is local to the US Air Force Academy, had a short article on Michael Weinstein that seems to show Weinstein warming to the USAF Academy view on religion.  What was interesting was the Gazette‘s summation of Weinstein’s method:

The broad outlines of Weinstein’s approach: Condemn in the strongest language possible. Publicly embarrass. Sue if necessary. Each new step raises the pressure on his publicity-averse targets.

Criticize.  Humiliate.  Intimidate and threaten.  This has long been Weinstein’s approach; it enables him to circumvent the policy-making processes, as well as the policies themselves, by coercing a public official to accept his demands.  His intimidation and threats Read more

Putin Says New Russian Jet Bests F-22

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has reportedly said the Russian T-50, sometimes dubbed the “F-22ski”

will be superior to our main competitor, the F-22, in terms of maneuverability, weaponry and range.

One would certainly hope an aircraft first flown in 2010 — with a planned employment date of 2015 — would at least claim to be superior to one developed more than 20 years ago; the YF-22 first flew in 1990.  Also, the news report, seeking to highlight something significant, quoted this from the Russian releases:  Read more

Summer Choices: Band Camp or War Zone

While many upcoming college seniors are spending their summer at the beach, at work, or doing whatever else they might want, the US Air Force Academy continued its tradition of sending senior cadets to the combat AOR.

Air Force Academy seniors, Cadet 1st Class Eric Varner…and Cadet 1st Class Alan Foote…visit the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia as part of their summer deployed operatons program.

Urban legend has it that USAFA Cadets deployed to Vietnam Read more

Review: Fighter Pilot, Memoirs of Legendary Ace Robin Olds

Robin Olds
St Martin’s Press, 2010

Robin Olds is a legend in the fighter pilot community, though he may not be recognized outside of it.  Many people may remember, for example, the famous Operation BOLO during Vietnam, which used F-4s to impersonate F-105s and succeeded in destroying a third of the North Vietnamese MiG-21s in a single mission – but few know then-Col Robin Olds was responsible for it.  Fighter Pilot is his story, and it is explicitly delivered as a memoir, rather than an autobiography.  Thus, it is not a detailed birth-to-death retelling of his life, but a first-hand recounting of the things he wishes to convey.  (The book was completed after his 2007 death by his daughter, Christina Olds, and Ed Rasimus, himself a retired fighter pilot.)

The book starts off somewhat slowly, almost as if (despite its status as a “memoir”), Olds (or his co-authors) felt obligated to include some stories from the early parts of his life.  He mentions his early pilot training days and a few significant events briefly, but provides little detail or introspective.  For example, he casually mentions, without further insight, that he attended the Air Corps Tactical School, which would ultimately form the basis for all air doctrine in the Army Air Forces and eventually the independent Air Force.  He also covers his entire training, from his early wartime graduation from West Point through becoming a pilot, in a scant 20 pages.  Some of the lack of detail may be for a very understandable cause: he simply didn’t remember much from those early days.  Another may be more pragmatic: Olds is known for his time in Vietnam, not pilot training.

Unlike some other fighter pilot books, Read more

Priests Get Air Force Tours, Incentive Flight

Timothy Broglio, Archbishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, recently joined a group of Catholic priests for a recruiting visit at Peterson AFB, CO.  Broglio was most recently in the news for his statement against the repeal of “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”

During the visit, the 8 Roman Catholic priests observed military members in action and got a C-21 ride to view Pike’s Peak from the air.

The military objective of the visit was to recruit more Catholic priests to the military Chaplaincy.  While the Air Force is cutting Chaplains this year, Catholic Chaplains are the one group who are not being reduced.

Senior Enlisted Chiefs Forced Out Over Cheating

Not long after talking about the discharge of the cheating Marines, Stars and Stripes noted that two Navy Chiefs are being “forced to retire” after helping a Sailor cheat on a military advancement exam.

During a rare court-martial at sea, chief petty officers Reynaldo M. Bernardo and Ferdinand P. Quinto were found guilty May 24 of failing to obey a lawful order, said the aircraft carrier’s spokesman, LtCmdr Bill Urban…

It appears the cheating, which occurred on the USS George Washington, was fairly obvious: 

During the exam, Bernardo and Quinto moved a sailor to a different table and then instructed the sailor to cheat off another sailor’s test, Read more

General Amos Chosen for Views on DADT?

As more organizations and commenters discuss the supposed recommendation by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to nominate General James Amos as the next Commandant of the Marine Corps, there is speculation that his views on “Don’t ask, don’t tell” played a role.  The current Commandant, General James Conway, was the most forcefully outspoken against the repeal of DADT among the Service Chiefs.

The speculation appears to attempt to explain why Amos, an aviator who would head the Marines during what is largely a ground war, was chosen over the “leading contender,” Read more

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