God and Country

The unmanned K-MAX helicopter, an experimental UAV deployed to Afghanistan, has reportedly made its first successful resupply mission.

A detachment of Marines from Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 1 moved about 3,500 pounds of food and supplies to troops at Combat Outpost Payne using an unmanned K-MAX helicopter on Dec. 17…

The concept is intended to reduce risk to both ground and helicopter-based resupply missions.

Updated: Also the top story at FoxNews.

US District Judge Jeffrey Miller ruled the surviving members of a family killed by an F/A-18 crash in San Diego were to receive $17.8 million from the US government.  They had sued and sought $56 million.

Don Yoon lost his 36-year-old wife, Youngmi Lee Yoon; his 15-month-old daughter, Grace; his 2-month-old daughter, Rachel; and Read more…

A few examples of the US military’s commitment to supporting its servicemembers through their religious celebrations:

At Ali Al Salem in Kuwait, a Christmas Eve candlelight service was the “culminating event over the month of celebration.”

US Army Chief of Chaplains MajGen Donald Rutherford presided over a Christmas Eve Catholic Mass at Camp Buehring, Kuwait.

Chief of Staff of the Air Force General Norton Schwartz Read more…

After last year’s to-do over the USAFA climate survey, it seems an outside agency will be conducting this year’s version.

The office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs decided in January to charge AFMA with conducting the Academy’s 2011 survey, said Col. Bill Hampton, executive secretary for the Academy’s Board of Visitors.

Brenda Gainey, the survey lead, apparently used the current Air Force surveys as a baseline and then modified them for the USAFA environment.  Translation: Read more…

The Associated Press did a check-up on the experimental X-37B and decided it was still in space, nine months after it launched on its vaguely described (nine-month planned) sortie.

The X-37B orbital test vehicle was due to land in California this week, but the Air Force said Tuesday that the mission will be extended. A landing date has not been set.

The current flight (orbit?) is the second public mission of the vehicle system.  While some sites have noted the “experimental” mission may be in preparation for future missions, there’s nothing to say it isn’t doing now precisely what they want it to…

An experimental F-35C recently launched from the US Navy’s experimental Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS).  Though it was not the first fighter to do so, it may very well be the first single-engine aircraft major weapons system launched by a US Navy catapult of any kind in some time.  By the time the F-35 is operational, the EMALS will likely be established on the Gerald R. Ford class of carriers, assuming no major issues in each program.

The DoD published the video on YouTube.

The Buddhist Military Sangha announced the entrance of Lt Niphon Suk into the US Army Chaplain Candidate program.  It appears he may be the third US Army Buddhist chaplain; the Navy also has two or three.

The 2011 edition of the annual “Wastebook” (pdf) published by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), which contains a list of “wasteful and low priority government spending,” includes the “Falcon Circle” erected by the US Air Force Academy earlier in the year.

79) Air Force Academy Builds “Stonehenge-like Worship Center” – (CO) $51,474

The worship center is “for the handful of current or future cadets whose religions fall under the broad category of ‘Earth-based,’” which includes Wiccans, druids and pagans.

Three students out of 4,300 students self-reported as currently having an “earth-based” religion…

The American people support religious freedom, but this investment challenges their faith in government to ever make smart budget choices.

Senator Coburn seems to make the point that his complaint is an issue of “smart budget choices” rather than a lack of desire to support religious freedom.  It’s also important to note that millions of dollars are spent on US military facilities to support the religious liberty of US troops.

While one could argue the “per capita” for pagans was Read more…

Purists have for years mocked the Hollywood portrayal of military UAVs.  The 2007 Transformers, for example, featured an afterburning Predator.

The Predator has a propeller, so that’s like having an afterburning Cessna 172.

Now, however, reality has started to catch up with fiction.  The Air Force has reportedly purchased — and deployed, its single Predator C, which has a jet engine in place of the propeller.

It does not appear to be an afterburning engine, but there’s still time yet…

The US Coast Guard pilot charged with negligent homicide for the 2010 crash of his helicopter has faced his Article 32 hearing.  Lt. Lance Leone was the sole survivor of the crash, which occurred when the helicopter hit a 1,900-foot unmarked wire span.  The lead investigator said the wires were improperly marked, but even so, the helicopter should never have been that low.

Capt. Timothy Heitsch…said that as an aviator, he did not believe the lines were marked in a way they could have been seen…

The helicopter hit Read more…

CIA civilian Gary Powers, infamously shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960 in a U-2, will be posthumously awarded a Silver Star by the US Air Force.

The Air Force determined that the U-2 pilot showed “steadfast loyalty” while under harsh interrogation in Soviet prisons… [citing] his “sustained courage” and gallantry despite “cajolery, trickery, insults and threats of death.”

Issues of classification and political strain kept Powers from any Read more…

A variety of sites have noted the decision by Travis AFB to defend its nativity and Menorah.  A few have noted the Travis AFB chaplains helped local atheist Airman SSgt Dan Rawlings erect an atheist display.

As more find out about it, more commenters are also questioning the Air Force’s decision to allow the atheist sign — not because of the sign itself, but the “flying spaghetti monster” on it [ellipses original]:

the flying spaghetti monster display is now up…mocking every belief out there. They had a great opportunity to be recognized and they turned it into a mockery. Sad, really. Great job staff sergeant…17 years without a complaint, you come along…complain, then mock everyone with your display. Isn’t that against military policies…to mock others?

As noted previously, even local non-religious people have said the atheists appear to be mocking their fellow Airmen Read more…

Students participating in the Army Junior ROTC high school program will now have more options when it comes to religious clothing in uniform.  In October, Demin Zawity, a freshman at Ravenwood High School in Brentwood, TN, was told she could not wear her Islamic headscarf while in the Army JROTC uniform.  While that policy was consistent with the US Army policy, there was some consternation even by Army officials, some of whom called JROTC a “citizenship” program, not a military program.

Now CAIR, the group that originally accused the Army of discrimination, has said the DoD told them

the Department of Defense will now allow Muslim Read more…

The issue of the legality of the Camp Pendleton cross was elevated to higher headquarters, according to a local article.

A group of reporters was allowed to make the trek to see the memorial upon which the controversy was based.  To his credit, Mark Walker of the North County Times accurately gave some depth to the content of the memorial:

The site is home to numerous mementos, as well as the crosses, neither of which is visible from nearby Interstate 5.

Each is surrounded by thousands of rocks carried up by Marines from sea level at Camp Horno as a homage to troops killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. Many of those rocks have hand-scrawled messages of love and remembrance.

There are dozens of bottles of booze, Read more…

Wise men still seek Him.

Have a wonderful celebration of the birth of our Savior.