Report: F-16 Pilot Flew into Afghan Mountain

The Air Force Times reports on the Air Force investigation that determined Capt James Steel was flying visually when he impacted a mountain during his recovery to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, in April of this year:

The report released by Air Combat Command officials at Langley Air Force Base, Va., says 29-year-old Capt. James Michael Steel crashed April 3 about 12 miles outside Bagram Air Field…

The report says Steel flew into a mountainous area obscured by poor weather conditions and that he did not attempt to eject before slamming into the mountain. The report says Steel was flying below the minimum safe altitude at the time of the crash.

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Air Force Unable to Fill Unmanned Cockpits

US Air force Col Bradley Hoaglan wrote a report from the Brookings Institution saying the Air Force can’t fill its annual requirements for unmanned remotely piloted aircraft (UAV/RPA) operators. As reported at the Stars and Stripes,

In 2012, the Air Force filled only 82 percent of its remotely piloted aircraft, or RPA, training slots, while virtually all manned aircraft slots were filled. And as of early this year…the Air Force Academy had only 12 volunteers for its 40 RPA training slots.

The Air Force apparently attributes the problem to a lower Read more

Atheist Army Officer Wants Recruits to Avoid Liberty U

US Army Capt Sara Sharick publicly identifies as an Army officer and recruiter — and she’s an atheist. When a potential Army recruit walked into her office one day, she was “disappointed” to learn he wanted to attend Liberty University.

So my Center Commander asks him where he plans on going to college. I’m thinking K State or KU, some place local. He says “Liberty University.” I just about choked…I pull out my phone and look up if Liberty even has an ROTC program. Sure as [redacted], both Army and Air Force. So disappointed.

Why is she “disappointed?”  She says Liberty University is home to “the crazies,” apparently referring to Christians, given that Liberty is a mainstream Christian university.  (Sharick joins Michael Weinstein’s loathing for the school, when he called it “horrifying” that Liberty would teach the same material other universities do.)

At first, Sharick seemed willing to grit her teeth and help the kid out:  Read more

Jewish Chaplain Considers Messianic Jews

The issue of US military chaplains being Messianic Jews boiled over several years ago.  Ultimately, the Navy decided that a Messianic-Jewish chaplain-candidate had to wear the Christian cross as a religious symbol, rather than the Jewish tablets he wanted.  He chose to resign instead, and no one else has stepped forward to continue the controversy.

Still, there are Messianic Jews within the military, and Chaplain David Frommer wrote about his experiences while deployed to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, when he discovered that one of the half-dozen Jews in his congregation was Messianic.

one of the Jewish civilian contractors arrived with a personal box of Havdalah supplies, prepared to conduct the service on his own in the room across the hall. He was one of my favorite congregants and had enthusiastically participated in all the services and classes I had offered…“It’s so Read more

CAIR, the KKK, and Michael Weinstein

The Council on Islamic-American Relations (CAIR) recently called the group “ACT! For America” the equivalent of the KKK and demanded a speaker not be allowed to use county property.

Hassan Shibly, an attorney and executive director of CAIR of Tampa, said he supports freedom of speech.

But this individual makes statements to incite violence against the Muslim community, so I think that the line has been crossed,” Shibly said. “ACT! is an extremist group no different than the KKK. And if the KKK wanted to use that room, there would be a protest…”

CAIR relies upon the “KKK” line frequently.  The speaker in question, UCF Professor Jonathan Matusitz, sounded a calm tone:  Read more

Attack Pilots Save Ambushed Soldiers

A Bagram Air Base press release highlights the derring-do of two A-10 pilots who “save[d] 60 Soldiers during [a] convoy ambush.”

The pilots continued to fire 30 mm rounds, but the enemy force refused to fall back. …The convoy’s commander approved the pilots to engage “danger-close.” The term is meant to clearly communicate to the ground and air forces that the need for support is so grave the ground commander is willing to accept the potential risk to the friendly unit Read more

Update: Weinstein Blames Harmful Christians for Air Force Reversal

After weeks of stewing, Michael Weinstein finally responded to Col Brian Duffy’s decision to re-post Chaplain (LtCol) Kenneth Reyes’ once-banned article on the base website, over Weinstein’s objections.

Michael Weinstein’s response was predictable, though it went counter to his public face of supporting “religious freedom.”

Weinstein blamed bad Christians for the Air Force reversal.  Weinstein said:

This was the Air Force caving in to pernicious, fundamentalist Christian pressure…

So much for supporting “military religious freedom,” eh?

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Marines and Challenge Coins

A US Marine article covers the tradition of military “challenge coins.”  The article acknowledges the origin of the tradition has been lost to time, though he repeats one possibility from the World War I fighter pilot story (the same story told here).

As with many traditions, even if they were “fighter pilot traditions,” they tend to cross functional and even Service lines.

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