God and Country

US Army PFC Bradley Manning has been scheduled to go on trial this fall to face charges he was responsible for the unauthorized release of hundreds of thousands of classified documents.

The judge recently  Read more…

Lt Lance Leone, a Coast Guard helicopter pilot who was the sole survivor of a crash and then endured an attempt to charge him with homicide, has reportedly received a career-ending performance evaluation.

The Coast Guard commander for Alaska is recommending Read more…

US Rep Duncan Hunter, R-CA, has called on Col Christopher Dowling to end the administrative discharge proceedings against Marine Sgt Gary Stein.  Dowling had recommended Stein be administratively separated after he allegedly violated the UCMJ in his activities on Facebook.

Hunter, a Marine reservist and combat veteran, sent a letter to Col. Christopher Dowling on Tuesday urging the Corps to withdraw the discharge proceedings against Stein.

The board was supposed to meet last Saturday but was rescheduled to later this week.

US Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA), himself a Reserve Marine, has come to the defense of SGT Gary Stein, a Marine who faces an administrative discharge for comments he posted online.

Sgt Stein reportedly posted comments saying he would not obey the orders of the President, and he later clarified his statement to say he would not obey unlawful orders from the President.

This Saturday Stein faces a panel that will determine if he should be administratively separated from the Marines:  Read more…

Capt. Andrew Norris, the officer overseeing the hearings on the homicide charges against Coast Guard Lt Lance Leone, has recommended the charges be dropped.

In short, since the helicopter was being piloted by Lt. Sean Krueger, who was killed in the crash, Norris said there was no way to know what his reaction would have been to any inputs by Leone.  Leone’s failure or inability to influence the pilot to avoid the crash Read more…

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…

In a somewhat unusual turn of events, the co-pilot (and lone survivor) of a 2010 Coast Guard helicopter crash has been charged with two counts of negligent homicide and other UCMJ violations.

[Lt. Lance] Leone was one of two pilots flying the MH-60 Jayhawk, which crashed off La Push. The crash killed all three other passengers on board.

In addition to the negligent homicide charges, Leone faces two counts of dereliction of duty and destruction of government property, Kip Wadlow, a Coast Guard spokesman, said.

The helicopter flew into power lines Read more…

Recently, the Colorado Springs Gazette highlighted the “leaked” results of the USAFA climate survey, which Academy superintendent Lt Gen Michael Gould had clearly said he was not going to release.  As expected (and as the Academy likely expected), much ado was made of numbers indicating cadets had been subject to “unwanted proselytizing” or had been “approached” about their faith.

More disturbing, however, is the internal reaction and external response that seems to be becoming increasingly common:  Read more…

The Alliance Defense Fund has been calling on the US military to charge Maj Nadil Malik Hasan with 14 murders, not 13.  

Private Francheska Velez was three months pregnant when Hasan allegedly killed her and her unborn child.  If her child was included, the massacre would have claimed 14 lives.

The ADF accurately notes that the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) reflects the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, and specifically cites the death of unborn children Read more…