Before the C-17 flew to North Korea to receive the remains repatriated last month, US Army Chaplain Samuel Lee led the aircrew and members of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in a pre-mission prayer:
Tony Carr, a retired US Air Force C-17 squadron commander and blogger at John Q. Public, already took Chaplain (Capt) Sonny Hernandez to task for his article on Christians and the military (previously discussed). Carr updated himself with a post entitled simply “Idiot Under Investigation.”
Carr doesn’t often mince words, but the vitriol he has for Hernandez seems particularly strong — and almost Mikey Weinstein-esque:
[Hernandez’s] major beef? That certain “disloyal” military members would dare to put their oath to support and defend the US Constitution above their loyalty to the teachings of Christ.
This is among the most tortured and ridiculous notions in the annals of idiocy, placing Sonny in multiple pantheons of shame. It’s as though he set out Read more
Capt. Jamie LaRivee, a 21st Airlift Squadron C-17 Globemaster III pilot, saw her mother as a role model, and watched her excel in an Air Force career, making LaRivee certain she would follow in her mother’s boot steps…
“You can’t pretend that we are built the exact same way as men. But, there are so many ways that we can, if not overcome it, become better,” LaRivee said…
In a 1996 speech made by LaRivee’s mother, the message of femininity in the military rang out.
“One of the biggest challenges of being a woman in the military has Read more
Update: The Stars and Stripes reports on the corrective actions put in place to prevent future aircraft from misidentifying the runways.
The Tampa Tribune obtained the report of last July’s “unscheduled landing” of a C-17 at Peter O. Knight airport in Florida — when it was supposed to land at MacDill Air Force Base a few miles away.
The crew of a military cargo jet landed at the wrong airport in Tampa in July, in part, because of fatigue, complacency and a lack of flight discipline, an Air Force investigation has found.
Fortunately, the crew realized their error and were able to Read more
Single seat fighter pilots are individually responsible for every action they take with their aircraft. They have no co-pilot, so everyone — even the youngest Lieutenant fighter pilot — is qualified to make the calls necessary to safely fly their aircraft.
For that reason, fighter pilots sometimes joke that heavy aircraft are “flown by committee,” since every action is a “team” effort among pilot, co-pilot, navigator, flight engineer, loadmaster, flight attendant, etc. Still, oftentimes passengers’ lives are at stake and valuable cargo is on board, so perhaps redundancy is called for.
On that note, it seems a certain C-17 team made a poor decision:
A huge military plane from New Jersey may have mistaken the tiny runway at Peter O’ Knight airport for the runway at MacDill Air Force Base…
While the aircraft was from McGuire, some news reports indicated the mission Read more
US Air Force Chief of Chaplain (MajGen) Cecil Richardson recently spoke to the Fairchild AFB National Prayer Luncheon on prayer, where he also noted the “relentless attacks on people of faith and traditional values” that have recently characterized the public discourse:
“It’s to pray for ourselves, our community, units, friends, families and leaders,” said the Air Force’s ranking chaplain.
“It’s also a time to pause and remind ourselves despite the relentless attacks on people of faith and traditional values, Read more
Matt Pirrello, an ROTC cadet at Ohio University, lost his right leg mid-thigh in a parachuting accident at the US Air Force Academy 18 months ago.
He still wants to be a pilot, but he understands the hurdles in his way.
“If you’re in the Air Force when you’re hurt, it’s a matter of retention,” he said. “If you’re not in the Air Force, it’s a matter of whether they will accept you despite your injuries.”
Others have flown with prosthetic legs Read more
As noted here before, US Air Force pilots are not always found in airplane cockpits.
A US Air Force article documents the experience of F-16 pilot Capt Sarah Eccles — currently an Air Liaison Officer, or ALO.
Eccles apparently volunteered for the ALO tour because it got her near her husband, a C-17 pilot stationed at a base nearby.
Eccles was recently covered in a separate article on female fighter pilots.
