The US Air Force Academy recently awarded “UAS-RPA” wings to its first group of cadets. Cadets had already been authorized to wear glider wings if they were an Academy glider pilot or jump wings if they were parachutist qualified.
The display is the latest effort by the US Air Force to “normalize” the unmanned aerial vehicle career field and encourage its development within the Air Force culture.
US Army Chaplain (Capt) Carl Subler is profiled by the San Francisco Examiner in a revealing article that describes the comradery the Catholic priest shares with the Army troops he serves in Afghanistan.
His perspective on faith and suffering, while somewhat unique to hear someone say, is actually fairly commonly held:
I find the more creature comforts are taken away from us, in many ways, we look to God with even more hope.
Read more of the interesting article at the Examiner. Chaplain Subler was previously profiled here.
A unique ministry of Back to the Bible allows military members to sign up to receive a text message or a one minute phone call that includes a message about the “peace and hope found in God.”
411God Hope for Heroes was aimed at US military members, many of whom have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. It is part of the larger 411God ministry, which was geared toward a general audience.
Via the Christian Post.
The origin of ChristianFighterPilot.com is the misperception among some people that one cannot be both a good fighter pilot and a good Christian. The assumption is that the two are mutually exclusive; one must overpower the other. While the fighter pilot culture can be hostile to a Christian spirit, being both a fighter pilot and a Christian is not an oxymoron. In fact, the sometimes carnal nature of the fighter pilot profession makes it the perfect place for a Christian, not one to be avoided.
Former Presidential candidate and now Fox News commentator Mike Huckabee seems to agree: Read more
US Army Chaplain (Maj) Julian Padgett served the men and women of Forward Operating Base Marez in Mosul, Iraq, in late 2009. In his proactive efforts to minister to those on Marez, he reportedly “made the rounds along the base perimeter to comfort troops and offer prayers,” as shown in this picture dated in September 2009:
(DoD Photo, PO1 Carmichael Yepez)
An important detail is that Chaplain Padgett ministered to all the men and women on Marez supporting the US mission, including the pictured security guard, a third country national (TCN) from Uganda with whom he shared Read more
The story of how Army Sgt Jeff Struecker became US Army Chaplain Struecker is fairly well-known. Less publicized is the faith of Michael Durant, the helicopter pilot whose UH-60 Blackhawk was shot down over Mogadishu; the shootdown ultimately resulted in the deaths of his crew at the hands of the Somalis. Also killed were two Delta snipers, MSG Gary Gordon and SFC Randall Shughart, who received the Medal of Honor after volunteering to mount a vastly outnumbered defense for the beleaguered survivors.
Durant was a speaker at a National Prayer Luncheon at the US Army’s Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. He said that prayer was central to his survival: Read more
By now most have likely heard about the air traffic controller, Glenn Duffy, who reportedly brought his 9 year old twin children to work and allowed them to make several radio transmission to airliners on the tower frequency. The FAA and ATC union were quick to respond, with the FAA suspending not only the controller, but also his supervisor, Rose Kelly. The union said the behavior was “not indicative of the highest professional standards” of controller operations.
Pilots and controllers sometimes have an adversarial relationship. Pilots get annoyed at being told what they think is the wrong thing to do, and controllers often get annoyed at pilots who always think they know better. (In that regard, ATC controllers and fighter pilots may have much in common.) Rightly or wrongly, some pilots also blame controllers for some fatal mishaps. Gallows humor asks Read more
The military academies reserve some of their admissions for enlisted members of the military, allowing them to go to college and become officers. This has led to a unique cadre of combat-experienced cadets at the Academies.
However, a US Army news release says that those at West Point are going unfilled, potentially because servicemembers don’t know about them. Enlisted members of any of the services are encouraged to research the programs at each of the Academies designed to place aspiring enlisted members on the path to officership through a military academy experience.