Month: October 2010

SecDef Opposes Court Injunction of DADT

According to an official DoD news release, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates reiterated his position that the status of the policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is one for Congress to decide.  Gates said:

I feel very strongly that this is an action that needs to be taken by the Congress, and that it is an action that requires careful preparation and a lot of training. We have a lot of revision of regulations that has to be done.

At the same time, Gates repeated his former statements that the DoD review Read more

The Military, “Private” Choices, and Traditions

Some outside the military fail to comprehend the US military’s ability to govern the “private lives” of those in its service.  What happens outside the gate, or out of uniform, is beyond the military’s purview, they think. 

They’re wrong.

While this misunderstanding of military control has become increasingly evident in recent months regarding sexual conduct, it has been raised about other issues as well.

Ramstein Air Base in Germany recently restricted all personnel to base or their homes in response to increases in perceived threats.  Many civilians Read more

Priest to be First Bishop in Combat

Army Chaplain (LtCol) F. Richard Spencer is a former combat Army officer who has continued to experience combat as a Chaplain, having deployed to Iraq with the US Army.

Spencer has now been appointed a bishop of the Archdiocese for US Military Services, the Catholic oversight body for all Catholic Chaplains in the US military.  He is transitioning to the Army reserves, but still expects to be the first bishop to enter a warzone when he returns to combat areas during the high-demand holidays.  Read more

District Judge Rules DADT “Unconstitutional”, Enjoins Enforcement

US District Court Judge Virginia Phillips has ruled the policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” violates the First and Fifth Amendments to the US Constitution and has issued an injunction prohibiting its enforcement.  According to reports, Judge Phillips made the following military analyses:

Phillips [said] the policy doesn’t help military readiness and instead has a “direct and deleterious effect” on the armed services by hurting recruiting when the country is at war and requiring the discharge of service members with critical skills and training.

Phillips’ ruling referred to both the US law banning Read more

New Air Force Motto: Aim High…Fly-Fight-Win.

According to an official release, the Air Force has adopted the two most common phrases associated with its history as its new motto:  Aim High…Fly-Fight-Win.

An enduring statement of Airmen’s pride in their service, the motto is a two-part expression — a call to action, with a response of commitment.

“The call and the response are two sides of the same coin,” said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz. “Airmen indicated ‘Aim High’ and the response ‘Fly-Fight-Win’ as indicative of their enduring commitment to do just that in defense of our nation.”

The phrase is supposed to be a motto, not a recruiting slogan (for the Marines, think Semper Fi as opposed to The Few, The Proud).  Comments on the official Air Force site lean heavily toward the negative.

Navy Transitioning to T-6 Trainer

The Air Force already retired the T-37B Tweet and is flying the T-6A Texan II as its primary introductory flight trainer.  The T-6 was the result of a “joint” program between the Air Force and Navy.  The Navy has been transitioning from its T-34C Turbomentor to the Navy version of the trainer, the T-6B.

An article at the Navy Times notes the T-6 is a huge leap from the earlier T-34 — even sporting ejection seats.  Distressed pilots in the T-34 had to manually jump over the side if they needed to exit the aircraft in flight, a la WWII.

1 … 3 4 5 6 7