Month: March 2013

Aircrew Killed in Prowler Crash

The US Navy announced three crewmembers were killed in an E/A-6B Prowler crash near Spokane, Washington.

A source familiar with the crash confirmed that there were three people onboard the aircraft…[from] a fleet replacement squadron that trains pilots, naval flight officers and maintainers…

FRSs are responsible for training freshly winged pilots and NFOs straight from flight school, as well as ones that have been out of the cockpit for an extended period of time, or ones that are learning to fly an entirely new type of aircraft.

Also via the Associated Press.

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Weinstein USAFA Protest Attracts Dozens, Multiple Bodyguards

Last Friday Michael Weinstein sponsored a protest/picketing a few miles from one of the US Air Force Academy entrance gates.  Ostensibly, the objective was to make USAFA pull down a link to a website Weinstein had called “homophobic” and “misogynistic.”  This protest and the accompanying billboard (now a trend) were apparently the “action” he had ominously threatened.

The protest misfired on several counts, though the most entertaining by far was Read more

Even in a Down Economy, Michael Weinstein Gets a Pay Raise

In 2010, Michael Weinstein took a small hit to the salary he pays himself from “charitable donations” to his Military Religious Freedom Foundation.  He appears to have made up for that in 2011, the most recent year for which his financial data has become available.  (Weinstein, who keeps the books himself, didn’t report his 2011 finances until November 2012.)

In 2011, the MRFF increased its income by more than $150,000 (which included a $15,800 grant from the United Way of New Mexico, $110,000 in cash from the Rockefeller Family Fund, and $20,000 from the Aspen Community Foundation).  Weinstein’s compensation increased by just under $35,000, or about a quarter of the new donations, to just over $250,000 after taxes.  That brings Weinstein’s pay to just over 36% of everything donated to his “charity.”  Despite forlorn (and misleading) cries by his “research director,” Chris Rodda, that Read more

Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders Join Military Leaders on Tours

Warning: This official US Navy photo may be considered offensive in some US Air Force units…
U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Kenneth Abbate

An official DoD article notes the continuing tradition of the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders taking part in USO tours:

The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders have partnered with the USO for the last 34 years…

Two cheerleaders…[are] currently on a USO overseas Read more

Christian Fighter Pilot Speaks at US Air Force Academy

Retired Col Lee Ellis, whose outstanding book Leading with Honor made the Recommended list here as well as General Mark Welsh’s professional reading list, recently addressed cadets at the US Air Force Academy as part of the 2013 National Character and Leadership Symposium.

A prisoner of war held in the “Hanoi Hilton” for five and a half years shared his compelling story of imprisonment and success with cadets…
 
Retired Col. Lee Ellis was held captive along with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and others after his plane was shot down Nov. 7, 1967.

Col Ellis shared his perspective on purpose, passion, Read more

Dover Air Force Base Dedicates $8.7M Chapel

Dover Air Force Base, most famously known for its service as the military’s “port mortuary,” dedicated a new chapel facility at the end of February:

A meditation pavilion is among its amenities, said Chaplain Lt. Col. Dennis Saucier. Those families can also make use of the new chapel, which has 20 pews stocked with hymnals and the Holy Bible, an altar, a wood-paneled reredos and tall, stained glass windows featuring four white doves in flight.

The chapel center also has an “all faiths” room, a neutral Read more

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