Aviano Based US Air Force F-16 Lost off Italian Coast

The US Air Force reported it lost contact with an Aviano Air Base assigned F-16 Monday night:

The aircraft, assigned to the 31st Fighter Wing, was performing a training mission over the Adriatic Sea when the base lost contact with the pilot at approximately 8 p.m…

While the aircraft has not yet been found, search teams are working under the assumption that the aircraft crashed in the Adriatic.

The F-16 was reportedly working with a four-ship in poor weather night conditions, and made a radio call about a problem before losing contact.

Our prayers are with the pilot and family.

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Military Spouse of the Year: Devout Christian, Homosexual

Ashley Broadway, the homosexual who complained about being denied membership in a Fort Bragg spouses’ group, has been named the “spouse of the year” for Fort Bragg in a popular vote called the Spouse of the Year program.

In the online election held Tuesday, Ashley Broadway captured the Fort Bragg vote “by a country mile,” said Babette Maxwell, founder of Military Spouse magazine and the Military Spouse of the Year award. Ballot totals were not revealed. As one of the 154 base-level winners, Broadway now is eligible to be nominated for Army “spouse of the year.”

As the “spouse of the year program” is a private operation, Read more

Christian General to Lead West Point

The Department of Defense recently announced that President Obama has nominated a new Superintendent for the US Military Academy at West Point:

Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta announced today that the President has made the following nominations:

Army Lt. Gen. Robert L. Caslen Jr., for reappointment to the rank of lieutenant general and for assignment as superintendent, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.  Caslen is currently serving as chief, Office of Security Cooperation-Iraq, Iraq.

LtGen Caslen has had a long and distinguished career, which began when he graduated West Point in 1975 and includes a tour as the West Point commandant of cadets.  He is also a Christian, Read more

Crusader Crosses Removed from US Afghan Chapel

NBC reports the US military chapel at Forward Operating Base Orgun-E was improperly displaying Christian crosses, and the Army has ordered them removed and covered over:

U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan on Thursday ordered the removal of a steeple and crucifix erected over a remote American base in the Muslim country after a soldier deployed there noted that the symbols violated Army regulations…

Doors with cross-shaped windows were reportedly boarded up until they can be replaced.

This has happened before, and, as noted previously, it is not really a significant event.  The article accurately notes Army regulations (not DoD regulations) dictate Read more

US Air Force Transports Whisky to South Pole

Sometimes the US Air Force transports blankets and bottled water to disaster-stricken areas.  Sometimes it delivers century-old Scotch to Antarctica.

Three bottles of rare, 19th century Scotch found beneath the floor boards of Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackelton’s abandoned expedition base were returned to the polar continent…

The original bottles had flown in two combination-locked containers with Key to Antarctica in a U.S. Air Force transport plane from Christchurch…

Mind you, this isn’t the first time Air Force aircraft have transported alcohol — and a lot of it — to the region.  Truth be told, that’s pretty much the only way anything gets to Antarctica, which likely means the planes carry other items that would raise some eyebrows — but all for the greater good, of course.

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C-17 Landing at Wrong Airport Blamed on Fatigue

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

Marines to Try Out Buddhist Mindfulness, Critics Stay Silent

Update:  Former Navy Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt says the Marines should be considering Christianity, not Buddhism:

“I think getting rid of anxiety is important. We need to decrease the suicide rate among our Marines,” he agrees. “But Buddhism is not the way to do that. I think Christianity is intellectually a better way to promote healthy mental awareness.”

Like Chaplain Lee, Klingenschmitt wonders where the normally vociferous critic Michael Weinstein is right now [emphasis added]: Read more

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