The Stars and Stripes notes the US Navy has “sacked” 150 commanding officers over the last few years for misconduct. Of 80 instances over a five year period, half were for adultery, inappropriate relationships, harassment, or sexual assault. One of the solutions noted: Take a look at the Bible.
So how can the Navy abate this steady tide of offending COs? Perhaps by asking, “What would David do?”
That’s King David, he of Old Testament legend Read more
A US Air Force F-16 based out of Osan Air Base, Korea, crashed on Wednesday. The pilot was reportedly “safe” after ejecting.
An Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon crashed near Kunsan Air Base, South Korea, during a routine training mission at approximately March 21.
The aircraft, assigned to the 36th Fighter Squadron here, was flying a mission as part of the 51st Fighter Wing’s ongoing exercise.
As usual, a board will investigate for about a month. An accident report will likely make its way to the general public several months from now.
Also noted at FoxNews and the Air Force Times.
Terrence Jeffrey at CNS News asks an interesting question:
Is President Barack Obama more deferential to the religious sensibilities of Afghan Muslims or the religious freedom of American Catholics?
Read his answer.
An official DoD article notes the fighter pilot tradition of Mustache March:
It happens every March like clockwork—men from all across the Air Force, who may otherwise normally be clean-shaven, grow out their cookie dusters, much to the amusement of many around them.
As noted here, the tradition is linked to BrigGen Robin Olds,
Olds was frequently at odds with senior leaders, and had his ways of defying the establishment—most famously (or infamously), the decidedly out-of-regs, heavily waxed handlebar mustache Read more
While stories of political insensitivity or incorrectness sometimes shock the public (or political) conscience, those within the military often find such displays far less offensive — or rare.
A few years ago, US Air Force F-15 pilot 1Lt Ali Jivanjee was killed in an F-15 training accident. He was a Muslim fighter pilot who took it upon himself to sign his name “Jihad” — apparently because he’d been “teased” (hazed? bullied?) about his first and middle names being “Ali Akbar” (similar to “Allahu akbar,” a phrase often connected to “jihadists,” for those that don’t make the connection).
His F-15 peers eventually named him “Danny Boy,” because he “needed a good Irish name.”
A fighter squadron is definitely not a bastion of political correctness, or cultural sensitivity.
A recent Military.com article notes the same theme throughout much of the rest of the military. Makers of accoutrements — including unofficial military uniform patches — with variations of “American infidel” on them are doing gangbuster business: Read more
The Jewish online magazine Tablet covers the story of US Army Chaplain (LtCol) Larry Bazer, who recently returned from a deployment as the “only Jewish chaplain in Afghanistan.”
The article contains some interesting commentaries on the chaplaincy in general, as well as some specifics related to life as a Jewish chaplain:
The [Camp Phoenix] chapel, said Bazer, “was a cozy little place”: a small, nondescript room built of plywood. During the day it was devoid of any religious symbols, but during the evenings a few crosses would turn it into a Protestant chapel, or some icons into a Catholic church. On Friday nights, candles and challah—sent each month by the “challah lady,” a Long Island Jewish woman—made it a synagogue.
Chaplain Bazer’s congregations varied from none to nearly 20 as he traveled Afghanistan as the only Jewish Read more
Admiral James A. Lyons (Retired) served as the commander of the US Navy’s Pacific fleet when he retired in 1987. Since then, he has frequently spoken on the military and foreign policy issues, mincing few words when he has done so. He is an associate in the production of Sharia: The Threat to America, which includes James Woolsey and LtGen (Ret) Jerry Boykin among its contributors.
Most recently, Adm Lyons took President Obama to task for forcing the US military to submit to Islam:
The recent contrived uproar over the inadvertent burning of the Koran…should be seen for what it is: a power-play tactic to make our military forces more submissive to the dictates of Islam, Read more
The Air Force has issued a “stop work” on the airship known as the Blue Devil, which was to be an “optionally manned surveillance” dirigible. This is interpreted as the lead-in to the demise of the program.
The Blue Devil 2 was considered to be a herald of next-generation persistent intelligence collection with a potential endurance of more than nine days. Depending on the duration of the mission, the airship would have been able to carry 2,500 pounds of surveillance equipment for five days, or 7,500 pounds if the sortie was shortened to three days.
The CEO of Mav6, Blue Devils’ creator, is David Deptula — formerly LtGen Deptula, deputy chief of staff for ISR and an unusually fervent advocate for UAVs. It seems he found his civilian calling. The Navy was also researching similar airships. In an interesting bit of timing, their program just got extended.
The cancellation may render moot Michael Weinstein’s likely offense at the religious reference in the aircraft’s name…