As noted here before, US Air Force pilots are not always found in airplane cockpits.
A US Air Force article documents the experience of F-16 pilot Capt Sarah Eccles — currently an Air Liaison Officer, or ALO.
Eccles apparently volunteered for the ALO tour because it got her near her husband, a C-17 pilot stationed at a base nearby.
Eccles was recently covered in a separate article on female fighter pilots.
An Air Force Times article notes the USAF F-22 fleet remains grounded over an oxygen issue. The F-22 fleet has been grounded since early May. The flight restriction has resulted in aircraft being completed at the Lockheed plant, but they cannot be flown for check out or acceptance.
Murder charges have been filed against Arid Uka, a 21 year old Albanian who is accused of opening fire on US servicemembers traveling through the Frankfurt airport in Germany, shouting “Allahu Akbar” as he killed two American airmen and wounded two others.
The indictment indicates Uka was a Muslim “radicalized by jihadist propaganda:”
Authorities have said that Uka confessed shortly after his capture at the airport to wanting to kill American troops because of the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan.
According to the indictment, Uka was radicalized over time by jihadist propaganda he saw on the Internet, Read more
Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison has asked the Department of Veterans Affairs to investigate allegations that a VA cemetery in Texas has been censoring “God” and “Jesus” from ceremonies. From the Senator’s letter to VA Secretary Erik Shineski:
I am…greatly concerned by the complaints my office has received from veterans and their families that the Houston National Cemetery Director has forbidden the name of God or Jesus to be used during funeral services at the cemetery, even if the family wishes to do so. Our veterans swore to uphold the Constitution with their lives, and they and their families’ religious freedom should be honored, not prohibited. [emphasis added]
I am requesting that you look into this situation to determine if there are indeed any religious prohibitions or restrictions on speech or religious expression at the Houston National Cemetery. I would also ask that you determine if this situation is unique to the Houston Cemetery or if there are policies in place that might lead to religious prohibitions or restricted speech at other veteran cemeteries.
The controversy started around Memorial Day, when it took a court injunction to allow a local preacher to say “Jesus” when he prayed. Now the complaint has Read more
The US House of Representatives passed the 2012 Defense Appropriations bill last week. (The previously-passed Defense Authorization Act ‘authorizes’ the military, while the Appropriations Act funds it.) It included an amendment affecting funding for Chaplain training, intended to prohibit them from performing ‘homosexual marriage’ ceremonies in military chapels, regardless of state law. It was intended to ensure military policy remained Read more
The head of the armed forces is embroiled in a controversy over the proper place of “God” in military funeral rites — but its likely not the problem you think.
The Israeli military is embroiled in a public battle over whether God ought to be mentioned at memorial rites for fallen soldiers…
The controversy is over whether Yizkor, the Hebrew prayer of remembrance, should begin at military ceremonies with the words “May God remember” or “May the people of Israel remember.”
Military policy calls for the version mentioning God to be used, but enforcement has been patchy in an apparent nod to the sentiments of the Jewish state’s secular majority.
It is a seemingly odd controversy for a nation that is often assumed to be religious in some form.
Back home in the US, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs in Texas is Read more
Three US Marines at Camp Pendleton stand accused of entering sham marriages to obtain access to financial benefits. It all started when a homosexual Marine wanted to live with her girlfriend but “couldn’t afford it:”
[US Marine Corporal Ashley] Vice told CNN affiliate KGTV in San Diego that she wanted to live off base with her girlfriend, Jaime Murphy, as a couple. Murphy is a civilian.
But on her salary, she couldn’t afford it.
So she says she found a Marine, Jeremiah Griffin, who agreed to marry her so she could receive the $1,200 per month living stipend the Marine Corps gives to married couples living off base.
Her homosexual partner eventually married a third Marine, Joseph Garner, for the same reason. Vice has told the press the three will likely face jail time, since they are unable to pay back the funds they are accused of getting fraudulently.
Ultimately, the military’s response has nothing to do with homosexuality; Read more
A US Air Force fighter pilot is safe after ejecting from his QF-4 near Roswell, New Mexico. The QF-4s fly out of Holloman AFB.
The QF-4 is an optionally manned aircraft often used as a target drone for weapons testing.