In an interesting turnabout, the Air Force is responding to a tightening budget by canceling the much vaunted RQ-4 Global Hawk program and extending the life of the manned U-2 it was intended to replace. The decision reportedly affects the Block 30 Global Hawk, but not the Block 40 or Navy variants.
The Air Force wants to terminate the Block 30 Northrop Read more
The Kansas Congressional delegation continues the multi-year push to honor US Army Chaplain (Capt) Emil Kapaun with the Medal of Honor.
Army Capt. Emil Kapaun of Pilsen was serving as a chaplain when he died in a prison camp in May 1951… Read more
Michael Weinstein, the only paid officer and President of his Military Religious Freedom Foundation, reduced his personal compensation by nearly $80,000 in 2010, according to his most recent tax documents. That same year, his “charity” saw a slight decrease in revenue of about $13,000, despite $120,000 in grants from the Rockefeller Family Fund and $10,000 from the Aspen Community Foundation.
In prior years Weinstein’s exorbitant salaries — which are paid by himself, to himself, from his charity’s revenue — have been highlighted as inconsistent with both his implications that donations to his charity “support the troops” and with the general practices of other charities, whose president/CEO compensations are generally markedly lower (even if the charities are markedly larger).
The $218,201 Weinstein paid himself from the MRFF funds still represented 41% of his charity’s total revenue in 2010. That’s down from the 54% he paid himself in 2009, though it still represents a substantial percentage of what his donors are presumably Read more
US Navy Captain Owen Honors, removed from his command of the USS Enterprise over videos he made in prior years, is set to retire in April. His “XO Movie Nights” from 2006 and 2007 were forwarded to the media last year. Despite an otherwise remarkable lead up to his command, he was fired.
Previously, a review board found fault with his conduct but did not require that he be removed from the service.
In an unusual official article, Air Force Public Affairs documents the interesting hobby of Capt Stan Maczek, resident ghost hunter.
[Maczek is] not sure what to call himself — ghost hunter, spirit seeker, paranormal investigator — but he’s sure this is the most exciting hobby he’s discovered yet… Read more
The famous Basic Training-issued BCGs, once the brown-rimmed, awkward-looking but sturdily-built hallmark of basic trainees, are officially dead.
Military recruits who wear glasses no longer will have to endure the embarrassment of sporting BCGs — those beloved standard-issue specs, technically called S9s, which are universally known as “Birth Control Glasses” because they’re supposedly so unattractive.
Yet another “tradition” falls to progress…
US Representative Randy Forbes (R-Va) has written a letter (PDF) signed by 35 members of the House asking the Air Force restore a unit’s motto that was changed after an atheist’s complaint. 
The incident to which Rep Forbes is referring was actually first reported on ChristianFighterPilot.com, with the Religion Clause and the ADF Alliance Alert subsequently citing this site.
As noted three weeks ago, the USAF Rapid Capabilities Office responded to “needling” from former Army Captain Jason Torpy, an atheist, and changed its motto from “Doing God’s work with other people’s money” to “Doing miracles with other people’s money.”
The letter, addressed to Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley and Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz, says:
It has come to our attention that the US Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO) has modified the logo on its official patch to remove its reference to “God,” following a complaint from Read more
Antonio Martinez has pled guilty to attempting to blow up a Baltimore military recruiting center in 2010. The FBI went as far as to provide Martinez a fake bomb which he tried to detonate. He had originally pled not guilty, but reversed his plea and faces a 25-year sentence.
Though only vaguely referenced in the Associated Press article on the plea, Martinez was reportedly motivated by his “extremist” Islamic views. He was one Read more