Category Archives: Fighter Pilot

Military Officer Accuses Marine Corps of “Legal Charade”

A recent article published by the ACLU was by-lined “Colleen Farrell, Captain, U.S. Marine Corps Reserves.”  Captain Farrell slammed the US military for its “charade” in following the now-rescinded policies prohibiting women from certain combat roles.  As Captain Farrell describes it, the policies were not that females couldn’t serve in combat roles; as executed, the policies prevented females from serving greater than 45 days in a combat role:

Because of the combat exclusion policy, women Marines Read more

F-16 Crashes at Luke Air Force Base

Update: Gen Mike Rothstein, the Luke AFB wing commander, indicated the F-16 may have been brought down by a bird strike.

Two pilots ejected safely when their F-16 crashed at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, last night.

The jet went down just before 7 p.m. in a desert area about 3 miles west of the airfield, said officials at the base.

Both pilots suffered minor injuries, Sgt. Linda Rainey said. Their names weren’t immediately released.

Glendale Fire Department officials said the two pilots were seen walking around after the crash and were taken to Luke Air Force Base Hospital for further evaluation.

Luke is the primary training base for American F-16 pilots (the base also hosts international F-16 training), meaning the two pilots were likely instructor and student.

Repeated at Stars and Stripes and the Air Force Times.

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Unmanned Helo Crashes in Afghanistan. Not Pilot Error.

The much-ballyhooed K-MAX unmanned helicopter, which has been making deliveries for the US Marines in Afghanistan, apparently suffered a crash a few weeks ago.

The original story contained this line:

While Marine officials did not release a cause for the crash, [PA officer Capt. Matthew Beers] ruled out pilot error, saying the aircraft was in autonomous mode at the time it went down.

The reports were ultimately edited to remove Read more

God and Country Re-Launch

In late May the code behind God and Country was “compromised.”  While it would be entertaining to try to pin blame on those who disagree with the message of military religious freedom, it was more likely the product of nefarious mass marketers wanting to sell knock-off purses.  The site was taken offline while the compromised code was removed.  Fortunately, a delay to the planned 15 July re-launch date was unnecessary.

If you accepted a request for Java or another strange pop-up while accessing this site during late May/early June, you should ensure your internet security/anti-virus software is current. While the compromise should have been localized to the server, you can never be too cautious.

Regrettably, this interference occurred while some particularly interesting events were occurring for religious freedom in the US military.  These events will be revisited in the coming days.

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UAV Does Touch and Go on Carrier

Just days after its first carrier launch, the Navy’s X-47B, the Navy’s Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator (UCAS-D), successfully did a touch and go on the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) last week.

Don Blottenberger, UCAS-D Deputy Program manager, commented, “This landing, rubber hitting deck, is extremely fulfilling for the team and is the culmination of years of relative navigation development. Now, we are set to demonstrate the final pieces of the demonstration.”

But does it wear dogtags when it plays volleyball on the beach?

(That’s a Top Gun reference, for those UPT students who weren’t even born when that movie came out…)

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