Tag Archives: air force

AMPA Lobbies with Uniformed US Troops

The Arizona legislature recently passed a religious liberty bill and sent it to the desk of Governor Jan Brewer. The bill would have, by some interpretations, protected Arizona citizens who declined to affirm homosexuality based on religious grounds.  Governor Brewer vetoed the bill.

During the few days between the legislature passing the bill and the Governor’s veto, the American Military Partner Association, a homosexual advocacy group for the US military, took to Facebook to encourage its members to call Governor Brewer’s office in opposition to the bill — and the AMPA used the images of uniformed service members to do so:

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Budget Proposal: Air Force to Retire A-10s, U-2s

The controversial DoD budget proposal that has been in the news for the past few weeks contains two specific items for the US Air Force — the end (again) for the A-10 Thunderbolt II (“Warthog”), and the U-2 Dragon Lady.

The former is supposed to be replaced by the F-35; the latter, by the unmanned RQ-4 Global Hawk.

The A-10 has been on and off the chopping block for decades — most recently preserved by the very intentional efforts of a single Senator, who now calls this decision a “serious mistake.”

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Air Force Selects 100+ in Latest Flying Board

The Air Force announced it had selected more than 100 Captains and Lieutenants in its latest flying training board.

The UFT annual selection board convened in January to consider active-duty candidates for the program. Those selected will attend pilot, remotely-piloted aircraft, combat systems officer or air battle manager training…

These are active duty officers attempting to change career fields to aviation. Given historical precedence, about half of the selectees were probably pilots, with the other half spread among the other rated career fields.

The Air Force has generally held two Read more

SMSgt Monk Awarded Meritorious Service Medal

The Liberty Institute, which has represented SMSgt Philip Monk in his allegation of religious discrimination against the US Air Force, announced that SMSgt Monk had been awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for the time period covering his last assignment:

Monk’s attorney, Mike Berry of Liberty Institute, says the Air Force has recognized the outstanding job Monk did as first sergeant…

Berry sees the award as a testament to Monk’s courage and conviction…

“For a long time his future and even his military retirement and pension were kind of up in the air and we weren’t really sure what was going to happen to him,” Berry continues. “And yet now we have the Air Force coming out and awarding him this prestigious Read more

General Welsh Declares Official Air Force Mustache March

At the 2014 Air Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium, Chief of Staff of the Air Force General Mark Welsh decided the Air Force should have an “all-in,” MAJCOM vs MAJCOM official Mustache March.  With a nod to the MAJCOM commanders in the front row of his audience, Gen Welsh said

In just a few days, its March. Now, I don’t know, but I don’t think we’ve ever had an all-in Mustache March, have we? So I’m putting the smackdown on you guys: Air Force-wide Mustache March. MAJCOM competitions. [Laughter] You identify your winners, we’ll check the imagery to make sure nothings been doctored. We’ll find our Air Force winner and I’ll figure out a way to honor…him.

At that point, Gen Welsh seemed to become aware that he had to say “him.”  Read more

Air Force Urgently Replacing Ejection Seat Beacons

On February 5th, the Air Force Times reported the US Air Force has experienced a spate of problems with the emergency locator beacons intended to help rescuers find downed airmen [emphasis added]:

The Air Force spent $30 million for 17,000 of the beacons in 2009, with deliveries finalized in 2010. Two years after the first beacons were installed, crash investigators began noticing that they had not worked in multiple crashes. In fact, the beacons failed 10 times in 22 ejections, according to a review of crash reports since the beacons were installed.

The situation is so serious that one unit in Italy made a point of flying with their personal cell phones.

The article notes the incident that may have caused the greatest injection of urgency was the loss of an F-16C over the Pacific in 2012:  Read more

Bill Nye, Ken Ham Debate Meets Military Cheating Scandals

There’s a fascinating philosophical connection between the debate of Bill Nye and Ken Ham over creationism on the one hand, and reports the US Department of Defense is becoming increasingly “troubled” over troops’ ethical problems on the other.

First, Dr. Al Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, attended the Nye/Ham debate (viewable on YouTube) and made an interesting assessment. The debate wasn’t, in the end, over facts. It was over worldview — and Bill Nye’s faith that “human reason” was an ultimate solution [emphasis added]:

Bill Nye repeatedly cited the reasonable man in making his arguments. He is a firm believer in autonomous human reason and the ability of the human intellect to solve the great problems of existence without any need of divine revelation…He sees himself as the quintessential “reasonable man,” and he repeatedly dismissed Christian Read more

Airman on Being an Atheist in the Military (Video)

An Air Force Airman posting as “A1C Venom” has started a YouTube page in which he comments on various issues of religion, including “Atheism in the Military.” His video is calmly presented and not altogether unbalanced, though a few of his comments are confusing, leading one to wonder if he actually understands some of what he’s saying or how well informed he is.

For example, he states at the beginning of the video that he’s “seen a lot of discrimination” as an atheist in the military, yet he doesn’t provide a single example of discrimination. He does talk about prayer at military events (which he feels is Read more

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