Tag Archives: air force

Air Force Pilot Gives it All to God

The US Air Force published an interesting story about 2Lt Abraham Morland, whose origins may be a little unique but whose desires about Air Force flying are probably pretty common:

Second Lt. Abraham Morland…held dual citizenship in both the United States and the United Kingdom. He was born to British parents in Tulsa, Okla., where his father worked as a flight simulator technician…

“My real love was America, I wanted to come back home to the states and join the U.S. Air Force,” he said.

As a result, his parents moved back to the United Sates so their son could pursue his dream of becoming an American pilot.

Morland ultimately enlisted and then spent years trying to Read more

Paper Revives DADT Survey Debate

The Department of Defense “studied” the impact of repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” by performing a much-contested survey of US troops in 2010. While the effort was reportedly intended to gather data and draw conclusions based upon that data, there were accusations at the time its actual purpose was to justify repeal — not assess its impact.

The Washington Post recently revived the DADT debate when it wrote about one of the two co-chairs of the survey, then-DoD General Counsel Jeh Johnson, in an article entitled “Four straight black men who led on gay rights.” The article seemed to allude Read more

Secretary Fanning Says DOMA Helped DADT Repeal

Under Secretary of the Air Force Eric Fanning, who was Acting Secretary for a few months, recently gave an interview for a homosexual ‘special report’ of the National Journal in which he discussed the effects of repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” on the military. Largely, he continued his prior statements that while he thought the policies were bad, repeal was apparently met with a collective shrug.

He did have one interesting comment, however, in which he said the federal Defense of Marriage Act actually made repeal of DADT easier:  Read more

General Welsh on Integrity

there is nothing more important to the nation than the integrity and the trustworthiness of the people who defend it. r/mark

  • Integrity: The quality or state of being of sound moral principle…

The question: How can leaders inspire integrity in the US military?

Via General Mark Welsh.

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Air Force Investigates Nuke Cheating Scandal

The US military has revealed that 34 nuclear missile officers are being investigated for their roles in a cheating scandal at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana. Worse, the scandal came to light as the result of an illegal drug investigation of Air Force officers:

Air Force Office of Special Investigations officials were examining allegations of illegal drug possession when evidence surfaced that a missile launch officer at the 341st Missile Wing electronically shared the answers to monthly missile launch officer proficiency tests with 16 other officers. Air Force officials subsequently approached the entire missile crew force at Malmstrom, and 17 other officers admitted to at least being aware of material that had been shared.

USAF Chief of Staff General Mark Welsh indicated it wasn’t just the act of “cheating,” but the failure to act by those who knew the cheating was occurring:  Read more

Gen Welsh Authorizes Morale Patches, Confirms Rock Star Status

General Mark Welsh just cemented his “rock star” status as Chief of Staff of the US Air Force. Though it took nearly 18 months, General Welsh has finally sent the ban on morale uniform items the way of Blues Monday [emphasis added]:

Morale T-shirts/patches representing individual squadrons that were worn in the past to increase unit pride are now authorized to wear on Fridays. Squadron color T-shirts may be worn with the ABU or flight suit when in-garrison or on-station during unit temporary duty assignments and contingency deployments…

The nuance to the victory here is that in years past, most morale uniform items (colored unit shirts, morale patches, etc.) were unofficial — ie, the regulation didn’t say you couldn’t, so people did — and stretched the limits of the rules as a result. This was then “fixed” by new regulations specifically banning “morale” items. Now, General Welsh has explicitly authorized those same items.

The new AFI even specifically authorizes “tab” patches, which Read more

Complaint Against Fighter Pilot Culture Continues

TSgt Jennifer Smith made waves in 2012 when she filed public complaints summarizing large parts of the Air Force fighter pilot culture — complete with copies of songbooks and doofer books. Her complaint was investigated by both the Inspector General and her chain of command, and multiple officers — commanders — were punished as a result of the environment they had allowed.

According to the Air Force Times, Smith is now retired at 18 years of service and has appealed the results of those investigations:  Read more

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