A Marine Fighter Pilot flying an AV-8B Harrier ejected during exercises off the North Carolina coast. He was rescued by an H-60 Seahawk about a half hour later.
The pilot was apparently in a flight of four aircraft. His ejection Read more
The Air Force has decided that operators of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, also known as Remotely Piloted Aircraft, RPAs) can log time in combat — even if they never leave the desert of Nevada:
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III authorized RPA aircrews to log combat time when flying an aircraft within designated hostile airspace, regardless of the aircrew’s physical location.
What is unclear is whether those same operators will now be entitled to Imminent Danger Pay (Combat Pay) and the Combat Zone Tax Exclusion (CZTE).
Allowing those operators to claim “combat” time while physically Read more
The New York Times recently bemoaned that it was “unfair” to US troops who have publicly announced their gender identity issues for the US military to fail to follow through with its unstated promise of letting them serve in whatever gender expression they chose.
To be clear, US military policy states those who “identify” as a gender other than their actual one have issues that disqualify them from serving. In July of last year, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter stood up a “working group” to study the impact of allowing troops with gender issues to serve [emphasis added]:
“At my direction,” Carter said, “the working group will start with the presumption that transgender persons can serve openly without adverse impact on military effectiveness and readiness, unless and except where objective, practical impediments are identified.”
The working group was to study the issue over the succeeding six months.
Eight months later, the New York Times chided Carter for Read more
Hugh Vest
CrossLink Publishing, 2014
Pulling Gs is a unique take on the application of the fighter pilot perspective to the Christian faith. Author Hugh “Huge” Vest is a retired USAF F-16 pilot who deftly takes stories from his vast experience in the fighter pilot world and relates them to similar experiences, joys, and struggles as a Christian.
In each chapter, Huge tells the tale of a significant fighter pilot event — some factual, some fun, some tragic — and then applies it as an analogy to living life and the Christian faith. Each chapter ends with thought-provoking “debrief” questions that encourage introspection and personal challenge.
For example, he describes the concepts and experiences of the eponymous “pulling Gs,” and then describes how people can assess the G-stresses in their own life. At the end of the chapter, Huge asks the reader to consider the stresses in their lives, their sources, and how they cope with them — and to consider if the Christian’s tools of hope and faith can increase their “g-tolerance.”
Huge’s analogies and his interconnection Read more
Michael “Mikey” Weinstein reserved special vitriol for US Air Force Major Christina “Thumper” Hopper when he accused her of being
the literal Poster Child [sic] of American fundamentalist Christian military Crusaderism.
Her high crime and misdemeanor? She had the gall to be quoted saying this in an Air Force personal story article:
The reason and the purpose behind everything I do is to glorify God and to make his name known.
For that reason only, Mikey Weinstein — “defender” of religious freedom — accused Hopper of Read more
US Air Force (Retired) Col Fred Cherry spent more than seven years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam after being shot down in his F-105.
He died February 16th, at the age of 87.
“I know that the faith in God, love and respect for my fellow man that my parents and family instilled in me during my youth carried me through some very difficult years as prisoner-of-war in Vietnam.”
At the end of February the US Air Force revealed a concept drawing of its proposed Long Range Strike Bomber. The new bomber looks strikingly like the Air Force’s old bomber:
The as-yet unnamed bomber has been designated the B-21. (The similarity in appearance to the B-2 already has some re-designating it the “B-2.1”.) While that number would Read more
Hearkening back to the days of the “flying sergeant,” the US Air Force will soon allow enlisted personnel to control RQ-4 Global Hawks:
“Our enlisted force is the best in the world and I am completely confident they will be able to do the job and do it well,” said Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James…
The secretary and chief directed Air Combat Command to develop an implementation plan over the next six months to address items like entry requirements, training plans, career path development, delineation of duties, compensation details and an appropriate force mix. Implementation is focused on the Global Hawk community, not the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper force.
To be fair, the RQ-4 is a “fly by keyboard” drone: While it Read more