Here is the latest show of force towards North Korea:
The United States flew nuclear-capable bombers to the Korean Peninsula on Friday in its latest show of force against North Korea, days after the North staged massive anti-U.S. rallies in its capital.
The long-range B-52 bombers took part in joint aerial drills with other U.S. and South Korean fighter jets over the peninsula, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said in a statement. The bombers’ flyover is the latest in a series of temporary U.S. deployments of strategic assets in South Korea in response to North Korea’s push to expand its nuclear arsenal.
I wonder if all these accommodations has led to any increased recruitment from people of these faiths?:
Airmen will be allowed to wear up to 2-inch beards under a new Air Force guidance that outlines grooming standards for religious accommodations.
The updated grooming policy, published Friday, also allows members of the Sikh faith to wear turbans and Muslim women to wear hijabs.
Airmen must have religious or medical exemptions to grow beards, the policy says.
The guidance for beards grown under a shaving waiver remains unchanged: Such whiskers must not be trimmed to give a sculpted appearance and cannot exceed a quarter-inch in length, the updated policy states.
Once again the Duffel Blog meets real life because this article almost seems like satire:
Lt. Col. Paul Goossen, shown at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, in December 2017, has been relieved as commander of the 69th Bomb Squadron at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Patrick Evenson)
A commander of a B-52 Stratofortress squadron at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, was recently relieved from duty after sexually explicit and phallic drawings were discovered inside the bomber’s cockpit screens during a recent deployment, Military.com has learned.
A command-directed investigation anticipated to be released by Air Force Global Strike Command in coming weeks will show that Lt. Col. Paul Goossen was removed from command of the 69th Bomb Squadron Nov. 27 because penis drawings were discovered on a moving map software displayed on the nuclear-capable B-52’s Combat Network Communication Technology (CONECT), according to a source familiar with the incident. [Military.com]
You can read more at the link, but if people are offended by this, they would be terrified by the things I have seen in porta-potties while deployed.
Life is continuing to imitate the Duffel Blog. Via a reader tip here comes the latest example:
Col. Mark Eugene Muth, 57, was arrested for rushing the stage as Boy George and Culture Club played. (Kettering Police Department)
An Air Force colonel who was unable to handle the raging intensity of a Boy George concert last week in Kettering, Ohio, was arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest after attempting to rush the stage.
Col. Mark Eugene Muth, 57, assigned to the command surgeon general’s office at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, was taken into custody Sept. 5 by Kettering Police for allegedly “causing a disturbance by shoving people in an attempt to get closer to the stage area,” according to the Dayton Daily News.
When the heavenly glow emanating from the legendary 1980s star simply became too much to bear, Muth reportedly charged ahead, perhaps in an effort to finally show the world that all those karaoke performances of “I’ll tumble for ya” had paid off.
You can read the whole thing at the link, but the Air Force Times author must have been laughing the entire time he wrote this article. Unsurprisingly too much alcohol was involved in this incident.
I bet they all thought this was a great idea at the time:
A screenshot from a video of an Air National Guard master sergeant using a dinosaur hand puppet while reciting the oath of re-enlistment.
A Tennessee Air National Guard colonel has been demoted and forced to retire for leading a re-enlistment ceremony during which a senior noncommissioned officer recited her oath using a dinosaur hand puppet.
Maj. Gen. Terry Haston, the Tennessee Air Guard’s adjutant general, announced the demotion on Facebook Wednesday in the wake of an online firestorm sparked by a video of the ceremony.
Haston said the NCO — who took the oath Friday while the head of a Tyrannosaurus rex on her right hand mouthed her words — has been removed from her full-time position with the Tennessee Joint Public Affairs Office and that other administrative actions were being taken. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but this was some pretty harsh punishment for the Colonel involved in this to be demoted and forced to retire.
Master Sgt. Zachary Parish emailed cadets that morning about a perceived decline in some cadets’ grooming, and reminding both male and female cadets about the rules governing their hair.
The first sergeant concluded his email by reminding them about former NBA superstar Michael Jordan’s habit of appearing at press conferences in a suit and tie, even without a dress code requiring it.
“He was never seen with a gaudy chain around his neck, his pants below his waistline, or with a backwards baseball hat on during public appearances,” Parish said. [Air Force Times]
There is apparently concern that the email was racist. However, if you read the whole email in context in my opinion it is not racist:
The email is fine until he gets to the final point portion about Michael Jordan. Clearly in this section of the email he is trying to make the point that Michael Jordan understood how a professional appearance increased his own creditability and thus his personal brand. He wants cadets to think the same way. If he would have left out the gaudy chain and sagging pants line there probably would not be anything to complain about.
However, here is what the USAFA Vice Commandant for Climate and Culture had to say in response:
Col. Julian Stephens, vice commandant of cadets for culture and climate, sent another email that afternoon apologizing for Parish’s email.
“These comments were very disrespectful, derogatory and unprofessional and in no way reflective of [cadet wing leadership] views,” Stephens wrote. “Microaggressions such as these are often blindspots/unintentional biases that are not often recognized, and if they are recognized they are not always addressed.”
First of all I can’t believe the USAFA has an O6 position for Climate and Culture? Isn’t climate and culture something commanders are supposed to set?
Anyway in my opinion this email is more troubling than the original email. The whole “microaggressions” line seems to me to paint the First Sergeant as being unknowingly racist in effort to appease the Daily Kos / Huffington Post social justice warrior crowd.
It seems to me that Colonel Stephens could have said that First Sergeant Parish’s email referencing grooming standards could have been worded differently and he has been counseled on proper email etiquette. However, the First Sergeant’s point about improving grooming standards in the Air Force Academy is still valid. Writing a response like this would have saved the creditability of the First Sergeant and reinforced his message. Instead he is made out to be unknowing racist and thus a pariah.
With that all said why does an email about grooming standards even need to be sent out? Isn’t there enough leaders at the USAFA to light up cadets not following the grooming standards? Do leaders now not want to hurt cadets’ feelings by telling them to get a haircut and instead send out emails to enforce standards?
Here is the latest silver bullet people are thinking may solve the North Korean ballistic missile problem:
Mary Lou Robinson of the Air Force Research Laboratory explains the CHAMP missile. NBC News
The U.S. has microwave weapons that proponents believe could stop North Korea from launching missiles by frying their electronics.
The weapons were discussed at an August White House meeting related to North Korea, according to two U.S. officials with direct knowledge.
The microwave weapons, known as CHAMPs, are fitted into an air-launched cruise missile and delivered from B-52 bombers. With a range of 700 miles, they can fly into enemy airspace at low altitude and emit sharp pulses of microwave energy to disable electronic systems.
“These high-powered microwave signals are very effective at disrupting and possibly disabling electronic circuits,” said Mary Lou Robinson, who heads development of the weapons at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Albuquerque, in an exclusive interview with NBC News. [NBC News]
You can read more at the link, but I recommend everyone not get excited and think a magic solution to stopping North Korea’s ballistic missiles has been found.
Everyone remember this incident at the US Air Force Academy back in September that drew national headlines and forced the school’s superintendent to make a strong speech against racism?:
After racial slurs were scrawled outside black students’ doors at the U.S. Air Force Academy’s preparatory school, Superintendent Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria gathered all 4,000 cadets in a hall Thursday so they could hear one message: Treat people with dignity and respect — or get out.
“That kind of behavior has no place at the prep school, it has no place at USAFA, and it has no place in the United States Air Force,” Silveria said, in a speech that has found an enthusiastic reception after it was recorded and published online. “You should be outraged not only as an airman, but as a human being.” [NPR]
I was dubious of this story when it happened because it seems every time a racism incident like this happens it later comes out that it was fake news. Well now it has been determined that yes this was in fact fake news:
One of the cadet candidates at the Air Force Academy Preparatory School allegedly targeted by racist remarks has been found responsible for the act.
Academy officials announced the cadet candidate is no longer at the school on Tuesday. The investigation started when the words, written on whiteboards outside their dorm rooms, read, “Go home,” followed by the N-word were found in September. The hateful messages were discovered Sept. 25. The words were found on the outside of five African American cadet candidates’ rooms.
The academy says the individual admitted responsibility and this was confirmed by the investigation. [KKTV]
The original reporting made national headlines and now the fact that this has been proven to be fake news is making few headlines. This fake news just continues to feed the narrative there are white supremacist racists around every street corner to include in the US Air Force Academy which is not true. However, the media has no interest in reporting responsibly, but instead finding click bait articles which these racism articles seem to be for them.
It looks like if you are a Captain in the US Air Force and have not had any legal issues you will be promoted to Major regardless of performance:
Most Air Force captains can count on automatic promotion to major after Dec. 1, the service has announced.
“Beginning December 2017, the pool of line officers considered for promotion to major will have a 100 percent promotion opportunity,” said a statement issued last month.
The move addresses a shortage of 1,555 pilots and manning shortages in other jobs usually filled by majors that have ballooned in recent years as officers opt for commercial aviation jobs, Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson said earlier this year.
Just under one in 10 Air Force jobs for field-grade line officers, whose main job involves commanding troops, are vacant while about one in four nonrated field-grade officer jobs are unfilled, the statement said. [Stars & Stripes]
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