"This ain’t the America I signed up for."

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 10, 2022

It is no secret that there are good Chaplains in the military and some terrible Chaplains too. We've all heard stories of service members in spiritual turmoil seeing a Chaplain and then being told they were going to hell because they did not belong to the same faith as the Chaplain.

The question is, who are these Chaplains serving? Are they serving the men and women fighting for and defending our freedom around the world, from many different faiths, including no faith at all, or are they serving the churches they received endorsements from?

Spiritual help is vital to helping them heal from what is asked of them, plus they also have personal problems going on back home while they can be thousands of miles away. If they choose to seek a Chaplain's help, they have to settle on whatever Chaplain is with them. If the Chaplain is a good one, then they are helped and do not turn away from the faith they already had. If the Chaplain is putting their own personal choice of faith ahead of those who turn to them for help, it causes a lot more harm than not having one at all.

While I have some problems with Military Religious Freedom Foundation, there are times when I agree with what they do.

It is a wonder what they'll be hearing now that Roe v Wade has been overturned if they do not want to continue the pregnancy. They are already fighting back and looking for help.

Active Duty U.S. Naval Fighter pilot asks what will happen to women like her stationed in states where abortion is illegal: “MRFF Help for military abortion?” 

"This ain’t the America I signed up for. Military women have civil rights too. We just lost one this morning."

This came out in June about Independence Day as a "Christian Nation"

Encouraged by Wednesday’s major MRFF victory in getting the 246th Army Band of the South Carolina National Guard canceled from performing at a South Carolina Baptist church Christian nationalistic “Annual Carolina Celebration of Liberty,” members of a second military band came to MRFF for help in getting their upcoming scheduled performance at a large evangelical church’s Fourth of July event, which band members described as “some sort of ‘Celebration of the Founding of America as a Christian Nation’ which is just unacceptable to most of us in the Band,” canceled as well.

How can we expect men and women to put their lives on the line, go through endless hardships over and over again, and then discover this country they are willing to die for, won't even allow them to worship as they choose, or not worship at all? 

Not allow them to make their own choices over their own bodies? You know, the same bodies they place in danger all the time because they made the choice to do it! They all enlisted, willingly, by choice! What's next? 

Wild ride up in the air in a Viper

F-16 demonstration pilot uses cockpit camera during air show — and the result is stunning
Air Force Times
By: J.D. Simkins
July 30, 2018

The 2018 F-16 Viper Demonstration Team, commanded by Maj. John "Rain" Waters, center. (Air Force)

The Air Combat Command F-16 Viper Demonstration Team put forth their usual brilliant performance last week when they flew in the 2018 AirVenture air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

The team from Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, specializes in demonstrating the capabilities of the F-16 Fighting Falcon, one of the service’s prized fighters.

While performing in Oshkosh, the team’s commander, Maj. John “Rain” Waters, put together one hell of a cockpit video specifically for your viewing pleasure.
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Using the words from Contact "Want to go for a ride?" So do a lot of other people. It just came onto YouTube 2 days ago and has had 83,563 views already!

Cockpit video using my virb360 cam in the F-16 Viper Demo Team performance at 2018 Airventure. Pilot: John Waters

Vietnam Veteran With PTSD Helping Others in Arizona

Vietnam vet who briefed pilots helps those with PTSD
Arizona Daily Star
By Alexis Huicochea
November 3, 2015

Today, thanks to his faith and help from Veterans Affairs, Parker says his PTSD is manageable and he believes the events that occurred happened so he could serve others.

A.E. Araiza / Arizona Daily Star U.S. Air Force veteran Tom Parker served from 1968 to 1972, spending a year in Vietnam. Parker now helps other veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

More than four decades have passed since Tom Parker served in Vietnam, but he still feels the impact of his wartime experience.

The Air Force Buck Sergeant was sent to Vietnam in 1970, shortly after enlisting as a way to avoid the Army draft and, ironically enough, combat.

Serving in an intelligence role, Parker worked in forward air control, marking targets for fighters with smoke in the air, telling them where to drop bombs. On occasion, he went up in planes as an observer.

He also briefed pilots on what was happening in the area, advising them of where the enemy was and where they could safely land if needed.
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U.S. Marine Maj. Taj Sareen's Family "Heartbroken"

FAMILY OF U.S. MARINE MAJ. TAJ SAREEN KILLED IN PLANE CRASH SPEAKS OUT
ABC 7 News
Natasha Zouves
October 22, 2015

They heard a jet crashed in Taj's squadron at 6 a.m. Wednesday and many painful hours without information followed after that. "Three Marine officers walked towards our house. They said, 'it was your son,' devastating," K.B. said.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A young fighter pilot raised in the Bay Area who was killed when his plane crashed Wednesday is being remembered and honored by loved ones.

U.S. Marine Maj. Taj Sareen's family in Hillsborough is heartbroken. They discussed his final, heroic moments and the decision Taj made that may have saved many other lives.

Initial reports say one of his final moves was to avoid crashing into homes on the way down. "That's the kind of person he was," K.B. said.

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WWII Veteran Still On Mission

At 91, pilot, hero, still on mission
The Journal Gazette
Brian Francisco
Washington editor
October 8, 2015

“For many, many years I spoke every night in my dreams to the 16 guys who I flew with who were killed in World War II, half of my squadron,” he said. Yellen flew 19 combat missions over Japan.

Jerry Yellin stepped off a shuttle bus just before dawn Wednesday and headed toward an airliner when he was intercepted by a teenage girl.

“Thank you for your service,” she told Yellin, giving him a red, white and blue ornament with ribbons displaying the words “brave hero.”

Most if not all of the 86 military veterans boarding Tuesday’s Honor Flight received the trinkets from members of a Whitley County 4-H club. Yellin’s presenter likely did not know it at the time, but her gratitude was directed at the day’s celebrity.

Yellin, 91, was a P-51 fighter pilot who flew the final combat mission of World War II. His wingman on Aug. 14, 1945, Phil Schlamberg, disappeared in the attack over mainland Japan and is considered the last American killed in the war.

Wednesday’s trip was Yellin’s first Honor Flight to visit memorials in Washington, D.C., although the resident of Fairfield, Iowa, had seen them before. The group departed from the Air National Guard’s 122nd Fighter Wing and Fort Wayne International Airport, which began its life as a military air base during WWII.

While in Washington for the day, Yellin was scheduled to place a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

“That, to me, is an honor beyond anything that I’ve ever been involved with,” he said in an interview at the 122nd Fighter Wing along Ferguson Road.

Yellin is the author of four books; a spokesman for Spirit of ’45, an organization that celebrates the WWII generation; and an advocate for aiding veterans who suffer post traumatic stress disorder. He said he battled PTSD for 30 years after serving in the Pacific Theater.

“I thought about suicide, and I stopped flying fighter planes because I knew if I continued to fly, I was going to die, by chance or by choice,” said Yellen, who had been a captain in the Army Air Corps. “I hardly could ever go up in a building, a 10-story, 12-story building, without standing by a window and thinking about jumping.
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First Female Lightning II Fighter Pilot Takes to Air Over Florida

Lt. Col. Christine Mau becomes first woman to fly Air Force’s newest fighter jet 
BY CNN WIRE
MAY 8, 2015

Lt. Col. Christine Mau puts on her helmet before taking her first flight
in the F-35A at Eglin Air Force Base on May 5, 2015.
(PHOTO: Staff Sgt. Marleah Robertson/U.S. Air Force)

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. — The F-35 is the Air Force’s newest fighter plane, and the service says it needs some of its most experienced aviators in the cockpit of the jet.

One of them is Lt. Col. Christine Mau, who flew combat missions in the F-15 Strike Eagle in Afghanistan. This week, she became the first woman to fly the Lightning II jet.

Despite her experience in Afghanistan, Mau, the deputy commander of the 33rd Fighter Wing Operations Group at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, said completing her first flight in the F-35 was a special moment.

“It wasn’t until I was taxiing to the runway that it really struck me that I was on my own in the jet,” Mau said in an Air Force press release. “It felt great to get airborne. The jet flies like a dream.”
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One pilot missing, one stable after 2 F/A-18 Hornets crash in Pacific

UPDATE
Navy IDs Hornet Pilot Presumed Dead After Crash
Associated Press
Sep 15, 2014

LEMOORE, Calif. -- A Navy fighter pilot presumed dead after two jets crashed in the far western Pacific Ocean was identified Sunday as Lt. Nathan Poloski, a 26-year-old native of Lake Arrowhead, Calif.

Poloski was the subject of a 36-hour search in the waters off the U.S. territory of Wake Island after two F/A-18C Hornets collided in midair Friday. Wake Island is 2,300 miles west of Honolulu.
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One pilot missing, one stable after 2 F/A-18 Hornets crash in Pacific
Stars and Stripes
Published: September 12, 2014

WASHINGTON — The Navy is searching for one pilot and treating the injuries of another after two F/A-18 Hornets crashed after colliding Friday over the western Pacific while operating from an aircraft carrier.

The aircraft, part of Carrier Air Wing 17 on the USS Carl Vinson, belonged to Strike Fighter Squadron 94 and Strike Fighter Squadron 113, according to a Navy release. The Carl Vinson is scheduled to participate in a large exercise off the coast of Guam beginning Monday, and was operating about 250 nautical miles west of Wake Island.

One pilot was pulled quickly from the water after the crash and is in stable condition, according to a spokesman for the Navy’s 7th Fleet. Navy ships and aircraft were still searching for the other pilot.

The rescued pilot was in fair condition in the medical department of the Carl Vinson, Navy Cmdr. Jeannie Groeneveld told The Associated Press from San Diego.
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Harrier AV-8B crashed into houses, pilot safe

Military jet crash sets homes ablaze in California
Jun 4th 2014

IMPERIAL, Calif. (AP) - A Marine jet crashed into a residential area in a Southern California desert community Wednesday, exploding and setting two homes on fire. The pilot ejected safely, and there was no immediate word of any injuries on the ground.

The Harrier AV-8B went down at 4:20 p.m. in Imperial, a city of about 15,000 near the U.S.-Mexico border about 90 miles east of San Diego. Witnesses described an explosion and thick plumes of smoke.

"It felt like a bomb was thrown in the backyard of the house," said Adriana Ramos, 45, whose home is less than a block from the crash scene. "The whole house moved."

Ramos fled with her 4-year-old granddaughter and 10-year-old daughter, who both cried at the sight outside. Another witness, Jose Santos, was driving nearby and saw the plane flying "really low." Then "it just fell down," he said.

Santos sped toward the crash site. On the way, he saw the pilot who had parachuted to the ground.
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Marine safe after Harrier crash on Arizona tribal land

Marine jet crash-lands on Gila River tribal land
The Republic
Brenda Carrasco
May 10, 2014

A Marine Corps pilot was safe after his aircraft crash-landed in a desert area on the Gila River Indian Reservation near Sun Lakes on Friday, authorities said.

The pilot of the AV-8B Harrier ejected at about 2:30 p.m. and was found conscious about 2 miles southwest of the crash site.

A Marine spokesperson in San Diego confirmed the aircraft was based out of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.

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Fighter jet crashed in Nevada

SAD UPDATE

Pilot dead after Marine jet crashes in Nevada

Navy: Fighter jet in Nevada crash 'total loss'
Associated Press
Published: March 1, 2014

FALLON, Nev. — A fighter jet that crashed during a training exercise in western Nevada is a total loss and the pilot's condition is unknown, a spokeswoman for the Naval Air Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, said Sunday.

It took rescue crews several hours to reach the site after the 3 p.m. Saturday crash because of a snow storm and mountainous, remote terrain, Lt. Reagan Lauritzen said.
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Navy Pilot rescued after fighter jet crashes in Atlantic

Navy Jet Crashes Off Virginia Coast, Pilot Ejected
Huffington Post
By BROCK VERGAKIS
01/15/14

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A Navy fighter jet crashed Wednesday in Atlantic waters off Virginia's coast and the pilot has been rescued, a Navy official said. The crash comes a week after a Navy helicopter plunged into the ocean in the region, leaving three dead.

Cmdr. Mike Kafka, a spokesman for Naval Air Forces Atlantic, said the F/A-18E Super Hornet crashed about 2:35 p.m. about 50 miles off Virginia Beach. He said the pilot ejected and was recovered by a fisherman, and then picked up by a Navy helicopter. Kafka said the pilot was conscious, but he gave no other immediate details about the crash or the pilot's health.

The pilot was flown to a civilian hospital.
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Korean War Vet returns to North Korea to keep promise

UPDATE

Vet Fails to Make it to North Korea Crash Site

Vet returns to North Korea for 1st black Navy aviator
By JEAN H. LEE
The Associated Press
Published: July 19, 2013

SEOUL, South Korea - Two years after he made history by becoming the Navy's first black pilot, Ensign Jesse Brown lay trapped in his downed fighter plane in subfreezing North Korea, his leg broken and bleeding. His wingman crash-landed to try to save him, and even burned his hands trying to put out the flames.

A chopper hovered nearby. Lt. j.g. Thomas Hudner could save himself, but not his friend. With the light fading, the threat of enemy fire all around him and Brown losing consciousness, the white son of a New England grocery-store magnate made a promise to the black son of a sharecropper.

"We'll come back for you."

More than 60 years have passed. Hudner is now 88. But he did not forget. He is coming back.

Hudner, now a retired Navy captain, heads to Pyongyang on Saturday with hopes of traveling in the coming week to the region known in North Korea as the Jangjin Reservoir, accompanied by soldiers from the Korean People's Army, to the spot where Brown died in December 1950.
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Fighter jet crashes in Afghanistan; pilot killed from Tampa Florida

UPDATE
Pilot killed in Afghanistan identified; son of retired 2-star
Apr. 5, 2013
By Jeff Schogol, Staff writer

The F-16 pilot killed in an April 3 crash in eastern Afghanistan is the son of retired Maj. Gen. Robert Steel, former commandant of the National War College.

Capt. James Michael Steel, 29, of Tampa, Fla., died in the crash near Bagram Airfield, according to the Defense Department. Steel was assigned to the 77th Fighter Squadron, Shaw Air Force Base, S.C.

“Our condolences and prayers are with the family, friends and squadron members of Capt. Steel,” said Col. Clay Hall, 20th Fighter Wing commander, in a statement. “This is a difficult time for Shaw AFB, but we are focused on taking care of the Steel family, our Airmen and continuing to execute the mission.”
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Fighter jet crashes in Afghanistan; pilot killed
By Heath Druzin
Stars and Stripes
Published: April 4, 2013

KABUL — A U.S. fighter pilot was killed when his F-16 jet crashed late Wednesday near Bagram Air Field in eastern Afghanistan, military officials said.

The plane was on its final approach to land after a routine air support mission around 11 p.m. when it lost contact with its wingman and the control tower, Air Force Central Command spokesperson Capt. Natassia Cherne said. It crashed 10 miles south of the runway.

Cherne said preparations for an investigation were underway. The 455th Air Expeditionary Wing has appointed an interim safety investigation board president, and Air Combat Command has stood up a safety investigation board and an accident investigation board, she said.

The body of the pilot, the lone crewmember, has been recovered, according to a NATO release. Authorities did not release the victim’s identity pending notification of family members.
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Entire F-35 fleet grounded over engine issues

Entire F-35 fleet grounded over engine issues
Army Times
By Aaron Mehta
Staff writer
Posted : Friday Feb 22, 2013

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Pentagon has suspended all test flights for the entire Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter fleet due to engine problems.

The move came nine days after the Pentagon cleared the F-35B jump-jet variant, designed for the U.S. Marines, to resume tests after a monthlong suspension. Both suspensions are due to problems with the engines. It also comes at a time when the program is facing increased scrutiny from lawmakers and senior DoD officials.

Unlike the last suspension, which was only for the B variant, this suspension affects all three variants: the F-35A Air Force conventional takeoff version, the F35-B for the Marines, and the F35-C carrier variant for the Navy.

“On Feb. 19, 2013, a routine engine inspection revealed a crack on a low pressure turbine blade of an F135 engine installed in a [conventional takeoff] test aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif,” wrote Kyra Hawn, Joint Program Office (JPO) spokeswoman, in a statement.
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Formerly homeless vet finds a place in a widow's heart and home

Ken Reusser obituary in the LA Times brings a lot more meaning to this already wonderful story about his widow Trudy.

He received 59 medals during his career, and his 253 combat missions are considered the most ever by a Marine pilot.
After his retirement, he worked for Lockheed Aircraft, where he helped develop the U-2 spy plane, and then the Piasecki Helicopter Co. Retiring to his native Oregon, he was active in veterans groups.
He and his wife, Trudy, made headlines in 2004 when they defiantly refused to leave their home after it went into foreclosure. The couple had lost much of their retirement savings in a high-risk investment and then a swindle by a bookkeeper. Ultimately they were forced to obey a court order.

Now that you know the backstory on this, read what Trudy Reusser did.

Formerly homeless vet finds a place in a widow's heart and home
Published: Tuesday, December 25, 2012
By Mike Francis
The Oregonian

If there's one thing on which everyone -- activists, columnists, elected officials, cabinet secretaries, even the president of the United States -- seems to agree, it's that Americans should support military veterans.

Bind their wounds. Give them jobs. Provide them counseling. Welcome them home. Easy to say, harder to do.

This is the story of one welcoming. It involves a 73-year-old Milwaukie widow and her housemate, a 67-year-old Vietnam veteran.

She was married for almost 35 years to a legendary military aviator, living in a place she and her husband built before he died three years ago.

And he is her helper, sleeping in a warm bed in her spare bedroom, out of the cold and the rain since she invited him in.

If Trudy Reusser and Norm Gotovac seem an unlikely pair, that's because you don't know Reusser.

"She is a wonderful lady," says her friend, Kay Saddler of Hemlock, Ore. "She would give the shirt off her back and the shoes and socks off her feet if it would help a veteran."

Reusser. Why is that name familiar?

Military history buffs will know instantly: Ken Reusser is the most decorated Marine pilot in history. He displayed extraordinary bravery in combat not once, but repeatedly, across decades. He is, it is believed, the only pilot to have survived being downed in World War II, the Korean War and in Vietnam. He was awarded the Navy Cross twice, the Legion of Merit with V twice, the Distinguished Flying Cross five times, four Purple Hearts and numerous other commendations.
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Pilot safe after Marine Harrier Jet Crash in Arizona

Early findings point to mechanical failure in Marine Corps Harrier attack jet crash in Arizona
By Associated Press
Published: July 26

YUMA, Ariz. — Military officials say early findings point to mechanical failure in the crash of a U.S. Marine Corps Harrier attack jet on a training mission in southwestern Arizona.

The AV-8B Harrier went down Wednesday afternoon about 15 miles northwest of the Marine Corps Air Station Yuma near the Arizona-California border.

Base officials say the pilot ejected safely.
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Top aviators are refusing to fly F-22 Raptor

Some pilots refuse to fly F-22 Raptor fighter jet
By W.J. HENNIGAN
Los Angeles Times
Published: May 3, 2012
LOS ANGELES

Some of the nation's top aviators are refusing to fly the radar-evading F-22 Raptor, a fighter jet with ongoing problems with the oxygen systems that have plagued the fleet for four years.

At the risk of significant reprimand - or even discharge from the Air Force - fighter pilots are turning down the opportunity to climb into the cockpit of the F-22, the world's most expensive fighter jet.

The Air Force did not reveal how many of its 200 F-22 pilots, who are stationed at seven military bases across the country, declined their assignment orders. But current and former Air Force officials say it's an extremely rare occurrence.

"It's shocking to me as a fighter pilot and former commander of Air Combat Command that a pilot would decline to get into that airplane," said retired four-star Gen. Richard E. Hawley, a former F-15 fighter pilot and air combat commander at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Va.

He said he couldn't remember one specific incident in his 35-year career in which a fighter pilot declined his assignment.

Concern about the safety of the F-22 has grown in recent months as reports about problems with its oxygen systems have offered no clear explanations why pilots are reporting hypoxia-like symptoms in the air. Hypoxia is a condition that can bring on nausea, headaches, fatigue or blackouts when the body is deprived of oxygen.
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Sailor still hospitalized after fire aboard carrier USS John C. Stennis

MILITARY: Sailor still hospitalized after fire aboard carrier

Only one sailor remained hospitalized Friday after 11 people were injured Wednesday when a Marine Corps jet fighter engine exploded, sending shrapnel out its exhaust and catching the plane on fire.

The only man still hospitalized suffered a severely broken leg as a result of debris from the explosion that occurred aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis.
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Sailor still hospitalized after fire aboard carrier

70 years on, Battle of Britain pilots remember

70 years on, Battle of Britain pilots remember
By JILL LAWLESS (AP) – 5 hours ago

LONDON — Owen Burns remembers the cold, the howling wind, and the silk underwear he wore to protect him from the bitter cold. Ken Wilkinson recalls the solitude of combat, Nigel Rose the perverse disappointment of coming back from a mission unscathed.

They are a dwindling band, these men with firsthand memories of the Battle of Britain, an aerial fight for survival that came to a head 70 years ago Wednesday — and marked a turning point of World War II. They are modest icons, happy to reminisce and keep the past alive, but reluctant to dwell on either their bravery or their fear.

"There were times when you were really frightened, without a doubt," said Rose, a former Spitfire fighter pilot who is still dapper at 92. "But there wasn't much time to be really scared in the air."

Between July 10 and Oct. 31, 1940, German bombers pounded Britain's ports, airfields and cities in a bid to destroy its defenses in preparation for either invasion or surrender. France had already fallen to Adolf Hitler and the British army had been evacuated in disarray from Dunkirk.

The fate of Britain lay in the hands of men, barely out of their teens, sent up in Spitfires and Hurricanes to confront waves of Luftwaffe bombers. They are known as "The Few," from Prime Minister Winston Churchill's tribute: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

Sept. 15 was the symbolic climax to the battle, a day of heavy fighting in which British pilots shot down 60 German planes — though British propaganda at the time claimed three times as many. It is now commemorated as Battle of Britain Day, and veterans are gathering in London Wednesday for the unveiling of a bronze statue of Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park, the Royal Air Force commander in charge of defending the capital and southeast England.

Of almost 3,000 British and Allied airmen who flew in the battle, more than 544 were killed. Almost 800 more died before the end of the war.
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70 years on Battle of Britain pilots remember

Bracelet lost in World War II returns home

Bracelet lost in World War II returns home
U.S. pilot wore the silver token on his final mission over Germany

Sept . 19, 2009
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Jack Harold Glenn was a World War II fighter pilot who was killed during a firefight as he flew a mission over Germany in 1944, his body coming to rest in a field in a rural village.

The silver bracelet Glenn was wearing was given to a 16-year-old boy who helped retrieve his body. He held onto the bracelet ever since, a remembrance of the fallen American airman.

Sixty-five years later, the bracelet is returning to Glenn's sister in Alaska thanks to an enterprising World War II veteran who uncovered the relic on a recent trip to the German village.
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Bracelet lost in World War II returns home