This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Author: Jonn Lilyea

  • Navy Capt. Loften Thornton; chaplain canned

    Navy Capt. Loften Thornton; chaplain canned

    Navy Captain Loften Thornton, a chaplain assigned to Headquarters and Service Battalion at Marine Corps Forces Pacific, was fired when a video of him engaged in a sexual tryst in a New Orleans club triggered an investigation into the chaplain’s conduct. From Fox News;

    USA Today, citing two defense officials, reported that authorities were examining video that showed Thornton having sex with the woman at the Crown & Anchor English Pub in the Algiers Point neighborhood of New Orleans. The bar is located across the Mississippi River from the city’s French Quarter, and near the Marine Forces Reserve in Algiers, where Thornton was stationed.

    The owner of the bar told USA Today that he was cooperating with authorities, but would not comment further.

    The paper reported that Thornton had been a Navy chaplain since 1992.

    From MSN;

    The Marines fired Navy Capt. Loften Thornton on March 20 for “loss of trust and confidence,” said Marine Lt. Col. Ted Wong, a spokesman for Marine Reserve. Thornton had been chaplain for Marine Forces Reserve based in New Orleans.

  • USAF Thunderbird Aircraft Mishap

    USAF Thunderbird Aircraft Mishap

    According to the US Air Force Thunderbirds’ Facebook page, they lost one of their pilots and aircraft yesterday;

    NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. – A U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds pilot was killed when his F-16 Fighting Falcon crashed over the Nevada Test and Training Range today at approximately 10:30 a.m. during a routine aerial demonstration training flight. The identity of the pilot is being withheld for 24-hours pending next of kin notification. An investigation is being conducted into the cause of the mishap.

    The team’s participation at the March Air Reserve Base “The March Field Air & Space Expo” has been cancelled. It is unknown how this accident will impact the remainder of the 2018 Thunderbirds Season.

    Gravity seems to be taking it’s toll on the military these days. I blame Global Warming.

  • U.S. Navy Capt. Thomas J. Hudner interred at Arlington

    U.S. Navy Capt. Thomas J. Hudner interred at Arlington

    Back in November, we told you that Medal of Honor recipient U.S. Navy Capt. Thomas J. Hudner passed at the age of 93. He was awarded the Medal of Honor during the battle at Chosin Reservoir in Korea. When his wingman, Ensign Jesse L. Brown was shot down, Hudner tried to rescue Brown from his burning air craft by crashing his own aircraft near the site so he could render aid;

    Quickly maneuvering to circle the downed pilot and protect him from enemy troops infesting the area, Lt. (J.G.) Hudner risked his life to save the injured flier who was trapped alive in the burning wreckage. Fully aware of the extreme danger in landing on the rough mountainous terrain and the scant hope of escape or survival in subzero temperature, he put his plane down skillfully in a deliberate wheels-up landing in the presence of enemy troops. With his bare hands, he packed the fuselage with snow to keep the flames away from the pilot and struggled to pull him free. Unsuccessful in this, he returned to his crashed aircraft and radioed other airborne planes, requesting that a helicopter be dispatched with an ax and fire extinguisher. He then remained on the spot despite the continuing danger from enemy action and, with the assistance of the rescue pilot, renewed a desperate but unavailing battle against time, cold, and flames.

    Captain Hudner’s earthly remains were laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery yesterday. The folks at DVIDS send us a link to their photo stream of the event in Section 54.

  • Richard Allen Pence; phony SEAL

    Richard Allen Pence; phony SEAL

    Our partners at Military Phonies share their work on the fellow, Richard Pence, who claims that he went through BUD/S training, but he got in an accident the next day, so he never went to the teams;

    However, the Navy doesn’t remember Richard going through BUD/S or his accident;

    During the time he claimed to be in SEAL training he was stationed aboard the USS Trippe, FF 1075. There is no record of him being stationed in Coronado or even on the west coast. Richard Pence was never a Navy SEAL.

  • Edward Liroff; phony veteran

    Edward Liroff; phony veteran

    Edward Liroff applied for a government job in Port Saint Lucie, Florida and tried to pass himself off as a veteran with a bogus DD214 discharge certificate. Mike Lubek, the city’s assistant director of neighborhood services, wasn’t familiar with a DD214 so he asked Port St. Lucie police Officer Joseph Byrne to look at it. Byrne discovered that Liroff claimed awards that he couldn’t have earned.

    Byrne noticed several irregularities on the form and concluded that Liroff never served in the military.

    Among the discrepancies Byrne noted were that the Distinguished Service Medal was only awarded to four U.S. Army soldiers between 1983 and 2013 — Liroff was not among them — and that his Silver Star Medal was spelled incorrectly.

    Byrne also discovered that Liroff was registered as a veteran with the Department of Veterans Affairs and had been receiving health care from the VA.

    A warrant was issued for Liroff’s arrest and he was booked into the county jail.

    Liroff also had Purple Heart license plates and a life membership in the VFW according to ABC News 10;

    Liroff thought very highly of his lack of military service according to the police department;

    Listed on the DD214 presented by Liroff it has listed that he is the recipient of:
    • Distinguished Service Medal
    • Silver Star Medal
    • Legion of Merit Medal
    • Bronze Star Medal
    • Purple Heart Medal (Second Award)
    • Air Medal for Valor
    • Army Commendation Medal
    • Army Achievement Medal
    • Good Conduct Medal
    • Nation Defense Medal
    • Southwest Asia Service Medal
    • Kosovo Campaign Medal
    • Afghanistan Campaign Medal
    • Iraq Campaign Medal
    • Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
    • Armed Forces Service Medal and Award for Operations Relating Former Rep. Yugoslavia
    • Humanitarian Service Medal
    • Several Service Ribbon
    • Combat Infantryman’s Badge (Second Award)
    • Combat Medical Badge
    • Air Assault Badge

  • Thursday morning feel good stories

    Thursday morning feel good stories

    From Dallas, Texas;

    Authorities were called to a house in the 2600 block of Highland Road around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday about a shooting call.

    When they arrived, the 28-year-old man was found dead from a gunshot wound.

    Neighbors and the 54-year-old homeowner called 9-1-1 after the shooting, and police conducted several interviews.

    The homeowner was released after talking with police, but a murder offense was generated and will be referred to a grand jury.

    From Jefferson County, West Virginia;

    While authorities were responding to the scene, they received information that there was an armed intruder and a gunshot had been fired. [Harold] Marsh was found in the stairwell with a bullet wound to his arm when officers arrived.

    Dougherty said an investigation determined Marsh was armed with an assault-style rifle and a small-caliber handgun when he kicked in the door of his ex-girlfriend’s apartment.

    He said some of the residents confronted Marsh and were able to wrestle the rifle away, but the pistol discharged during the struggle and the bullet struck him in the arm.

  • Trump orders an end to Syria mission

    Trump orders an end to Syria mission

    According to Fox News, the White House has issued instructions for the withdrawal of US troops from Syria;

    According to a Washington Post report, Trump said that while U.S. troops can still be involved in training local forces to ensure security in liberated areas, he expects other nations – particularly the oil-rich Arab states – to help pay for the reconstruction of Syria and send in their own troops.

    “As far as Syria is concerned, our primary mission in terms of that was getting rid of ISIS,” Trump said on Tuesday during a news conference with leaders from the Baltic nations. “We’ve completed that task and we’ll be making a decision very quickly, in coordination with others in the area, as to what we will do.”

    The mission is “very costly for our country and it helps other countries a helluva lot more than it helps us,” Trump said.

    Well, at least he didn’t give ISIS a timetable scheduled withdrawal like his predecessor did in Iraq and Afghanistan.

  • YouTube shooter

    Nasim Najafi Aghdam, an Iranian national vegan, animal rights proponent and a body builder was upset at YouTube’s policies so she went to the company’s campus in San Bruno, California and shot three people before turning the gun on herself.

    According to CNN, Aghdam’s brother warned police about her.

    But it’s unclear whether the brother’s concerns were relayed to authorities in the Bay Area, San Bruno police Chief Ed Barberini told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Wednesday.

    “We know that she was reported missing by her family in San Diego on the 31st of March, and that she was located in a community about 30 miles south of us early Tuesday morning,” Barberini said.

    “I don’t know what concerns were conveyed to that police department, or how or where those concerns were relayed to. So that is something we’re looking into.”

    The New York Times reports that she was contacted by police, but they cleared her;

    On Wednesday morning, the police were still trying to piece together Ms. Aghdam’s activity in the days leading up to the shooting. Her family reported her missing on March 31 in San Diego, the San Bruno Police Department said, and she was located by another police department on Tuesday morning, before the shooting, about 30 miles south of YouTube’s headquarters.

    From Fox News;

    Police found her sleeping in a vehicle parked in a lot in the Silicon Valley hub of Mountain View around 2 a.m. Tuesday, about 30 miles from where she would later carrying out her rampage. She had driven more than 500 miles from San Diego to San Bruno…Of the three people wounded, a 36-year-old man was in critical condition, a spokesman for San Francisco General Hospital said. A 32-year-old woman was in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman in fair condition, the spokesman said.