Category: Air Force

The Air Force Times reports that Tech Sergeant John Chapman will be awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for his action in Afghanistan in 2002. Chapman will be the first Airman to be awarded the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War.

He was originally awarded the Air Force Cross. That citation read;

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Title 10, Section 8742, United States Code, takes pride in presenting the Air Force Cross (Posthumously) to Technical Sergeant John A. Chapman, United States Air Force, for extraordinary heroism in military operation against an armed enemy of the United States as a 24th Special Tactics Squadron, Combat Controller in the vicinity of Gardez, in the eastern highlands of Afghanistan, on 4 March 2002. On this date, during his helicopter insertion for a reconnaissance and time sensitive targeting close air support mission, Sergeant Chapman’s aircraft came under heavy machine gun fire and received a direct hit from a rocket propelled grenade which caused a United States Navy sea-air-land team member to fall from the aircraft. Though heavily damaged, the aircraft egressed the area and made an emergency landing seven kilometers away. Once on the ground Sergeant Chapman established communication with an AC-130 gunship to insure the area was secure while providing close air support coverage for the entire team. He then directed the gunship to begin the search for the missing team member. He requested, coordinated, and controlled the helicopter that extracted the stranded team and aircrew members. These actions limited the exposure of the aircrew and team to hostile fire. Without regard for his own life Sergeant Chapman volunteered to rescue his missing team member from an enemy strong hold. Shortly after insertion, the team made contact with the enemy. Sergeant Chapman engaged and killed two enemy personnel. He continued to advance reaching the enemy position then engaged a second enemy position, a dug-in machine gun nest. At this time the rescue team came under effective enemy fire from three directions. From close range he exchanged fire with the enemy from minimum personal cover until he succumbed to multiple wounds. His engagement and destruction of the first enemy position and advancement on the second position enabled his team to move to cover and break enemy contact. In his own words, his Navy sea-air-land team leader credits Sergeant Chapman unequivocally with saving the lives of the entire rescue team. Through his extraordinary heroism, superb airmanship, aggressiveness in the face of the enemy, and the dedication to the service of his country, Sergeant Chapman reflects the highest credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.

I don’t know what is going on in this video, but I’m pretty sure I don’t like it;

According to Stars & Stripes, a US military parachutist was forced to cut away from his main canopy yesterday. He landed safely with his reserve parachute, but the discarded canopy landed on a civilian high school near Yokota Air Base;

A piece of parachute equipment was found off base at Hamura No. 3 High School, and there were no reported injuries or damage,” the statement said.

The incident follows protests by Japanese residents over U.S. military aircraft parts falling onto schools on Okinawa and the arrival of CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft at Yokota last week.

“Yokota Air Base takes matters of this nature seriously and the incident is under investigation,” the statement said.

I don’t know how the incident could be investigated. I’ve been trying to contact Isaac Newton all morning to get his take on gravity, to no avail.

Bobo sends us a link to the Air Force Thunderbirds’ Facebook page which identifies the pilot killed the other day in a crash as Major Stephen “Cajun” Del Bagno;

U.S. Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron Slot Pilot Thunderbird 4, Maj. Stephen Del Bagno, was killed when his F-16 Fighting Falcon crashed over the Nevada Test and Training Range April 4, 2018 at approximately 10:30 a.m. during a routine aerial demonstration training flight.

“We are mourning the loss of Major Del Bagno,” said Brig. Gen. Jeannie Leavitt, 57th Wing Commander. “He was an integral part of our team and our hearts are heavy with his loss. We ask everyone to provide his family and friends the space to heal during this difficult time.”

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.

According to Stars & Stripes, the Air Force decided in favor of Colonel Leland Bohannon who decided that his religious beliefs prevented him from signing a certificate of appreciation for the same-sex spouse of a retiring master sergeant in his command. Instead he handed it to his commander to sign.

The retiring master sergeant who felt that Bohannon had slighted him and his partner filed an EO complaint and Bohannon was removed from his command position and from the promotion list as a result of the complaint. Bohannon appealed the decision on the basis of his religious beliefs;

The Air Force said that Col. Leland Bohannon “had the right to exercise his sincerely held religious beliefs and did not unlawfully discriminate when he declined to sign the certificate,” according to a letter sent Monday by Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson to members of Congress who supported Bohannon.

“The Air Force has a duty to treat people fairly and without discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, or sexual orientation and (Bohannon) met that duty by having a more senior officer sign the certificate,” Wilson said.

I guess Bohannon is lucky that he wasn’t required to bake them a wedding cake.

Mick sends us a link to the Air Force Times which tells the story of Cadet Third Class Jack Bell who took part in two rescues within the span of 72 hours last month. The first occurred while he was flying his plane;

Bell, a licensed pilot, was flying a Cirrus SR-22 aircraft with his brother, sister and a fellow cadet toward Monterey, California, Feb. 18 when air traffic control notified him that a plane in his area had fallen off radar and gone radio silent.

The last transmission from the plane’s pilot was that it had an engine failure, according to an Air Force Academy press release.

After receiving the last known coordinates of the lost plane, Bell flew over the area…

After flying to the area, Bell managed to locate the plane in a California coastal mountain range. His passengers were able to peer out their windows while Bell flew circles around the downed aircraft. The pilot had survived, and his wings and fuselage appeared intact.

Bell radioed those observations back to the air traffic control tower, helping first responders find the crash site.

Several hours later, Bell encountered a man who intended to jump off a bridge in Colorado and Cadet Bell was able to talk him down off the ledge;

Bell called 911 and asked for assistance before moving toward the man and making small talk with him.

“I asked him, what do you plan on doing up here?” Bell said. “That’s when he kind of snapped out of it and realized what he was doing and got very emotional. He mentioned something about God, and I saw that as an opportunity to use faith to connect with him.”