DJ Jazzy Jeff performs for deployed airmen
April 27th, 2012 | Flightlines | Posted by Jeff Schogol
Airmen in Southwest Asia got to party like it was 1989 when DJ Jazzy Jeff spun records for the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing.
DJ Jazzy Jeff’s April 25 performance marked the first time he played for a military audience, according to an Air Force news story.
“I first got the idea about two years ago, but we’d never been able to make it happen,” DJ Jazzy Jeff said in the news release. “At home when we go to bed, it’s calm and peaceful, but it’s calm and peaceful because people out here are keeping us safe. So this was just our way of saying ‘thanks for what you do.’”
Back in the day, DJ Jazzy Jeff sang rap songs along with Will Smith, then known as the “Fresh Prince.” The duo’s hits include “Girls Aint Nothing But Trouble,” and “Parents Just Don’t Understand.”
American-born terrorist is either alive, or dead, or being held incommunicado, or not
April 26th, 2012 | Flightlines | Posted by Jeff Schogol
The status of an American-born terrorist who crooned about wanting to be obliterated by a Predator drone is in a gray area somewhere between “dead” and “alive.”
Born in Alabama, Omar Hammami became a commander with Al-Shabaab, an Islamic group in Somalia that recently became part of al-Qaida. In his side career, Hammami released watered-down rap songs promoting Jihad, including “Send me a Cruise,” about how he wanted to be on the business end of a “paradise missile.”
But he may have met his end at the hands of his fellow terrorists. Rumors have circulated recently that creative differences with his label led to Al-Shabaab terminating Hammami’s recording career with extreme prejudice.
On Thursday, The Associated Press reported that Al-Shabaab had released a statement saying that Hammami was still alive, but it appears the wire service wasn’t quite accurate.
The Long War Journal, a respected blog on Islamic terrorism, pointed out that the statement was actually an opinion piece on a pro-Shabaab Somali website, not an official communiqué from the terrorist group, which has been silent on rumors of Hammami’s death.
Still, the fact that Al-Shabaab’s boosters say Hammami is still alive indicates that the terrorist may still be with us and ultimately realize his dream of being annihilated by a Hellfire fired by the Air Force’s remote control war fighters.
Would the United States and China ever go to war?
April 25th, 2012 | China Flightlines History | Posted by Jeff Schogol
Senior Capt. Guan Youfei, deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Chinese Ministry of National Defense (center) and U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Charles W. Hooper, U.S. military attache in Beijing, greet the first of two U.S. aircrews delivering earthquake relief supplies to China in 2008. COURTESY U.S. AIR FORCE
A recent study from the American Enterprise Institute concluded that the U.S. Air Force lacks the stealth aircraft to successfully fight China.
One expert told Air Force Times it is unlikely China and the U.S. would ever go to war because their two economies are so interconnected, but a reader pointed out afterward that people said the same thing about Great Britain and Germany, which came to blows twice in the last century.
Prior to World War I, Germany’s biggest trading partners were Britain and France while Germany was also one of the biggest investors in Russia, giving rise to the popular notion that a major European war was unlikely – yet the war came, said Dean Cheng, a China expert with the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington.
Now, as then, economic interests do not trump national security interests, so China and the United States are not so interconnected that they will never go to war, Cheng said.
The reason the Chinese have bought hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. bonds is the U.S. economy is the only one big enough to handle all that money, he said. For both China and the U.S, the relationship is pure business.
“There’s nothing in the Chinese side of their actions to make them say, ‘You know, I’m willing to take something of a loss here,’ or, ‘I am buying American bonds in peace time because I want to help express sympathy for the United States; the same way nobody here buys Chinese goods – very, very few people – buy Chinese goods because, ‘Well, you know, I want to help China,’” Cheng said.
Guitar honors nine killed in Afghanistan shooting last April
April 23rd, 2012 | Flightlines | Posted by Kristin Davis
Guitar maker John Guilford created the guitar in honor of the eight airmen and one contractor killed in Afghanistan April 27, 2011.
An electric guitar built in honor of eight airmen and a civilian contractor killed one year ago by an Afghan turncoat debuted at the Dallas International Guitar Festival over the weekend.
Guitar maker John Guilford spent two months crafting the custom instrument after he was approached by Maj. Henry Cecil and Lillian Axe, a hard rock band from New Orleans.
Cecil worked for a year as an air advisor in Afghanistan and served with three of the nine who died when an Afghan colonel turned his gun on coalition forces inside Kabul International Airport April 27, 2011. Cecil is also friends with Louisiana Music Hall of Famers Lillian Axe, which uses Guilford Guitars.
Guilford, who builds guitars in his backyard shop in Glasford, Ill., said he considered the request from Cecil and Lillian Axe for about a day before agreeing to take on the project.
It’s a tough economy, Guilford said. But “it touched my heart that I had the opportunity to give back to our fallen troops.”
The front of the guitar is covered in a portion of the airman battle uniform worn by Maj. Henry Cecil during his year-long deployment to Afghanistan.
Guilford covered the front of the guitar in the camouflage airman battle uniform Cecil wore in Afghanistan. The words “U.S. Air Force” cover the fingerboard in mother-of-pearl inlay. The back plate lists the names of the nine killed: Maj. Jeffrey Ausborn, Maj. Charles Ransom, Master Sgt. Tara Brown, Maj. Philip Ambard, Maj. Raymond Estelle II, Capt. Nathan Nylander, Maj. David Brodeur and Lt. Col. Frank Bryant and contractor James McLaughlin, an Army veteran.
The words “Take the Bullet” refer to a song the band wrote to honor military service men and women.
Cecil said the guitar will be raffled off to raise money for the Air Advisor Memorial underway at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J. A drawing is planned for Veteran’s Day.
Lillian Axe will tour with the guitar throughout the summer. For more information, visit www.airadvisormemorial.org/home/Tribute_Guitar.html.
Space Command puts the kibosh on flight suits — this week’s Air Force Times
April 23rd, 2012 | Flightlines | Posted by Jeff Schogol
Most airmen at Air Force Space Command have been told they can no longer wear flight suits and leather “bomber” jackets.
The move, which affects about 1,800 airmen, is meant to save Space Command about $670,000 a year and eliminate a caste system of “haves and have-nots,” Gen. William Shelton, head of the command, said in a statement.
“There has always been a kind of envy of those who flew from those who didn’t regardless of what command,” said retired Gen. Lance Lord, who was in charge of Space Command from 2002 to 2006.
Affected airmen have to start wearing camouflage Airman Battle Uniforms or their dress uniforms on Oct. 1.
In other news, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force James Roy has sent an email to all airmen that is much softer in tone than one he sent a week prior about decorations and enlisted performance reviews.
Instead of having hard and fast rules about how many airmen can get a 5 on their EPRs, “We need to have bold leaders to set high standards and help airmen achieve them,” Roy wrote.
Roy was writing for a wider audience, not toning down his message or recanting any of his points, Roy’s spokesman Senior Master Sgt. Christopher Vadnais explained on Monday.
And the Defense Finance and Accounting Service says airmen will have to wait until fall to use the Thrift Savings Plan’s new Roth option, while Defense Department civilians will get the option in early summer.
The new investment option allows service members and civilians to invest after-tax earnings into funds that will grow without tax liability on future earnings.
70th anniversary of Doolittle Raid
April 18th, 2012 | Flightlines | Posted by Jeff Schogol
FILE - In this undated file photo, orders in his hand, Capt. Marc A. Mitscher, skipper of the U.S.S. Hornet, discusses details for the take-off of Army members for the Tokyo raid with Maj. Gen. James H. Doolittle, foreground left. Survivors of the raid on Japan at the start of World War II celebrate the 70th anniversary of their raid on Japan April 17-20, 2012, in Dayton, Ohio. (AP File Photo)
Wednesday marks the 70th anniversary of the Doolittle Raid, when 16 Army B-25 bombers struck Tokyo and other targets in Japan for the first time in World War II.
Led by Army Lt. Col. James Doolittle, the bomber crews and their planes were embarked on the aircraft carrier USS Hornet so that they could reach Japan and then fly to landing zones in China.
But on the morning of April 18, 1842, the Navy task force was sighted by a small Japanese fishing boat, prompting Doolittle to order his planes to take off about 600 miles away from the Japanese coast — too far for the bombers to fly to their landing zones afterward.
The bombers were able to reach their targets, inflicting modest damage, and their crews later crash landed or bailed out over China. One bomber landed in Russia, where the crew was interned. The raid was later immortalized by the book and movie “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo.”
Of the 80 men who took off that day, three were killed and another eight were captured by the Japanese. Half of them died before the war’s end: Three were shot and a fourth died of disease.
While the damage done by the bombers pales in comparison to the incendiary raids later in the war, it showed Japan was vulnerable, prompting the Japanese military to make a series of decisions that ultimately led to the U.S. victory at Midway, the turning part of the war.
All five of the surviving Doolittle Raiders attended a remembrance ceremony Wednesday at the National Museum of the Air Force at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, where 20 restored B-25 bombers took part in a memorial flyover.
New website a one-stop shop for all things Air Force housing
April 16th, 2012 | Flightlines | Posted by Markeshia Ricks
It’s that time of the year where airmen and their families prepare to bid adieu to their current duty stations and start that all consuming process of moving to the next.
In an effort to minimize that stress, the Air Force has unveiled a new housing Website that features links to the housing pages of every Air Force installation around the world.
The new site features maps of each base, information on housing options and support services, links to other important moving related websites and a list of FAQs, according to a press release. The new site also includes information about local communities, schools and even the weather.
But the site apparently isn’t just for airmen with families. It also has information for single airmen who need to know more about the dorms, according to the press release.
Visit www.housing.af.mil for information about permanent change of station moves and base housing and off-base housing.
War on smokers, CMSAF Roy tells NCOs to stop whining and lead — this week’s Air Force Times
April 16th, 2012 | Flightlines | Posted by Jeff Schogol
If you smoke, dip or take a hit from the hookah, you’re SOL because the Air Force has severely curtailed where airmen can light up or chew tobacco.
An Air Force Instruction issued in March prohibits airmen from using any tobacco products in parking lots, playgrounds and anywhere near Air Force hospitals or clinics.
Nearly one-quarter of airmen smoke, and that’s higher than the national average. Still, some airmen questioned the wisdom behind the Air Force’s banzai charge against tobacco use.
“Now I have to go to the smoke pit and [be] forced to inhale secondhand smoke if I want to enjoy a snus now and again,” wrote Staff Sgt. Adam Miller in an email to Air Force Times.
In other matters, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force James Roy sent out an email recently admonishing senior enlisted leaders for peppering him with questions such as why is there no limit to the number of airmen who can get a 5 on their enlisted performance reports.
“Our supervisors need to be reminded that there is no shortcut to developing tomorrow’s leaders,” Roy wrote in the email. “We cannot create a set of pre-defined courses of action that will adequately meet the needs of every situation.”
The email drew angry reactions from noncommissioned officers, including one who told Air Force Times that Roy wasn’t living up to his responsibilities as the Air Force’s top enlisted leader.
“The Air Force does need leadership, but that leadership is lacking starting at the top,” said the technical sergeant, who asked not to be named for fear of putting his job in jeopardy.
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Events to mark first anniversary of Kabul shootings
April 13th, 2012 | Flightlines | Posted by Kristin Davis
On April 26, nine teams of four will begin a trek from the World Trade Center site to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., in remembrance of the nine men and women killed in the mass shooting at Kabul International Airport last April.
Each team will carry a brick with the name of one of the fallen, which will be placed in a memorial now underway at the base, said Col. Olaf Holm, the Air Advisor Academy commandant who is spearheading the event.
The teams are set to arrive April 27, the one-year anniversary of the deadliest attack by an Afghan serviceman on coalition troops in the decade-long war.
Killed that day were Maj. Jeffrey Ausborn, Capt. Charles Ransom, Tech. Sgt. Tara Brown, Maj. Philip Ambard, Maj. Raymond Estelle II, Capt. Nathan Nylander, Maj. David Brodeur and Lt. Col. Frank Bryant and contractor James McLaughlin.
The walk is just one event of many scheduled around the world, Holm said. Memorial runs are planned at Langley Air Force Base, Va., Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. and Rota Naval Station, Spain. A run will also be held in Kandahar, Afghanistan, he said.
A memorial tribute also will be held at 10 a.m. April 27 at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Orlando, Fla.
The money raised will help fund the Air Advisor Memorial, which Holm said will be dedicated to all air advisors killed in the line of duty.
To learn more about the memorial and the events or to donate, visit www.airadvisormemorial.org.
Bronze Star Backlash, Ordeal at Dover — this week’s Air Force Times
April 9th, 2012 | Flightlines | Posted by Jeff Schogol
Two female airmen have come under fierce and personal criticism online after the Air Force posted stories on their being awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service in Afghanistan.
Many of the people leaving comments said the airmen didn’t deserve the award, prompting the Air Force to take one of the stories offline because, “No one deserves that level of criticism for meritorious service in a combat zone,” said David Smith, a spokesman for Air Education and Training Command.
By far, most of the Bronze Stars awarded by the Air Force and Army are for meritorious service, not combat valor.
Doug Sterner, a Vietnam veteran who maintains the Military Times Hall of Valor database of military awards, called criticism of the two airmen “small-minded.”
“I certainly wouldn’t want to go back to any of these half a million Vietnam War veterans who got meritorious Bronze Stars and start questioning them,” he said.
Also, Mary Ellen Spera is one of the whistle-blowers whom the Air Force retaliated against for letting investigators know about the mistreatment of fallen troops’ remains at the Dover Air Force Base port mortuary.
An Office of Special Counsel investigation vindicated her and the other whistle-blowers, but Spera still has one nagging thought.
“That some soldier out there says, ‘Oh my God, if I get killed, I’ve got go to go to Dover,’ is the sickening thing to me,” she said. “Just let the American public and especially the American military know that we’re taking care of them. We always have and we always will, regardless of what may be happening in the background. They are the reason we do what we do.”
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