Killer snake gets official role at Eglin
August 29th, 2011 | Flightlines | Posted by Scott Fontaine
We all know of the unofficial policy of different spanks for different ranks — but what can you make of this one?
A snake that killed a 2-year-old girl at Eglin Air Force Base in 2009 will now be used in training. Gypsy, an 8-foot-6 albino Burmese python, “now will be used in swamp training at ranger camp,” according to the Northwest Florida Daily News.
The newspaper reported the toddler, Shaianna Rosa Hare, died July 1, 2009, “after the python slid into her crib and constricted her. Her mother, Jaren Hare, and her live-in boyfriend, Charles “Jason” Darnell, each were sentenced Wednesday to 12 years in prison.”
The snake was trying to eat the child, the medical examiner testified at the trial. The state held onto the snake for evidence in the criminal case, and a state wildlife official told the newspaper there was no reason to destroy the snake because it was acting on instinct.
So it’s now property of the 6th Ranger Training Battalion at Eglin.
Loss of prestige
June 24th, 2011 | Flightlines | Posted by Scott Fontaine
Any photo I choose would make the person in it look like a schmuck, so here's a cool photo of a CV-22 landing at Cannon Air Force Base, N.M.
Americans believe the Air Force is third-most important branch of the military, trailing the Army and Marine Corps, according to a recent national poll.
Seventeen percent of respondents listed the Air Force as “most important to our national defense,” Gallup announced June 21. The Army was seen as the most important (25 percent), followed by the Marines (24 percent), the Navy (11 percent) and the Coast Guard (3 percent).
Sixteen percent believed the branches were the same.
Gallup interviewed 1,020 adults representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The margin of error was 5 percent.
The findings represent a shift in post-9/11 thinking. In May 2001, 42 percent of respondents listed the Air Force as the most important branch – far ahead of the Army (18 percent), Navy (15 percent) and Marines (14 percent).
The Air Force’s prominence slipped in polls conducted in May 2002, when 36 percent of respondents listed the service as the most important, and in May 2004, when that number slipped to 23 percent.
Gallup began asking Americans about importance of the military branches during the 1940s, and the 2004 poll was the first time the Air Force didn’t top the list.
Gallup also asked respondents which branch they view as the most prestigious. The response: Marine Corps, with 46 percent; followed by the Army, with 22 percent; the Air Force, with 15 percent; the Navy, with 8 percent; and the Coast Guard with 2 percent. Five percent said the branches were the same.
The Air Force’s score is a drop of more than half since 2001, when 32 percent of respondents listed the service as the most prestigious.
Go big or go home. No, seriously, go home.
June 17th, 2011 | Flightlines | Posted by Scott Fontaine
I knew I shouldn’t have hit my Idi Amin photo quota so early in the week. Check out the fruit salad on this guy, as spotted by the This Ain’t Hell blog.
I’d try to count how many ribbons he’s wearing (in addition to the Parachutist Badge and the Air Assualt Badge and the Combat Infantryman Badge and…), but I think my calculator would melt down.
Check out some of the comments:
USMC Steve: “Army as well as Air Force gongs and badges, but the boots are just a fashion faux pas.”
TSO: “15 rows of medals, dude could kill you with his MIND.”
Jonn Lilyea: “I wonder why he was half-stepping with the Jumpmaster wings. Why not Senior Master Jumper? Was he trying to show some restraint?”
Tags: air force, army, fashion, stolen valor