Archive for Military

June 6, 1944

By Jeff Quinton on June 6, 2013 No Comments

d-day

Ronald Reagan:

We stand on a lonely, windswept point on the northern shore of France. The air is soft, but 40 years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men, and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon. At dawn, on the morning of the 6th of June, 1944, 225 Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs. Their mission was one of the most difficult and daring of the invasion: to climb these sheer and desolate cliffs and take out the enemy guns. The Allies had been told that some of the mightiest of these guns were here and they would be trained on the beaches to stop the Allied advance.

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Naval Academy football players being investigated for sexual assault

By Jeff Quinton on May 31, 2013 No Comments

usna-goat-logo

WBAL.com

Navy officials confirmed that three Naval Academy football players are under investigation for sexually assaulting a female midshipman.
“Naval Academy leadership is monitoring the progress of this investigation and evaluating the appropriate options for adjudication,” said USNA Spokesman Cmdr. John Schofield.  ”It is completely inappropriate to make any other public comment on this investigation or any ongoing investigation as we risk compromising the military justice process.”
Schofield declined to name the players involved.
It’s also unclear when the investigation might be complete.
CBS News said earlier this week that the incident happened one year ago and was recently reopened.  The initial investigation was dropped after the woman refused to file charges.

The report also indicates that one of the midshipmen being investigated was the boyfriend of the alleged victim. His graduation was put on hold because of the allegations.

Coming on the heels of all of the recent military sexual assault allegations, coupled with the remarks that the president made at the USNA graduation last week, this will elevate the media attention given to this story.

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F-22 Raptors positioned 6 minutes away from Iran

By Jeff Quinton on May 17, 2013 No Comments

f-22

Above photo by Jeff Quinton – Copyright 2009

If true this would appear to just be saber rattling right now, in my opinion. Of course, it could be an effective deterrent. Time will tell.

Defense News

At a dinner in downtown Washington Thursday, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel touted the Pentagon’s deployment of advanced weaponry, including the Air Force F-22 Raptor, to the Middle East.

[...]

It just so happens that satellite imagery of those F-22s in the Middle East has popped up on Google Earth.

Five F-22s have turned up on satellite imagery at Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates about 100 miles from Iranian territory. While it’s no secret the US has deployed the radar-evading Raptors to the Al Dhafra, this is the first time they have popped up on publicly available satellite imagery.

The satellite picture was taken about a year ago, however it appears to have been put on Google Earth in recent months.

An Air Forces Central Command spokeswoman based in the Middle East would not say whether the Raptors were still in the region. “We cannot confirm that they’re in the [area of responsibility],” she said.

[...]

The Google Earth images put the F-22s about 100 miles from Iranian waters and 140 miles from the Iranian mainland.

The stealthy jet can fly at speeds above Mach 2, according to an Air Force fact sheet, meaning it could reach the Iranian mainland is less than six minutes from Al Dhafra.

Al Dhafra is the premier UAE Air Force base. The US Air Force has built a strong relationship with its UAE counterparts and occasionally sends fighters to train at the Gulf Air Warfare Center there.

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Marine Presidential Helicopter Squadron Gets Ospreys

By Jeff Quinton on May 6, 2013 No Comments

hmx1patch

 

An open house ceremony over the weekend at Marine Base Quantico featured  the new MV-22 Ospreys assigned to Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1.) The tilt-rotor aircraft are painted the same as the other helicopters, including Marine One, that are used to support the White House.

Battle Rattle has details:

HMX-1, the unit that mans the president’s Marine One helicopter, will use the aircraft for so-called “greenside” missions. They will support White House travels by shuttling essential equipment, personnel and even VIPs, although the aircraft are unlikely to transport the president himself. He only rides on one of two custom-designed helicopter models — the older Sikorsky VH-3D and the newer VH-60N, a modified Black Hawk.

The new HMX-1 Osprey will replace the medium-lift capability provided by the CH-46 Sea Knight – better known as the PHROG – which has been in service since the early ‘60s. In addition to the spit and polished green paint job, the VIP kits include black carpets, the HMX-1 logo emblazoned on the tail ramp, seat covers and walls and ceilings that hide the tangle of wires and hydraulic lines inside the cabin.

The picture below is via the Marine Corps (taken by Sgt. Rebekka S. Heite):
MARINE CORPS AIR FACILITY QUANTICO, Va. -- Marine Helicopter Squadron One Marines, past and present, family members and friends mingle on the flight line with the newest addition to the squadron, a MV-22 B ?Osprey,? after a MV-22B Introduction Ceremony in the HMX-1 hangar on May 4, 2013. HMX-1 is scheduled to receive 11 more MV-22B by next summer.(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Rebekka S. Heite/Released)

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Two Pennsylvania Guardsmen killed in Afghanistan Apache Crash

By Jeff Quinton on April 10, 2013 No Comments

28thID

The Patriot-News:

Chief Warrant Officer Matthew Ruffner was a resident of the Harrisburg area in the four years he served as a flight instructor at Fort Indiantown Gap.

Ruffner, who graduated from high school in Ohio, was one of two soldiers based at Fort Indiantown Gap who died Tuesday in an Apache helicopter crash in Afghanistan. He graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2003 with a degree in criminology, and his family lives in western Pennsylvania, officials said.

The other is Chief Warrant Officer Jarett Yoder, 27, of Mohnton, near Reading. He was a 2005 graduate of Oley Valley High School in Oley, Pa. and attended Reading Area Community College, said Maj. Gen. Wesley Craig, who announced the deaths Wednesday afternoon.

Craig said they are the fifty-second and fifty-third members of the Pennsylvania National Guard killed while on duty since 2004. He said that’s “by far” the most guard members from any state. “We are a huge family … It hurts a lot. It’s very difficult,” he said.

 

Both soldiers were members of 1-104th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, which deployed in August. Their aircraft crashed 150 miles east of Kabul. Yoder had previously deployed as an infantryman with Company C, 1st Battalion 111th Infantry. Ruffner had been a full-time instructor at Fort Indiantown Gap.

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