Air Force

Stories 121 - 140 | << Prev   Next >>

USAF Recruit: I Was Supposed to Report Rape to My Rapist
 USAF Recruit: 
 I Was Supposed 
 to Report Rape 
 to My Rapist 
LACKLAND SEX ASSAULT SCANDAL

USAF Recruit: I Was Supposed to Report Rape to My Rapist

Virginia Messick speaks about attack by her superior as scandal breaks open

(Newser) - Soon after Virginia Messick reported to basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in March 2011, her training instructor, Staff Sgt. Luis Walker , started giving her special treatment. One day, while she was in his office using his computer—a rule violation that he allowed—he started groping her. Though...

Drone Pilots Get Same Stress as Combat Pilots

Pentagon study sees evidence PTSD, even from afar

(Newser) - This won't go over well with vets who think drone pilots don't deserve the same kind of medal as war-zone troops: A Pentagon study finds that those who operate drones from afar suffer combat-related stress at the same rate as pilots who fly into battle themselves, reports the...

Air Force's Secret Robot Space Plane Blasts Off

For an unknown mission

(Newser) - Who says America doesn't have a space program anymore? Sure the shuttle's gone, but the military is keeping the dream alive—and classified. The Air Force today launched its top-secret unmanned space shuttle alternative into orbit on a mysterious mission, the AP reports. The vessel, dubbed the X-37B,...

30 Cadets Injured in All-Out 'Brawl'

Sergeant-tossing ritual leaves 6 hospitalized

(Newser) - An Air Force ritual devolved into an all-out melee last week that left 30 cadets injured and six hospitalized—with concussions, cuts, and an arm bite, NBC News reports. It was all part of the unauthorized "First Shirt/First Snow" ritual, in which cadets toss a sergeant into a snow...

Ultra-Fast Test Craft Crashes
 Ultra-Fast Test Craft Crashes 

Ultra-Fast Test Craft Crashes

Unmanned Air Force WaveRider plunges into Pacific

(Newser) - It was supposed to be a step toward ultra-quick military strikes and maybe even passenger planes that could zip from coast to coast in under an hour . Instead, an unmanned hypersonic test craft crashed into the Pacific today shortly after being released from a B-52 bomber, reports AP . The Air...

Sex Probe Balloons to 38 Victims at Air Force Base

Instructors may have preyed on recruits at basic training

(Newser) - A sex assault and harassment probe at a Texas Air Force base has been expanded to 15 instructors, and the number of possible victims is now up to 38. "There may be others as we continue the investigation" at the Lackland base in San Antonio, said an Air Force...

Air Force Osprey Crash Injures 5

Airmen hospitalized after latest Osprey incident

(Newser) - An Air Force CV-22 Osprey has crashed during a routine training mission in Florida, injuring all five crew members, according to officials. The five airmen were hospitalized and the extent of their injuries was not disclosed, reports CNN . It's not yet clear what caused the accident. The tilt-rotor aircraft,...

Panetta Limits F-22 Flights After Pilot Blackouts

He orders Air Force to take steps to protect fliers

(Newser) - Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has ordered the Air Force to take extra steps to protect F-22 pilots while officials investigate reports of dizziness and fainting spells in the cockpit. Panetta has ordered the service to keep all F-22 flights close enough to landing strips so that pilots will be able...

Remains of 9/11 Victims Dumped in Landfill

Dover Air Force Base under fire for treatment of cremated remains

(Newser) - Small, incinerated portions of the remains of 9/11 victims ended up in a landfill, the Pentagon has acknowledged for the first time. The remains of victims of the attacks in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon, too small to identify, were brought to the Dover Air Force Base mortuary, where they...

Dover Mortuary Punished Whistle-Blowers

Report tells Air Force to act, or else

(Newser) - Officials at the Dover Air Force Base, beset by accusations that they horrifically mistreated the nation's war dead, punished the whistle-blowers who brought those abuses to light, according to a new report from the Office of Special Counsel. The special counsel sent its 39-page report on the abuses to...

29% of Drone Pilots Are Burned Out, Exhausted

Air Force points to three reasons for the stress

(Newser) - Drones may be unmanned, but they're not pilot-less, and many of those pilots are having a pretty rough time. NPR reports on a new Pentagon study, commissioned by the Air Force, that looks at the mental toll that fighting "remote-controlled war" takes, and the stats are somewhat disheartening....

Air Force Probing Casket Gag
 Air Force Probing Casket Gag 

Air Force Probing Casket Gag

Tasteless photo angers military

(Newser) - Dumb: Posing for a joke photo with the kind of casket used to bring war dead back to the US. Dumber: Putting it on Facebook. The Air Force is investigating a photograph of airmen posing around a casket in which a colleague wrapped in chains plays dead with a noose...

Air Force Discharges Birther Sergeant

Daryn Moran taunted officials to arrest him

(Newser) - The Air Force is cutting loose a staff sergeant who championed the debunked “birther” conspiracy theory online. Daryn Moran says he stopped reporting for duty at an Air Force base in Germany, arguing that his orders were invalid because Obama was an invalid president. “Now it’s plain...

Poll: Air Force Losing Ground With Public

Army, Marines now ranked as more important

(Newser) - The public now considers the Army and Marines significantly more important than the Air Force, according to a new Gallup poll. That might not sound that earth-shattering, but it represents a major shift in public thinking, Politico observes. In May 2001, the Air Force was overwhelmingly the public’s favorite,...

Lightning Strike Sends 77 Air Force Cadets to Hospital

All appear to be doing fine

(Newser) - Scary lightning strike in Mississippi, though no serious injuries appear to have resulted: The bolt hit a power pole near tents where Air Force ROTC cadets were training, sending 77 cadets to the hospital for evaluation. Two went by ambulance from Camp Shelby and the rest by bus, reports AP...

Air Force Boots Gay Pilot Over DADT

Policy still in play, as evidenced by the April 29 discharge

(Newser) - President Obama signed the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act in December, but it’s not entirely safe for servicemen and women to come out of the closet just yet. The Air Force discharged an Airman under the policy as recently as April 29, the Metro Weekly reports....

'Sheen' Used for Libya Psy-Ops
 'Sheen' Used for Libya Psy-Ops 
WINNING?

'Sheen' Used for Libya Psy-Ops

Actor's name used as flight call sign

(Newser) - Charlie Sheen won't likely bring his " Violent Torpedo of Truth" tour to Libya, but military flights bearing his name are doing a tour of their own. A Dutch radio buff monitoring and tweeting military communications has discovered that Libya flights by an Air Force cargo plane configured to broadcast...

Plan to Train Saudi Fighter Pilots in Idaho Under Fire

Training part of a $60-billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia

(Newser) - It's been nearly a decade since a Saudi pilot crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11, but a plan for the US Air Force to train Saudi Arabian pilots in Idaho has some people outraged, reports al-Jazeera . As part of a huge $60 billion arms deal made last autumn, the Air...

Boeing Lands $35B Air Force Contract

Beats out Europe company to build new refueling tankers

(Newser) - It took a decade and two false starts, but Boeing has finally landed the massive Air Force contract to build the military's next generation of refueling planes, reports the Seattle News . The decision surprised plenty of defense analysts who figured that the $35 billion contract would go to Europe's EADS,...

American Air Jet, Air Force Had Near-Miss

Planes came within seconds of mid-air collision

(Newser) - An American Airlines jet got a little too close to comfort to two Air Force cargo planes two weeks ago, and the feds are investigating the close call, reports the New York Daily News. About 12 minutes after takeoff from JFK airport, the passenger jet's proximity-detection system went off, warning...

Stories 121 - 140 | << Prev   Next >>
Most Read on Newser