#squadron commander jet chambers

[usafphantom2]

IMAGES: KC-10 Extender flies its last combat mission as retirement approaches

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 10/07/2023 - 21:02in History, Military

The KC-10 Extender air refueling jet recorded its last combat mission, closing a penultimate chapter in the aircraft's four decades of service as it prepares for retirement.

The last KC-10 deployed left Prince Sultan Air Base, a U.S.-run outpost in Saudi Arabia, on October 5, after supporting combat operations in the U.S. Central Command, the Air Force said in a statement on Friday (06/10). The service did not provide details about the final missions of the tanker aircraft.

“The KC-10 has been the anchor of air refueling in the [region] since the Desert Storm,” said the head of the 908º Air Refueling Expeditionary Squadron, Maj. Joseph Rush, in the statement. “Thousands of aviators were deployed to support KC-10 combat operations. ... Being here at the height of this legacy is a privilege."

The 908º EARS has flown with the KC-10 in U.S.-led military campaigns against terrorist groups in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria from Prince Sultan Air Base and Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates since 2002.

Thursday's mission was the last trip of the KC-10 in combat operations around the world.

Since it entered service in 1981, the KC-10 has moved thousands of tons of cargo, transported thousands of soldiers and supplied many millions of gallons of fuel to other aircraft in conflicts around the world. Jets act as aerial gas stations where military aircraft can refuel without the need to divert to physical bases for service.

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“For a fighter, air refueling can take two hours of flight without refueling and turn it into an eight-hour combat mission,” Rush said in the statement. "This translates into uninterrupted coverage of approximate air support for coalition troops on the ground or counter-aircraft defensive coverage for high-value air assets in a combat zone."

The exit of the KC-10 is part of the U.S. Air Force's comprehensive plan to review its old inventory with new aircraft that are cheaper to maintain and can withstand the demands of future wars.

The service is withdrawing the fleet of 59 Extender jets from service to make way for Boeing's new KC-46 Pegasus tanker aircraft, which can carry more than 212,000 pounds of fuel, 65,000 pounds of cargo and almost 60 passengers. The new fleet is also equipped with more defensive measures that can help it survive enemy attacks and is a test for communication software that can make it a data sharing center for forces in the area.

The KC-10s will continue to fly in the United States as the units complete the exchange of older fuselages and training on the KC-46, the statement said.

The first KC-10 went to the aircraft cemetery at Davis-Monthan Air Base, Arizona, in July 2020. The last of the fleet is scheduled to retire in September 2024.

A KC-10A seen at the Paris Air Show in 1981, sporting its original commercial airplane-style painting. (Photo: Acroterion/Wikicommons)

Despite their age, aviators often consider the KC-10 their favorite fuselage in a fleet of tanker aircraft hampered by various software and hardware design problems.

The KC-135 Stratotanker faced years of flight restrictions while the service tried to fix the faulty autopilot software. And the KC-46 is in the middle of years of upgrades to its external chambers, the refueling boom, fuel leaks, load restrictions and much more that have delayed its full participation in global operations.

The KC-46 Pegasus is replacing the KC-10 and the KC-135 in the USAF.

The final deployment is a "bittersweet" end to KC-10 operations, Rush said in the statement.

"It's exciting for our community, as we've taken many of the best parts of the KC-10 culture we've built over the last 42 years and bring these best practices and experiences to a totally new weapon system," he said.

Tags: Military AviationHISTORYMcDonnell Douglas KC-10 ExtenderUSAF - United States Air Force / U.S. Air Force

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Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Daytona Airshow and FIDAE. He has work published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. Uses Canon equipment during his photographic work throughout the world of aviation.

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[rossotronic]

Ethan and Jet had a free half day to themselves to chill out in their room, chat on the interwebz and enjoy an unhealthy donut breakfast! :d

[oneofyatosfollowers]

One of a Kind- chapter 12

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20191861/chapters/53410423

Fanfiction: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13360973/1/One-of-a-Kind

The room stood still. They could do nothing as Yato's scream echoed in the room, then choked out into nothing. Kouto released a breath then stood up, Yato's body slid down the control panel, limp.

"There, you see?" Kouto yanked up Yato by his compactor before the Wall-E's body completely hit the floor.

"Now we can get back to A113." Kouto walked towards them in controlled steps, not hindered by the dead weight he dragged behind him. Hiyori and Yukine gaped at him, fear and disbelief rooting their feet to the floor. Tear welled up in Yukine's eyes as his breathing picked up. Hiyori's mouth worked uselessly, squeaks of straggled cries whispering along her breath. Kugaha took this oportinutiy to roll to his feet, taking off towards his superior.

"Wait stop!" Hiyori pointed her gun again but didn't shoot. Her hands were shaking and she couldn't focus on her system's auto-aim, Yato was still in the shot zone. Thankfully, Tenjin took control of his chair, rocketing himself foward and slamming into the Go-4's side, knocking him back to the floor. Captain Tenjin then lurched and grabbed hold of the poncho's loose turtle neck, ripping open the black clips that held it in place. Kugaha sputtered and shouted but he was too slow. Implanted at the bottom of his jugular was the Go-4's reset button. Tenjin didn't even want to think how many times his Auto had used it. His thumb slammed into the blue and yellow device, Kugaha struggled for a bit more before his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

His body was dropped to the floor with a powerful thump. Tenjin glared in spite from under his eye brows. Kouto was quiet for a moment, looking down his nose at the captain. He looked to Hiyori with her gun still trained on him, a tear rolling down her face. The Auto then looked down at the limp Wall-E at his side, and sighed.

"Really now," Kuoto said turning slightly so he could push open the trash door, "I'm just doing what's best for the ship. There's no need for such violence." He pushed the compactor's handle in first, then gripped Yato by his hair and heaved him in, Yato's boots dragging on the floor behind him.

"Stop!" Yukine cried, rushing towards the co-pilot and throwing his body at him in tackle. Kouto didn't even need to move his feet. Looking down at the blonde with a blank expression, he didn't react in the slightest. The Mo's fists balled up Kouto's pristine white coat and he struggled to knock him over, or kick his shins, or grabble Yato out of the shoot. The Auto's elbow swung around to crack Yukine in the forehead, sending him to the floor. He then kicked the rest of Yato's body down the tube, smiling to himself as he heard loud thuds get farther away. A blast suddenly hit him in face, followed by a shot to the chest.

Kouto stumbled back with a cry, his shoulders hitting the broken control panel. Eyes widening, he ducked as another stream of blue light hit right where his head was. Hiyori moved in, gun trained on her superior. He dashed to the side as Hiyori fired just behind him. She rushed over to Yukine and kept shooting. When Kuoto made it behind the elevator, and out of sight, Hiyori risked a glance at Yukine.

"Are you okay?" Hiyori looked frantically between the floor and the elevator wall, shooting when she saw the tiniest bit of red peek out. For the floor, Yukine sniffled and groaned, forcing himself to sit up. Blood streamed from a cut on his forehead.

"Captain!" Hiyori shouted, "Please barricade yourself in your room!" She nodded to the captain with wild eyes as he drove towards his door, disabling the lock pad and shutting the door behind him. The room was quite except for Hiyori's heavy breathing. The Auto hasn't move from his spot. Waiting patiently for an opening.  

"Yukine?" Hiyori tried again, looking over her shoulder to see the empty spot on the floor. A splatter of blood where the Mo used to be. Her wide eyes darted to the elevator and around the room, finally catching Yukine push open the trash shoot behind her.

"Yu-Yukine!" Hiyori fully looked over her shoulder, watching Yukine hop in feet first, roller clanking along after him. When Hiyori looked back, Kuoto was already half way across the room, running swiftly and silently, the skin around his right eye scorched off. The glowing red and black mechanics making him look like a true cyborg. She gasped and fired off a shot, hitting the ground to the right of him. Kuoto didn't even blink, swerving around the hole in the floor and through the smoke. Hiyori clicked on her boots, taking to the air and shooting at him again. The Auto burst through the black smoke screen arms closing around the space Hiyori once occupied.

The trash flap closed with a loud clap. Kouto glanced around, straightening himself up with a grimace. They escaped. He produced a handkerchief from his front pocket and began dotting the blood streaming down his cheek while his sensors did a system check. He heard the sound of engines from the break in the window. A couple moments later, the golden hair of Sergant Major Bishamon rose to view followed by First Sergent Kazuma. They flew through the glass break without second thought. Though they did give him a horrified expression.

"Command Sergent, What happend here?" Bishamon demanded as her jets folded back into her shoulder blades. Behind her, a line of more Secur-T rose to the glass, halted by Kazuma, who scanned the room.

"They were here." Kazuma informed. Kuoto looked at the First Sergent, then nodded at Bishamon.

"It's true. They attacked. It seems the virus has spread to the Eve making her armed and dangerous." Kouto said.

"What of the captian?" Bishamon demand. Kouto growled at her tone but calmly held a hand up.

"I asked him to barricade himself in his room. Don't bother going to check, I instructed him to only answer to me."

"Very well," Bishamon nodded to the co-captain once then turned to Kazuma, "Leave a squadron here and set a perimeter. No one comes in or out of the captain's chambers. I want all units on an all out search. Alert the public all chambers will be investigated."

"That won't be necessary, Bishamon." Kouto cut in. Both Secur-Ts looked at him with shock.

"But sir-"

"I took care of them," The Auto said, smiling a little at their expressions, "Just have a Secur-T posted here for the time being." He pointed at the garbage door, letting the two come to their own conclusions.

"Sir," Bishamon stepped forward, "Did you-"

"The public cannot be bothered by such a trivial matter that can- and was- easily handled," Kuoto steady met the Sergent Major's gaze, "Their safety and happiness is our utmost priority. In a couple minutes everything will be handled, and you'll be back on damage control." He walked by the two and towards the Go-4 on the ground, not sparing them another glance.

Bishamon looked back at Kazuma who shared her twisted expression.  Kazuma turned and beckoned Kuraha forward, commanding the bearded man to stay posted at the trash shoot. When he walked by, Bishamon put a hand on his shoulder and looked towards the Auto.

"Stay sharp. And do what is right." Bishamon whispered. Her subordinate nodded and took his post. From the floor, Kugaha groaned and woke up, sitting with his head in his hand. Kouto blinked down at him with one eye, then looked over at the two Secur-Ts

"That will be all, Sergent Major Bishamon." Kouto said. Bishamon narrowed her eyes at him, bowing before leaving back out the window. Kazuma close behind her.  

"I don't like this Kazuma." Bishamon said before her boot even touched the ground.

"Indeed, every criminal is allowed trial with the captain. But if the cyborg has a virus, we are more than capable of curing it. On top of that, human Eves can't even get virus!" Kazuma held his chin, eyes opening the more he thought. Bishamon looked just as surpirsed.

"You're right. And why does he not want us to apprehend them? What does it mean he took care of them?" She turned to look at the garbage shoot. Kazuma followed her line of sight.

"The garbage shoot, huh?" Kazuma crossed his arms. They looked at each other, communicating with looks alone. With a nod, the two snuck away, out of sight.

Several floors below, Hiyori screeched to a halt just before hitting the cement floor. Dirt and paper flew out of the way of her engines before she cut them off. She looked around, the floor beanth her was relatively clean, at least free of garbage. In fact, it seemed a large pathway was cleared all the way to a smaller room off to Hiyori's left.  She looked around, Yato and Yukine were no where to be seen. She heard urgent voices by the smaller room, shilohettes were shadowed by the bright white LEDs. Hiyori made her way towards them when their body langue became more demanding. Above them, a red light began flashing, a siren harshly sounding.

The massive doors slowly began to slide shut, the light closing in on Hiyori's path. Still, she could make out the shorter body of Yukine, shouting at a group of Wall-Hs. A large cyborg with a mop of thick brown hair had a massive hand over top of a control pad, his other arm blocking Yukine from getting to it.

"Yukine!" Hiyori called out to him as she ran up to the group. Yukine sparred her a glance before turning his glare back on the Wall-H.

"Please! You have to stop it! My dad's in there!" Yukine grabbed the man's wearalls and shook him. The man grabbed his hands and ripped them off his front.

"What are you talkin about? Cyborgs ain't got parents! Besides we got orders straight from the top!" The Wall-H said, pointing his massive shovel at the smaller room. Hiyori whipped her head towards the sliding doors in horror. Yato was in there. Unconscious and injured. Without another thought, Hiyori cranked up her rocket boots and leaned back. She flew towards the door, spinning to her side to make a tight turn right into the trash chamber. The Eve flipped on her helmet, it's invisible glass encasing her head and the scanner coming shine across the trash piles. Her helmet's speaker buzzed with static. She touched the side of her helmet with furrowed brows.

"Hi-yori?" Yato's voice crackled through the speaker. Hiyori's heart jumped to her throat, she nearly cried.

"The speaker!" Hiyori thought with pure euphoria, thanking the stars she gave it to him. She tapped the speaker.

"Yato? Yato! Where are you?" Hiyori zipped around, head looking around too fast for the scanner to fully get a read. She kept tapping the side of her helmet, calling Yato's name over and over only to receive static.

"Hiyori!" Her name echoed in the large white room. She looked towards the source, her relif dripping into fear with a jolt. Yukine stood with his knees bend, fists desperately trying to keep the roller from being bent by the doors. The doors pushed against the horizontal rod Yukine held up, large, dirty hands wrapping around the door to help keep it open.

"Hiyori!" Yukine shouted again, "Hurry up!"

"I'm trying!" Hiyori felt tears of frustration prick her eyes. The siren was loud but her heart was louder. The hollering of the Wall-Hs and Yukine became static to her panic. Then, cutting through it all, her speaker buzzed again.

"Fridge." Yato's voice spoke clearly in her ear. It took the Eve a couple seconds to process his words. But the she did.

"Fridge? A fridge!" Hiyori changed her scanner and and flew around the piles of shovled trash. Finally spotting a fallen refrigerator at the bottom of one of the piles. Yato on his stomach under it, one hazy blue eye trained on her.

"Yato!" Hiyori cried, swooping down next to him. She grabbed his wrists and pulled hard. Yato grunted in pain as he slid out, Hiyori apologizing over and over. By the time she worked him onto her back, the room sent out a warning that the space doors will be opening soon. She clicked on her boots again, rising above the trash piles and shooting towards Yukine. The kid was struggling, eyes squeezed together with stress.

"Hurry," Yukine grounded out, roller bending under the force of the doors. His eyes widened and fixated on something behind then. Hiyori felt herself be tugged backward. The space door opening a crack, the vacuum of space sucking up the lightest trash. She pushed harder, inching towards the entrance slowly. The air around them pulled harder and Hiyori gripped Yato tighter, his limp body starting to weigh them down.

A handle came into view, reading out far past Yukine's roller. A man with glasses and long brown hair was leaning over Yukine, extending his shovel to her.

"Miss Eve! Grab on!" He commanded. Hiyori stretched out a hand, desperately trying to keep Yato balanced on her back. Her fingers brushed against it before she was pulled back. When she reached at it again, the tips of her fingers curld around it. Once she was secure, Hiyori looked into the brown eyes of the Wall-H.

"I got it!" With a strong tug, Hiyori and Yato were safely back in the dump. The bear-like Wall-H wrapped a large arm around Yukine's torso and ripped him from the doors, the heavy metal slamming shut with a resounding slam. The wind pressure cut off immeitatly and Hiyori crashed to the ground, Yato falling off her shoulders.

"Yato!" Yukine squirmed out of the man's hold and scrambled to the Wall-E on the floor. Falling to his knees, Yukine shook Yato's shoulder, Hiyori collapsing next to him. Blood clotted his hair and face. Yato wheezed out shallow breaths, eyes glassy and unfocused.

"What were you kids doing in there?" The bifocaled man came to stand behind Yukine and Hiyori. He wore a loose grey outfit , stained with dirt and grime, thick brown strips wrapping around the edges. The man went ignored. Hiyori stepped over Yato, moving aside scorched hair to see destroyed wires and a shattered light blue plate. Blood was seeping from around the edge of the insert staining his circuits. Yato moaned, electricity sparked out of the broken wires.

Yukine shuffled even closer to Yato. Hiyori stopped him from leaning over and looking at the damage. The Mo sniffled, grabbing Yato's hand without a second thought. The Wall-E's eyes moved like molasses to look up at Yukine, face morphing to one of sorrow when he saw his kid's pained expression. All the Wall-E could do was force his chest to rise and fall.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Yukine's voice quivered, coming out as a breath. Hiyori squeezed her eyes shut, forcing the tears away. She took a breath in and carefully turned Yato's face towards the floor while parting his hair. Activating her scanner, the Eve stored the identity of the wires and chips. She quickly stood up and activated her rockets.

"Wait! Miss Eve!" The Wall-H went ignored, Hiyori taking off into the darkness of the ship's dump. She moved from pile to pile, shuffling through months of rotting trash. Her scanners alerted her of any electrical wires, cranes, spare parts, computer hard drives. Hiyori collected anything that resembles Yato's unique make-up. Anything that could work.

By the ejection door, the Wall-Hs wrapped Yukine in one of their extra pieces of fabric, another was laid over Yato. The man with the chipped glasses, the head of the section, had commanded the others to do a thorough check of the area, just in case there were other workers that were lost. He then gave Yukine a dented can of hot water, one that went ignored. Instead the Mo was gently wiping Yato's face, working though the packet of baby-wipes he had tucked in his uniform. Already there was a pile beside Yato's head, the white cloths died dark red and brown.

"Mmm that feels nice," Yato slurred. Yukine gave a half-hearted scoff.

"I bet. This is probably the closest you've ever had to a shower." Yukine winced as his cleaning made the bruises more prominent. Once his face and neck was wiped down, Yukine moved to Yato's hands. The mechanical circling of the cloth turned to short rubs, then to nothing at all.

"What's wrong," Yato took a breath like a gasp, "Kiddo?" Yukine didn't look up from his daze, Yato's calloused hands tanner than his smooth ones.

"What is it like? Earth?" Yukine asked quietly. Yato didn't answer right away and Yukine worried that the Wall-E had passed out again.

"It's nothing like here," Yato took a deep breath in, "There's still lots of cleaning to do, but it has the most amazing things hidden. There are no more living things- I think- but the mountains and volcanoes are still there. All the art and statues, the movies and music. Humanity really." He murmured, his voice growing weaker the more he talked and heaved oxygen. Yukine apologized and only got a wheezing cough in return.

"'Humanity', huh?" Yukine repeated. He looked down at his uniform, one the first things he remembers receiving after waking up, recalling not a damn thing. Yukine paused and took it all in. The thought of what Earth could be, his role here, Suzuha, his new name. He squeezed the wet-wipe tight.

"Yato!" Hiyori's boots scattered the dirt and dust around the floor as she landed hastily next to them, cradling her helmet over flowing with wires and chips. She knelt down by Yato's head and Yukine scrambled around to help Yato into somewhat of a sitting position, letting the Wall-E lean heavily against him.  

"Is this it?" Hiyori held up a misshapen one, one that Yato shook his head at, "What about this? This? How about this one?" Hiyori grit her teeth, turning her helmet over and dumping out its contents. She and Yukine spread them out before Yato so that he can look them over. Other Wall-Hs came with what they've found. None of them even came close. They didn't have the necessary wiring for a cyborg, and when they did, they weren't meant to fit in the Wall-Es old fashioned design. And now that Hiyori thought of it, they would need a highly trained specialist that could surgically remove the plate and reattach a new one to his antique system, all while keeping him alive.

When Hiyori voiced as much the room grew quiet, Yato's wheezing covering Yukine's sniffles and Hiyori's choked sobs. Yato looked at his love sadly. One of his eyes had trouble focusing, the other interpreted color oddly, but she still looked beautiful. He hated making her this sad. It's a good thing he had something that could cheer her up. He belonged in the trash heap anyway.

"Hiyori," Yato said, "I have-" he broke off into a cough. Hiyori seemed to understand, perking up and crawling towards him.

"You have?" Hiyori wiped some tears away. At his side, Yukine jostled him.

"You idiot! Why didn't you say something sooner!" Yukine smiled wide despite himself. Yato tried shaking his head but got dizzy, his hand shakily went over his shoulder and gripped his compactor. Slowly, one at a time, Yato's latches opened up and allowed the compactor to slide off his back. Hiyori helped Yato drag it around. The cube opened, allowing it's contents to come tumbling out.

The room froze, confusion knitting the features of the Wall-Hs while Hiyori and Yukine sat with stunned expressions. The glass bottle clicked against the pavement, spinning to a landing right in front of Hiyori. The Eve slowly looked down, face frozen. Her trembling fingers reached for the smooth container, wrapping loosely around it and lifting the plant into her lap.

"Yato, What is- I don't." Hiyori whispered, thumb rubbing over the glass.

"P-plant," Yato wheezed, "Directive." his mouth wobbled into a crooked smile. Hiyori looked up at him with wide, misty eyes. He held her gaze as best he could, hair covering the eye that stopped working, smile drooping just a bit. But to her, he just looked defeated. His bright, sunny demeanor and eyes so full life, looked shadowed and muted. His wearalls were bunched in Yukine's tight fist. The Mo subconsciously squeezing Yato tighter.

"Who cares about that now!" Yukine shouted, "Earth isn't what's important now!" He steadied Yato after the Wall-E flinched from the volume. Yato swayed a little, head lulling back.

"Earth..." Yato slurred. Hiyori looked sadly at Yukine, who was trembling and gnawing at his lip.

"Earth?" Hiyori repeated. Her eyes fell down to the organism in her lamp, then back up at Yato. Focusing on the round plastic speaker imbedded in his chin, once again cracked. He would need a replacement.

"Earth!" Hiyori exclaimed, coming off the ground to her knees. She kept repeating the world like it was her lifeline. She shouted it at confused Yukine and again at the bewildered Wall-Hs. The Eve crawled to Yato with a face of pure joy. Slowly pulling his head back up, Yato fixed her with a smirk. Yukine, smart as he is, caught on.

"All of Yato's stuff is on Earth!" Yukine perked up for a moment before he deflated, "But, that jerk  Auto is the one who drives the ship."

"But! But!" Hiyori scooted even more forward, "The ship's programming should override his control. All we have to do is place this in the Halo-detector and the ship will take us back!"

"We have to get back to the captain!" Yukine affirmed.

"You're not going anywhere near the captain!" A voice boomed in the enormous room, powerful and strong. Heels clicked against the pavement followed by the footfalls of more soldiers. The Wall-Hs stepped back with their hands in front of them, leaving the trio under a spot light in the middle of the floor.

Hiyori stood up, one hand out behind her, the other cradling the plant. She moved to block the view of the boy and the broken cyborg, narrowing her eyes as Bishamon stepped into the light. followed by a line of Secur-T.

[roxywashere]

Knee Deep in the Dead

Roxy takes a Vacation

Contrary to what you might think, Hell is a veritable Paradise for an Angel. Especially those Angels who take pride in and derive enjoyment from their ability to slay Demons.

Roxanne is one such Angel. And she had one Hell all to herself, after the associated Earth and Heaven attached to it had disappeared from the face of the Multiverse, leaving only the Demons and their prison behind. However, she’d been an Angel for so long that she had started growing bored with her personal, as it were, Hell.

Lucky for her, she wasn't limited to one Hell. She had infinite Hells to pacify.

Roxanne stood on a cliffside in her private Earth, barren of humanity, which she had christened Altar. She unsheathed her magic sword, Dawnherald, and pointed it out over the cliff, which faced a pristine blue ocean.

She spoke to the sword. “I think it’s time we took a vacation, eh? You pick this time. Try to surprise me.” She released the hilt, leaving the blade floating in the air. Dawnherald then minutely vibrated, in an increasing frequency and tightening amplitude, until it’s subatomically sharpened point snagged on a subatomic wormhole and then ripped an orange-red swath through the blue sky.

Roxy peered through the portal and examined the universe Dawnherald had chosen. “I’m intrigued... tell me more.”

Dawnherald continued ripping open the wormhole until it completely enveloped Roxy, bringing her into the world Dawnherald was proposing. She saw an endless plain of sulfur, interrupted only by towers of sulfur spitting clouds of sulfur like smokestacks.

The air smelled of sulfur, and napalm, and melting flesh, and burning plastic.

She saw movement, in small patches, on the edges of the horizon: Imps, scrambling towards the holy presence of Roxy and her semi-animate gear, enraged at her consecrating effects on their infernal home.

Roxy pointed at Dawnherald and traced a curve from where it was now to it's sheath on her back, which Dawnherald followed until it clicked snuggly into its home. Roxy took a calm, deep breath, and then rocketed towards the squadrons of imps so fast she left a vacuum which sonic-boomed in her wake.  

She stopped among a group of imps as fast as she had gotten going, knocking to the ground all but the one she had stopped in front of and held still by wrapping her ethereal wings around it. Her hand was outstretched towards it, her pointer and index pressed gently against its forehead, and her middle finger was pinned towards her palm by her thumb. When she released the coiled-up flick, the minor Demon's head exploded backwards in a jet of steam, literally vaporized by the energy Roxy's smallest possible attack had imparted.

“Come on, put up a fight. Make me earn my vacation.”

The Demons snarled and indulged her, all attempting to pounce on her at once. She grabbed one, palming its face, and used it as a club to bludgeon the rest. Its neck failed after only three Demons, the body detaching from the head and flying off into the near distance. She then pitched the head at a tight cluster of imps, splattering the head through all 6 of them.

These imps were no challenge for Roxy at all. As soon as she realized she had already exhausted her enjoyment from this particular encounter, she reached back to Dawnherald, pressing the button to release it from its sheath and help dispatch the imps.

As soon as the last imps splattered across the ground, Roxy heard a steady, rhythmic pounding. She smiled. “There we go...” She zipped in the direction of the sound, and as she grew closer she tracked it as coming from beneath the ground.

She set down on the sulfuric stone, and punched down at it, shattering the relatively thin floor she had been standing upon, revealing the chamber below.

It was massive.

It was several hundred feet across, and the bottom of the chamber was so far down that it was obscured by the glowing smog of sulfur dioxide that filled the low-lying regions of this world. She could see flickering sources of light, and shifting shadows, but no details.

The walls of the chamber were smoothed and shaped sulfides, with a whole wall of pure carved native Sulfur. The Sulfur wall had a door 50 feet tall, and behind that door was the source of the pounding.

Roxy wedged her fingers between the crack of the doors, and ripped a hole through it, the soft stone crumbling in her grip. As soon as she did the great fist of some Greater Demon punched through the door, grabbed her, and pulled her into the pitch darkness. It drew her close to its face, and opened its eyes, revealing six charcoal flames, and then opened its mouth and snarled, revealing a bright furnace burning white-hot.

It exhaled rocket exhaust at her, and her semi-mortal flesh melted away, stripping her down to little more than a golden skeleton wearing golden armor, which the demon released to watch clatter to the ground.

The skeleton dropped down to the floor, and then instead of collapsing jumped back up and head-butted the Demon. Roxy pulled her disk shield, Aegis, off her back and held it up, where it surrounded her with an impenetrable sphere of light.

As Roxy’s flesh reconstituted behind the barrier, she slowly paced around the Demon, examining it in the new light. It was 30 feet tall, with skin like bubbling tar, the face of a gorilla and the horns of a ram, cloven hooves, and fingers like foot-thick obsidian blades.

“You couldn’t have picked a more typical form,” she enunciated as soon as her lungs, throat, and mouth had grown in. “Got a name?”

“Ba’al-Beirut,” it growled in response.

“I’m Roxanne. Tell your friends.” With that said, Roxy took Dawnherald and smashed it against Aegis. The two rang out with a thundering clang, and the sphere of light exploded, sending Ba’al-Beirut flying through the ruins of the door and down into the chamber below.

Roxy’s human form had completed repairing. She walked up to the edge of the chamber, just in time to see Ba’al-Beirut scamper off whimpering before the sulfur dioxide smoke filled the Ba’al-Beirut-shaped hole that had been punched through it. She dropped down into the darkness. She landed in a gentle kneel among the smog, surrounded by hundreds of pairs of embers.

“Hello, boys. It’s time to fucking party.” She reach back towards Dawnherald in its sheath, and without even touching the catch pressed it and then flicked her wrist upwards, an action Dawnherald mimicked, launching into the air. “Shine.”

Dawnherald ignited with the light of a sun, blinding every single one of the five or so hundred Demons in the chamber with Roxy. Roxy could still see perfectly, however. While they were all still stunned, Roxy zipped around obliterating the Demons in approximate order of ascending power. By the time she had eviscerated the imps, the other Demons had recovered.

They all competed to be the one to kill her, accidentally attacking each other in their frenzy. Roxy took advantage of the confusion by hovering in places that would lead to more collateral damage when they missed her. She managed to kill almost a quarter without laying a finger on them.

It wasn't much of a challenge, but it wasn't effortless either. Once Roxy had almost completely cleared the room, the surviving greater Demons turned tail and ran.

“You fucking cowards,” Roxy yelled at their backs. “You call yourselves Demons? Get back here!”

She took her time tracking them through the endless system of sprawling tunnels under the surface of this Hell. She slowly, patiently, paced every foot of the 100,000 miles that quest required, killing a million other Demons along the way. But after 10 years, more or less, she found them all, and killed all but one.

She had left Ba’al-Beirut alive, out of some fleeting whimsy to see what his driving fear of her would lead him to do.

She saw him journey across Hell for 20 years after she had finished killing the other Demons she had first come across. He consulted with hundreds of Demon fortune teller and magisters, seeking what it would take to get this implacable Heaven-Spawn off his trail.

Every place Ba’al-Beirut passed through would be shortly thereafter wiped from the infernal map, so the longer his quest drew on the more resistance he found from other Demons not wishing to be marked for certain annihilation at the hands of a bored rogue Archangel.

But eventually his quest led him to the answer he thought would work best.

After utterly destroying the demonic temple that had given him his final solution, Roxy caught up with him as he was adding the final touches on an enormous magic circle.

It was a massive pentagram made of crushed up cinnabar, with lettering in greek, arabic, and norse runic along the edges, and surrounded by more geometric shapes extending out almost a hundred feet from the center. Ba’al-Beirut had spent a day tracing it, making sure that each line and curve were perfectly drawn, to minimize the chance of failure. Thousands of other Demons had gathered to watch.

Roxy recognized this ritual: she'd seen it attempted six dozen times across the Omniverse before; it was the ultimate ritual of local Multicosmic Demonism. Never once had she failed to stop it.

But this Hell was a sandbox. She wanted someone else to play with.

Roxy sat in the air above the circle, legs crossed patiently. When Ba’al-Beirut stopped to run and cower, she zipped into his path, still sitting lotus.

“Finish the ritual,” she commanded of him. Not only did Roxy not interfere with the process, she actively aided it: when Ba’al-Beirut reached the final step, and went to kill a random imp for blood sacrifice, Roxy stopped him.

“He’s more likely to answer if it’s somebody he knows,” she advised. She stood in the center of the pentagram and used Dawnherald to slit her own throat so deeply her head technically wasn't connected to the rest of her body. Her blood pooled within the pentagram, not spreading past its 5 sides. It poured out of her until her heart ran dry. “Call to him,” Roxy ordered.

In an ageless and multiversally spread infernal tongue, Ba’al-Beirut cried: “<Therion, I summon thee.>”

There was a flash of light from the center of the pentagram, and a crack of thunder, and the cinnabar dust started glowing.

The blood started roiling and churning, as if it wasn’t only mere centimeters deep. A shape slowly rose out of the liquid, looking like it was composed of the blood itself. It was vaguely human-shaped, though many things often were, but as it rose higher it’s features became sharper. The face of a man became distinct, already smiling wickedly, and before it had risen completely its eyes snapped open.

Therion leapt forward at Roxy, not yet fully formed. His arm shot forward like a tentacle, which materialized into a hand around Roxy’s neck. She still had Dawnherald in her hand, so she swung it to cleave the gripping fist.

She zipped backwards, out of his reach. “I thought She forbade you from entering any Hell?” she interrogated.

“She let me back in as a reward for my good behaviour,” still half-blood Demon answered disingenuously. “I thought She forbade you from using your wings under foreign suns?” he then asked in return.

“She gave me new wings.”

“Well, I guess that all our questions have been answered.” He examined his surroundings, and himself, still partially solidifying out of Roxy’s blood. He saw the figure of Ba’al-Beirut towering over the much more minute Angel. “Though it was her blood that drew me here, the voice that summoned me was not hers. I presume that was you?”

Ba’al-Beirut was in a state of obvious confusion. “I summoned the Demon King, God of Evil, the Immortal Dragon. What is this buffoonery?”

Roxy and Therion shared a rare smile over their mutual amusement at the situation.

Ba’al-Beirut gestured at the random assortment of Demons that had surrounded to watch the ritual. “Kill this imposter!”

Roxy gave him some space, flying straight up to not be in the way, and Therion spread his arms and cackled as hundreds of imps and middling Demons converged upon him and ripped his finally completely solid body to shreds.

Roxy landed upon a hill a fair distance away. Ba’al-Beirut turned his back on the frenzy and walked for a long minute to confront her. “Why did the spell fail? You said he would answer.”

“And answer he did, you stupid impish emberling. Look again, and see for yourself.”

In the minute that Ba’al-Beirut had spent stomping over to Roxy, the scene behind him had changed dramatically. No longer was there a legion of imps tearing at the flesh of some random human, but there was instead an enormous form standing above the imps, stretching up into the sulfurous smog until it could only be seen as a shadow against the ambient glow of this Hell’s atmosphere.

Everything had gone silent. The enormous shadowy figure had never made a sound as it had come into being, and the imps had ceased their squawking out of awe.

A shadow leaned down out of the smog, revealing a colossal draconic head beset upon a long thick snake-like neck. The head was itself beset by a crown of four curved horns. Six other nearly identical heads then leaned down around the first head, their only difference being having a single pointed horn instead of four.

The central head spoke, with a deep, but genial voice. “Therion, The Beast from the Pit, The Seven-Headed Dragon, the King of Demons, at your infernal service. I see you have already met my opposite.”

Ba’al-Beirut fell to his knee and genuflected. “Forgive me for my disbelief-”

“Up! Stand up! We don’t have time to be formal, we’ve got a Legion to organize! No time to waste! Go, rally as many as you can!”

As Ba’al-Beirut scampered off to obey his command, Therion leaned even further down to Roxy. “You think yourself so clever, driving a Demon to insanity to draw me into a far-flung realm and imprison me...”

“You’re the one calling me clever, here,” she responded. “I only wanted to see what would happen if you were summoned to where you were forbidden. I thought maybe the process would finally destroy you.”

“If only.”

Roxy sighed in commiseration. “If only indeed.” Roxy cracked her neck and fingers, her joints popping as loud as firecrackers. “Let’s get to business, shall we?”

Therion reared his six single-horned heads back up and inhaled deeply through all of them. At the very end of the inhale, his four-horned head quietly said “Let’s,” and then roared with all the Wrath and Pride he exemplified, the sound spreading out over this Hell for thousands of miles.

[blackkudos]

Daniel “Chappie” James

Daniel "Chappie" James Jr. (February 11, 1920 – February 25, 1978) was a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force, who in 1975 became the first African American to reach the rank of four-star general. He is the third person of Sub-Saharan origin to become highest-ranking officer in the Western world after Thomas-Alexandre Dumas (1793) and Toussaint Louverture (1797).

World War II

James graduated from the Tuskegee University in 1942 where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education. He continued civilian pilot training under the government-sponsored Civilian Pilot Training Program. He remained at Tuskegee as a civilian instructor pilot in the Army Air Corps later that July. Throughout the remainder of the war James trained pilots for the all-black 99th Pursuit Squadron. He did not see combat himself until the Korean War.

Korean War

In September 1949, James went to the Philippines as flight leader for the 12th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, 18th Fighter Wing at Clark Field. In July 1950 he left for Korea, where he flew 101 combat missions in P-51 Mustang and F-80 aircraft.

James returned to the United States, and in July 1951 went to Otis Air Force Base, Massachusetts as an all-weather jet fighter pilot with the 58th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, later becoming operations officer. In April 1953 he became commander of the 437th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, and assumed command of the 60th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron in August 1955. While stationed at Otis, he received the Massachusetts Junior Chamber of Commerce 1954 award of "Young Man of the Year" for his outstanding community relations efforts. On August 15, 1954 he appeared as a contestant on the game show What's My Line? He graduated from the Air Command and Staff College in June 1957.

James next was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force as a staff officer in the Air Defense Division of the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. In July 1960 he was transferred to RAF Bentwaters in England, where he served successively as assistant director of operations and then director of operations, 81st Tactical Fighter Wing; commander, 92nd Tactical Fighter Squadron; and deputy commander for operations for the 81st Wing. In September 1964 James was transferred to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, where he was director of operations training and later deputy commander for operations for the 4453rd Combat Crew Training Wing.

Vietnam War

James went to Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, in December 1966, as deputy commander for operations, 8th TFW. In June 1967, under Colonel Robin Olds, he was named wing vice commander when Col. Vermont Garrison completed his tour. Both in their mid-40s, they formed a legendary team nicknamed "Blackman and Robin." James flew 78 combat missions into North Vietnam, many in the Hanoi/Haiphong area, and led a flight in the "Operation Bolo" MiG sweep in which seven Communist MiG-21s were destroyed, the highest total kill of any mission during the Vietnam War.

He was named vice commander of the 33rd TFW at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, in December 1967. While stationed at Eglin, the Florida State Jaycees named James as Florida's "Outstanding American of the Year" for 1969, and he received the Jaycee Distinguished Service Award. He was transferred to Wheelus Air Base in the Libyan Arab Republic in August 1969 as Commander of the 7272nd Fighter Training Wing.

James became Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) in March 1970 and was designated principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) in April 1973. On September 1, 1974, he assumed duty as vice commander of the Military Airlift Command (MAC), headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.

James was promoted to four-star grade and assigned as commander in chief of NORAD/ADCOM at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, on September 1, 1975. In these dual capacities he had operational command of all United States and Canadian strategic aerospace defense forces. On December 6, 1977, he assumed duty as special assistant to the Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force.

General James was widely known for his speeches on Americanism and patriotism, for which he was editorialized in numerous national and international publications.

When asked his views on the growing Civil Rights Movement after having to make an emergency landing in North Vietnam, he answered, "Look, friend, I'm really not interested in all of that, really. See I consider myself damned lucky to have been able to land my airplane at this emergency strip in one piece." Being asked about militants like H. Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael, who implied that blacks ought to fight at home rather than in Vietnam, also angered James, with him stating "...the lawlessness, rioting, men like Stokely Carmichael acting as if they speak for the Negro people. They aren't, and set civil rights back 100 years!" James even removed his Black Panther emblem from his helmet since it had become associated with a movement he no longer identified with. Excerpts from some of the speeches have been read into the Congressional Record.

The statements by James in which he repudiated the most militant point of view endeared him to concerned whites, including President Johnson, who invited him to a White House reception. Immediately after the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and as riots erupted in several areas across the country, James addressed a gathering of Air Force Association officers at which he declared that in spite of events and the resistance to progress, 'I'm not disgusted-I'm a citizen of the United States of America and I'm no second-class citizen either and no man here is, unless he thinks like one and reasons like one and performs like one. This is my country and I believe in her and I to her welfare whenever and however I can. If she has any ills, I'll stand by her until in God's given time, through her wisdom and her consideration for the welfare of the entire nation, she will put them right."

He was awarded the George Washington Freedom Foundation Medal in both 1967 and 1968. He received the Arnold Air Society Eugene M. Zuckert Award in 1970 for outstanding contributions to Air Force professionalism. His citation read "... fighter pilot with a magnificent record, public speaker, and eloquent spokesman for the American Dream we so rarely achieve."

Libya

One of Chappie James's most dangerous moments came when he was assigned to command Wheelus Air Base in Libya. in 1969 Colonel Muammar Gaddafi overran the gates at Wheelus Air Base and had an Old West style standoff with James. With both men packing pistols on their hips James told Gaddafi, "Move your hand away from that gun!" Gaddafi complied and pulled back. Afterwards, the United States was unable to reach an agreement with Gaddafi and agreed to vacate Wheelus. During the final negotiations, a team of Libyan officers brought along a soldier with a submachine gun into James's living room. James asserted himself and the soldier vanished. Chappie then soon left Libya.

Retirement and death

General James died of a heart attack on February 25, 1978, just two weeks after his 58th birthday and three weeks following his retirement from the Air Force.

Honors and awards

General James' military awards include the following –

Air Force Command Pilot wings

Office of the Secretary of Defense Identification Badge

Defense Distinguished Service Medal

Air Force Distinguished Service Medal

Legion of Merit with one oak leaf cluster

Distinguished Flying Cross with two oak leaf clusters

Meritorious Service Medal

Air Medal with 13 oak leaf clusters

Army Commendation Medal

Presidential Unit Citation with three oak leaf clusters

Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with three oak leaf clusters

Combat Readiness Medal

Army Good Conduct Medal

American Defense Service Medal

American Campaign Medal

World War II Victory Medal

Army of Occupation Medal

National Defense Service Medal with star

Korean Service Medal with four campaign stars

Vietnam Service Medal with seven campaign stars

Air Force Longevity Service Ribbon with seven oak leaf clusters

Armed Forces Reserve Medal

Air Force Marksmanship Ribbon

Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation

United Nations Service Medal

Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal

The civilian awards that General James received included the following:

Builders of a Greater Arizona Award (1969); Phoenix Urban League Man of the Year Award, Distinguished Service Achievement Award from Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity (1970); American Legion National Commander's Public Relations Award, Veteran of Foreign Wars Commander in Chief's Gold Medal Award and Citation (1971); Capital Press Club, Washington, D.C., Salute to Black Pioneers Award (1975); and, all in 1976, the Air Force Association Jimmy Doolittle Chapter Man of the Year Award, Florida Association of Broadcasters' Gold Medal Award, American Veterans of World War II Silver Helmet Award, United Service Organization Liberty Bell Award, Blackbook Minority Business and Reference Guidance Par Excellence Award, American Academy of Achievement Golden Plate Award, United Negro College Fund's Distinguished Service Award, Horatio Alger Award, VFW Americanism Medal, Bishop Wright Air Industry Award, and the Kitty Hawk Award (Military).

He was awarded honorary doctor of laws degrees from the University of West Florida in 1971; the University of Akron in 1973; Virginia State College in 1974; Delaware State College in 1975; and St. Louis University in 1976. He was named honorary national commander of the Arnold Air Society in 1971.

Legacy

General James met his wife Dorothy while he was at Tuskegee Institute and they were married on the campus on November 3,1942. They had two sons and one daughter. His wife Dorothy died on May 2, 2000, and is buried with him in Arlington National Cemetery. General James's son, Lieutenant General Daniel James III, also served in the United States Air Force as a fighter pilot and in the Texas Air National Guard. He served from 1995 to 2002 as the Adjutant General of the Texas National Guard (the first African American to hold the post), and as Director of the Air National Guard from 2002 to 2006. In the summer of 2006, he retired from the Air Force at the rank of Lieutenant General after 38 years of total commissioned service, on active duty and as an Air Guardsman.

A Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star is on display at Otis Air National Guard Base (former Otis AFB) in Massachusetts with General James' name written under the cockpit.

The James Sports Center at Scott AFB, Illinois, is named after General James and there is plaque that was dedicated on February 12, 1979.

Wikipedia

[clubofinfo]

Expert: John Sidney McCain III (PHOTO: John Hume Kennerly/GETTY IMAGES) The eulogies for the recently deceased John McCain, a US Senator for Arizona, have been plentiful, and so far as the American mainstream media is concerned, they have verged on the hagiographic. He has been variously described as a “patriot”, a “war hero” and a “defender of freedom”. Most perplexingly, McCain was lauded as a “warrior for peace”. But while praise for McCain has been dutifully administered in reverential terms by both liberal and conservative figures, the truth is that there is widespread dissent about McCain’s legacy as a man, as a military officer, as well as a politician. Perhaps, most worrisome is the construction of McCain’s legacy as one of the resolutely principled maverick and insatiable peace seeker. On the contrary, McCain operated at the highest echelons of the American Establishment, a closeted world of vested interests comprising a network geared towards the enrichment of the American elite. He was a captive of the defence industry and an unceasingly aggressive spokesperson for the post-Cold War era militarism that has compromised the United States and brought it down low in the eyes of the global community of nations. So why the almost uncritical eulogising of a controversial life beset by allegations of incompetence, corruption and disloyalty? Perhaps it is the tradition of the people of the United States to venerate their warriors. From the highest serving general to the lowest level foot soldier, Americans have a penchant for what might be termed ‘soldier worship’. There is also a tendency for disparate groups of people to pull together behind someone when confronted by an idea or by a person to whom they feel repugnance. It is certainly the case that the transition from life to death brings out the sentimental in people whether such death is sudden or prolonged. And, of course, as with most cultures, Americans are cautious about speaking ill of the dead. Each of these has doubtlessly played a part in the positive reviews of the life of John McCain since his passing. John Sidney McCain III was born into a family of naval servicemen, two of who reached the rank of admiral. He served as a naval aviator during the Vietnam War and later retired as a captain. McCain also engaged in a well-publicised, long-running feud with Donald Trump who as a polarising figure has succeeded in arraigning different strands of his countrymen against his presidency. His demise, caused by the effects of a malignant brain tumour, was a cruel one. Glioblastoma is the most aggressive form of cancer. But there is much to question about McCain. McCain joined the US Navy following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. Each man had reached the pinnacle of service and became the first father and son pair to achieve the rank of four-star admiral. When he retired in 1981, McCain had been the recipient of a Silver Star and Purple Heart. He had also received a Distinguished Flying Cross for his “exceptional courage, superb airmanship, and total devotion to duty” during a bombing raid over Hanoi in 1967, and had been awarded the Legion of Merit with Combat “V” award “for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States while interned as a Prisoner of War in North Vietnam from October 1967 to March 1973.” But the competence of the future senator as an aviator has been consistently questioned. For instance, in 1960 while on a training exercise, he crashed his plane into Corpus Christi Bay, in the process shearing the skin off its wings. The following year, while serving with an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean theatre, he flew through electrical wires in southern Spain causing a power failure in the surrounding area. And in 1965, while en route to Philadelphia for the Army-Navy football game, he crashed a T-2 trainer jet in Virginia. These incidents, caused by a carefree attitude described as “cocky, occasionally cavalier and prone to testing limits”, led to rebukes by the naval authorities. They also explain a great deal about the allegations surrounding his responsibility for two more serious incidents. Sarcastically dubbed ‘Ace McCain’ by his commanders, McCain’s career as an aviator was, nonetheless, allowed to continue. Although the official inquiry into the catastrophic fire onboard the USS Forrestal in July 1967 was officially blamed on the accidental firing of a rocket caused by an electrical power surge during preparations for a strike against a target in North Vietnam, the claim that the disaster, which killed 134 sailors while injuring another 161, was caused by McCain ‘wet-starting’ his jet has refused to die. ‘Wet-starting’ refers to where pilots flood the combustion chamber of their craft with extra fuel before ignition in order to create either a loud bang or a plume of flame. McCain is claimed by some to have done this and that the ensuing concatenation of maladies are traceable to his reckless act. That he avoided the consequences of his actions is said to be due to the seniority and influence of his high-ranking father who some, including Admiral Thomas Moorer, a former Chief of Naval Operations and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, allege was at the time cooperating with the cover-up pertaining to the deliberate attack on the USS Liberty by the armed forces of the state of Israel, which had occurred the previous month. Three months later, McCain was shot down while conducting a bombing sortie over North Vietnam. No official blame has ever been attached to McCain for his shooting down. But as his aircraft was lost behind enemy lines, its remains were not subjected to the same sort of forensic analysis as had occurred after the earlier mishaps while in control of the cockpit. In all three incidents, McCain’s skill and judgment had been called into question. Aviators like McCain had been trained to stay at altitudes of 4,000 to 10,000 feet in environments where there were heavy deployments of surface-to-air missile launchers. They had equipment which warned the pilot that they were being tracked and also when a missile locked on them. These missiles were relatively easy to out-manoeuvre up to a point. This changed when there were multiple launches of between 6 and 12 missiles. McCain claimed in his autobiography that 22 missiles were fired at his squadron that day and that one blew off his right wing. He had been flying at an altitude of 3,000 feet above Hanoi. It is McCain’s conduct as a prisoner of war which has brought him the most public scrutiny. Officially, he is a hero for withstanding torture: beatings, the withholding of medical treatment and a lengthy spell in solitary confinement, although he wilted and made at least one propaganda broadcast for North Vietnamese radio in which he pronounced himself guilty of “crimes against the Vietnamese country and people.” The United States military Code of Conduct prohibits prisoners of war from accepting parole or other favours from the enemy, although during the Vietnam War, latitude was generally given to those who were seriously ill or injured. McCain, who sustained two broken arms and a broken leg when ejecting from his plane, has been accused by some fellow veterans who were held at the same camps as he, as one who sold out his fellow prisoners and other servicemen by cooperating with his captors in order to be the beneficiary of a cushy captivity. His detractors accuse him of making broadcasts designed to infringe upon the morale of his fellow servicemen and of giving up military secrets such as that related to his flight, rescue ships and the order of attacks. And while they allow that McCain refused an offer of early repatriation unless all prisoners were released, some allege that he was given special treatment with two other ‘defectors’ for cooperating. In fact, they argue that McCain’s refusal was an easy one given that he knew that his future prospects in the military and any public office would have been ruined. Many veterans claimed that those who were granted early release in three sets of releases in 1968 were collaborators who they dubbed ‘the slipperies’, ‘the slimies’ and ‘the sleazies’, and that McCain had acknowledged this. To be sure, several of McCain’s co-prisoners have spoken on his behalf over the years. Men like George Day and Orson Swindle confirm that torture was regularly administered and that they were forced to talk, although they attempted to mislead their captors by telling untruths. In McCain’s case, he claims his response to questions asking him about future bombing runs was simply to give those that had already taken place. He also claims to have given the names of the offensive line up of the Green Bay Packers football team as members of his squadron. Render Crayton, McCain’s co-prisoner for one year (1971-1972) at the camp referred to as the ‘Hanoi Hilton’, has often spoken up on behalf of McCain and claims that McCain “gave hell to his captors”. An example of this was deciding one morning to loudly sing the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem. The penalty for this insubordination was to be removed from a “big room” to “smaller cell rooms”. This does not impress those veterans against McCain who assert that no one witnessed the series of tortures he claimed to have endured. In his autobiography, Faith of My Fathers, McCain admitted that he felt guilty throughout his captivity because he knew that he was being treated more leniently than his fellow POWs owing to the fact that he was the son of the commander-in-chief of all US forces in the Pacific region, including Vietnam. His captors referred to him as the ‘Crown Prince’. They also point to the tremendous lengths McCain went towards blocking the release of classified documents during the 1991-1993 Senate Committee hearings on Prisoners of War and those Missing in Action as evidence of his having a personal interest in suppressing information which would discredit him. Through McCain’s efforts, documents such as related to all the Pentagon debriefings of returned prisoners were classified by legislation. A ‘Truth Bill’, which had been twice introduced to ensure transparency over missing men was bitterly opposed by McCain who then sponsored a new bill which sought to create a bureaucratic maze ensuring that only a few non-descript documents could be released. It was passed into law. His rationale that the sealing of these files was for reasons of privacy and preventing the reviving of painful memories were not accepted by those who point to the fact that debriefings from returning Korean War prisoners of war are available to the public, and, as was the case with Korea, could have provided useful leads in so far as the fate of those who were missing in action in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Those who opposed McCain were often subjected to vitriolic abuse by a man who developed a renowned temper. He referred to individuals and groups campaigning for information on MIAs as “hoaxers”, “charlatans” and “conspiracy theorists”. They retorted by dubbing him the ‘Manchurian Candidate’. In fact, many of them, along with the veterans against McCain, often refer to his conduct while in captivity as having been nothing less than treachery. Claims that McCain was on a list of 33 American prisoners of war earmarked to be executed for treason cannot be corroborated. But possible retribution against him by hardline military officers was rendered impossible by the US Defense Department whose officials had adopted a general policy of “honour-and-forgive” for returning prisoners of war. One specific element of this policy was not to prosecute any prisoners of war for making pro-North Vietnamese propaganda statements while in captivity. And to back this up, a move in 1973 by an Air Force colonel charging seven enlisted men of collaborating with the enemy while they were held as prisoners of war by North Vietnam was dismissed by the secretaries of the Army and Navy for lack of evidence and the mitigating circumstances of the “long hardship” they endured while in captivity. While McCain is perceived by his detractors as having escaped punishment for his ‘disloyalty’ while in uniform, some point to his treatment of his first wife as evidence of his capacity for betrayal. A beautiful divorcee who he had married in 1965, Carol McCain had remained loyal to her husband during the period of his captivity. However, in 1969, she was badly injured in a motor accident and had to undergo numerous operations. She lost several inches in height and gained weight. McCain confessed that he returned home to a wife who appeared to be a different woman. He admitted to philandering and eventually divorced her to marry a woman who was 18 years younger than him. His critics make the case that McCain lost interest in a spouse who was no longer the ‘trophy wife’ he had married and replaced her with an extremely attractive woman whose family were very wealthy and well-connected in the state of Arizona, where he would begin his political career. His critics cite this as evidence of McCain’s ruthless and calculating streak, which was guided neither by virtue nor by principle. As a politician, McCain has been lauded as having been guided by a code of “honour, courage, integrity and duty.” His maverick reputation is seen as evidence of his ability to eschew the narrow confines of partisan politics. But his tenure as a senator was beset by allegations of corrupt practices, of being a pork-barrel politico in the thrall of the military industry and Israel lobby, and of being a warmonger who supported America’s recent wars, which has led to the destruction of whole countries and of countless innocent casualties. As a new senator in the early 1990s, McCain was involved in a corruption scandal after he and four senators from the Democratic Party were accused of trying to intimidate regulators on behalf of a campaign donor who was eventually imprisoned for corrupt management practices. He escaped with a reprimand for having “exercised poor judgement”, but with the accompanying judgement that his actions “were not improper”. In August 2006, McCain was captured in a photograph going onboard a luxury yacht rented by the Italian con-man Raffaello Follieri in Montenegro. It was here that McCain met the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska for a second time, after an initial meeting in Davos. Both meetings had been arranged by Rick Davis, who like Paul Manafort, has been a long-time conduit between American big shots and the Russian ultra-rich. Nathaniel Rothschild, who has large business interests in Montenegro, a country that granted him citizenship in 2013, also met with McCain. Events unfolded to reveal that McCain had been part of an elaborate scheme which enabled Western financiers to buy up Montenegro and bribe influential members of the country’s elite who would be pliable to the idea of prising Montenegro away from Serbia. The long-term goal was for Montenegro to declare its independence and pave the way for its accession to membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), an objective that came to fruition in 2017. McCain’s scheming in regard to Montenegro highlights his connections to the wealthy interests who control Western politicians, both of who work hand-in-hand in advancing Western geopolitical interests. The co-opting of Montenegro into the Western financial sphere and its membership of (NATO) were manoeuvres calculated to injure Russia’s commercial and military interests. First of all, the oil and gas explorations subsequently embarked upon in the outlying Adriatic Sea is designed to create a market which aims to undercut or totally nullify Russian ambitions to supply oil and gas to countries in the region via a South Stream pipeline project. Secondly, transforming its military status from one of neutrality to being part of the Atlantic Alliance is in keeping with NATO’s post-Cold War eastward expansion, a policy which is designed to intimidate Russia, and which is in defiance of the agreement reached at the end of the Cold War between the leaders of the West and the former Soviet Union, that Germany reunification was predicated on the condition that NATO would not expand eastwards. John McCain, by words and deeds, demonstrated his support for the anti-Russian sentiment that has permeated corridors of power in the United States since the coming to power of Vladimir Putin, a nationalist who brought to an end the mass plunder of Russia’s resources by Western interests during the government led by Boris Yeltsin. Indeed, no politician better embodied the twin doctrines that encapsulate the militarism pursued by the United States in the aftermath of the US-Soviet Cold War than McCain. These are philosophies espoused by Paul Wolfowitz and Zbigniew Brzezinski. The former provided that American policy was to ensure that after the fall of the Soviet Union, no other power should be permitted to rise and compete with the United States for global influence, while the latter was fixated on militarily intimidating Russia and seeking its dismemberment and relegation to a region designed to serve the energy needs of the West. His dismissal of Russia as a “gas station masquerading as a country” and his forthright comment that Montenegro’s accession to NATO was “vital for regional stability and the joint effort of the Western allies to resist a resurgent Russia”, provided clear evidence of his position. McCain’s anti-Russian posture ensured an enduring animus between himself and Vladimir Putin. Although McCain claimed that the Russo-Georgian War of 2008 was “a mistake” initiated by Mikheil Saakashvili, then president of Georgia, Putin accused the United States of fomenting the conflict in order to strengthen McCain’s bid for the White House. “The suspicion arises”, Putin claimed, “that someone in the United States especially created this conflict to make the situation tenser and create a competitive advantage for one of the candidates fighting for the post of US president.” While Putin’s allegations were pooh-poohed by the White House as “patently false” and by the state department as “ludicrous”, events in Ukraine in 2014 clearly demonstrated McCain’s involvement in the American-sponsored overthrow of the elected government led by Viktor Yanukovytch. This was made possible by utilising the street muscle of ultranationalist groups such as Pravy Sektor. McCain was repeatedly photographed with Oleh Tyahnybok, the leader of the far right Svoboda Party which has been accused of being neo-Nazi in ideology while being vocally Russophobic and anti-Jewish. McCain, who wielded a great deal of power as a long-term senator, allegedly chaired an important CIA meeting in Cairo that was pivotal in fomenting the so-called Arab Spring. And just as he met with political extremists in Kiev prior to the US-backed coup, in 2011 he was seen walking the streets of Benghazi where he was photographed meeting anti-Gaddafi rebels who embraced the Islamist creed of al-Qaeda, the alleged perpetrators of the September 11th attacks on the United States. He called the rebels “heroic” and lobbied for US military intervention weeks before NATO began its bombardment and training of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Libyan Islamic Fighting Force (LIFG). And given his vocal support for overthrowing the government of Gaddafi and his ‘fact-finding’ tour, he was also likely to have been influential in paving the way for President Barack Obama’s decision to authorise the use of predator drones. McCain would later be pictured with Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal giving an award to Abdel Hakim Belhaj, the leader of the now disbanded LIFG. The Libyan intervention, enabled by the United Nations resolution based on the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ doctrine, of course, ended in human disaster. Gaddafi was toppled, but a nation which was once Africa’s most prosperous country soon degenerated into a failed state composed of warring militias, Islamist strongholds that have imposed rule by Sharia, and the establishment of slave markets composed of human chattel of Black African origin. The removal of Gaddafi which McCain cheered on has led to a deterioration of security beyond Libya as Islamist terror groups situated in the Maghreb (Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) and further down in the Lake Chad Basin (Boko Haram) have been strengthened because of the availability of large quantities of arms and munitions previously owned by the fallen Libyan army. McCain’s dallying with extremists also extended to illegally entering into Syrian territory in 2013 and meeting with anti-government rebels who he described as “brave fighters who are risking their lives for freedom”, but who most neutral observers would classify as terrorists. McCain’s support respectively for the Iraq War which overthrew Saddam Hussein, the Western-backed insurgencies in Libya and Syria, NATO expansion and confrontation with nuclear-armed Russia clearly mark him out as a supporter of American militarism, a geopolitical policy that has caused tremendous harm to American prestige among the community of nations, caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, caused large-scale human displacement and a refugee crisis, and which has persistently kept NATO and Russia at loggerheads. It makes a mockery of Congressman John Lewis’s attempt to eulogise him as a “warrior for peace”. Indeed, it was no surprise that the arms giant Lockheed Martin, which has profited from the wars supported by McCain, issued a tribute after his death. That he sympathised with the neoconservative ideology and was beholden to the objectives of the Israel lobby is beyond doubt. His support for American interventions in the Arab world targeting secular governments perceived as not towing the line with Israel was apparent in his role in fomenting insurgencies in Libya and Syria, the latter in regard to which he unceasingly promoted a more direct form of US involvement. It is also confirmed by his long-term attitude of belligerence towards Iran, which he consistently denounced during his presidential campaign in 2008. While on the hustings, he notoriously broke out in song by substituting the lyrics of the Beach Boys hit Barbara Ann with “Bomb Iran”. His statements tended to indicate that he would have been in favour of attacking Iran at the behest of Israel and its US-based lobby groups, an action that was strongly resisted by Barack Obama. McCain, not surprisingly, was dismissive of the Obama administration’s deal with Iran over its nuclear strategy, which he derisively referred to as a “feckless” approach to foreign policy. McCain was despite his maverick label an establishment man adept at manoeuvring between the public spotlight and the shadowy, largely unseen world of what many now understand to be the ‘Deep State’. He was almost certainly a key player in the machinations of America’s ‘double government’ and its formulation of national security policy which, as Professor Michael Glennon pointed out in a lengthy research paper, has essentially remained unchanged from successive administrations starting with George W. Bush, through to the one headed by Barack Obama, and now that of Donald Trump. Far from the mainstream narrative that he was a beloved figure, McCain has gone to his grave leaving a great number disgruntled for various reasons. For many veterans, he will forever be ‘Johnny Songbird’ of ‘Hanoi Hilton’ infamy; like his father, a man of the establishment who covered up many unflattering secrets of the state including that pertaining to the sinking of the USS Liberty which he never sought to redress. To his former Vietnamese foes he remains the celebrity captive, the admiral’s son immortalised as an ‘air pirate’ depicted in a statute bent on his knees next to the lake from where he was retrieved after parachuting from his downed aircraft. To white nationalists he is a ‘race traitor’ who supported successive amnesties for illegal immigrants and to the anti-war segment of the political left, he does not deserve praise for participating in a colonial war of aggression against the Vietnamese people, while the isolationist segment of the political right decried his persistent support for foreign wars of intervention. John McCain was not a straightforward hero. Nor was he an exceptional politician. The unbridled facts of his life and career in the military and as a public figure embody much of what is dysfunctional about the American republic. To succumb to the blatant myth-making and obfuscation of his life represents a failure of the nation to properly reflect and critically examine itself. That cannot bode well for the future. http://clubof.info/

[tamal21]

Military News

It appears as though America's overwhelming victory functioning Desert Storm happened centuries ago. The planet was certainly another place when Bottom invaded his small, but wealthy, neighbor. Take the time to keep in mind to that The month of january day. Where had you been? Looking for a war forum? Visit our website today and join the biggest war forum on the internet.

I had been employed by a significant aerospace corporation at that time as well as on 16th of The month of january, I used to be sent completely across the nation to La. I would make an essential presentation to the customer within the Air Force on Monday, 17 The month of january.

I showed up at Poor in the center of the mid-day. I collected my luggage and rose aboard the rental vehicle shuttle. Following a short drive, I had been delivered inside my vehicle. Understanding that America was not far from likely to war, I switched around the radio to obtain the latest news.

Planes were within the air. The war had began.

This is the storyline from the opening moments of Operation Desert Storm. It's been excerpted from "The Gulf War Chronicles" that is available through all online booksellers and may also be purchased at the local book shop.

---------

Before night time around the 16th of The month of january 1991, the wheels have been put in place which are more devastating air attack ever. Ships transporting Tomahawk missiles were within their assigned launch positions. E-3 Sentry, Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft were flying in four surveillance racetracks just south from the Saudi/Iraqi border. A hundred 80 tankers were orbiting south from the AWACS, just from selection of the Iraqi early warning radar. Fixed wing and rotary aircraft appeared to be prepared for fight.

The staggering firepower from the U . s . States Military have been introduced to deal with around the northern Saudi Arabian border in a little over five several weeks. The Marines were concentrated across the Persian Gulf and thinly spread across the Kuwaiti border in small, fast paced screening units. These Marines were mounted in High Mobility Multi-Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs) and lightweight Armored Vehicles (LAVs).

The forward units were deployed to signal advance warning of Iraqi offensive thrusts into Saudi Arabia. Farther towards the south, the rest of the American force was positioned for counterattacks on evolving Iraqis or massed around forward supply and air bases. Every airfield within striking distance of Iraq and Kuwait was crammed filled with Allied aircraft. Six Navy Aircraft carriers ringed Iraq at a negative balance Ocean and Persian Gulf. Countless aircraft from America's newest F-117A Nighthawks, towards the venerable B-52 Stratofortresses, appeared to be prepared for war. The airfields were so crowded that there wasn't any room for that B-52s. They'd fly their first missions from their bases in The country, Diego Garcia, as well as Louisiana.

The biggest logistic chain ever extended from Saudi Arabia and also the Persian Gulf completely to both coasts from the U . s . States. Supplies and extra heavy armor units in the U . s . States and Europe ongoing to pour directly into Saudi Arabia. The hammer was cocked, there have been models within the chamber and also the trigger had been squeezed.

The month of january 17th heralded the culmination of many years of acquisitions of high-tech systems and shaping the earth's largest all-volunteer military several weeks of deployments, planning, and "sharpening the sword" days of diplomacy and times of tension. The U.S. was intending to fight a four-dimensional "Air-Land Fight" the very first time. It had been to become orchestrated inside a precise time sequence. The Iraqis, however, were getting ready to fight a 2 dimensional war of attrition. They'd no idea of air brilliance, timing or tempo. The Coalition would fight World War III as the Iraqis would fight World War I.

At 0001 around the 17th, two-dozen F-117 Stealth fighters in the 415th Tactical Fighter Squadron began removing from the secret airbase located deep within the mountain tops of Saudi Arabia. These ultra-hi-tech aircraft would lead the manned air assault deep into Iraq. Inside an hour, over 3 hundred additional attack aircraft started removing from aircraft carriers and airbases all around the Persian Gulf. These attack aircraft were refueled and stacked up south from the Saudi border like jets on method of O'Hare airport terminal on the snowy Christmas Eve.

At exactly 0140 the USS Wisconsin began launching Tomahawk Cruise missiles to participate other Tomahawks being launched in the USS San Jacinto at a negative balance Ocean. Tomahawk missiles will be the first to enter Iraqi airspace, flying individually distinct and racing toward their targets in an altitude of fifty to 1 hundred ft over the terrain.

Meanwhile, in a remote base in Western Saudi Arabia, two groups of Apache and Pave Low helicopters required off at roughly 0100. The 101st Airborne Apaches were heavily armed. Each team were built with a 20th Special Operations Squadron Pave Low helicopter which provided Gps navigation navigation, additional Electronic Countermeasure (ECM) and save capacity. This small but deadly force, commanded by Army Lieutenant Colonel Richard Cody, was code named TASK FORCE NORMANDY in recognition from the "Screaming Eagles'" spearhead operations nearly one half century earlier behind in france they beaches.

At 0215, the 2 groups of TASK FORCE NORMANDY entered the border. Their objectives were two Early Warning RADAR facilities in Western Iraq. The Apaches from the first Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment raced over the border, acquired their targets, locked up with their lasers and advanced around the objectives 'low and slow'. All the lights both in facilities were on, suggesting the Apaches' approach was not detected.

Once the Apaches came within range they ripple-launched their Hellfire missiles. At exactly 0238, the very first missile struck its target "just like a thunderbolt in the skies." Several missiles bumped out the facilities' electrical power generators. The Apaches (firing twenty-seven Hellfire missiles) destroyed radar antennas, operations centers, generators, and barracks. All the missiles hit their targets. Once the Apaches ran from Hellfire missiles, they raked the region with rockets and a large number of models of 30-mm cannon fire. Both facilities were disabled within a few seconds and completely destroyed in under four minutes!

Eight U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles streaked into Iraq behind TASK FORCE NORMANDY and destroyed the neighborhood air defense command and control center. These 3 attacks produced a twenty-mile wide blackened radar corridor for the attack planes to go in Iraq.

In a few minutes, F-117s in the 415th Tactical Fighter Squadron bombed a radar control center a hundred 60 miles southwest of Baghdad, a radar facility in western Iraq, as well as an air defense site outdoors Baghdad extending the corridor much deeper into Iraq. Swarms of waiting attack aircraft then taken north with the corridor and fanned out toward their targets. EF-111 Ravens, EA-6B Prowlers, and EC-130 Compass Call Aircraft brought the charge during the night sky. These electronic marvels from the night bombarded Iraq's surveillance and communications equipment with vast amounts of electrons. The Compass Call aircraft attacked the communications airwaves, disrupting military radio traffic. The Ravens and Prowlers targeted surveillance and air defense radars. F-14 Tomcats and F-15C Eagles raced into Iraq for their assigned Combat Air Patrol (CAP) areas. Their mission ended up being to fly cover the Allied planes and interact any approaching Iraqi aircraft.

Air Force Captain Steve Tate contacted Baghdad in the F-15C, together with his four wingmen right before 0300. Their assigned CAP area was over Baghdad and increasing 60 miles towards the east from the city.

Captain Tate were built with a bird's eye view for that opening moments from the war. "Baghdad would be a really pretty city that night. Once we began flying within the populous areas,... F-117s began shedding their bombs therefore we began getting concussions all around the entire country. You can view it. At that time then, heaven began illuminating with AAA (Anti-Aircraft Artillery)... It appeared as if little sparkles sounding throughout... I believed we'd some type of cosmic weapon system available just sprinkling all around the city... I Then began searching just a little closer and that i stated, man-that's triple-A that they are shooting." Soon after 0300, Captain Tate was alerted towards the approach of the Iraqi fighter by an AWACS controller. He maneuvered his plane into attack position. At 0315 he shot lower an Iraqi F1 Mirage having a single radar-led Sparrow missile. It was the very first air-to-air kill from the war and something of nine Iraqi aircraft to become shot lower around the first night.

Before the Gulf War, Baghdad was thought to have experienced probably the most formidable air defense systems on the planet. The Iraqi air defenses over Baghdad were poised to have an American attack. Russian ZSU23-4 radar-led Anti-Aircraft-Artillery "AAA" guns were trained at altitudes below nine 1000 ft. Between nine and twenty 1000 ft, 57-mm and 85-mm flak could blanket the town with deadly, red-orange fireballs. Surface-to-air missiles "SAMs" were deployed to strike aircraft at greater altitudes. A built-in Air Defense System that contains an interconnected, nationwide network of RADARs and Command and Control centers directed many of these weapons. To be able to penetrate these defenses, the Allied air strategy was, first, to blind the Iraqis by knocking out their surveillance radars using "invisible" F-117A Stealth fighters, Apache attack helicopters, and occasional-flying Tomahawk missiles. Next, they planned to disrupt any remaining radars using the high-tech ECM abilities of Ravens and Prowlers. Finally, they'd attack from high altitudes using the remaining aircraft. Each strike package was supported by F-4G Wild Weasels to eliminate any Mike and AAA radars that will illuminate the attack aircraft. Many, if not completely, from the American attack aircraft transported their very own ECM pods for further protection. One pilot reported that whenever a Mike premiered against his aircraft, he immediately activated his ECM and also the Mike "went stupid," roaring off harmlessly in to the night. For an additional way of measuring safety, all attacks on Downtown Baghdad were restricted to the "invisible" F-117s and unmanned Tomahawk missiles.

Iraqi surveillance radars which were not destroyed within the opening moments from the assault either "whited-out" or displayed numerous phantom targets. The Iraqis understood these were under attack but they didn't know that direction. These were made to activate their AAA and Mike radars. Nature Weasels immediately locked-on and launched High-speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARMs). The Iraqis learned rapidly that, when they activated their Mike radars these were signing their very own dying warrants. The Mike suppression effort am effective around the first night that through out the war not just one medium or thin air Mike was fired under RADAR control. Your best option left towards the Iraqis ended up being to fire blindly in to the night sky, wishing the lots of of undirected fire would hit something. Visit our army forum for more information and to join 100's of daily discussions.

So we all were glued to CNN for the majority of the night as Iraqi gunners filled the Baghdad sky with streams of glowing tracers as well as an periodic Mike rocket plume.

[usafphantom2]

US authorizes training for Ukrainian pilots on F-15 and F-16 fighters

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 07/20/2022 - 16:00 in Military, War Zones

The United States House of Representatives has committed an amount of $100 million to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-15 and F-16 fighters as part of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2023.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordered American-made F-15 and F-16 fighters. But Ukrainian pilots accustomed to old MiG-29 and Soviet-era Sukhoi planes have not been trained to use U.S. fighters, a process that can take months.

Colonel Yuri Ignat, chief spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force Command, told Air Force Magazine on July 13 that even before the Russian invasion of February 24, the Ukrainian Air Force had identified the F-15 and F-16 as platforms it would like to make the transition with much higher capacities than the MiG-29 and Su-27 it now has in its fleet.

"The F-16 was proposed to combat not only air targets, but also ground targets, and in the U.S. Air Force, it is also in charge of suppressing enemy air defenses," Ignat explained by videoconference from the headquarters of the Ukrainian Air Force in Vinnytsia, Ukraine.

Ukrainian Su-27 fighters.

"Given our current situation, we also need much more air-to-ground resources," he added. “That’s why we’re thinking that maybe to win this war, we need other fighters, not just the F-16, but the F-15.”

So far, the U.S. government has hesitated to send fighter jets to Ukraine, and efforts to persuade other NATO allies to send some of its former Soviet jets have also failed. However, the U.S. and its allies sent some spare parts to Kyiv.

Congressman Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican and former U.S. Air Force pilot, proposed the amendment, allowing the training of Ukrainian pilots and ground teams to get used to American aircraft.

On July 15, Kinzinger tweeted: "Last night the House passed my bipartisan law on Ukrainian fighter pilots, which authorizes the training of Ukrainian fighter pilots in the US. I urge the Senate to bring this critical legislation to the president's table. Slava Ukraine!"

Kinzinger presented this legislation in June with Congressman Chrissy Houlahan, Illinois Democrat and former U.S. Air Force officer, to allow Ukrainian personnel to start training "on the F-15, F-16 and other air platforms, while the government continues to consider sending such equipment."

The U.S. Air Force is expected to retire 48 F-16 fighters this year, a medium that could equip three to four Ukrainian fighter squadrons.

The Senate version of the defense authorization project should not be voted on until September, after which the conference committee will work to reach an agreement between the two chambers on compromise legislation.

But if the amendment is approved and becomes law, this can lay the foundations for Ukrainian Air Force pilots to start receiving training on aircraft manufactured in the United States. In addition, this would offer an opportunity to deliver U.S.-made aircraft to Kiev.

The Biden administration is also concerned about Moscow's reaction if Ukrainian forces use first-rate American weapons to attack Russian territory. However, Kinzinger stated that Ukrainians could be trusted ?? with these weapons.

Meanwhile, no information is available on the location of Ukrainian pilots' training. Kinzinger stated that the United States is prepared to start training Ukrainian pilots at Columbus Air Base in Mississippi and perhaps even Texas.

Ukraine said it has more than 30 pilots with English skills ready to start training without affecting their operations. Ignat estimates that his pilots can be trained to fly F-16 in six months.

The Senate should not vote on its version of the defense authorization bill until September at least, so both chambers must agree to the compromise legislation on the conference committee. If Kinzinger's amendment survives the conference, the United States will be able to train Ukrainian pilots in the U.S. as early as next year.

Tags: Military AviationF-15 EagleF-16 Fighting FalconUkrainian Air ForceUSAF - United States Air Force / U.S. Air ForceWar Zones - Russia/Ukraine

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Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in a specialized aviation magazine in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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[usafphantom2]

MQ-25 drone boards the USS George H.W. Bush for first test aboard an aircraft carrier

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 12/03/2021 - 08:00 in Military, UAV - UAV

The MQ-25 Stingray refueling drone arriving aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush.

The MQ-25 Stingray refueling drone arriving aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush.

The U.S. Navy's MQ-25 "Stingray" unmanned refueler, which promises to significantly expand the range of an aircraft carrier air wing, arrived aboard the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) for his first tests aboard an aircraft carrier.

According to a tweet on the US Naval Air Systems Command social network, the unmanned aerial vehicle built by Boeing was loaded into the aircraft carrier for its first test period aboard the aircraft carrier earlier this week. Video images shared by the command showed the MQ-25 Stingray being loaded into the aircraft carrier and stored inside a hangar.

The next tests will be the latest in a series of milestones for the program aimed at delivering the first aircraft-based operational unmanned aircraft. The MQ-25 will provide critical air refueling and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to support the Air Wing of the Future - a mixture of fourth and fifth generation aircraft, manned and unmanned platforms and networked sensors and weapons.

Together with the organic refueler, the MQ-25 will pave the way for the formation of manned and unmanned teams (MUM-T) of aircraft-based aircraft that will extend attack range and increase maneuverability.

The successes of the program so far include the first refueling of a manned aircraft in June this year, when the drone refueled an F/A-18 Super Hornet. Later milestones included air refueling flights with an E-2D aircraft and an F-35C, the variant with onboard capacity of the fifth-generation fighter jet.

To prepare for aircraft carrier tests, the Navy and Boeing previously sent the Stingray to Chambers Field, inside Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, where they used painted lines to section areas of the cockpit to see how the MQ-25 would be able to maneuver aboard an aircraft carrier.

To date, the Navy has ordered seven MQ-25 aerial vehicles, but intends to acquire more than 70 aircraft. They will assume the role of tankers currently played by the F/A-18s, allowing better use of fighter jets.

The service is also lifting the fleet replacement squadron, Unmanned Carrier-Launched Multi Role Squadron (VUQ) 10, which will be followed by two squadrons MQ-25A, VUQ-11 and 12. These squadrons will eventually deploy detachments to the U.S. Navy aircraft carriers.

[rossotronic]

This is an up-to-date reference sheet of my entire main and supporting heroic cast of Cosmic Cruiser Ho-Oh. I like to have all my characters in one place for the sake of being able to keep track of them and add/change info if I need to. If you have any interest, each receives a brief character description below! (Starting top left and working downward)

Ethan Emberheart - Entei - Captain of the Ho-Oh, a stoic, strong man whose notion of right and wrong guides him in all decisions. His relationship with Jet is what gives him purpose beyond merely being ship’s captain. He comes from a distinguished military lineage.

Jet Chambers - Latios - Commander of Dragon Squadron and a charismatic individual. Occasionally his confidence borders on arrogance, but there is nothing he cares about more than protecting the lives aboard the Ho-Oh.

Cassius Silver - Absol - Commander of the Advance Squadron and Jet’s arch rival. He is considered by many to be the best mecha pilot aboard the cruiser, but won’t believe it until he can really gauge Jet’s worth for himself.

Grady Macleod - Gogoat - The Ho-Oh’s Commander, second in command behind Cpt. Emberheart. He has been a friend to   Ethan, and his father, since before the Regi war. He is usually tough and thoughtful but still makes time to joke around.

Aria Chambers - Latias - Jet’s younger sister who still lives on Arceon. They grew up in foster care together until they were eighteen and Jet joined the military while Aria eventually became a psychologist. She misses her brother dearly and wishes him well in space.

Felix Cho - Floatzel - The most seasoned member of Dragon Squadron and the longest-serving pilot aboard the Ho-Oh. He is impossible to rattle, easy going perhaps to a fault. Enjoys a drink with Grady once in awhile. When he’s in the cockpit though, he is a force to be reckoned with!

Rotom - Rotom - The Artificial Intelligence core system of the Cosmic Cruiser. It keeps track of all crucial systems, navigation, as well as all computerized integral aspects to the Ho-Oh. Rotom is not so much a personality as a shipwide presence.

Samira Fayad - Swellow - Major under Jet in Dragon Squadron and his most trusted pilot. She has had to fill the role of Squadron Commander more than a few times in Jet’s absence and has proven capable. She is not quick to warm up to people.

Baxter “Buzz” Kowalski - Electabuzz - Another member of Dragon Squadron and Jet’s best buddy. A crass loudmouth much of the time, but his heart’s in the right place. Misses his family back on Arceon terribly, but does his best to remain optimistic. Has strong feelings for Samira.

Zuri Solarin - Azelf - She is the ship’s communications officer, keeping in contact with Arceon, other vessels the Ho-Oh encounters and even new species of Pokemon. She is brilliant and has a tactful mind. In many ways, her voice is the most important aboard the cruiser.

Father Dimakos - Carracosta - The leader of the religious group, Light of Arceus, aboard the Ho-Oh. He is kindly, wise, benevolent and tries to maintain a peaceful, fair atmosphere for his many followers. He welcomes all manner of worshiper to his chapel.

Tyler Fitzgerald - Tyrogue - After the loss of his father, Tyler took over the Hitmonlee mecha and joined the Dragon Squadron, despite being much too young. He has a lot to prove but his father taught him well, and while he lacks knowledge of protocol, his piloting skills are top-notch.

Liam Fitzgerald - Hitmonlee - [Deceased] Originally the Commander of Dragon Squadron, but when he was killed in combat his leadership passed to Jet. He left his son Tyler behind and after his mecha was fixed up, Tyler became a member of the squad.

Hector Diaz - Herdier - A stern and grumpy fellow who serves as the ship’s chief mechanic and engineer. He likes to play cards and may have a bit of a gambling addiction. When Rafa tried to steal parts from his shuttle, Hector saw his potential and brought him aboard the Ho-Oh as his apprentice.

Rafa Kalani - Rockruff - A young man and war orphan who grew up fending for himself on a refugee station called the ‘Junkyard’. Has never depended on or trusted anyone else until Hector realized his mechanical knowhow and brought him to the Cosmic Cruiser to learn under him.

Violet Nishimura - Vivillon - Ho-Oh’s Lead Science Officer. Her knowledge of xenobiology, alien customs and behavior is indispensable to the crew. She is often on the bridge giving informed opinions when not in her research facilities.

Margaret “Maggie” Steele - Mawile - Something of a civilian-appointed leader, she speaks for the non-crew population of the Ho-Oh. She can be a thorn in Ethan’s way of doing things, and just as stubborn about getting her way, but it’s generally for the good of her people.

Professor Malcolm Burnside - Flareon - One of the three seeking asylum after the Eevee Science Station took sides against the Ho-Oh. He became Ship’s Doctor, and has done astonishing work as a geneticist and medical practitioner. Though introverted, he is a well-meaning fellow.

Raze Renard - Quilava - A hot-headed young pilot in Dragon Squadron who has had trouble adjusting to life aboard the Ho-Oh. He lost his family when the space station they were staying on was destroyed. His relationship with Quaid has been helping him come to terms with his loss.

Davis Dewford - Dewgong - Commander of Avalanche Squadron, another of Ho-Oh’s mecha teams. He is a friendly sort, preferring to stay out of many of the pilots’ rivalries. Instead he prefers to daydream about life after the war and starting a family.

Orion Kincaid - Nidoking - Chief Security Officer aboard the Ho-Oh, essentially leading the police force. It’s a tireless job, being tasked with the interior protection of all the cruiser’s residents. Orion is tough as nails, intimidating and unsurprisingly, takes his work very seriously.

Quaid Wells - Quagsire - He owns and operates The Phoenix Fountain, an upscale bar near Ho-Oh’s downtown district. He’s a relatively new business owner, using everything he had to get his own place on the cruiser. He is outgoing and silly, but his patrons love him all the more for it.

Dax Gupta - Donphan - Major and second under Cassius in the Advance Squadron. He is a man who only speaks when he has something important to say, preferring to quietly observe and learn from those around him in his own way. Has utmost respect and loyalty for Cassius.

Lyle Green - Grovyle - A skilled wingman in the Advance Squadron. His brash way of acting and speaking often gets him to the verge of a fight, luckily his quick thinking and faster mouth usually helps him work out a less violent solution!

Sam “Zero” Keller - Zangoose - An enigmatic fellow who walks the line between legal and less-so every day. He trafficks in secrets and information. He has a peculiar relationship with Orion since they have no business being friends but find they need the other’s help more often than they’d like.

Forrest Woodson - Leafeon - Joined the Ho-Oh along with Malcolm and Gabriel. He left many who he cared about aboard the Eevee science station and is trying to find his place on the cruiser. He is smart, creative and excited to have joined a cause greater than himself.

Gabriel Crenshaw - Umbreon - Forrest’s boyfriend of several months and the last of the Eevee to join the Ho-Oh’s ranks. Big for an Umbreon, Gabe protects himself with a very tough facade, which helps him land a job as the bouncer at the Phoenix Fountain.