XBradTC

No, Spill, not you. Give someone else a chance.

Update: CG23 got it right off the bat. Tis the Bregeut 941, which was heavily marketed in the US, but found no buyers. McDonnell was their US marketing partner, under the name McDonnell 188, but never built any. A further four of a slightly improved Br941S model were built, and served a few years with the French Armee de la Air.

Master Sgt. Thomas Case, a tactical air control party airman, has joined the ranks of the military’s most decorated troops.

Case, a TACP airman with the 18th Air Support Operations Group at Pope Field, N.C., was awarded the Silver Star an oak leaf cluster Thursday for an overnight battle in Afghanistan in 2009 when he was assigned to a group of Army Rangers in a notoriously dangerous part of Paktia province.

Case is the seventh U.S. military member since Sept. 11, 2001, to receive two Silver Stars. He is one of three airmen to be awarded twice, joining Tech. Sgt. Ismael Villegas and Staff Sgt. Sean Harvell. Case is the first TACP airman of the group. Villegas and Harvell are combat controllers.

Twelve troops across all services have been awarded multiple high valor awards in the past 13 years, excluding classified awards. Sixty-seven airmen have been presented Silver Stars for actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

via TACP airman joins ranks of military’s most decorated.

They don’t just hand out Silver Stars like candy. MSGT  Case has been in the fight for over a decade, and twice, while serving alongside the Rangers, found himself in a position to save the day.

We love mocking the Air Force, but we also love recognizing that there are plenty of Airmen who epitomize the warrior ethos.

Well done, MSGT Case.

We mentioned the Tactical Air Combat Training System pod the other day. Over the years, what was originally used to track a small tight turning engagement on a highly instrumented range has evolved into a GPS and datalink integrated system that allows reconstruction of air to air, air to ground, and joint operations training, with far less infrastructure needed on the ground.

From Gina Elise on Facebook:

Need your help! Marines from 3/5 are coming home next week from a 7 month deployment and we were asked to come to their homecoming! We’d LOVE to bring them our new 2015 calendars as gifts of appreciation. We are trying to bring 100 donated calendars. Please consider donating 1 (or more) for us to bring next week. Thank you so much!

Here’s the link to the store if you’re interested.

I have no connection with the organization, and receive no compensation of any sort. I just admire Gina and her friends good works.

The U.S. military sent a giant C-17 cargo plane to an air show in China this week as a way to strengthen its relationship with the People’s Liberation Army there, despite fears among security and policy experts that doing so puts American technology secrets in jeopardy and also risks angering an important Asia ally.

The decision to send a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III to the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition at the Zhuhai Jinwan airport starting Tuesday is fraught for a number of reasons, defense and security officials told Defense One, noting that President Barack Obama’s arrival in the region this week to help bolster ties with Beijing points up how political factors may have outweighed security, optical and even legal concerns.

via Why the US Sent a C-17 to a Chinese Air Show Despite Concerns Inside the Pentagon – Defense One.

The concern that some super secret aspect of the C-17 might be compromised is silly. The C-17 has been openly displayed at airshows both domestically and internationally for years. If anyone wanted inside pics of the plane, all they have to do is google. Any truly sensitive information about it would be either in the written materials such as handbooks and operating manuals, or in the actual software code. The Chinese may be pretty good hackers, but they won’t exactly have the chance to crack open the UYKs on board.

Are there legitimate cost and optics arguments against going to the airshow? Maybe. Who knows?

We asked our readers what Command Sgt. Maj. Daniel Dailey should put at the top of his priority list when he becomes the next sergeant major of the Army in January.

via Top 6 fixes soldiers want now.

Some of the responses are clearly not within the scope of CSM Dailey’s authority when he assumes his duty as SMA. In fact, he really hasn’t any authority, but is generally the point man on certain issues, particularly AR 670-1. The changes to the tattoo policy in the lastest 670-1 are extraordinarly unpopular. As a general rule of thumb, I would like to see fewer tats on troops. But I’m not the SMA. And I know that a great number of troops today feel very strongly about the issue, with many using tattoos as memorials to their fallen comrades. And if it doesn’t show when in the ASU, why freak out about it?

In the “also ran” suggestions, I got a chuckle out of these two, both of which are actually pretty good ideas:

■ Burn all the PT belts.

■ Free PT belts for everybody.

SECOND PLACE WINNER

Contestant: Charlie Hymen, US NAVY

Access to the Navy’s abundance of official information is too limited. This is a problem recognized by leaders onboard ships and in operational units at sea. There is no shortage of official military guidance that discusses a leader’s responsibilities pertaining to basic administration, personnel management, and professional development, but this information is often embedded in large, cumbersome documents that one must access from a computer. This proves challenging for those at sea, as computers are scarce resources on many vessels. Furthermore, inexperienced officers and junior Sailors have difficulty locating the correct information needed at any given time because they simply do not know where find it.

eDIVO will solve these inefficiencies. As a mobile application that will be available through the Apple Store and Google Play in February 2015, eDIVO will provide access to the most commonly used and referenced Navy documents and serve as a quick reference management and education tool for Navy leaders of all ranks.

via eDIVO: DEF Innovation Competition 2nd Prize.

I like this idea. I’d also like to see something for Army leaders. Of course, Navy types always have access to power. But in a garrison environment, a good app would help junior leaders stay on top of the myriad of administrative details that are so easily forgotten. Counseling for your troops? There’s an app!  That sort of thing.