Army identifies nine soldiers killed in helicopter collision

Misty Severi

March 31, 09:38 PM March 31, 09:38 PM

On Friday, U.S. Army officials identified the nine soldiers killed in a helicopter crash when two helicopters collided flying out of Fort Campbell in Kentucky on Wednesday.

All nine people on the Black Hawk helicopters died in the accident, which occurred during a routine training mission. The soldiers were all assigned to the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, and their ages ranged from 23 to 36.

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“Now is the time for grieving and healing,” Maj. Gen. J.P. McGee, the commanding general of the installation and of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division, said in a statement. “The whole division and this community stand behind the families and friends of our fallen soldiers."

McGee added that the losses will "reverberate through our formations for years to come.”

The nine soldiers killed were identified as Warrant Officer 1 Jeffery Barnes, 33; Cpl. Emilie Marie Eve Bolanos, 23; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Zachary Esparza, 36; Sgt. Isaac J. Gayo, 27; Staff Sgt. Joshua C. Gore, 25; Warrant Officer 1 Aaron Healy, 32; Staff Sgt. Taylor Mitchell, 30; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Rusten Smith, 32; and 23-year-old Sgt. David Solinas Jr.

Brig. Gen. John Lubas, the 101st Airborne Division deputy commander, said the teams were training to fly in aircraft formations with night vision goggles. Four helicopters were involved in the training, but one was refueling at the time, and another was too far ahead of the other two to be affected by the crash.

No specific cause of the crash has been identified. An Army aviation team from Fort Rucker, Alabama, is leading the investigation.

The incident is the deadliest aviation training accident since 2015, when 11 service members were killed in a Black Hawk crash off the coast of Florida.

WATCH: Cruz blasts Biden as ‘best thing that ever happened to the Mexican drug cartels’

Heather Hamilton

March 08, 06:39 AM March 08, 06:39 AM

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) did not hold back when expressing his frustration over what he called President Joe Biden’s weak leadership concerning the border crisis.

Cruz said the recent kidnapping of four Americans, two of whom have been confirmed dead, is indicative of the “chaos” that Biden’s policies have created.

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“Those who kill American citizens must be held accountable,” Cruz said on Jesse Watters Primetime. “This wouldn’t happen if we had responsible presidential leadership. Joe Biden created the chaos at the border. Joe Biden stopped building the wall, he reinstated 'Catch and Release.' He pulled out of ‘Remain in Mexico,’ and what Joe Biden has done is he has turned these vicious narco-terrorists into billionaires.”

"Joe Biden becoming president is the best thing that ever happened to the Mexican drug cartels," Cruz added.

The Texas senator blasted the Biden administration, including White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, for “no shortage of disastrous statements when it comes to the open border.”

“Karine Jean-Pierre saying fentanyl has never been better — I actually wonder if the reporters in the briefing room scooted back afraid that lightning was going to hit the podium,” Cruz said. “I mean, good God!”

“Last year, we had the highest number of drug overdoses in the history of our country. Over 100,000 drug overdoses in the United States, a majority of which came from Chinese fentanyl flooding across this border,” Cruz continued. “Joe Biden and the Democrats are responsible for turning these vicious murderers into multi-billionaires.”

Cruz suggested additional “pressure” must be placed on the Mexican government to stop the border crisis.

“The answer is put pressure on Mexico and have the Mexican army show up, arrest these guys, extradite them to the United States,” Cruz said. “They need to be prosecuted and face the full force of American justice, and if we had a president with a scintilla of willingness to stand up to other nations, that’s exactly what would be happening right now.”

Army astronauts troll Navy for special uniforms ahead of huge college football matchup

Misty Severi

December 10, 05:38 PM December 10, 06:03 PM

The Army officers assigned to the NASA Army Detachment trolled the Navy football team ahead of Saturday's marquee matchup, thanking the Navy for "honoring Army astronauts."

Lt. Col. Anne McClain, who was assigned to the detachment, tweeted a message of "gratitude" on Saturday, ahead of the annual college football game, which pits the Army Black Knights of the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, against the Navy Midshipmen of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

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"It’s Army-Navy game day! A long tradition of both teams is to design uniforms to honor our nation’s heroes," McClain tweeted jokingly. "We are humbled that Navy chose to honor us, the Army NASA astronauts this year. Thanks Navy!"

The U.S. Naval Academy Football Team chose to honor NASA by painting an astronaut on the side of their helmets and a NASA logo on the uniforms. Players are also wearing shoes designed to look similar to the boots that astronauts wear on a mission.

"When I heard that the Army wanted to honor us, the Army astronauts, with their Army-Navy football uniforms this year. I thought to myself ... that is so thoughtful," Army astronaut Col. Andrew Morgan said in a video attached to the tweet.

Other current and former Army astronauts, including McClain, shared their gratitude to the Navy for the "honor," while rooting for the Army to beat Navy in the video, which is one minute and 15 seconds long.

The Navy revealed the new uniform last month, which honors the late naval aviator and Navy astronaut Bruce McCandless II. The son of McCandless, Bruce McCandless III, said his father never watched much football, except for the Army-Navy game.

“He was not a big football fan at all,” McCandless III told the Navy Times. “But every year he’d be sure to tune in for that (game).”

The Army's uniform honors the soldiers of the 1st Armored Division during World War II. This year marked the 80th anniversary of Operation Torch, which was the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942.

The famed football game goes back to the late 1800s, and Saturday's match marks the 123rd annual game. The tradition is celebrated each year because it marks an opportunity for the two branches to compete against each other, even though they cooperate in war.

Can America’s all-volunteer military survive a dearth of volunteers?

Jamie McIntyre

July 07, 11:00 PM July 07, 11:01 PM

America’s all-volunteer navy is in danger of getting an all-little volunteer armed service.

The motive: All of the military companies, other than for the very small Area Drive, are at chance of failing to meet up with their recruiting plans for this 12 months.

“While we are on observe to make our accession aims, this is arguably the most hard recruiting 12 months considering that the inception of the all-volunteer force," Lt. Gen. David Ottignon, deputy Maritime Corps commandant for manpower and reserve affairs, advised the Senate Armed Products and services Committee in April.

Army recruiters always experienced their get the job done reduce out for them, particularly in the 1990s when military services pay and gains, particularly for enlisted recruits, did not stack up to the civilian job industry.

Or in the 2000s, when the United States was in shooting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the pitfalls of being deployed to a combat zone were being true.

But something’s distinctive this time all-around.

In significant figures, younger people are simply just not inclined to be a part of the armed forces, explained retired Military Lt. Gen. Thomas Spoehr, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Heart for Countrywide Defense.

“I see it as a systemic, very long-time period recruiting drought that is not likely to ameliorate whenever soon,” Spoehr advised the Washington Examiner. “People I speak to say this year is terrible, 2023 is going to be even worse, and you will find no indicating that 2024 is not heading to be worse nevertheless.”

All the expert services are having difficulties to attract new recruits, according to a report by NBC News past month, regardless of the gives of generous signing bonuses and, in the circumstance of the Military, peaceful entrance prerequisites.

The Military is in the deepest hole, admitting in March that it would have to shrink the dimensions of the active-responsibility force by 12,000 soldiers this yr, blaming a restricted position market with unemployment at 3.6%, as properly as coronavirus restrictions that saved recruiters out of substantial educational facilities, a prime source of enlisted recruits.

The united states is happy of its all-volunteer navy, which is unarguably the most effective-experienced, best-outfitted, most lethal fighting force in background.

From Earth War I and Environment War II and by way of the early 1970s, the U.S. applied conscription to fill the ranks of the armed forces, but when the unpopular Vietnam War finished, so did the draft.

When the Selective Services Process stays and males ought to nevertheless sign-up in just 30 days of their 18th birthday, there has been no draft considering that 1973.

Alternatively, the armed service has counted on patriotism, schooling added benefits, a quest for journey, and a willingness to sacrifice for the fantastic of the nation to draw in volunteers.

The final result in excess of the decades has been a resounding good results story, manufacturing a much more qualified, additional determined army that is the envy of the world.

But a confluence of societal changes and economic elements now threatens what has been the hallmark of America’s preeminent standing as the world’s greatest armed service.

More young folks are heading immediately to school out of superior school, fewer occur from people exactly where army company is a custom, and a reducing proportion of the target age array cannot meet up with the bodily physical fitness requirements or pass the background test for mental health and fitness challenges or prison offenses.

But the much larger challenge is that military services has misplaced its luster for Generation Z, which features individuals ages 18 to 25 who really feel like they have superior options, Spoehr argued.

“People do not truly see why they should serve their region, will not see any advantage for them, and to some degree, not even certain that their country is deserving of their provider, which is the most troubling component of all this to me,” Spoehr claimed.

As soon as one of the most dependable and revered U.S. institutions, the military’s track record has hit today’s hyperpartisan political environment.

A poll introduced by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Basis in November identified a spectacular drop in the amount of folks who said they have a fantastic offer of believe in and assurance in the army, down from 70% 3 decades ago to just 45%.

That was true throughout all big demographic subgroups, which includes age, gender, and social gathering affiliation. But most troubling for recruitment in the all-volunteer pressure, only 1-third of grown ups under 30 have large self-assurance in the military, down 20 factors since 2018.

“A great deal of individuals feel the armed forces is possibly woke and it really is being pursued as a social experiment or that it's a racist, extremist breeding floor,” Spoehr stated. “The middle ground, which the American armed forces has relished for virtually all of its existence, as not currently being considered as element of the political dimension, is eroding.”

So what is the reply?

Even though progressive Democrats are pushing for a improve to the regulation so that youthful gals and youthful men would have to register with the selective service, no one seriously thinks the draft is coming again anytime soon, barring an existential danger to the nation.

“It's just about like proposals to transform Social Safety. It really is radioactive. No just one is going to say, ‘Let's start drafting people once again,’” claimed Spoehr, who thinks the only way out may well be to reconnect youthful persons with the worth of provider in uniform.

“It's a cliche, but part of the answer is to reacquaint America with its armed service again — and not just recruiters, but to get younger men and women exposed to military people today at a young age ahead of they're large school seniors because at present significant school seniors by now know what they want to do,” he additional.

The so-known as civil-armed forces gap is expanding, as evidenced by a poll the Army done in March.

It showed popular misconceptions about what life in the Military is like, specially amongst the Gen Z goal audience.

Just about a third of Gen Zers feel most Military positions contain immediate combat — they really do not — and practically fifty percent really don't assume the Military permits time for recreation and hobbies — it does. Most were being unaware of education and learning benefits that provide entire school tuition, homebuying assistance, cost-free healthcare, parental leave, and early retirement soon after 20 a long time.

What they did say they want was a good wage, overall health insurance, paid time off, and to get the job done for an group with a “diverse workforce” that has a “positive affect on society.”

“Generation Z wishes this diverse kind of operate-existence equilibrium that infant boomers grew up with,” Spoehr mentioned. “This escalating civil-military gap, and I believe it is really finding even worse — it truly is a generational detail. Folks generally say the last era, but I assume this is the worst.”

The armed forces is in a main transformation from manned platforms to robotic ships and drone planes, which have to have far much less troops.

It may well be a future which is driven by requirement as much as system.

Jamie McIntyre is the Washington Examiner’s senior writer on protection and nationwide stability. His morning e-newsletter “Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense” is free of charge and out there by e-mail membership at dailyondefense.com.