Military Affairs « Chris Penningroth’s Weltanschauung

Archive for the ‘Military Affairs’ Category

Fighting for Our Future

Friday, June 12th, 2009

The Air Force has been under considerable pressure from several different people for the past several years. Some of these folks have actually called for the Air Force to be disbanded. I penned a short apologetic piece which I posted over in the pages section.

It’s hard to believe some folks want to ignore lessons learned over the past 80+ years of military aviation; whether out of misplaced pride in one service, general ignorance, or unreasonable disdain of my service. The Air Force must be a separate service in order for aerial forces to perform effectively in battle. Period.

Posted in Military Affairs, Politics, USAF | No Comments »

Raptor Punks

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008

Congrats to the first F-22 B-course graduates!

(In our squadrons, we refer to the first-operational-assignment lieutenant pilots as "punks.")

Posted in Military Affairs, USAF | 1 Comment »

Laying Low

Sunday, September 21st, 2008

Not that I’ve been posting a lot lately, but I’m going to be mostly offline for the next 7-10 days. We’re getting ready for one of those "Major muscle movements" that occurs every 18-36 months in the life of a government employee in my line of work.

Posted in Homelife, Travel, USAF | No Comments »

This Could Get Ugly

Friday, August 8th, 2008

I was a bit surprised to read Georgia had moved troops into South Ossetia and Russia had in turn moved troops in and had started bombing Georgia (CNN, FoxNews, Johnson’s Russia List (via e-mail)).

It’s like Bizarro-Kosovo/Serbia.

Posted in International Relations, Military Affairs, Politics, Rest of World Military | No Comments »

Heroes Run 2008

Saturday, July 26th, 2008

Mr Gary Patriquin is sponsoring the 2008 Heroes Run in Lockport, IL in honor of CPT Travis Patriquin and service members killed in Iraq. It will be 9 Aug 2008 at 0800. It starts at the Lockport High School, 1323 E. Seventh St., Lockport, IL 60441.

You can choose from a 5K run or a 1.5 mile walk. Registration is $15 and proceeds will go to both The Travis Patriquin Family Trust Fund and the Children of the Fallen Soldier Relief Fund.

If you would like to make a long-range donation, you can donate via PayPal. Just go to PayPal and enter Mr Patriquin’s e-mail address (gary112251 — at — America Online - dot - com). Proceeds donated via PayPal go to the Family Trust Fund for his three children.

If you have any questions about the run, the trust fund, or Children of the Fallen Soldier Relief Fund, you may contact Mr Patriquin at 1-815-483-4830.

Thank you for your consideration!

*****

15 Aug 2008 Update: The run looks like it went well. Thanks to all who participated or donated!

Posted in Family & Friends, Fitness & Health, Military Affairs, What\'s Right | No Comments »

Returned To Base

Saturday, June 28th, 2008

I’ve done a reverse MacArthur. I have returned from the Philippines.

As it happened, I rolled home and straight into an exercise! I’d like to say I swapped my ‘Battle Rattle’ for a chemical defense ensemble, but rather the chemical defense ensemble went on underneath the Interceptor body armor. Mercifully it’s been a cool June here in northern Japan.

It certainly was fun to get a few flights in, too, even if the weather obscured everything but the Pacific and the Sea of Japan.

Now back to the grind!

Posted in "Downrange", F-16 Operations, USAF | 1 Comment »

Revisiting Ramadi

Sunday, June 1st, 2008

I received an informative article awhile back from Mr Gary Patriquin, father of my late friend CPT Travis Patriquin (the author of the PowerPoint slideshow How to Win in Anbar). If you’d like to know how the West was won, see Ramadi from the Caliphate to Capitalism by Andrew Lubin in the April 2008 Naval Institute Proceedings Magazine. The article gives an outstanding overview of the way the US managed to turn the volatile Anbar province from hostile to better-than-neutral even before the 2007 troop surge.

Thank for the tip, Mr Patriquin!

Posted in "Downrange", Military Affairs | No Comments »

Cobra Quest Paused

Thursday, May 29th, 2008

Some of my friends were not too far away from this event. They’re alright. They couldn’t tell me which of these reports about the event were correct.

I think I’ll be redirecting my search efforts.

Posted in "Downrange", Asia/Pacific, Military Affairs | 1 Comment »

The Best Thing About This Tour

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008

The best thing about this deployment was meeting this guy:

. . . At least according to him! You know how these young folks can be brash sometimes.

You’re doing great work, AJ! Keep it up!

Posted in "Downrange", USAF | 3 Comments »

Battle Rattle

Monday, April 7th, 2008

I’ve found it nearly completely unnecessary to wear this stuff in the current theater. The primary danger is from pickpockets.

I can’t believe I traded in a G-suit for kevlar!

Update 11 Apr 2008: Due to popular demand to know which one of these fighter pilots-turned fighter-pilots-on-the-ground is me, I’ll give you all the following hint: I’m the one on the side. (Seriously, I may tell you via e-mail if you ask nicely)

Anne, I’m curious now about that riding crop, I’ll keep my eyes peeled. There aren’t many horses around here, though.

Posted in "Downrange", Military Affairs, USAF | 3 Comments »

Chris Penningroth’s Weltanschauung