About one in four soldiers admit to abusing prescription drugs, most of them pain relievers, in a one-year period, according to a Pentagon health survey released Wednesday.

The study, which surveyed more than 28,500 U.S. troops last year, showed that about 20 percent of Marines had also abused prescription drugs, mostly painkillers, in that same period.

The findings show the continued toll on the military from fighting wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003. Those wars have required troops to serve multiple combat deployments.

“We are aware that more prescription drugs are being used today for pain management and behavioral health issues,” Brig. Gen. Colleen McGuire, director of the Army Suicide Prevention Task Force, said Wednesday. “These areas of substance abuse along with increased use of alcohol concern us.”

The survey showed that pain relievers were the most abused drug in the military, used illicitly at a rate triple that of marijuana or amphetamines, the next most widely abused drugs.

About 15 percent of soldiers said they had abused prescription drugs in the 30 days before they were questioned for the survey. About 10 percent of Marines said the same thing.

Prescription drug abuse is “an issue for American society as well, and we’re looking at it from every possible angle,” McGuire said.

Painkiller abuse among troops has soared since 2005, the last time a similar study was conducted. The 2005 survey showed that 4 percent of soldiers had abused painkillers in the previous 30 days, compared with 13 percent in 2008. Abuse within the previous year was 10 percent in 2005 compared with 22 percent in 2008.

The authors of the report released Wednesday said different questions were used in 2008 compared with previous years. That makes an exact comparison difficult.

The 2008 survey asked more specific questions, such as whether troops were engaged in any non-medical use of the drugs they were prescribed.

Prescription drug abuse among the civilian population dropped in 2008 compared with 2007, a federal report released in September shows.

USA Today reported last year that narcotic pain-relief prescriptions for injured or wounded U.S. troops jumped from 30,000 a month to 50,000 since the Iraq war began.

Lt. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker, the Army surgeon general, created a task force this year to review the service’s pain management practices.

In addition, the Army is expanding programs to treat and educate soldiers about drug abuse. But the service struggles to provide enough drug counselors and needs to hire 270 to 300, Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, Army vice chief of staff, said last month.

Other survey findings include:

• The percentage of troops showing signs of post-traumatic stress disorder increased during the war years. In a 2005 survey, 7 percent of the service members described symptoms suggesting PTSD. That increased to 11 percent in the 2008 study.

The largest increases were within the Army and Marine Corps, the two service branches doing most of the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. The rate of soldiers who described problems suggestive of PTSD increased from 9 percent in 2005 to 13 percent in 2008, and from 8 percent to 15 percent among Marines, the survey results show.

• Nearly 60 percent of Marines admit engaging in binge drinking. The rate of heavy alcohol use — defined as five or more drinks per occasion once a week — among all service members ages 18 to 35 remained higher than in the civilian population.

• Service members admitting that they had thoughts of suicide during the year prior to being surveyed doubled from 1 percent in 2005 to 2 percent in 2008.

DH is scheduled to start ALS on the 9th.  Since we have no guaranteed date for OTS and it’s probable that he won’t leave until after his sew on date he’s going and we’ll get our E-5 bump in May [of course it'd be supremely awesome if he leaves sooner]…. but there’s like a less than 5% chance that he’ll be leaving before March.  Eh, it’ll be like a mini OTS, time for me to get used to not talking to him during the day and stuff.

If any ex-O-2 FACs have some memorabilia related to their experiences in the unpleasantness in Southeast Asia, I know somebody who would really like to showcase it.

Tom O’Halloran, in Connecticut, has a beautifully restored O-2A that he’s planning to campaign on the airshow circuit next year. Not only does it look great, this particular O-2 has a somewhat special history — it was one of only six operated by the US Navy for eight years after being removed from the USAF inventory. Tom provided the photos below (except for the bottom one in the window comparison set, which was provided by John Wiley).

Tom O'Halloran with N590D (67-21300)

I discussed the Oscar Duck with Tom. Herewith the transcript of that discussion.

Walt Shiel: So, Tom, what led you to buy an O-2 in the first place?

Tom O’Halloran: I always have been fascinated with the O-2. I am a former military combat aviator myself, I was specifically drawn to it’s combat mission and the fact you can still purchase a true combat aircraft today with a fairly low operating cost compared to other warbirds. I was fairly selective…no, I would say very selective and waited for the perfect ship to come along, and when it did I did not hesitate. I can honestly say when I strap into the aircraft, it doesn’t know it is a small aircraft and I don’t either…I feel like I am stepping back in time and I can’t put into words how solid of an aircraft it is to fly. I know it will take me home every time.

Tom's O-2A

Walt: Where and when did you buy this particular airplane?

Tom: I purchased the aircraft in December 2007 from an individual owner who had restored the aircraft out on the West Coast…I honestly say it is the nicest O-2A in the world and could not be replaced or duplicated today. I wanted to keep the Military theme/history of the aircraft but bring it up to today’s standard for flying in the national airspace. From the rocket pods to UHF and FM radio and Gun Site…it is in perfect condition. I am a full-time professional corporate pilot flying and managing a Gulfstream that operates worldwide and needed GPS and TCAS at a minimum to keep me safe on those sunny weekend days in the Northeast.

Tom's cockpit

Walt: Do you have records of the aircraft’s military history?

Tom:

May 1967 -  To 504th Tactical Air Support Group (Pacific Air Forces), Binh Thuy AB, Vietnam
Oct 1967 -  To Nakhon Phanom RTAFB Thailand (deployment to Ubon RTAFB, Thailand)
May 1969 -  To Bien Hoa AB, Vietnam
Sep 1970 -  To Cam Ranh Bay AB, Vietnam
Feb 1971 -  To 111th Tactical Air Support Group (Air National Guard), NAS Willow Grove, PA
Nov 1974 -  To 115th Tactical Air Support Group (ANG), Truax Field, WI
Aug 1979 -  To 163rd Tactical Air Support Group (ANG), Ontario MAP, CA
Aug 1982 -  Dropped from inventory by transfer to US Navy  (it flew for many years out at NAS Fallon, and I also have all the military logs from the Navy)

Walt: Who did the restoration and how long did it take?

Tom: The restoration was done mostly by an individual located on the West Coast…he is probably the most detail-orientated person I know and the quality is top notch. The restoration took over two years.

Walt: Any plans for taking your O-2 to airshows next season?

Tom: I have normally have options to attend several large shows each year, the problem is my work schedule is fairly unpredictable and I have missed several of the shows that I wanted to attend.  I always plan to get it to Oshkosh because I strongly feel it will win…maybe 2010.

As one of the first O-2s produced, Tom's aircraft has the smaller pilot side window (top). After the first few, all O-2As had the larger window (bottom).

Walt: Anything else you’d like to add?

Tom: I have never let it spend a night outdoors and it is ALWAYS kept in a heated hangar! If anyone would like to donate any memorabilia or anything at all for the O-2A, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Tom, and good luck with your USAF/Navy Oscar Duck!

====================

NOTE: If you have anything you’d like to donate to support Tom and his O-2, email me at Walt@CessnaWarbirds.com and I will forward your message to Tom.

Tom and his O-2A making a low pass

I really wish TSgt Racheal would email me back. I’m dead serious about the AF, and I wanna get shit started already. At least the ASVAB. -crosses fingers-

In the last twelve days, my car has broken down and been fixed, I’ve found a new apartment, I registered to vote, went to a hearing at the county courthouse, replaced my work computer that self-immolated unexpectedly, and tried, in vain, to shop for winter holiday presents.

You can perhaps understand my lack of posting.

And so, in lieu of the usual foreign policy-military-foreign development thinkiness, have this amusing quote from Overheard in New York. (Real content soon. Unless something else goes awry.)

Teenage boy, explaining why he joined the Air Force: We’ve been around since World War II. We fought against the Germans and sank several submarines. We also killed a whale, but that’s not the point.

–Bard High School, Queens

Isn’t that why everyone joins? Apart from the whale, of course.

A series of interesting articles, dealing with the interception of live video feeds broadcasted by the Predator UAVs (Unmanned Air Vehicles) operating in Iraq and Afghanistan by the local insurgents, was published today on worldwide newspapers. Evidence of the hack was found in the insurgent’s laptops that cointained video files intercepted by the aircraft’s unencrypted downlink to the ground stations. Obviously, being a live video feed from the aircraft’s on-board camera, the insurgents could only “eavesdrop” the communication between the Predator and the ground station and could not take control of the drones or interfere in some way with their flight. Nevertheless, being able to intercept the images gave the insurgents the advantage of determining which building, roads, tents etc were under surveillance before either the aircraft or the ground troops could intervene. One might think the hack was done using sophisticated tools but according to the information released so far, the insurgents used a commercial software, SkyGrabber, from Russian company SkySoftware, that can be purchased for as little as $25.95 on the Internet. The stolen video files show once again how the most advanced military technologies can lose their effectiveness because of very well known vulnerabilities, exploited with cheap off-the-shelf code.
Lt. Gen. David Deptula, who oversees the Air Force’s unmanned aviation program, told the Wall Street Journal that some of the drones would employ a sophisticated new camera system called “Gorgon Stare,” which allows a single aerial vehicle to transmit back at least 10 separate video feeds simultaneously. But since the UAVs need to send their feeds over great distances they are subject to listening and exploitation: in other words, as we have already explained many times on this blog, Confidentiality (the attribute of Information representing the assurance that information is shared only among authorised persons) was compromised.
Since the U.S. government has known about the vulnerability since the U.S. campaign in Bosnia in the 1990s, it is clear that the Pentagon assumed the risk of data being intercepted by local insurgents or enemies, unimportant. An effective countermeasure that could prevent anybody from intercepting the video feeds is obviously encryption. Someone wondered why there are plenty of systems to encrypt radio transmissions while there’s almost nothing to encrypt video feeds. Simple: because encrypting a hi-definition video streaming is much more demanding (in terms of computational needs, hence hardware equipments) than encrypting audio.
Therefore, fixing the security hole would have caused additional costs and delays (because of the time needed for procurement, testing, implementation etc). Even the MQ-9 Reaper (whose version order by the Italian Air Force is known as Predator B), whose cost is around 10 million USD each, despite being faster, better armed and more capable than the Predator, will be subject to the same problem…an issue that will have to be fixed as soon as possible since the aircraft is already operating in Afghanistan, Iraq and it is also involved in anti-piracy combat patrols in the Indian Ocean.

DH ’separated’ from the Army yesterday.  Whatever.  His recruiting office doesn’t know what they’re talking about.

Anyway, either way you look at it DH is not going to Army OCS.  Both of us are a bit sad, we are more than ready to be rid of Nebraska but, in the end, this is what is best for him and our family.

It’s looking like he should be leaving in July, September or November 2009.  We should find out in March or April when the FY11 class dates are released.  I’m hoping for July, the sooner we can leave this nest of scorpions the better!

Apparently our Predator drones are being watched by the bad guys.

Insurgents Hack U.S. Drones – WSJ.com.

h/t: hotair.com

This is not news to any of you who watch Glenn Beck. But my question is this: If this story develops into something, who will be sacrificed to protect the White House? Who’s the most expendable – the least important person – that can take a dive for the Head Taco?

While the Democrats appease Senator Lieberman, they still have to worry about other recalcitrant Democrats including Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson. Though Lieberman has been out front in the fight against the public option and the Medicare buy-in, Nelson was critical of both. Now that those provisions appear to have been stripped from the bill, Lieberman may get on board, but Nelson’s demand that taxpayer money not be used to fund abortion has still not been met. According to a Senate aide, the White House is now threatening to put Nebraska’s Offutt Air Force Base on the BRAC list if Nelson doesn’t fall into line.

Offutt Air Force Base employs some 10,000 military and federal employees in Southeastern Nebraska. As our source put it, this is a “naked effort by Rahm Emanuel and the White House to extort Nelson’s vote.” They are “threatening to close a base vital to national security for what?” asked the Senate staffer.

Indeed, Offutt is the headquarters for US Strategic Command, the successor to Strategic Air Command, and not by accident. STRATCOM was located in the middle of the country for strategic reasons. Its closure would be a massive blow to the economy of the state of Nebraska, but it would also be another example of this administration playing politics with our national security.

Michael Goldfarb/Weekly Standard

I quit smoking 4 days ago. I have been trying to quit smoking on and off for years. I even managed to give it up for long periods of time. For instance, when I learned I was pregnant with my son. I happily quit and I remained a non-smoker until after I was done breast-feeding nearly Twenty-One Months later. 

Then necessity was taken away and life returned to normal. Thanks to a not so happy marriage, stress and depression reared their ugly heads once again and it was easy to go back to the comfort of that addiction. 

The experts say that it takes an average of 8–10 attempts before actually kicking the habit. HOGWASH! Try something like 30-40! IF EVER… 

I know why it’s been the most difficult thing I have ever done, probably because it was the EASIEST thing I ever started. 

I remember the moment well! I was in the USAF and I was stationed at Grand Forks, North Dakota. Yah…No man’s land to be sure…Our base had been on alert for 4 days and I was tired. Those were the days when you could still smoke indoors. One of my fellow enlistee’s was sitting in a booth relaxing, after taking a long drag from his cigarette, he looked up and offered me one…I gave into the temptation of the moment and that was that! I would spend the next twenty-three years of my life trying to kick the habit. 

My life as a smoker hasn’t been a typical one. I suppose I can safely classify myself a ‘Closet Smoker’. I never smoked inside my house, because I couldn’t abide that nauseating smell in my clothing and furniture. Occasionally, I would break down and smoke in my car in a desperate moment, but I never smoked around my son. Strange isn’t it? One can care so much about someone else, and care so little about themselves. I never really understood this concept until recently. 

So, here it is day four…it’s now time to get off my @&#^ and get some exercise, because if I don’t change my routines, I will never make it. By eliminating the old habits, I can slowly begin to replace them with new ones, thereby creating a healthier environment with which to succeed in. I am all for SUCCESS!!! 

The sun has peeked out between the dark, menacing clouds – it’s a great time to bundle up, put on the iTunes and go for a walk…Making certain to avoid the ice, I don’t feel like injuring myself today… 

Many Blessings…..

Dec 15, 2009
Here’s a link to a little video I ran across of a pilot flying down low through the Grand Canyon in an Air Force trainer jet in 1959. Joe Satriani on guitar. (From what I understand, that link should be good for a year, after which the license to use the music expires, so after that… probably not.)

And, long as we’re talking about guitar music, here’s a little Christmas music:
Lucky Holiday cornbread stuffing aka “Rocketsledder from the North.” That’s me on rhythm guitar. Skip “Cornbread” Kavanaugh on lead guitar, and Marty “Hockinfinger” Kiel on everything else (synth, drums, etc.) It’s (c) 2005, the abovementioned people, but it is also licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license so feel free to download it and redistribute under those terms.

DH wants to go to OTS, his recruiter is saying that he doens’t now if DH will be able to get out of his OCS contract [which is crap].  DH is stressing out over it.  He has an appt for tomorrow to sign the OTS contract and all of that. And then he’s going to go to the recruiter.  I guess they’re wanting something official to show that he isn’t lying.  I get that, it does sound crazy ['cause it is!].

Anyway, details.  In March DH applied for the 09-03 Rated board for the USAF.  He was a non-select.  It was his 2nd time apply for OTS so we figured he wouldn’t get in and that’s when he started looking into other options.  He was accepted into OCS in September and let his OTS packet roll over to 10-01 for kicks and giggles.  We never thought he’d actually get picked up.  The board met in October and DH got the email that he was picked up yesterday.  He’s been selected for ABM.

It’s been a whirlwind but [if everything works out] DH will live his dream of being in an airplane.  We won’t know for a few months when his class date is, so we still have more waiting to do.

This is the info for this board, it was even harder to get in through this one than the original board.  I’m still waiting for someone to tell us that it was a mistake.

A total of 117 men and women from across America have earned an opportunity to become Air Force leaders following their selection for an officer’s commission, officials here announced today.

Air Force Recruiting Service officials considered 461 applications as part of Officer Training School Selection Board 10OT01, which selected 117 for a 25 percent selection rate. Of the 117 selected, 26 enlisted members earned the chance to attend OTS and trade their stripes for gold bars as second lieutenants.

http://www.rs.af.mil/recruiteronline/story.asp?id=123181357

Thanks to io9, I’ve just had the fun of watching three new TV spots the US air force is running [check them out here]. In case you can’t be bothered, the basic premise is this: geeks and gamers of the world! You know all that fictional stuff you think is cool? Like what you can do with a knife in Modern Warfare 2? That stuff’s all real. What, you didn’t get the memo? Well let us be the first to let you in on a little cool kid’s secret: it’s your average day in THE US AIR FORCE. Ever wanted to be like Owen Wilson in ‘Behind Enemy Lines’? Just sign here.

Now I have absolutely no intention of talking about recruitment methods. Instead, I think it’s more interesting to watch as the USAF progressively becomes more aware of the opportunities that the fictions of films – but more primarily games – have provided for them. It’s definitely not the first time there’s been evidence of USAF attempting to get involved with this kind of demographic (earlier this year we saw a flow chart of how to deal with airforce-related forum comments @ Wired), but it’s definitely the most assertive push, and the manner it’s doing it in seems to be fundamentally different from any other previous material i’ve seen. Compared to, say, America’s Army (the US Army’s massively popular free FPS game), its difference is in the way it deals with the fantastical. AA tries to get people’s interest through its factual accuracy and realistic integrity, effectively distancing itself from the digital fantasy world it actually occupies. In contrast to this distance, these USAF ads are knowingly appropriating the imagery and cultural identity of fantasy. The line is obviously a subtle one, but breaching the fantasy barrier and allowing imagery that the USAF itself terms SF is potentially a turning-point for the way the military addresses recruitment.

A lot of interesting things could come out of this. What’s to stop the USAF from producing a film in the vein of ‘Top Gun’, with the intention of  promoting the message that ‘being in the USAF makes you all manner of cool’? Based on the logic of these commercials, a film of that nature – the kind that movie critics nowadays might attack for being misrepresentative through omission – might be an acceptable marketing tool. In terms of America’s Army, these ads do leave you wondering what potential avenues the simulated combat concept could end up moving down. After all, when the creator of AA, Col. Casey Wardynski, sees the game as ‘a sort of virtual test drive’ [Christian Science Monitor], it’s hard to rule out potentially allowing the US Army or the USAF to move towards more plot-driven, pseudo-realistic software such as commercial games Arma or Operation Flashpoint II. Why not? The more ways someone can interact with your brand’s marketing material the better, and adding a more complex structure with more narrative to a recruiting method like AA could be an easy way to go about doing that. I realize I’m extrapolating to a considerable extent here, but then again I do genuinely feel that a boundary has been crossed by the USAF’s ads. Not in a bad way or a good way, necessarily. Simply in a potentially changing way. Col. Randy Zeegers says later in that C.S.M. article, ‘the Army is fun’. Maybe we should start controlling the presentation of armed forces material in the same way we do other things that are sold under ‘fun’, like games and films? It would definitely make my day if the visual fantasy of these USAF ads was legally forced to be followed with a quick ‘warning: joining the actual air force may result in actual death’.

R

The USAF continues to use the Afghanistan / Pakistan conflict as a test bed for new military surveillance technologies and robotic weapons. The latest thing is apparently the RQ-170, codenamed Sentinel, which is a radar-evading UAV or drone aircraft.

This picture of the aircraft was apparently shot near Kandahar…

The Sentinel (source unknown)

It seems that as this conflict drags on, more and more of these things will get wheeled out. Its only purpose seems to have become to field test all these black-project developed technologies that the US security-industrial complex has been churning out. It wasn’t that long after the Predator drone emerged that we saw a weaponized version. It is unclear whether there is any such version of the Sentinel yet, but no doubt there will be soon enough. The increasing reliance on remote-controlled and robotic weapons seems to be a new article of faith amongst the world’s wealthier militaries.

USAF–Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are now RPA’s–Remotely Piloted Aircraft. Important for the manning doc as it has the word “pilot” in the name. It is after all, the Air Force.

Release No: 172
Dec. 14, 2009

Air Force to begin involuntary phase of retraining for NCOs

by April Rowden
Air Force Personnel Center Public Affairs

RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas – In order to rebalance the NCO force, more than 700 Airmen volunteered this fall to retrain through the NCO retraining program. However, more than 300 additional Airmen are needed to retrain to ensure all career fields are equally manned.

Phase II, which identifies non-volunteers for retraining, begins Dec. 14, 2009. Airmen have until Jan. 22, 2010, to submit a completed retraining package for the Air Force Specialty Code for which they are selected.

Phase II Airmen must process an initial retraining application for the assigned AFSC to meet Air Force needs and submit a completed retraining application by Jan. 22, 2010.

Any Airman identified to retrain and who fails to submit the initial retraining application by this date will be determined to have officially declined retraining and will be separated from the Air Force on their current date of separation.

“Airmen selected for retraining who have the necessary retainability cannot decline retraining,” said Master Sgt. Dee Mathis, superintendent of Air Force Enlisted Retraining at the Air Force Personnel Center here. “All Airmen identified as being retraining eligible must retrain or face separation under guidelines established for the retraining program.”

The Master Retraining listing by AFSC and grade will be updated weekly on AFPC’s virtual Military Personnel Flight. Airmen should click on the Retraining button to view current information.

Phase II will end when retraining quotas are met but not later than Feb. 1, 2010.

“This phase of the retraining program is necessary to help meet the needs of the Air Force by putting Airmen where they are needed most,” said Sergeant Mathis. “We will work with those Airmen who are selected for retraining, as we would any retraining case, in order to make the transition as smooth as possible for the Airmen and their families while still meeting the needs of the Air Force.”

For more information on NCORP, visit AFPC’s “ASK” web site and search the key word “retraining.” Airmen can also contact their MPS, Career Development Section, their base career assistance advisor or the Air Force Total Force Service Center at (800) 525-0102.

This message announces the Active Duty Selects from the 10-01 Rated
Selection Board that convened at Headquarters Air Force Recruiting
Service
(HQ AFRS) from 19-23 Oct 2009.

 We had 2 individuals who submitted an application. There was
1 selected.

Surprise! 

OMG.

Life can change in the blink of an eye.  We found out Friday afternoon that one of the guys that DH was Crew Chief of shot and killed someone Friday morning.   It was an accident.  It’s SO sad.  Just like that his whole life is ruined.  Beyond that he was supposed to be DH’s replacement when he leaves next month, his shop is so screwed and they have NO idea.  I don’t think that they fully grasp the amount of work the DH does for them.  And I’m not bragging, it’s just how it is.  His crew will do in a few days what it takes other crews a week or more to do.  A lot of times he’ll already have something done and his CoC will come, in a panic, about how something needs to be done NOW…. and it’s already done.

I wish I could see their reactions when they find out.

I’m evil like that .

With the engines barely cool from the first A-400M test flight, EADS North America sees potential for the USAF buying into this program.

To be fair, the top U.S. rep for EADS North America wants sales. Lets see how realistic his sales pitch is.

First, what ever the U.S. airlift gap is, an A-400M is no C-5. Just as those proposing more sales of the C-17 stated comparisons with the C-5. Only the C-5–and AN-124 can really do what they do. So these ideas fall short if the goal is trying to move an object that only a C-5 or AN-124 can carry.

The A-400M is no C-17. First the A-400M has to prove itself in testing. That is not done yet.

I have proposed the idea before that the U.S. should look into the A-400M; but not for the USAF. The United States Army is probably a better customer. The USAF is just so very limited in money for the next several years that they will never be able to catch up to joint airlift needs any time soon.

The U.S. Army is becoming very Stryker centric in its expeditionary thinking. The original Stryker program requirement that it roll out of a C-130 combat-ready became quite the joke. There is this thing called weight vs. aircraft on-board fuel vs. range; and the carry space limits of the aircraft—Mel Gibson Road Warrior cage and crew and gear, etc.

In a perfect future world, the A-400M in Army trim would be a good fit. It could move elements of a Stryker Brigade within a theatre and do a good job. I stress intra-theatre because the A-400M is a bad fit for strategic long-range airlift. Even in some perfect world, the U.S. Army would never get the number of A-400Ms that it wants. So, best to tune it up to do work that that other famous intra-theatre airlifter, the C-130, can not do.

Now to the realities of the A-400M program as it would work in a U.S. military procurement effort. Right now the program is way behind. The U.S. need for an additional talent in intra-theatre airlift may end up being small if the U.S. start getting out of Afghanistan in 2011. Most DOD planning is very short-sighted or just plain bad.

With that, and all other challenges of the U.S. budget ; and specifically the U.S. Defense budget, things are not looking too good for new procurements. U.S. percentage of gross domestic product to spend on the military, just will not be there. Future spending on hardware will be flat; or worse.

While EADS North America has been successful placing a variety of products into the hands of the U.S. military, one only has to look at how the USAF’s tanker debacle is going. The political element is treacherous. Lastly, what will an A-400M cost the taxpayer?

Unfortunately, the A-400M program will just have to be happy to survive its blown-out budgets and display some kind of wonderful product via flight-testing. That won’t be enough to get it into service with the U.S. military.

BELLEVUE, Neb. — An airman stationed at Offutt Air Force Base has died after being shot in the head at a Bellevue apartment.

Bellevue Police Department officials identified the victim as 23-year-old Michael Garcia.

Another airman, 21-year-old Corey Hernandez, has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and use of a weapon to commit a felony.

Police say Hernandez was among three men in the apartment with Garcia at the time of the shooting. It was reported just before 1 a.m. Friday.

Hernandez was being held by the Sarpy County Sheriff’s Department jail.

C-141

Dayton, Ohio