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US General Dies in Plane Crash

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A U.S. general died in a plane crash near Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland on July 25, Defense News reported Friday.

Maj. Gen. Anthony Potts, 59, a longtime Army acquisitions officer and aviator, was the only person on board the single-engine Piper PA-28 when it went down in a field and died at the scene, Defense News reported, citing the Harford County Sheriff’s Office and local media reports. Potts, who boasted nearly four decades of service and most recently led the Army’s Program Executive Office Command, Control and Communications-Tactical, or PEO C3T, had planned to retire soon, according to the outlet.

“It is with deep regret that we inform you of the death of Maj. Gen. Anthony W. Potts who passed away on July 25, 2023,” U.S. Army spokesperson Lt. Col. Ruth Castro confirmed in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“The entire U.S. Army is grateful for his service, and we extend our deepest and most sincere condolences to the entire Potts family,” she added.

(Read more from “US General Dies in Plane Crash” HERE)

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U.S., NATO Weapons Stockpile at “Dangerously Low” Levels: Top Air Force General

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The weapons stockpile of the United States and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies are becoming “dangerous low” with no “short term” solutions, according to a top U.S. Air Force commander.

Gen. James Hecker, the commander of U.S. Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa, made the remarks at the Chief of the Air Staff’s Global Air & Space Chiefs’ Conference in London, reported Breaking Defense.

The air force general urged NATO allies to think seriously about their stockpiles.

“I think it’s very important that we kind of take stock of where we are in our weapons state across the 32 nations of NATO, and we’re getting way down compared to where we were,” Gen. Hecker said on a panel with the air chiefs of the United Kingdom and Sweden at the conference, reported the outlet.

“And it’s probably not going to get better—well, it’s not in the short term—but we’ve got to make sure in the long term we have the industrial base that can increase what we have,” he said at the July 12-13 event, urging all NATO nations to start making deeper investments.

(Read more from “U.S., NATO Weapons Stockpile at “Dangerously Low” Levels: Top Air Force General” HERE)

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Military Generation Z Recruiting Woes Worsened by TikTok Ban

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The U.S. military is seeking to attract the youngest generation to enlist, but technology troubles have hampered the Department of Defense’s ability to recruit effectively.

A ban on TikTok from government and military devices has limited the department’s utilization of the growing platform popularized by Generation Z, with an estimated 64 million users between the ages of 16-34 in the United States. And lagging pay in the military can’t keep pace with the prospect of technology sector opportunities that younger people seek out.

Experts and recruiters note that Gen Z, people born between the late 1990s and the early 2010s, are much different from previous generations, including their lack of familiarity with the military, growing up in the social media era, and distinct life goals.

“Members of Gen Z are authenticity seekers,” Lt. Cmdr. Richard Parker from Navy Recruiting Command told the Washington Examiner. “They crave authentic travel and adventure. Many of our recruiting efforts focus on connecting with potential future sailors through memorable experiences, telling stories of the Navy adventure and pride in service. We also face the challenge of top talent in a strong economy.”

“We are competing not only against other services that offer unique opportunities but also with the private sector,” he added. “In addressing this challenge we offer strong incentives such as enlistment bonuses, free healthcare, support for college education and specialized training in more than 150 career fields that will help them be competitive in the job market after their Navy service.” (Read more from “Military Generation Z Recruiting Woes Worsened by TikTok Ban” HERE)

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GOP 2024 Candidates Cautious About Committing U.S. Troops to Taiwan

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Republican presidential candidates are wary of committing to sending U.S. forces to Taiwan in the wake of a Chinese attack, telling the Daily Caller that they would not go as far as President Joe Biden’s promise to defend the island nation.

Biden has repeatedly said the U.S. would intervene militarily if China moved against Taiwan, which the Chinese communist government considers a rebel province. The White House has stressed that Biden’s remarks do not represent a departure from America’s longstanding policy of “strategic ambiguity” toward Taiwan and that the U.S. still adheres to the “One China Policy.”

In conversations with the Daily Caller, the campaigns of most Republican presidential candidates did not voice support for sending U.S. troops. Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declined to provide comment. Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott emphasized deterrence. Four GOP hopefuls — Vivek Ramaswamy, Larry Elder, Mike Pence and Asa Hutchinson — said directly that they would be open to potentially sending the U.S. military to defend Taiwan.

Ramaswamy has said he would “intervene militarily so long as the U.S. is still dependent on Taiwan for semiconductors,” but “has not said whether that will be boots on the ground or what that would look like,” Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for Ramaswamy, told the Caller. The conservative entrepreneur has also previously floated the idea of providing Taiwanese civilians with AR-15 rifles and firearms training.

Elder told the Caller that he “would not tie our hands by making a commitment now for a hypothetical situation in the future, but all options would be on the table.” (Read more from “GOP 2024 Candidates Cautious About Committing U.S. Troops to Taiwan” HERE)

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Hobbyists Fear ‘UFO’ Shot Down by US Military Might Have Been One of Their Balloons

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Balloon enthusiasts in Illinois fear one of the unidentified objects shot down by the United States military near Alaska on Feb. 11 was one of their own.

The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade, a group of hobbyists ranging from 11-years-old and up, is missing a balloon. While the group is not making any accusations, it fears the U.S. military shot it down, Aviation Week reported. The brigade’s silver coated “pico balloon”, which it had been tracking via ham radio, disappeared mysteriously off the west coast of Alaska the same day an F-22 shot down an unidentified object in the same area, the outlet stated.

Far from having nefarious purposes, the balloon brigade’s hobby involves the enthusiasts tracking a balloon’s movement as it makes its way across the country and sometimes even the world. The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade boasts 25 balloons, eight of which crossed the nation and three that almost spanned the globe. To do this, the club uses inexpensive pico balloons, ranging in cost from $12-180, and tether it with a GPS tracking device, the outlet stated. From there, the balloon broadcasts its position through HF and VHF/UHF radio links using amateur radio software known as WSPR, the outlet stated. (Read more from “Hobbyists Fear ‘UFO’ Shot Down by US Military Might Have Been One of Their Balloons” HERE)

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Why Did Congress Remove Language From the Defense Bill Protecting Military Kids From Trans Insanity?

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Schools servicing military kids are targeting parents and teachers alike who question administrators’ sexual agendas, and Congress chose to let it continue in the defense bill just signed into law over Christmas.

In November, a concerned mom posted on social media her shock at seeing “artwork” in the entrance of an elementary school that caused her 7-year-old to ask her what “polysexual” meant. The response was swift, but not in the way you might expect: An Army officer at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey called state and local law enforcement and used base security forces to monitor the supposedly unsafe situation she had created in the school district where more than half of the students are children of active-duty military personnel.

Another case from this year: A teacher at an on-base, non-Department of Defense (DOD) school who refused to use a student’s “preferred” name was consequently disciplined by the school. Such forced political ideology isn’t isolated to non-DOD schools that serve military bases; it’s also happening in federally run Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA) schools, which are schools expressly created for the children of military personnel.

Thankfully, several members of Congress have stepped up to draw attention to the political indoctrination that has infiltrated DODEA. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., introduced the Servicemember Parents Bill of Rights, which was included in its entirety in the first House-passed version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2023.

Unfortunately, the final language agreed upon by the House and Senate and signed into law by President Joe Biden on Dec. 23 was significantly watered down — and it requires no change in practice or acknowledgment of wrongdoing by DODEA. (Read more from “Why Did Congress Remove Language From the Defense Bill Protecting Military Kids From Trans Insanity?” HERE)

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Here’s How the Military Dropped Its Standards in 2022 To Address a Major Recruiting Crisis

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The military’s standards for committed members and new recruits have dropped in 2022 as the services struggle to overcome challenges in filling the ranks.

Army recruiting plummeted in 2022, while the remaining services just made their recruiting goals for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, according to Department of Defense (DOD) data shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. The military is scrambling to adjust policies in a way that attracts more recruits, prompting some lowering of physical fitness and academic standards that could negatively impact military readiness, a military expert told the DCNF. . .

The Navy opened up the service to more prospective sailors who score at minimum levels on entrance examinations that test physical and mental aptitude on Dec. 5, Cmdr. David Benham, a Navy Recruiting Command spokesperson, told Military.com. New guidelines will allow 7,500 recruits, or roughly 20% of the new active duty enlisted cohort, from the lowest acceptable aptitude level to join. . .

The Air Force also relaxed entrance requirements. A new policy revealed in September allowed applicants who test positive for tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient in marijuana, during their entrance physical a second chance to come clean, whereas under prior rules they would be automatically disqualified from service.

In June, the DOD shortened the minimum amount of time individuals with a history of conditions including asthma or behavioral health problems like attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder would need to be symptom-free to enlist without a waiver, a DOD issuance shows. The military has allowed 700 recruits previously diagnosed with ADHD to join without a waiver in 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. (Read more from “Here’s How the Military Dropped Its Standards in 2022 To Address a Major Recruiting Crisis” HERE)

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US Military Personnel Are Lining up on a Waitlist To Hunt an Extremely Dangerous Scorpion in Kuwait

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According to Stars and Stripes, some members of the United States military have a new hobby: hunting one of the most dangerous scorpions on earth. And the hobby has become so popular that there is now a waitlist to get in on the scorpion hunts.

The scorpion they are hunting is called Androctonus crassicauda, known as the Arabian fat-tailed scorpion. Although the venom of the scorpion is extremely dangerous, it is generally regarded as aggressive towards humans; rather, members of the military hunt these creatures because they are a danger to the service dogs the military relies upon.

In fact, one of the reasons the hunts began was to encourage the military to provide anti-venom at bases in Kuwait, which the military has been reluctant to do since attacks on humans are so rare, and since the military believes that the population of Arabian fat-tailed scorpions is dwindling in the area.

“Initially we went out to do a population estimate, and then we found that there is a significant number,” Army veterinary technician Spc. Joseph Neitz told Stars and Stripes. Neitz has been organizing the hunts since May. (Read more from “US Military Personnel Are Lining up on a Waitlist To Hunt an Extremely Dangerous Scorpion in Kuwait” HERE)

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Merry Christmas! Senate Passes Defense Bill That Repeals Military Coronavirus Vaccine Mandate

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By Breitbart. The Senate on Thursday passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which repeals the Biden administration’s military vaccine mandate.

The Senate passed H.R. 7776, the NDAA for the fiscal year 2023, 83-11. The bill featured strong bipartisan support for the bill.

The NDAA repeals Biden’s military vaccine mandate. While many Senate Republicans cheered the repeal of the mandate, GOP senators, such as Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), said he would continue to fight to give backpay to those who were “wrongfully discharged”:

Florida is home to 21 military bases and three unified commands, and proud of the important and strategic role we play in America’s national defense. As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I fought hard this year to make sure the Sunshine State, America’s national security initiatives, our military, veterans and their families got big wins in this NDAA. Since coming to the Senate four years ago, I’ve consistently advocated for major investments in our defense capabilities and to support Florida’s military bases and our military families. The NDAA that passed the Senate today is a huge improvement over President Biden’s woefully inadequate defense budget proposal and a great win for Florida, America’s national security and our military community, but there is still work to do. While I’m glad this NDAA rescinds the Pentagon’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, I will continue to fight so that every service member who was wrongfully discharged has the opportunity to be reinstated with backpay.

(Read more from “Merry Christmas! Senate Passes Defense Bill That Repeals Military Coronavirus Vaccine Mandate” HERE)

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The Senate Just Passed a Major Defense Bill. Here’s What’s in It

By Daily Caller. The Senate passed the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Thursday, sending the $847 billion package to President Joe Biden’s desk.

The bill passed 83-11. The legislation, named for outgoing Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member James Inhofe of Oklahoma, allocates $816 billion to the Department of Defense and $30 billion to the Department of Energy. Here’s what’s in it:

. . .The NDAA eliminates the Department of Defense’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Roughly 3,400 service members have been discharged for refusing the shot since Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the mandate in 2021. The bill does not reinstate those service members, and an amendment doing so proposed by Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas failed 40-54. . .

The NDAA raises service member and DOD civilian employee pay by 4.6%, which is their largest raise in 20 years. Veterans previously received an 8.7% increase in their pensions, a cost-of-living adjustment announced by the Social Security Administration in October. . .

The bill includes as an amendment the Taiwan Enhanced Resilience Act, which allocates up to $10 billion in military aid for Taiwan to be distributed over a five-year period. In order to receive the aid, Taiwan must increase its own defense spending. The NDAA also allocates $800 million to Ukraine. Congress could spend up to $40 billion more on aid for Ukraine by the end of the 117th Congress, since President Joe Biden requested that $37 billion more for the war-torn country be included in the FY2023 full government funding package. (Read more from “The Senate Just Passed a Major Defense Bill. Here’s What’s in It” HERE)

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Male U.S. Soldiers in Hawaii Under Investigation for Sexually Explicit Gay Bondage Photos While in Partial Uniform

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Soldiers who wore bondage gear and dog masks in sexually explicit photos while in uniform are under investigation, the Army confirmed Monday.

The photos, which have appeared on social media, show male soldiers in uniform, or parts of uniforms, wearing dog masks, leather and chains. Some of the photos depict poses of submission and sexual acts. Another photo shows a soldier in combat fatigues wearing the dog mask on an airfield.

Some of the photos appeared on Twitter Friday. The soldiers are based in Hawaii.

Internal Pentagon email traffic obtained by USA TODAY shows Army officials believed some of the photos appear to have been taken at a base gym in Hawaii. The source of the email was not authorized to release it. The email notes that reactions to the photos has been “hyper politicized.”

“U.S. Army Pacific is aware of content found on social media reflecting soldiers’ activities while wearing uniforms,” Maj. Jonathon Lewis, an Army spokesperson, said in a statement. “The incident is currently under investigation.” (Read more from “Male U.S. Soldiers in Hawaii Under Investigation for Sexually Explicit Gay Bondage Photos While in Partial Uniform” HERE)

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