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Air Force helicopter shot while flying over Virginia; crew member injured
An Air Force UH-1N Huey helicopter was forced to conduct an emergency landing at a local airport in Manassas, Virginia, Monday after being shot from the ground.
A crew member received a minor injury, and was treated and then released at a local hospital, a spokesman for Joint Base Andrews said in an email. The helicopter — which was on a routine training mission and is assigned to the 1st Helicopter Squadron at Andrews — was damaged.
WeCare app part of Fort Benning commander’s plan to prevent suicides
In the three weeks since Maj. Gen. Patrick Donahoe took command of Fort Benning, Georgia, the base has seen one soldier die by suicide and three more make “desperate attempts,” he tweeted Monday.
It’s an issue present throughout the military, the result of a variety of factors including a high-stress environment, PTSD, and traumatic brain injuries. And it’s an issue leaders are wholeheartedly trying to solve.
“We’ve got to convince everyone wearing the uniform that if you’re faced with those kinds of thoughts and decisions that there is no shame, no stigma to reach out,” Donahoe told Military Times.
The Defense Department’s most recent statistics stated a suicide rate of 29.5 per 100,000 for active duty Army personnel in 2018. That’s 4.7 deaths per 100,000 higher than the suicide rate for the military as a whole.
Former two-time National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft (USMA 1947) has died
Brent Scowcroft was active in defense of the United States for several decades. First, in the military, in which he became a high-ranking officer in the U.S. Air Force. And later as a civilian, including serving as the national security advisor under two different U.S. presidents.
Scowcroft was a Republican, although he would also advise Democrats. Aside from Bill Clinton, Scowcroft played a significant role under every president from Nixon to Obama. On August 6, he died in Falls Church, Virginia.
Brent Scowcroft was a native of Ogden, Utah.
He would graduate from the United States Military Academy and be commissioned an officer in the Army Air Forces. Shortly after, it broke away from the Army and became the United States Air Force. In the new military branch, Scowcroft was a P-51 Mustang pilot.
He would undertake a variety of duties during his military career. Scowcroft also obtained a master’s degree and later a doctorate from Columbia University in International Relations, CBS reports. His assignments included time with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Another was as an assistant air attache in Belgrade, Serbia, at the American Embassy.
Soldier convicted of negligent homicide for crash that killed Morgan
An Army soldier involved in a military vehicle crash in June 2019, killing Cadet Christopher “CJ” Morgan and injuring others, was sentenced to three years of confinement after being convicted of negligent homicide, The New York Times reported on July 21. Staff Sgt. Ladonies P. Strong was driving the truck that overturned near West Point; she was also convicted of prevention of authorized seizure of property and was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter, reckless operation of a vehicle and two counts of dereliction of duty.
The case was tried in front of a military panel in Fort Stewart, Ga., where Strong’s unit of the 3rd Infantry Division is based. Strong will also receive a bad conduct discharge, according to The New York Times. The 3rd Infantry Division did not respond to a request for comment by press time on Aug. 4.
Morgan, who would have graduated from the military academy this year, was a West Orange High School graduate. A member of the wrestling and football teams at WOHS, he was also on the West Point wrestling team.