[Echo Talon]

Must be nice to be able to go out joy riding in a couple million dollar aircraft without permission and not get reprimanded.

[American Soldier]

The people on those rooftops d*mn well paid taxes so the military could buy the aircraft. They did so in order to enable the military to protect their lives and liberties. It would be pretty sad then if a pilot capable to doing so was prevented from using these aircraft to save American taxpayers' lives.

[sarasmom]

Well, they were not exactly joyriding, hence the pat on the back.
But they were not exactly obeying orders either, hence the ass chewing.
Contrary to popular (erroneous) belief, the less publicity you receive when not following lawful orders, gets you a bigger back slap, and a smaller ass chewing, as long as you did not screw up something else planned in the process.
I haven't read the whole story, but I'm guessing the pilots were not on SAR mission, and they were out of radio contact from what I gather....