Free Republic

The Navy’s former top civilian has rocked the service in a military journal article by accusing officials of sinking the storied naval air branch into a sea of political correctness. Former Navy Secretary John Lehman, himself an ex-carrier-based aviator, wrote that the swagger and daring of yesterday’s culture has given way to a focus on integrating women and, this year, gays. Pilots constantly worry about anonymous complaints about salty language, while squadron commanders are awash in bureaucratic requirements for reports and statistics, he added. “Those attributes of naval aviators — willingness to take intelligent calculated risk, self-confidence, even a certain...

In a strange twist of fate, a former province of the then USSR — Ukraine — is emerging as the likely meeting point for naval aviators from India and China as the two countries try to rapidly acquire the capabilities to build and operate aircraft carriers of the future. A small aircraft carrier training base on the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine is the most sought after training facility for both countries that are planning to induct modern aircraft carriers in the next five years. While India, which has been operating aircraft carriers for the past 50 years, wants to use...

Even if you have lived in a place a long time, as I have in Corpus Christi, there are always new things to discover and to experience. One of those new experiences for me recently was witnessing a "winging ceremony" at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi. The military has a very large presence in Corpus Christi, and it has had it for a very long time. You might say that the history of modern day Corpus Christi begins with the arrival of Gen. Zachary Taylor and the encampment of his troops here in 1845. The military economy, on which the...