Aunt Nancy USA - Support The Troops

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‼️ UPDATE: With heavy hearts, the base has released the names of the eight people killed when a B-52 Stratofortress crashed shortly after takeoff from Edwards during a routine test mission on Monday.

“It is with profound sorrow and a heavy heart that I can now share the names of the eight extraordinary Americans we lost during Monday’s B-52 crash,” Col. Thomas Tauer, 412th Test Wing Commander, told workers and families at Edwards AFB. “They were dedicated professionals, beloved family members and irreplaceable teammates.”

“Our thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathies are with their families, loved ones and fellow Airmen, Air Force civilians and mission partners affected by this tragedy,” Tauer said.

The names are being released following a 24-hour waiting period after all next of kin notifications were completed, in accordance with Department of War policy.

The fallen Team Edwards members are:


• Col. Gregory Watson, 53, weapon systems officer, Boeing (Air Force reservist, assigned 10th Air Force, Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Fort Worth, Texas), Shreveport, La.



• Lt. Col. Gabriel Estrella, 40, weapon systems officer, Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center, Detachment 5, Edwards AFB, Calif.



• Retired Lt. Col. Miles Middleton, 50, pilot, Boeing, Tehachapi, Calif.



• Maj. Alexander Davis, 34, weapon systems officer, 419th Flight Test Squadron, Lancaster, Calif.



• Maj. Robert Dee, 40, pilot, 419th Flight Test Squadron, Edwards AFB, Calif.



• Maj. Brad Hovey, 35, pilot, 419th Flight Test Squadron, Edwards AFB, Calif.



• Jeromy Smith, 32, flight test engineer, 419th Flight Test Squadron, Rosamond, Calif.



• Christopher Rischar, 41, flight test engineer, JT4 contractor, Lancaster, Calif.


“These Airmen were more than coworkers. They were friends, mentors, teammates and valued members of our Edwards and Air Force family,” Tauer said.

“Our immediate focus is supporting the families of the teammates we lost and ensuring that all appropriate resources are available to them during this time of unimaginable loss.”

The crash is currently under investigation by an Interim Safety Investigation Board. The airfield is closed until further notice.

BREAKING: Senate Republicans Move to Freeze Hegseth's Travel Budget Over Secrecy

A Republican-led Senate committee is taking direct aim at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, threatening to cut off the majority of his travel funding unless the Pentagon finally hands over information lawmakers have been demanding for months.

The Senate Armed Services Committee's newly filed defense policy bill states that no more than 25 percent of Hegseth's travel budget can be touched until he turns over unredacted civilian harm investigations and other key documents tied to military strikes across the Middle East and Latin America.

Committee leaders, led by Republican Senator Roger Wicker, specifically pointed to two devastating incidents demanding answers for: the April 2025 strikes in Yemen that killed dozens, and the February 2026 bombing of a girls' school in Minab, Iran, that left at least 150 students and staff dead.

Lawmakers are also demanding the Pentagon release unedited footage of strikes carried out by U.S. Southern Command, a direct reference to the controversial boat strikes in the Caribbean that have been ongoing since last September.

Democratic Senator Jack Reed, the committee's ranking member, said the legislation strengthens national defense while improving oversight and accountability, adding that it will force the Secretary to answer to Congress and help prevent past mistakes from repeating.

Frustration with Hegseth's Pentagon has been building across party lines for months. Back in March, House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers, a Republican, publicly complained that the administration wasn't giving Congress nearly enough information about its plans in the Middle East, saying lawmakers simply weren't getting the answers they needed.

The tension boiled over again in November, when Wicker had to pause a committee hearing after a defense official appeared to falsely claim lawmakers had already been briefed on plans to reduce troop levels in Romania, prompting sharp pushback from senators on both sides of the aisle who said they were never informed at all.

On the morning of August 3, 1965, CBS News correspondent Morley Safer was having coffee with Marine officers in Da Nang, Vietnam, looking for a story to cover.

A lieutenant mentioned his unit was heading out on an operation the next morning and invited Safer along.

The destination was Cam Ne, a small village in South Vietnam suspected of sheltering Viet Cong fighters. Safer agreed, brought his camera crew, and climbed into an armored vehicle heading toward the village before sunrise.

What he expected to witness was a military operation.

What he found was something very different.

When the Marines entered Cam Ne, they encountered a village populated largely by women, children, and elderly residents. There was no dramatic firefight waiting for them. No visible battlefield.

Instead, the operation unfolded house by house.

As Marines questioned villagers, communication quickly broke down. Many residents could not understand English. Some could not answer the questions being asked. In response, soldiers began setting thatched-roof homes ablaze using cigarette lighters and flamethrowers.

Families watched their homes burn.

Elderly women pleaded for time to remove their belongings. Their requests went unanswered. Rice supplies were destroyed. Personal possessions disappeared in flames. By the end of the operation, approximately 150 homes had been burned. Three women were wounded. A baby was killed.

The only people taken into custody were four elderly men who reportedly did not understand what was being asked of them.

Throughout it all, Morley Safer kept filming.

That evening, he sent the footage and narration back to New York. When CBS News president Fred Friendly and anchor Walter Cronkite reviewed the material, both immediately recognized its significance.

The story had to air.

On August 5, 1965, the report was broadcast on the CBS Evening News.

The reaction was immediate.

Viewers flooded CBS with letters and phone calls. Some praised the reporting. Many were outraged by what they viewed as a negative portrayal of American troops during wartime.

Then came a call from the White House.

CBS president Frank Stanton was awakened early the next morning by an angry voice on the telephone. According to accounts of the incident, President Lyndon Johnson personally expressed his fury over the report.

Johnson reportedly became convinced that no journalist could produce such footage without hidden motives. Investigations were ordered into Safer and the Marine officer involved.

Nothing improper was found.

The Pentagon pushed for Safer's removal from Vietnam. Military authorities restricted his access to Marine-controlled areas.

CBS refused to back down.

The network stood firmly behind its correspondent and the story.

The backlash was intense. Safer received death threats and feared for his safety. At times, he reportedly kept a loaded pistol nearby while enduring harassment from furious critics.

Yet the report had consequences beyond controversy.

Military leaders were forced to address what viewers had seen. New directives were issued limiting the destruction of populated villages and requiring greater precautions around civilians during military operations.

One television report had influenced military policy.

Years later, New York University's Department of Journalism named the Cam Ne broadcast one of the most important works of American journalism of the twentieth century.

Morley Safer would go on to become one of the defining figures of broadcast journalism, spending forty-six years with 60 Minutes and earning numerous awards throughout his career.

But the story most associated with his name began in a village far from New York.

A village on fire.

A camera left running.

And a thirty-three-year-old reporter who chose to document what he saw rather than what powerful people wanted others to see.

He wasn't trying to become famous.

He wasn't trying to challenge a president.

He simply recorded reality as it unfolded.

Sometimes that is the most powerful act a journalist can perform.

And often, the most dangerous.

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Tom Hanks recently spoke about what keeps him making shows or films about World War II — nearly three decades after Saving Private Ryan.

During an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Hanks said he believes “history is repeating itself” — and there’s both a political and a personal connection between that war and modern times.

“Along with all that comes the tactile decisions that every human being had to make at that time to get involved,” he said. “That is no different from the sort of tactile decisions that we have to make today about getting involved.”

He also talked about the personal choices people had to make. Back then, certain groups claimed to be “racially” and “theologically superior” to anyone else.

“The kinds of personal choices that had to be made in World War II were as blatant and as obvious as the difference between freedom and slavery,” the actor explained.

(Hanks is currently co-producing a new History Channel documentary that chronicles the brutality and lasting effects of World War II.)

From flight central Florida Hub

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