Hegseth undermines miitary discipline

[Playingmantis]

"Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday abruptly reversed the U.S. Army’s suspension from flight duties hours earlier of two AH 64 Apache helicopter crews that flew around musician Kid Rock’s home in Nashville, Tenn., over the weekend.

Hegseth’s move, which also quashed an Army investigation of Saturday’s unusual flyby, came shortly after President Donald Trump was asked about the incident by reporters at the White House.

Trump said he liked Kid Rock, who is a prominent supporter of his, even as the president suggested the crews’ conduct was unauthorized.

“Thank you @KidRock,” Hegseth wrote in a post on his personal X social media account shortly after Trump’s comments.

″@USArmy pilots suspension LIFTED. No punishment. No investigation,” the Pentagon chief wrote.

“Carry on, patriots.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/31/kid-rock-army-helicopter-suspended.html

So the bottom line is that you can break the rules and get away with it knowing , if you kiss the ring of Lord Trump and his worshipers there will be no disciple,

[Arthur_Frain]

1. All the fascists are doing this

It’s very trendy.

The only upside that I can see is we get to see a lot of true colors.

Hope we remember.

[SunSeeker]

6. Yup. The whole crew and their commanding officer should be court martialed. nt

[MustLoveBeagles]

20. That's one of the only good things that's come out of this

The masks are off. People have revealed who they truly are. It makes it easier to avoid them.

[Devilsun]

2. If there was an unfortunate incident like a crash, kid pebbles family would have sued the shit out of DOD!!!

[SunSeeker]

3. That stupid, dangerous fly-by cost taxpayers a lot of money.

It's thousands of dollars for every hour that chopper is in the air. Military helicopter operating costs range from $3,000 to over $20,000 per hour. Common utility helicopters like the UH-60 Blackhawk cost roughly $2,200–$3,100 per hour, while specialized attack helicopters like the AH-64 Apache or AH-1Z Viper can exceed $5,000–$20,000 per hour. These figures include fuel, maintenance, and crew costs. 

Not to mention it made the military look like a bunch of clowns. So they can't open the Strait of Hormuz, but they can buzz Kid Rock's house? Our military has been horrifically degraded.

[Festivito]

4. It's a bribe. Gotta keep a celebrity on their side.

Better than money is being treated as special. Being special can even sell more albums.

[Grins]

5. A message that will go SCREAMING throughout the ranks

They will see this. And remember.

[snowybirdie]

7. Senator Kelly

On Morning Joe today said he was right to give them a pass. They were just youngsters messing around! Excuse me, military discipline is meaningless? Makes me rethink his possible presidential campaign fitness

[flashman13]

8. When you become a military officer you are no longer just a youngster. You are a grown up and are

expected to act like one.

[peppertree]

19. If only that same rule would apply to Presidents

[flashman13]

26. I needed a good laugh!

[peppertree]

27. Glad you enjoyed it

In times like these, laughter really is the best medicine.

[msongs]

29. savage. have seen this act from so many little ones nt

[peppertree]

32. True. Your point reminds me of his nickname during his 1st regime: TRAITOR TOT

It was perfect. Definitely a I-wish-had-come-up-with-that-one.

[angrychair]

16. That is disappointing

But not surprising. So is Kelly's argument that they are adult enough to fly a $20 million dollar aircraft but childlike enough to not be held responsible for misusing it?

Interesting. When does that childlike immunity end? 30? 40? Just trying to understand the logic and rules of this game so I understand when white male Christian's finally can be held accountable for their actions.

[maxrandb]

28. He also said; "Kegsbreath (sic) should have let the army handle it"

that, IMHO, is the right answer.

I was stationed in a Navy squadron. One of the Junior pilots thought it would be cool to do a "flyby" at his son's Little League baseball league opening ceremony, since it coincided with the timing of a training flight.

He didn't anticipate that a retired Admiral was there with his grandson.

Our squadron CO took action, believe me, but not in a way that would end this pilots flying career. The message was clear, and there were consequences. The pilot had to dig his way back, and I doubt he'd ever pull a stupid stunt like that again.

What was wrong here, was Kegsbreath reaching into this incident, instead of letting the command handle it.

As a 28.5 year Navy guy, let me tell you that if we crashed out every Sailor who did something stupid, there wouldn't be anyone left in the Navy.

[angrychair]

30. Whatever

Tired of excuses being made for fascists Republicans doing fascist Republican shit.

Especially from people that call themselves a Democrat.

[BidenRocks]

21. I want to read the transcript around that comment.

That is so fantastically wrong, especially dealing with airmen.
Have we forgotten the crash in DC so soon?
Pilots follow the book or they don't fly!
Another lack of discipline, dick move by this admin.

Hegsbreath would have approved My Lai and chump would have pardoned Calley!

[orleans]

31. watch the video

https://www.ms.now/morning-joe

there's a menu on the right, i scrolled and clicked on one that says "i don't think it's appropriate" sen. kelly for hegseath linking religion with combat.

it's an almost 13 min video. this crap about the kid rock sighting is at 11:42.
kelly also said about the kids flying "they know they're not supposed to do that but i wouldn't want to see them punished. these are patriots serving their country and taking a lot of risk with their own lives"

UGH!

(whatever -- i'm kind done with kelly now.)

[MustLoveBeagles]

22. That's shocking and very disappointing

Those "youngsters" are in US military. Buzzing Kid Rocks house isn't a good use of the military's time and equipment. What if there had been an accident that harmed or killed someone? The DOD's suspension sets a very bad precedent. There will be more of this.

[Eddie Haskell 60]

9. Not surprising coming from the Secretary of War Crimes

[LymphocyteLover]

10. So much freaking corruption

[Dr. T]

11. Back in 2016, I asked the MAGAt minions if they would want

their children to emulate Dim Don, because they would if he were elected. They all said, "No, my child will not do that."

Yet here we are. Lawless, no-class, rude punks that would've been disciplined for this behavior in a previous era.

[lame54]

12. I still don't get why...

Why was there a flyover?

[rubbersole]

14. Kid Rock probably had a date he was trying to impress.

"Let me give Ol' Pete a call."

[Wonder Why]

13. These are the kind of people that we are sending into combat?

[Warpy]

15. Heegseth is an amateur and a fool. Full stop.

A sane president would have shitcanned him months ago.

[RockRaven]

17. That was my first thought as well. This creates a much bigger, more dangerous problem

than the one incident.

[MustLoveBeagles]

25. It'll happen again

DOD said it was okay.

[Initech]

18. BTW, anyone seen Kid Rock's bizarre replica of the White House?

What the actual fuck?

[BidenRocks]

23. Is that an East Wing?

BTW, your columns need to be Corinthian, nor Doric or Ionic.
Those are so Déclassé.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

24. Whatever makes hegseth feel manly

[LetMyPeopleVote]

33. MaddowBlog-Hegseth's intervention in Kid Rock flyby fiasco is part of a more serious problem

Even Donald Trump conceded that the helicopter pilots “probably shouldn’t” have done what they did. His defense secretary came to a different conclusion.

Hegseth’s intervention in Kid Rock flyby fiasco was ridiculous, but it’s the larger context that matters:

An apolitical military is a foundational, bedrock principle of the United States. It is a principle for which Team Trump has no use, creating an untenable dynamic.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-04-01T14:50:01.253Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/kid-rock-helicopter-hegseth-trump

Even Donald Trump conceded on Monday that the helicopter pilots “probably shouldn’t have been doing it” since “you’re not supposed to be playing games, right?”

The president’s defense secretary, however, came to a very different conclusion soon after. The New York Times reported:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday abruptly reversed the suspension of Army crews that piloted two Apache helicopters close to the musician Kid Rock’s residence in Nashville over the weekend. […]

Mr. Hegseth appeared to end both the suspensions and the investigation, with a social media post on Tuesday night declaring: ‘No punishment. No investigation. Carry on, patriots.’

The Times added that the moves represented “a remarkable intervention from the highest level of the Pentagon,” adding that the decree “was another indication of his contempt for legal guardrails in the military.”......

An apolitical military is a foundational, bedrock principle of the United States. Partisan, ideological and electoral considerations must be utterly irrelevant to what the military is and how it functions.

It is nevertheless a principle for which Trump and his team appear to have no use, creating an untenable dynamic: In a healthy democracy, the politicization of the military isn’t just misguided, it’s also genuinely dangerous.

In October, The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols highlighted what he described as an ongoing “civil-military crisis,” arguing that “Trump and his valet at the Defense Department, Secretary of Physical Training Pete Hegseth, are now making a dedicated run at turning the men and women of the armed forces into Trump’s personal and partisan army.”

Hegseth’s intervention in the Kid Rock flyby fiasco offered timely evidence that bolstered the underlying fears.