Pete Hegseth Reportedly Took Kid Rock on Apache Helicopter 'Joy Ride'

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: MEDIAite

Apr 27th, 2026, 6:54 pm


Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth reportedly took musician and Trump ally Kid Rock on not one but two Apache helicopters for a “joy ride” on Monday morning.

Drop Site reporter Ryan Grim shared the scoop in a post on X, alleging that he spoke to “multiple Army sources” who confirmed, “Kid Rock flew to Fort Belvoir this morning on his private jet and took a little joy ride on two Apache helicopters with War Secretary Pete Hegseth.”. The information, Grim wrote, was “backed up by flight data.”

While most Apache helicopters typically have two crew members, consisting of a pilot and co-pilot/gunner, Grim reported that Hegseth and Rock went up with only one pilot “so the boys could each ride shotgun.”

Grim claimed he reached out to Fort Belvoir for comment but was redirected to the Secretary of Defense’s office.

Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/politics/trump/pete-hegseth-reportedly-took-kid-rock-on-apache-helicopter-joy-ride/

[Tim S]

1. Seduction attempt?

[JBTaurus83]

2. Why in the hell

Are they doing special favors for this guy? He hasn’t had any relevancy in two decades.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. Like pants-shitting Nugent did for MAGat boomers

he represents a "constituency" of MAGats, but in his case, the GenX ones (the oldest now becoming the "new seniors" ).

[2naSalit]

5. Speaking of...

Wangotngoboy, is he dead yet?

Hopefully he is incapacitated if he is still wasting air.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. !!!

I remember when he got COVID and whined about it on live-stream videos.

But then I know a bunch of progressive talk hosts also had count-downs each day for when he would be "dead or in jail" per his promise. Alas.

[UpInArms]

3. Of course he did

Republicans are vile … stupid and childish

I won’t forget Baby Bush’s joyride that sank the Ehime Maru

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehime_Maru_and_USS_Greeneville_collision

On 9 February 2001, about nine nautical miles (17 km; 10 mi) south of Oahu, Hawaii, in the Pacific Ocean, the United States Navy (USN) Los Angeles-class submarine USS Greeneville collided with the Japanese fishery high-school training ship Ehime Maru (えひめ丸 from Ehime Prefecture. In a demonstration for some VIP civilian visitors, Greeneville performed an emergency ballast blow surfacing maneuver. As the submarine shot to the surface, she struck Ehime Maru. Within ten minutes of the collision, Ehime Maru sank. Nine of the thirty-five people aboard were killed: four high school students, two teachers, and three crew members.

[niyad]

8. Thank you for the reminder of that horrific incident.

[twodogsbarking]

6. They ain't never gonna git the stink out of that there chopper.

[bluedigger]

9. Celebrities have been given guest flights on military aircraft for a long time now.

Kid Rock sucks, but find a better outrage.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. Waste. Fraud. Abuse.

Remember that phrase from somewhere?

ETA - jet fuel is scarce and at a premium due to the Iran war so right there you have unnecessary waste of resources. If he wants to do USO stuff, then he needs to go that route to "visit troops" and "perform" (or whatever the hell he thinks he is doing).

[bluedigger]

12. Pilots always need flight time.

Hopefully the jet fuel supply is sufficient to prevent grounding the fleet. Most back seaters are there for little more than flight balance unless they are going to a live fire range. And recruiters like having famous people in photos with their hardware, and the publicity in general. There is ample precedent for this sort of activity, even for a jerk like Kid Rock. Of the two, Hegseth's joyride is harder to justify, lol.

[BumRushDaShow]

14. Irrelevant

There are multiple "active" (with live fire) military engagements underway, not just in the ME but in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, and after blowing their wad in a useless "show of bragging" in Iran, their stocks are low.

There might be "precedent" during "peace time" but we're not IN "peace time".

Send his ass on a USO tour (which is privately funded) and leave what we have left alone.

I had a coworker who was a Lt. Colonel and Reservist in the army who did her once a months, and once a year "summer camp" and she would complain that they never had enough ammunition to even train with.

Right now, you have troops in carrier groups out on the seas of the ME who have posted pics of their sparse meals. I.e., they apparently don't have enough rations to feed sailors on those 4000-person aircraft carriers and have halted package deliveries to them that are trying to supplement what little they have. THOSE pics become the NEGATIVE P.R. for any recruiting efforts.

And THAT is the kind of dysfunction that is going on in "real life".

[CTyankee]

17. I don't recall Obama doing this.

[flvegan]

11. Maybe he'll be inspired to enlist. n/t

[AverageOldGuy]

13. Article with photos on CNN . . .

. . . but it's behind a subscriber paywall.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/28/politics/hegseth-kid-rock-army-apache-helicopter-ride

[jeffreyi]

15. The rules are for thee, not for me.

[Aristus]

16. Hey, dickheads! If you want to "play" on military hardware, enlist!

I did!

I wanted to be an M1 Abrams tanker more than anything else in the world. So I enlisted. Age 17. Did three years reserve and four years active. Got my wish, but I did the work and paid my dues. New rule: you want a "joyride" on a military vehicle, you get to do the hours of maintenance required before and after your fun.

[C Moon]

18. It's only tax dollars and trump can seemingly spend them anyway he wishes.