The Kid Rock Flyby Controversy and the Erosion of Military Professionalism

During Congressional testimony from Department of Defense leadership last week , Representative George Whitesides asked Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, “How does canceling a command-initiated review support a culture of accountability?” But before the secretary could answer, Whitesides instead decided to direct the question to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Clearly uncomfortable with the question, Caine replied, “What you are alluding to … is a partisan question.” The exchang

military — one that strikes directly at its ability to maintain good order and discipline. On March 28, two AH-64 Apache helicopters from the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade at Fort Campbell flew near “No Kings” protestors in Nashville before flying to the home of musician Robert “Kid Rock” Ritchie , who has been a consistent and vocal supporter of the Trump administration. Kid Rock took pictures and video of the helicopters hovering near his mansion, which he later posted online along with derogatory comments about the Democratic governor of California. The high-profile nature of helicopters flying near a large public gathering and then hovering near a private residence led to widespread media coverage and raised several concerns, the first of which were safety and the appropriate use of government resources. Even President Donald Trump, when asked about the flight, stated, “ Well, they probably shouldn’t have been doing it. Yes, you’re not supposed to be playing games, right?” These circumstances led military leaders to initiate an Army Regulation 15-6 administrative investigation, announced three days after the flights on March 31. In this case, unfortunately, procedures for reviewing the event were circumvented by Hegseth. Almost as soon as it was reported that the chain of command for the aviators in question had initiated an administrative investigation, Hegseth shut it down, proclaiming in a social media post, “ No punishment. Carry on, patriots .” While it is within the secretary’s legal authority to shut down an administrative investigation, such interference is highly unusual, particularly when the details of an incident are still unknown. He likely viewed it as a favorable gesture to the pilots, but this decision does these aviators — and the Army — no favors. Both of us, when serving as an infantry officer and a Special Forces non-commissioned officer, respectively, have had experience with 15-6 investigations. These types of investigations serve several essential purposes.

Key points

• military — one that strikes directly at its ability to maintain good order and discipline.
• On March 28, two AH-64 Apache helicopters from the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade at Fort Campbell flew near “No Kings” protestors in Nashville before flying to the home of musician Robert “Kid Rock…
• Kid Rock took pictures and video of the helicopters hovering near his mansion, which he later posted online along with derogatory comments about the Democratic governor of California.
• The high-profile nature of helicopters flying near a large public gathering and then hovering near a private residence led to widespread media coverage and raised several concerns, the first of whi…
• Even President Donald Trump, when asked about the flight, stated, “ Well, they probably shouldn’t have been doing it.