Bananas for B-52 pilot retention
UPDATE ON PREVIOUS REPORTING: “Operation Allied Refuge,” which will see Special Immigration Visa applicants evacuated from Afghanistan, is underway, according to the White House. See War, U.S.A.’s previous reporting on the fixers and translators impacted by the move.
We made it another week. It doesn't seem real: things are getting back to reality. Or have they?
I’m on a virtual reality kick. I’m working on a feature story for a newspaper about VR used to help veterans overcome post-traumatic stress disorder. After it goes live, paid War, U.S.A. subscribers will have access to exclusive interviews that did not make it into the published piece.
But in the meantime, here’s something we hadn’t considered about learning through VR: Easter eggs, deployed within the multi-sensory environment of a digital recreation, help students and trainees retain information.
“People retain upwards of 70% of the information presented in VR training as opposed to 50% retention in classroom settings,” said Cody Louviere, the founder of a video game company developing a B-52 flight simulator for the Air Force. “We keep everything as serious as it needs to be, but we’ve seen that these Easter eggs make trainees more engaged by truly immersing them in the experience.”
In the virtual loading room, pilots will find hands of bananas. It’s a nod to one pilot who told one of the company’s 3D artists that “soldiers are just monkeys flying planes.”
Top Brass (Best Of)
News & Off-News
A bracelet, with the inscription "Lt. Richard A. Bosch 0-783238," was discovered in Norway and tells the story of a mission behind enemy lines during which a B-24 Liberator crashed into Plukktjønnfjell mountain on the night of April 7, 1945. Twelve people died in the crash. The flight's mission was to parachute supplies to the Norwegian resistance, a small team led by the future head of the CIA: Army Maj. William Colby (NRK). While that mission was nearly a success, this more recent one was not: a High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) jump during which the parachute of a British paratrooper failed to fully deploy over Atascadero, California (Military.com).
In the Department of Minor Woes, after more than 15 years, the Navy will stop research funding for the Electromagnetic Railgun, its $500 million foray into futuristic weaponry with speeds of up to Mach 7 and ranges of up to 100 nautical miles. Sad.
Future funding will instead go toward “hypersonic missiles and electronic warfare systems,” according to a statement provided by the Navy.
But, without the railgun, the U.S. can now focus on a civilian-led cybersecurity corps, which it “desperately needs” (Defense One).
Lastly, here are the 19 troops competing in the Olympics in Tokyo (DoD).
Army
1st Lt. Amber English – women's skeet
Staff Sgt. Naomi Graham – women's boxing, 75 kilogram category
Staff Sgt. Nickolaus Mowrer – 10m air pistol, men; 10m air pistol, mixed team; and 50m rifle, 3 positions.
Staff Sgt. Sandra Uptagrafft – 10m air pistol, women; 10m air pistol, mixed team; and 25m sport pistol.
Sgt. Samantha Schultz – modern pentathlon
Sgt. Amro Elgeziry – modern pentathlon
Sgt. Ildar Hafizov – Greco-Roman wrestling, 60 kg category
Spc. Alejandro Sancho – Greco-Roman wrestling, 67 kg category
Spc. Benard Keter – 3,000-meter steeplechase, track and field
Sgt. Patrick Sunderman – men's smallbore rifle
Spc. Sagen Maddalena – women's smallbore rifle
Spc. Alison Weisz – women's air rifle
Sgt. Philip Jungman – men's skeet
1st Lt. Sam Kendricks - pole vaulting
Sgt. 1st Class Elizabeth Marks – Paralympic swimming in 50-meter freestyle, 50-meter butterfly, 200-meter individual medley and 100-meter backstroke
Staff Sgt. John Joss – Paralympic shooting, 50m rifle
Staff Sgt. Kevin Nguyen – Paralympic shooting, 50m rifle
Marine Corps
Staff Sgt. John Stefanowicz – Greco-Roman wrestling, 87 kg category
Coast Guard
Lt. Nikole Barnes – 470-class sailboat category
The Footlocker (Longer Reads)
Coffin Corner Boys: One Bomber, Ten Men, and Their Harrowing Escape from Nazi-Occupied France, by Carole Engle Avriett with Capt. George W. Starks (July 13, Regnery History)
Keeping with our aviation theme of the day, Coffin Corner Boys tells the story of a band of brothers shot down over German-occupied France. While some struggled to flee toward Allied-occupied territory, others were captured immediately and imprisoned.
“In 1944, George Starks was just a nineteen-year-old kid from Florida when he and his high school buddies enlisted in the US military. They wanted to join the action of WWII. George was assigned to the 92nd Bomb Group--in which the median age was 22--and on his crew's first bombing mission together received the most vulnerable spot of a B-17 mission configuration: low squadron, low group, flying #6 in the bomber box formation.
“Airmen called George's position the Coffin Corner because here exposure was most likely to draw hostile fire. Sure enough, George's plane was shot down by a German Fw190, and he jumped at 25,000 feet for the "first and only time," as he tells the story. He landed near Vitry-le-Perthois to begin a 300-mile trek through the dangers of war-torn France towards the freedom of neutral Switzerland,” courtesy of the publisher.
Want to see your book, longread or monograph promoted here? Email us a galley! We may receive a commission for purchases made through War, U.S.A. affiliate links.
Quote of the Week:
The Associated Press spoke with members from each service branch to get their reactions on the withdraw of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.
“War is ugly. And sometimes it’s necessary and it’s not like we can go back and change anything. We can only change how we respond in the future.” —Jennifer Brofer, Marine Corps veteran.