Tarnak Farms Pilot Sues Air Force: Maj. Harry Schmidt, a former Illinois Air National Guard pilot who accidentally killed four and wounded eight Canadian troops in Afghanistan in 2002 when he mistook them for enemy forces and opened fire from his F-16, is now suing the Air Force for violating his privacy when Gen. Bruce Carlson, then commander of 8th Air Force, released to the public the letter of reprimand he wrote, reports the Springfield Journal-Record. Schmidt filed his suit April 7 in US District Court in Springfield, Ill., claiming the military violated a settlement agreement that led Schmidt to accept a general officer hearing rather than stand for a court martial. (Read more on the history of this saga from Air Force Magazine files.)
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. still “believes” in his mantra of “Accelerate Change or Lose”—and indicated the doctrinal changes it produced when he was Air Force Chief of Staff played a role in the service’s recent response to Iran’s aerial assault on Israel, he…