Your average NASCAR event attracts what in person 500K+ fans in person and another 2 to 3 Million on TV, I’d think as a recruiting tool, flyovers and presence of military color guards is pretty much a done deal. The event that this blog discusses attracted 12K folks by the way according to news reports.

I’d like to see the AF release a statement on why they rejected the application for a fly over and if there was any pressure brought by the Obama administration in the name of full disclosure.

We’ll see.

Respectfully you have a few of the facts wrong.

The God and Country Rally is a non-denominational rally that supports American soldiers.

For 42 years the Pentagon has carried out the military fly over.

From a press release on the festival’s site.

“The Pentagon decided to turn down our request for a military flyover to honor our veterans at the 43rd Annual Treasure Valley God and Country Festival that took place on July 1, 2009, even though we have had numerous flyovers in the past. We want to make it clear that although it is unashamedly a Christian event”

This is not a non-denominational event, and they have not had overflights for 43 contiguous years.

In some past years, especially during the Carter administration and probably during the Gulf Wars, overflights were severely restricted due to budget and air crews involved in combat actions. Open houses at AFB have also been canceled under these constraints too and those are major public relations events for and with the local community.

But still, this is a very stupid action on the part of the Obama White House, assuming that the decision reached it, and for sure the Secretary of the Air Force Michael Bruce Donley needs to investigate why this particular overflight was denied and is there a consistent standard for approval of overflights that does not discriminate against any group.

Overflights are as much a recruiting tool as an honor to veterans and the community and last time I checked being a Christian is not a reason to be excluded from service in the US Armed forces. Assuming that this Festival has a sufficiently large turn out, there should have been no reason for denial of this request, heck there are probably pilots who would have been very happy to get some training hours to do the overflight flight.

This was a very dumb move on the part of someone, that much is a fact.

In the light of the last line of The Mission of the God and Country Festival:

Each year, we ensure that the message of the Gospel is presented, and information is provided for those who have heard and want to know more about Jesus Christ.

1) in what ways is the presence of a military display beneficial to the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,

2) in what ways is the presence of a military display detrimental to the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,

3) in what ways is the absence of a military display beneficial to the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and

4) in what ways is the absence of a military display detrimental to the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

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God and Country.

I can’t decide who he wants to diss the most, Christians or the military this flyover was supposed to honor. I’ll just compromise and say both, equally.

Most. duplicitous. President. ever!