The pilots who participated in the recent viral helicopter flyby of Kid Rock’s home in Nashville, Tennessee, have been reinstated to their duties after they were initially suspended. A US Army spokesperson for the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division confirmed the news to NBC News and local outlet WSMV, while Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made a statement seemingly condoning the pilots on his social media.
The two Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters appeared to stop and perform a kind of aerial salute one at a time on a flight route near the ongoing ‘No Kings’ protest. The controversial post that brought attention to the flyby was written by Kid Rock with a politically charged message in direct conflict with the law that all US Armed Forces activities should be politically neutral.
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One of the most inflammatory elements of the helicopter flyby was the decision of Kid Rock to use the opportunity to launch an attack on the character of California Governor Gavin Newsom. It is a fundamental element of all military activities in the United States that active-duty troops cannot and will not engage in any kind of political endorsements. The helicopter crew did not demonstrate any political message of their own, but their action was co-opted by the country singer for his own message.
The Army claims that these helicopters, which cost $5,000 per hour to fly, were on routine training routes that did not correlate to any security mission or deviate from authorized flight paths for the purposes of making a special visit to Kid Rock’s home, which he personally calls the ‘Southern White House.’ His home lies to the north of the city of Nashville in an area known as Whites Creek, which does, in fact, have low-altitude training corridors in its airspace that are used by aircraft from Fort Campbell, where the 101st is posted.
In an X post, Hegseth not only lifted the order to ground the helicopter pilots, but seemingly condoned the behavior as he wrote:
No Punishment: US Army Reinstates Apache Pilots After Controversial Kid Rock Flyby
