Bost, Davis vote to give military burial honors to female WW II aviators

Illinois congressmen Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, and Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, have voted on a measure to give members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP, full military honors and burial rights at Arlington National Cemetery. WASP, a World War II era organization of 1,100 women who flew non-combat military missions, included a station at Lawrenceville, Ill.

“As our entire nation mobilized to fight evil and tyranny during World War II, many women participated in the war effort as members of WASP," Rep. Bost said in a statement. “They left their homes, families and previous occupations to fight for our freedoms; now they deserve full veteran's status for their service. That begins with giving these heroes full burial rights at Arlington National Cemetery.”

H.R. 4336 would ensure nearly 1,100 women pilots who served their country during World War II, including Dora Dougherty Strother, who flew B-29 bombers in WWII and later became a flight instructor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, receive full recognition for their service. WASPs underwent the same training as male pilots and assumed the same risks. Thirty-eight women died during their service. There are roughly 110 surviving WASPs today.

“Members of the WASP provided an invaluable service to our country during WWII and like so many who serve put their lives on the line for our freedom,” Davis said in a statement. “Pilots like Dora deserve full recognition for their service and the same honors we award other war heroes.

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On Tuesday, all of the missile alert crews at all three U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile bases consisted of women, according to the Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune.

The female missile officers at Malmstrom, Minot and F.E. Warren Air Force Bases will be joined in the field by all-female B-52 aircrews from Minot and Barksdale AFBs.

Female operators from the 625th Strategic Operations Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska are also participating. The 625th provides secondary Minuteman III launch capability through the Airborne Launch Control System, which is housed aboard the Navy’s E-6B aircraft and a backup to Minuteman launch control centers.

It’s a first for the Air Force. The Malmstrom officers will be wearing special patches that have a likeness of Rosie the Riveter and read “We put the ‘miss’ in missileer.”

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Flying military robots armed with high-energy lasers? It’s a future that is exciting, terrifying — and perhaps just two years away, according to DefenseOne.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., or GA-ASI, the San Diego-based company that makes the Predator and Reaper drones, is undertaking a privately funded study to integrate a 150-kilowatt solid-state laser onto its Avenger (née Predator-C) drone. If the company succeeds, a drone with a high-energy laser will be a reality at some point in 2017, company executives toldDefense One.

“We’re funded right now to develop a laser module compatible with the aircraft and study putting it on the Avenger,” Michael Perry, Vice President for Mission Systems at GA-ASI, told Defense One. “We hope to be funded to do that,” he said.

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The Associated Press is reporting that the Department of Veterans Affairs is suspending the head of the Veterans Benefits Administration for allowing two lower-ranking officials to manipulate the agency’s hiring system for their own gain.

Deputy VA Secretary Sloan Gibson says acting VBA chief Danny Pummill will be suspended without pay for 15 days for his role in a relocation scam that has roiled the agency for months.

Pummill failed to exercise proper oversight as Kimberly Graves and Diana Rubens forced lower-ranking managers to accept job transfers and then stepped into the vacant positions themselves, keeping their senior-level pay while reducing their responsibilities, Gibson said Tuesday.

Pummill is one of VA's five highest-ranking officials and leads VBA's employees across 56 regional offices nationwide that provide compensation and pension benefits, life insurance, home loans and other services to millions of veterans.

This story was originally published March 23, 2016 at 9:54 AM with the headline "Bost, Davis vote to give military burial honors to female WW II aviators."