Child Rock flew to Fort Belvoir, Va., on Monday and took half in Army Apache helicopter flights alongside Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth, based on Pentagon officers and flight monitoring information. The Pentagon defends the flight.
The go to comes weeks after Army aviators drew scrutiny for flying comparable helicopters close to Child Rock’s Tennessee house and over a protest in Nashville, prompting questions on security, authorization and U.S. taxpayer {dollars}.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell mentioned the flights have been a part of a “Freedom 250” neighborhood relations occasion within the Nationwide Capital Area, tied to occasions marking the nation’s 250th anniversary.
“Robert ‘Child Rock’ Ritchie participated in a number of troop touches with service members and filmed movies for Memorial Day, America’s 250th birthday, and for his Freedom 250 tour,” Parnell mentioned in a press release to Navy.com. “The go to offered a possibility for Child Rock to thank service members…and acknowledge their continued sacrifice.”
Hegseth shared images from the go to on social media, writing that Child Rock is “a patriot and large supporter of our troops.” One picture confirmed the musician chatting with a small group of service members contained in the Pentagon’s press briefing room.
Open-source flight information exhibits Child Rock’s personal jet departed Nashville early Monday and landed at Fort Belvoir at roughly 6:30 a.m. Later within the day, an AH-64 Apache helicopter carried out a brief flight over the bottom, circling earlier than touchdown roughly 10 minutes after takeoff, based on the Navy Air Monitoring Alliance.
Based on flight information, Child Rock’s jet departed Fort Belvoir later Monday and landed again in Nashville shortly after 3 p.m.
The plane was a part of a gaggle of 4 Apache helicopters and two UH-60 Black Hawks that arrived at Fort Belvoir over the weekend from Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The set up doesn’t usually host Apache items, that are assigned to fight aviation brigades at different Army posts.
The AH-64 Apache is a two-seat assault helicopter crewed by a pilot and a co-pilot or gunner, each skilled to fly. A passenger occupies a type of seats, which means a number of riders would usually be break up throughout separate plane relatively than flying collectively.
An Army official, talking on the situation of anonymity to debate operational particulars, mentioned the associated fee to function an Apache is about $7,000 per hour. Navy officers have mentioned in previous instances that flights tied to public occasions can nonetheless function coaching for pilots and should not symbolize further value past routine operations.
Response to the Flight
The flights rapidly drew criticism from some political figures.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom questioned using navy plane on social media.
“Why are taxpayers paying to fly Child Rock round on $100 million helicopters?” Newsom wrote on X.
Rep. Jason Crow, a Democrat from Colorado and former Army Ranger, requested why taxpayer-funded helicopters have been getting used to offer what he described as “pleasure rides.”
The Fort Belvoir go to follows a March incident involving Army helicopters from the a hundred and first Airborne Division based mostly at Fort Campbell. These plane flew close to Child Rock’s house and over a “No Kings” protest in Nashville.
The Army initially opened an investigation and suspended the pilots concerned, however Hegseth later intervened and halted the inquiry.
Army officers mentioned on the time the helicopters have been on a coaching mission and that their presence close to the musician’s house was unrelated to the protest.
