Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has overruled Army commanders and reversed the suspension of two Apache helicopter pilots who hovered and flew near Kid Rock’s Nashville area home on Saturday. “Thank you @KidRock. @USArmy pilots suspension LIFTED. No punishment. No investigation. Carry on, patriots,” Hegseth wrote on the X post copied below. The Army had earlier issued a statement that it was suspending the pilots from flying duties while it investigated whether they broke any laws or regulations with the flight. Kid Rock predicted the pilots would escape punishment in a television interview on Monday.
Thank you @KidRock.@USArmy pilots suspension LIFTED.
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) March 31, 2026
No punishment. No investigation.
Carry on, patriots. 🇺🇸 https://t.co/Zqhv1Zx1iG
The entertainer and Donald Trump supporter said he doubted the pilots would get into trouble for the brief demonstration. “I think they’re going to be all right,” he told WKRN News. “I mean, my buddy’s the Commander-in-Chief.” On Monday, the Army seemed pretty adamant that the incident would be probed. “Army aviators must adhere to safety standards professionalism and established flight regulations … Appropriate action will be taken if any violations are found,” a spokesman for the 101st Airborne Division told the TV station. The video Kid Rock posted is below.
This is a level of respect that shit for brains Governor of California will never know. God Bless America and all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to defend her. 🇺🇸 🙏 pic.twitter.com/iD5mmkaXv1
— KidRock (@KidRock) March 28, 2026
The Army earlier said there was no request from Kid Rock for the flyby, which occurred on Saturday shortly after the attack helicopters also twice overflew a No Kings protest in downtown Nashville. The statement also said their appearance over the protesters was “entirely coincidental.” At Kid Rock’s 27,000-square-foot hilltop house, built to resemble the White House, one of the helicopters hovered just beyond the swimming pool as the entertainer saluted and the other helicopter did a high-speed pass. Kid Rock said in the Monday interview the whole episode lasted three to four minutes and he frequently sees military helicopters on training flights near his home.
“I mean, my buddy’s the Commander-in-Chief.”
Doesn’t this statement fully warrant a click-bait misuse of government property, in this amazing new world of ours?
American abroad here (political atheist) and for the longest time I have been praying for some halfway normal news from the homeland. And… who the hell is Kid Rock?
WWE Hall of Fame (celebrity category)…rapper…break dancing, bar owner, etc… On tour this year if you care to indulge. Net worth estimated at $150 million.
I grew up in the middle of nowhere, but there was a VOR on the highest hill in the county about a mile from my house. As a kid, I’d spend all day in the summer, tromping around on my ATV, and I’d end up at the VOR for the view and the occasional aircraft.
One afternoon, a UH-1 landed next to the VOR. Chip light-precautionary landing. I greeted the aircrew and we talked aircraft-the pilot was surprised I knew what a “chip light” was. We had an in depth conversation (as much as a 12 year old can have), about aircraft and the local area. I pointed out some landmarks and we just “talked shop”.
Another helo, 30 min back had a mechanic on board-2nd helo with the mechanic landed, checked it out and they both departed.
Over the years, I’d see a helo, wave, and they’d circle around for an impromptu “airshow”. Some of the best memories of my childhood. If cell phones were a thing, I’d have taken videos.
Damn POS, irresponsible, MAGA pilots.
Great story! “chip light” for those of us who are unfamiliar.
Irresponsible is right: as of 2023, DoD* says AH-64D cost $11,978 per hour to operate; AH-64E “only: $6,188/hour.
*https://comptroller.war.gov/Portals/45/documents/rates/fy2024/2024_b_c.pdf page 7
Yep.
They should be logging zero hours every month unless actively engaged in a combat zone.
I think you’re drawing the wrong conclusion. I read that to mean this little stunt basically cost around $619-$1198 (“3-4 minutes” plus a couple minutes for the detour to set up the stunt) when they could have been doing something more productive, or at least less wasteful.
Was it particularly harmful? No, not really. Was it a good idea? Probably not. Would these pilots have been treated differently if they performed the stunt in front of someone who wasn’t a supporter of this administration? Almost certainly, and therein lies the problem.
If standard procedure is to suspend said pilots until an investigation can be completed, then that should be done. Chances are it would have been deemed a non-violation and they wouldn’t have faced any consequences after their short suspension of flying privileges, but when the whole process is side-stepped, it makes a joke out of the process.
Nice to see a sane and reasoned comment about this 🙂 The person who should get dragged for this is Kid Rock who basically “dropped a dime” on the pilots with his post.
Military flying is a duty, not a privilege. That said, I can’t disagree with anything else that you said.
A pilot of a large, loud, conspicuous aircraft that thinks “a few minutes of fun” would not be recorded, much less reported, is behaving like a teen in their parent’s car… or the pilot of an EA-18G that drew a phallic image over Washington State in 2017.
Knowing the Navy, more than one senior officer & enlisted explained to the pilot how that juvenile action lost the trust of their command, squadron, and pilots.
Do the right thing, Army.
“Would these pilots have been treated differently if they performed the stunt in front of someone who wasn’t a supporter of this administration? Almost certainly, and therein lies the problem.”
The conclusion is this; it is a big deal because it was a supporter of this admin. Period.
Not because of a process, investigation, or lack thereof, or because of cost.
It’s because the serfs are fighting amongst themselves for crumbs.
Are you serious? You’re making an April Fool’s day comment here, aren’t you? “Zero hours!” And then when they can’t do their job in combat, you’ll be blogging some other nonsense. “Training” takes many forms in the military. It’s obvious you never served.
As a fellow Vet, you should be able to spot dripping sarcasm.
Not so. Even rated crewmen who are on a periodic ground duty assignment log flight time every month by regulation. It’s required to maintain flying skills.
Training flights, have to fly somewhere.
Absolutely, and it’s the attack helo crews that get the least amount of hours-so I’m told.
“Appropriate action will be taken if any violations are found”
That is, until the CO is directed to stand down.
Well, that came to fruition. smh
The next question is, will their CO now face an investigation for starting a routine investigation of potential violations? It would not be an uncharacteristic move for this so-called administration.
I’ve had Guard helicopters land on my grass strip and I’m not friends with the President!
Happens all the time. A US Army Reserve outfit near Oshkosh is authorized to land their helicopters at a famous lunch destination landing on a grass strip. They get training time, get to meet the public (PR) and — oh by the way — have lunch. Training takes many forms. No harm, no foul. Hoardes of military machines show up at Oshkosh for the same reason … PR, recruiting and more. I suppose ya’ll think that’s OK … so how is showing down for less than a minute a federal case here?
I can’t believe the mere act of slowing down passing some point in space is even taking up any time here at all. More sad, that some of you think the crew should hang. There’s no harm, no foul here. Now then, if a B-2 flew by at that altitude and wagged the wings … that’d be different.
Calm, rational thought is not a common practice with the TDS radical left.
This stuff is fine, until there is a mishap…
This story and photo shows again our relentless progress to keep moving from the quiet dignity of expertise and knowledge to the loud performance of a simulation of it.
Veterans and active service members may find it cute when a toddler salutes them or the flag, but a salute from an adult civilian is awkward, not protocol and uninformed. Instead of saluting, most soldiers would agree that civilians should simply wave or place the right hand over the heart.
Phony Patriotism – from the ‘tippy top’ to the ground floor bottom of the true believers, every chance they get. Probably shouldn’t look for a well-moderated debate between Gavin and Mr Rock, though.
Yet anyone who can songwrite with such poetic brilliance like “Young ladies, young ladies, I like ’em underage, see some say that’s statutory, but I say that’s mandatory” would probably make short work of Gov. Newsom in the debate, proving you don’t need s&*t for brains to write timeless lyrics for future generations to enjoy.
The slap on the knuckles is here. I guess everyone is getting gun shy, probably for good reason.
This is a horrible precedent to set regarding discipline. Is it now perfectly fine to break rules when you show political allegiance to the administration in control? And then to have the order come from above to over-rule the commanders like that is a slap in the face to them.
As an Aussie, I simply looked at the last date on the post being 1/4/26
and thought
“Another failed April fools day joke!!”
Looks like a great training session to me. For all involved.
My concern is the probable adverse effect of a SecDef overruling the best judgement of these helo crews’ commanders on military discipline, cohesion, and morale. Hegseth jumped the chain of command to make a poorly considered hyperpartisan political statement rather than allowing the proper investigation of the facts. When I was in the USAF many years ago, such a decision would have been considered outrageous.
No doubt he offered a long, emotional, and performative prayer over this matter before sticking his oar in. After all, God’s all about the chain-of-command …
Wonder if he’ll discipline the Blackhawk squadron’s commander instead?
Apparently the editor didn’t appreciate my observations about Pete’s qualifications since my adjectives were edited out (even though they were generally offensive or obscene) and felt obliged to correct my intentional misspelling of his name as “Hegehead.” Gotta keep my remarks sterile, I guess.
They were NOT generally offensive, I meant to say.
When things happen like this, I find it useful to ask myself what my reaction would be if the names were changed. What would I say if it were President Obama’s Defense Secretary Robert Gates taking it out of the hands of military commanders who vowed to investigate a mini airshow for George Clooney. Then I try to make sure my reaction remains unchanged.
Tango Down!