NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) \u2014 The Army pilots who hovered two helicopters near Kid Rock\u2019s Tennessee home during a training run while he clapped and saluted have had their suspension lifted, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo punishment. No Investigation. Carry on, patriots,\u201d Hegseth said in a social media post. <\/p>\n
Earlier, a U.S. Army spokesperson said the crews of the two AH-64 Apache helicopters from the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade at Fort Campbell were suspended from flying, pending an investigation into their actions. The suspension was a discretionary \u2014 but not unusual \u2014 step when an investigation is underway, Maj. Montrell Russell said in statement.<\/p>\n
The Army would review whether the flight complied with FAA regulations and aviation safety protocol, Russell said in the statement, which he emailed fewer than three hours before Hegseth\u2019s social media post. The Army takes \u201callegations of unauthorized or unsafe flight operations very seriously and is committed to enforcing standards and holding personnel accountable,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
Asked about Hegseth\u2019s announcement, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Joel Valdez said he had nothing to add to the secretary\u2019s social media post. An Army spokesperson didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n
Kid Rock, who is an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump, told WKRN-TV on Monday that it\u2019s not uncommon for helicopters from nearby Fort Campbell to fly near his home. He said he is a big supporter of the military and he\u2019s performed for troops overseas in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think they know this is a pretty friendly spot,\u201d he said. He noted that last Thanksgiving he was at Fort Campbell, a sprawling Army base on the Tennessee-Kentucky border, with Vice President JD Vance. \u201cI\u2019ve talked to some of these pilots. I\u2019ve told them, \u2018You guys see me waving when you come by the house?\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018You guys are always welcome to cruise by my house, any time,\u2019\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Kid Rock posted two short videos on social media Saturday. Each shows a helicopter hovering alongside his swimming pool while the entertainer claps, salutes and raises his fist in the air. One post included a caption by Kid Rock disparaging Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a frequent Trump critic.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump suggested maybe the crews shouldn\u2019t have done it before adding, \u201cI like Kid Rock, maybe they were trying to defend him, I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the videos, Kid Rock stands next to a replica of the Statue of Liberty and a sign by the pool that reads, \u201cThe Southern White House.\u201d His home on a hill overlooking Nashville was built to resemble the White House.<\/p>\n
The helicopters were on a training mission when they stopped by Kid Rock\u2019s house, said Maj. Jonathon Bless, public affairs officer for the 101st Airborne Division. The helicopters also flew over a \u201cNo Kings\u201d protest against Trump in downtown Nashville, but Bless said their presence had nothing to do with the protest.<\/p>\n
Kid Rock said he thought it was \u201creally cool\u201d that they stopped to hover at his house. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf it makes their day a little brighter for their service to our country, protecting us, I think that\u2019s a great thing,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Asked about possible repercussions for the crews, he said, \u201cI think they\u2019re going to be all right. My buddy\u2019s the commander in chief.\u201d<\/p>\n
__<\/p>\n
Associated Press reporters Collin Binkley and Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu contributed to this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) \u2014 The Army pilots who hovered two helicopters near Kid Rock\u2019s Tennessee home during a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[221509,64,63,447,2490,134,9282,482,21845,283198,283199,4715,63462,27112,283200,6317,14034,973,37582,227479,488],"class_list":{"0":"post-577419","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-army-west-point-black-knights","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-celebrities","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-gavin-newsom","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-jd-vance","17":"tag-joel-valdez","18":"tag-jonathon-bless","19":"tag-kentucky","20":"tag-ky-state-wire","21":"tag-military-and-defense","22":"tag-montrell-russell","23":"tag-nashville","24":"tag-pete-hegseth","25":"tag-tennessee","26":"tag-tn-state-wire","27":"tag-u-s-army","28":"tag-u-s-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}