Overview
- Kid Rock and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took separate AH-64 Apache rides at Fort Belvoir on Monday during a Pentagon-backed Freedom 250 community event.
- Public flight logs show Kid Rock’s jet landed about 6:30 a.m. and an Apache flew a brief circuit over the base before he returned to Nashville that afternoon.
- The flights followed March flyovers near his Nashville home that triggered an Army review and pilot suspensions that Hegseth quickly lifted.
- Pentagon officials said the visit centered on troop meet-and-greets and filming for Memorial Day and the America 250 campaign.
- Critics including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Rep. Jason Crow questioned using costly attack helicopters for a celebrity ride as operating costs are estimated near $7,000 per hour.