Histrionics

Simon Waxman

Managing editor of the Boston Review went on a hysterical, panties-in-a-knot rant over the "offensive" use of the names of American Indian Tribe names for US Army Helicopters.  Unfortunately it appears he was too busy dribbling pee down his leg to do anything that could possibly be construed as journalism.

US Army helicopters have been named for native American tribes since the H-13 Sioux, it was followed by the Shawnee, Choctaw, Chickasaw and the UH-1 Iroquois (the famous Huey) with one notable exception.

The AH-1 version of the Iroquois was named Cobra in an early spasm of political correctness, according to the US Army Aviation museum, native American tribes complained that it wasn't named after a tribe and they went back to the old naming methodology and the Cobra was followed by the Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Apache.

What's more, native Americans seem to approve of the nomenclature, the ND Guard's first two UH-72 Lakota were christened in a ceremony by George Ironshield of the Standing Rock tribe,  an event attended by representatives of many other tribes.

Mr Waxman also apparently overlooked the the fact that Army Material Command actually gets approval from Native American tribes before naming its aircraft.

If it's really an issue...

you can go ahead and name your next helicopter after my ancestral tribe, the Feni.