The "Fleecing of America" segment on Friday's "NBC Nightly
News" focused on the use of military aircraft to transport the
Air Force Academy band, cheerleaders, mascot squad and 53 "so-
called cadets at large" to Annapolis for the Navy game. The team
took commercial aircraft. The Academy calls it a "temporary duty
assignment." The cost of the trips was $11,700 an hour, a total
of $126,700. NBC's Roger O'Neil noted the costs of past football
trips, as well as the Air Force's claim that the trips serve as
"training missions" for pilots. There are no changes planned at
Air Force. The Naval Academy employs military aircraft for the
same purpose; Army does not ("NBC Nightly News," 11/17).