Kid Rock Used an Army Apache Helicopter to Film Tour Promo. An Investigation Was Squashed Weeks Earlier.

Kid Rock took a ride in a US Army Apache helicopter on Friday alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The purpose, at least in part, was to film promotional material for the musician’s Freedom 250 Tour. It comes just weeks after Hegseth shut down an Army investigation into two similar helicopters that flew dangerously close to Kid Rock’s home outside Nashville.

The flight originated in the Washington area, according to Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell. Hegseth posted photographs of the outing on X, calling Kid Rock “a patriot and huge supporter of our troops.” In a video captured by local media, the Apache is seen flying low over the National Harbor, the same stretch of river where a Black Hawk collided with a passenger jet earlier this year, killing 67 people.

The earlier incident in Tennessee involved two Apaches performing what neighbors described as an aggressive low pass near the artist’s property. The Army opened a formal investigation, but Hegseth, who had referenced the episode on social media as a private visit, later told reporters the matter was closed. No official explanation was given for why military aircraft were in that airspace.

Friday’s flight folds a personal relationship into official military activity without much distance. A Pentagon spokesperson said the flight was connected to routine training, but the presence of cameras for a rock tour muddies that line. When an artist can command military hardware to shoot concert visuals, the gesture says less about patriotism than about access. The Army’s own rules on using aircraft for non-military purposes remain publicly vague.