I fly a lot with my job, my recommendation is delta, usually direct flights to the majority of the us. which means no stupid layovers. I find it cheaper to reserve flights 2-3 days before b/c they are trying to fill seats. And by this time first class is usually 20-30$ more than economy once...
i have never heard of the air force, nor any government agency giving away 8k$ nightvision goggles. i probably would announce "prank caller, prank caller" and forget about them. but it sounds like someone probably had them on and turned on the lights in a room and burnt the accumulator.