re: #22 Shiplord Kirel: Fan of Big Bird, Bert, and Ernie

Re: Michael Flynn
Flynn is basically from my generation of officers, commissioned in the late 70s and early 80s. This was a period of transition, with major changes in doctrine and a very significant step up in professional standards. Unfortunately, there was also a trend toward open politicization, especially once Reagan had been elected. Some incoming officers, especially those without personal experience of the Vietnam war, felt that the long standing commitment to political neutrality had been discredited. Old hands (like me) tended to believe just the opposite, that political acquiescence had helped precipitate the disaster. Flynn is a member of this old Reagan clique, which has always assumed that conservative political objectives and national security were one and the same.
As we have seen with General Milley, this mob’s influence has declined significantly, but it hasn’t altogether disappeared. Evangelicals, for example, are known to have made a conscious effort to infiltrate the armed forces. This is a natural follow on to the Reagan clique. Fortunately, this has been pursued with their normal level of competence, meaning that it has not been as successful as they and their fellow fascists would like.

I got commissioned in 1978 as a shavetail butter bar in the USAF, and I will vouch for this.

When I got to K.I.Sawyer (aka K.I. Siberia AFB) in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in 1980 flying Big Ugly Fat Fuckers for SAC, the first thing I noticed in the Alert Shack was that there were a BUNCH of prayer meetings/bible readings going on most nights. And almost all of the attendees were AF Academy grads (Zoomies).

It got worse as time went on. When I got the opportunity to cross train into Tankers in ‘82, I jumped at it because the bomber crews never got to go anywhere. But the Tanker crews were even more into Jeebus.

And they came after me like I was fresh meat. I had one pilot, a Zoomie Evangelical from Minnesota, who told me my Performance Review would depend on my love of the Lord. I offered to break his nose, given that our job was to assist in the killing of as many Russkies and eastern Europeans as we possibly could and any true follower of Jesus would never work for SAC.

This shut him up, but I didn’t extend my commission. I loved flying jets, but I hated the AF.