We flew back to Germany from Phoenix on December 31, 1999 . Frankfurt airport was empty as a tomb, nobody wanted to be in a plane that was suddenly falling out of the sky at midnight.

Even the “outrage” at Jade Helm is being spun by people like Ted Cruz as Obama’s fault: his “dictatorial methods” have “destroyed people’s trust in the military”.

This is a convenient way of letting the loonies run rampant some more.

But at some point, we could well face a major natural and/or man-made catastrophe that requires bringing out troops in large numbers to restore civic order and basic services. And I can well imagine what the reaction off all these Jade-truther types is going to be.

But we will not realize the extent of the damage we have done to ourselves until the bodies start piling up.