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A UK-based defense industry\/military aviation blogger I’ve collaborated with in the past, Joe Coles, asked me a question a few hours before Trump fired the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, USAF General C.Q. Brown:<\/p>\n
Hi Paul, how\u2019s life? With the US being in such a bad way, I\u2019m interested in the subject of the responsibility of service people to push back against orders, and generally what serving aircrew can and should do in response to a bad regime. Would it interest you to share some musings on this topic? <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
My initial response was a short one.<\/p>\n
Joe, I’ll have to think hard about this one. In my day, 30+ years ago, I’d have said to look to USAF leadership and follow their example, but these days? It’s hard to quantify, but m<\/span>y impression is that leadership, and the officer corps in general, is more right-wing now. Also, I hesitate to put myself into another\u2019s shoes, let\u2019s say some middle-ranking squadron pilot, married with a mortgage & car payments, kids who before you know it will be headed off to college, totally dependent on that monthly paycheck \u2026 one would have to be a principled person indeed to stand up to bad orders from bad leadership.<\/p>\n
My thoughts turn to possible worst-case scenarios. Would A-10 units be ordered to strafe migrants crossing the southern border? Would fighter, bomber, and tanker squadrons be forward-based in in Poland to support Russia in a final push against Ukraine? Might we be ordered to participate in Israeli strikes into Lebanon and possibly Iran? In extreme cases like these, standing up to one\u2019s oath would be a clear choice and I like to think I\u2019d be one of the ones who\u2019d refuse to follow orders. But what if it\u2019s something more subtle? Interdiction flights into Mexico to bomb drug-related infrastructure, with a likelihood<\/span> of collateral civilian casualties? Or strikes against other neighbors, like Canada or Greenland? Honestly, who knows what Putin might order Agent Krasnov<\/a><\/strong> to do?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
That was, as noted, before Putin’s puppet sacked the woke black chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the primary military advisor to the commander in chief. I followed up my first response to Joe with this brief note, sent this morning:<\/p>\n
I really don\u2019t have much more to say. I can\u2019t put myself in an active duty pilot\u2019s shoes for the reasons stated in my initial response. With the sacking of General Brown and the planned appointment of a yes-man Trump loyalist replacement, Lt Gen Caine, the likelihood that military leadership will go along with whatever Trump tells them to do is, well, pretty much a sure thing. So it will be up to lower-ranking officers to resist or refuse, and I just don\u2019t think that\u2019ll happen in enough numbers to change the course of history. A few brave souls will resign their commissions and that\u2019ll be it. Dark times.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nTurning to the home front, I’m disappointed to be wearing a heart monitor again, even if only for five days. During yesterday’s routine cardiology checkup my heart rate was higher than it ought to have been, a possible sign the AFIB is coming back, so they taped a pair of sensors to my chest and gave me a recording device to lug around. They’ll read it when I turn it in next week and we’ll go from there. I don’t think the AFIB is coming back, not that it won’t eventually … I’m feeling fine.<\/p>\n
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