Airmen Threatened with Treason for Defending the A-10 to Congress
by Sara Noble • January 26, 2015
A-10 warthog
The U.S. government wants to scrap the A-10 Warthog which has been very successful in fighting ISIS. In fact, it terrifies them.
Last month, Maj. Gen. James Post warned fellow airmen in Nevada that talking to Congress about the A-10 Thunderbolt could qualify as treason.
“If anyone accuses me of saying this, I will deny it … anyone who is passing information to Congress about A-10 capabilities is committing treason,” Post, vice commander of the Air Combat Command, told an audience of officers at Nellis Air Force Base according to the military blog John Q. Public.
Maj Gen James Post III
The quote has been corroborated.
Do you think we have free speech? Airmen apparently don’t despite the fact that Federal and military law gives all service members the right to communicate with congressional representatives through official and private channels free of partisanship.
The government’s response was that it was just hyperbole.
It was hyperbole meant to silence the airmen who are exactly the people we need to hear from about the jet.
Leadership wants the Warthog out and they are willing to shut down free speech to do it.
Some think Post couldn’t have been serious because it was so outrageous.
Hopefully this will embolden A-10 pilots – who are proud of the accomplished aircraft – to contact Congress
Air Combat Command stated it was merely “hyperbole.” Regardless of whether or not that’s true, it has a chilling effect on free speech especially coming from a high ranking officer.
The debate over the A-10 is coming back as the 2016 budget is being hammered out. It’s flight hours have already been cut to gradually slide it out of existence.
The plane isn’t a fast and graceful jet but it’s frightening to the enemy, “is extremely low maintenance, flies low, can practically hover over a battlefield, land almost anywhere and packs a 20-foot-long, 2.5-ton, seven-barrel Gatling gun that can fire more than 1,100 rounds of 30-mm. bullets. And a titanium shell that wraps around the bottom of its cockpit makes it difficult to shoot down,” according to Stars and Stripes.
According to a recent USAF report, it scares the heck out of ISIS.
The Pentagon believes they can save money by ditching the plane. The only thing this administration is willing to cut is the military.
“The A-10 is once again displaying its incredible utility and value against the Islamic State,” a Senate Armed Services Committee aide told FoxNews.com. “The Air Force’s employment of the A-10 in ongoing operations not only underscores the operational effectiveness of this remarkable weapons system, but also of the necessity to maintain sufficient fighter force capacity at appropriate readiness levels to respond around the world on short notice.”
Republican Senators John McCain and Kelly Ayotte, N.H., whose husband flew the A-10 in combat in Iraq, strongly support keeping the A-10.
Tyler Rogaway writes on Foxtrot Alpha that “The fact that the USAF is so willing to throw away 300 of the finest close air support platforms ever invented just to save the cost equivalent of 30 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters is total bullshit and both the American taxpayer and those who bravely fight our wars on the ground should be furious.”
Why would our government toss a great plane that terrifies ISIS and why would they threaten pilots who speak to Congress? They’re not saving enough money to justify all this.
http://www.independentsentinel.com/airmen-threatened-with-treason-for-defending-the-a-10-to-congress/
