Are Vermonters being illegally assaulted by the state’s own military forces?
Respond to a new survey
Its all over the news right now: Russians are being widely accused of war crimes in Ukraine. But it’s not just the Russians who face such accusations. In a series of stories, including a front page article, the New York Times reported “a pattern of reckless strikes” by the US armed forces in Syria, including in “densely populated areas.” It reported that “a single top secret American strike cell . . . sidestepped safeguards and repeatedly killed civilians, according to multiple current and former military and intelligence officials.” The Times wrote that the unit “circumvented rules imposed to protect noncombatants:” Civilian Deaths Mounted as Secret Unit Pounded ISIS, December 12, 2021.
What about in Vermont? Are we seeing a pattern of reckless 115-decibel F-35 strikes on civilians in gross violation of the military’s own rules that are supposed to protect us? Are Vermont military forces hurting, injuring and causing suffering to innocent men, women, and children with their F-35 training flights in violation of those same safeguards? That is the subject of a new survey launched online today.
Links to the survey are being posted on Vermont Air and Army National Guard Facebook pages. While members of the Vermont National Guard are particularly invited to review the survey and respond to its questions, civilian Vermonters are also strongly invited. The survey takes less than 10 minutes to complete all its yes/no questions. It can serve as a primer on the facts and law related to F-35 training in Vermont cities. No email address or other identifying information is required. The first question, however, asks your status generally: member of the guard, officer, civilian employee, military family, or civilian.
The survey starts with questions about the pain, injury, and suffering that hundreds of Vermonters reported in previous online surveys and that multiple local news media confirmed with their own interviews. Links to some of those news reports, and to a film by local film makers, can be found here.
The survey continues with questions about the state’s authority of training its National Guard according to “the discipline prescribed by Congress.” The survey asks about the Department of Defense and Air Force law of war regulations that Congress established as that discipline. DoD Directive 2311.01 includes the principles of International Humanitarian Law—the law of war—and goes further, requiring US and state military forces to also protect civilians during non-combat military operations, including military training operations. The survey asks questions about the multiple different ways the military regulations protect civilians, including distinction, humanity and unnecessary suffering, proportionality and feasible precautions, military necessity, and honor.
The survey includes a question about the class prejudice and racial bias admitted by the Air Force in the choice to conduct the training with the F-35 at a runway in the working class Chamberlin School neighborhood of South Burlington that aims directly at Winooski, by far the most ethnically diverse city in Vermont, and one of the state’s poorest.
The survey continues with questions about corruption, the role of Senator Patrick Leahy, and the massive resulting waste, fraud, and abuse. It asks about the alteration of external fuel tanks on the F-16 in 2008, just before the F-35 basing program was announced, so the F-16 needed afterburner for takeoff. The afterburner vastly expanded the F-16’s extreme noise footprint in South Burlington and vastly boosted the “baseline” noise level–making it easier for the Air Force to choose Burlington for the F-35 basing. Afterburner use also led to the demolition of 200 affordable homes and the clearing of 44 acres in the Chamberlin neighborhood. And to the airport’s current rezoning request to encroach with industrial-scale airport buildings into the Chamberlin school neighborhood—a way to monetize F-35 noise for developers.
One of the survey questions asks about the 22 gallons per minute the F-35 burns at a time of looming climate catastrophe. And one asks about respect for the 2021 Winooski town meeting vote that “urged the state to halt F-35 training flights in populated area, such as Winooski,” that passed with a 2:1 margin.
Response to questions in the survey by the governor, commanders, officers, and the men and women serving in the Guard is particularly wanted now, when US and Vermont officials are leveling charges of law of war violations by the Russians. Is their concern for civilians real? Or is it mere hypocrisy?
Will state officials act consistent with their stated concern for civilians and use their authority over Guard training to protect Vermonters by immediately halting the vicious 115-decibel military assaults in densely populated Vermont cities?
Local news reporters may wish to conduct their own independent investigations into whether or not F-35 training in cities violates the military’s own rules.
Are violations of the military’s own law of war regulations happening right here in Vermont with the F-35 training in densely populated cities?
Is the training in cities with the 115-decibel F-35 inherently training airmen to disrespect and disregard the DoD regulations that protect civilians?
Is a military unit trained in a way that physically abuses thousands of civilian families even qualified to serve?
As required by their oath of office to be “a guardian of the people,” legislative leaders and city councilors should open hearings to investigate the harm hundreds of F-35 training flights a month in cities causes to civilians. And to investigate the violations of DoD and Air Force regulations. Conforming to “the discipline prescribed by Congress” requires the legislature to use the state’s authority over national guard training to halt the F-35 training flights in any populated area.
To review the survey questions and/or respond to the survey, click here.
To share the survey on social media and Front Porch Forum use this shortened url: https://forms.gle/5yfGkXr6hUQpeeM39
Write or call your public servants and local news media:
Call or email your favorite local news media reporter
Governor Phil Scott 802-828-3333 Chief of Staff <Jason.Gibbs@vermont.gov>
Vermont National Guard's Complaint Line: 802-660-5379 (Note: the Vermont Guard told a reporter that it received over 1400 noise complaints. But the Guard won’t release what people said).
Instead or in addition, submit your report & complaint to the online F-35 Fall 2021-Winter 2022 Report & Complaint Form: https://tinyurl.com/5d89ckj9
See all the graphs and in-your-own words statements on the F-35 Spring-Summer 2021 Report & Complaint Form (513 responses): https://tinyurl.com/3svacfvx.
See links to the graphs and in-your-own words statements on all four versions of the F-35 Report & Complaint Form since Spring 2020, with a total of 1670 responses from 658 different people.
Senator Patrick Leahy 800-642-3193 Chief of Staff <john_tracy@leahy.senate.gov>
Senator Bernie Sanders 800-339-9834 <Senator@sanders.senate.gov>
Congressman Peter Welch 888-605-7270 Chief of Staff <patrick.satalin@mail.house.gov>
Burlington City Council <citycouncil@burlingtonvt.gov>
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger <mayor@burlingtonvt.gov>
Winooski Mayor Kristine Lott <klott@winooskivt.org>
S. Burlington City Council Chair Helen Riehle <hriehle@sburl.com>
Williston Selectboard Chair Terry Macaig <macaig@msn.com>
VT Senate President Becca Balint <bbalint@leg.state.vt.us>
VT House Speaker Jill Krowinski <jkrowinski@leg.state.vt.us>
Attorney General TJ Donavan <DonovanTJ@gmail.com>
States Attorney Sarah George <Sarah.fair.george@gmail.com>
Vermont’s Federal Prosecutor <usavt.contactus1@usdoj.gov>
Adjutant General Brig Gen Gregory C Knight <gregory.c.knight.mil@mail.mil>
Major J Scott Detweiler <john.s.detweiler.mil@mail.mil>
Wing Commander Col David Shevchik david.w.shevchik@mail.mil
Vermont National Guard Inspector General Lt. Col. Edward J Soychak <edward.soychak@us.af.mil>
US Air Force Inspector General Lt. Col. Pamela D. Koppelmann <pamela.d.koppelmann.mil@mail.mil>
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall <Frank.Kendall@us.af.mil>