F-35 Night Training Flights Start Tuesday, April 6 for 3 Weeks
News reports wrongly suggest that the federal government can require Vermont to order the F-35 night training flights
F-35 night training flights till as late as 10pm resume for three weeks starting this Tuesday April 6, as reported on WCAX and on VTdigger. On Monday lift your telephone and complain to the state officials who have the power and obligation to put a stop to those night flights. Phone numbers are below.
The justification given: “U.S. Air Force and Major Command requirements and proficiencies.” But the federal government has zero authority to force any state national guard to train with F-35 jets in a city. Not for training, day or night. Not for training during a pandemic. And not in a location that sacrifices the health and safety—or even just the peace and quiet—of thousands of Vermont families.
While the power to arm National Guard units is federal, the authority of training the Guard is reserved to the states. So says the US Constitution. Backed up by at least two US Supreme Court decisions. Noteworthy is that no authority has disputed this fact: not the US Air Force, not the Adjutant General, not the governor, and not the Attorney General. Nevertheless, the source of the justification in the news reports appears to want the public to assign the blame to the federal government and not to the state.
The only constitutional limit on state authority over training its national guard is that the training must be “according to the discipline prescribed by Congress.” But that discipline, as adopted by Congress in US laws, such as the Universal Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) the US War Crimes Act, and in Senate-ratified treaties, protects civilians. No congressionally enacted discipline requires states to sacrifice the health and safety of even one civilian for airman training and proficiency. Nor does any discipline give any state the power to train its Guard unit in a place where pain, injury, and distress are inflicted on civilians. In fact, the discipline prescribed by Congress makes doing so a crime. In addition, DoD and Air Force Directives, Instructions, Policies, and Doctrine, subject commanders to court martial for such grievous acts.
So when the F-35 night training flights start on Tuesday and for 3 weeks thereafter, pin all blame on officials of the State of Vermont who have the power to entirely halt use of the F-35 jets from a city runway for training. At any time. For any reason. Or just to halt their use at that location for night flights. Or during a pandemic.
When a state fails to protect its own people, and instead acts to inflict suffering on thousands of families, that is the very definition of a failed state.
Vermont state officials have been offered logical and persuasive reasons to use their constitutional power to immediately halt the F-35 training flights at BTV, amidst the state’s most densely populated cities:
State officials know that Volume II of the US Air Force Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) asserts that repeated exposure to 115 decibel noise can cause permanent hearing damage. Impair learning. And degrade the cognitive development of children. They read in Volume I of the EIS that 2,963 affordable homes surrounding the airport are “unsuitable for residential use” because hundreds of F-35 training flights each month are producing those horrors.
State officials have repeatedly received the data from the online F-35 Summer and the online F-35 Fall-Winter Report and Complaint Form surveys in which hundreds of people report pain, injury, and distress from the 115 decibel F-35 noise in their homes and yards.
State officials watched while the Wing Commander did not deny the suffering from the F-35 training flights when the Adjutant General read the question at the Vermont National Guard Town Hall on March 25: “How do you explain ordering the 115 decibel F-35 training takeoffs and landings at BTV in view of the hundreds of people reporting severe pain, injury, and distress?” In fact, the Wing Commander acknowledged the suffering by supporting further noise mitigation measures.
State officials saw the results of the vote in Winooski at town meeting last month: 67% voted “Yes” on Ballot question 6: “Shall the City of Winooski urge the State to halt F-35 training flights in a densely populated area, such as Winooski?”
State officials saw that 55% voted “Yes” in Burlington in 2018 for the ballot question calling for “cancellation of the planned basing of the F-35 at Burlington International Airport.”
State officials saw city councils in Burlington, Winooski, and S. Burlington vote for canceling the F-35 basing at BTV in 2018.
As Vermont State officials foist F-35 training flights against the will of the people, not just health and safety, but democracy itself is being sacrificed for F-35 training flights in a city in obsequious submission to the military-industrial complex.
While the governor, as commander in chief can order a halt to the F-35 training flights in a city, legislative leaders and certain committe chairs who do not hold hearings to investigate, the states attorney and the attorney general who do not open investigations are knowing enablers of F-35 violence against civilians.
The public must demand that state officials use their constitutional power to halt the F-35 flights in a city now.
Here are the phone numbers to lodge your complaint about the night flights and to demand that the state official take action to accept the vote in Winooski: “halt F-35 training flights in a populated area, such as Winooski.”
Governor Phil Scott: 802-828-3333
House Speaker Jill Krowinski 802 828-2228
Senate President Becca Ballant 802 828-3806
Attorney General T.J. Donovan: 802 828-3171
States Attorney Sarah George: 802 863 2865
The Adjutant General of the Vermont National Guard: 802-338-3000 option 3
Post your complaint to the new F-35 Spring 2021 Report and Complaint Form that will be coming out on Tuesday, in time for the first F-35 night flight. Until then please submit your report and complaint about F-35 noise using the ongoing F-35 Fall-Winter version of the form: https://tinyurl.com/y5l74s25