Satire: Wing Commander says, “This could be catastrophic. We might have to protect the children of Winooski after all”

Careful: This is a satire

For the first time since arrival of the F-35 jets at Burlington International Airport a Vermont Air National Guard commander is talking about compliance with military regulations that protect civilians.

In an exclusive interview with CancelF35.substack.com, Colonel Daniel P. Finnegan, Commander of the 158^th Fighter Wing, discussed why.

“It started with the voters of Burlington and Winooski that adopted town meeting day resolutions to stop the F-35 flights,” he said. “Fortunately, they were non-binding resolutions. Thankfully, elected officials have ignored the voters.

“We’re all for democracy,” he said. “In fact, I’ve been saying that the Fighter Wing is training to defend democracy with the F-35. That’s democracy in places where we’re deployed overseas.

Asked why the Guard is considering compliance now, Col. Finnegan said, “Well, there’s a growing possibility that Winooski will follow up on their town meeting vote by amending their noise ordinance to makes our F-35 training over the city illegal.

“For some damn reason, the city council’s taking issue with the fact that we’re using a runway that’s only 1 mile away and that aims directly at the center of Winooski. They say the noise is up around 115 decibels. And that our use of a runway so close to the city is causing severe pain. And that it impairs the learning of children in their schools.”

Col. Finnegan went on, “But I say, the most important thing to keep in mind is that our official mission is to ‘protect the citizens of Vermont.’”

Asked whether he noticed a bit of a contradiction, Col. Finnegan quickly moved on to say, "We’ll really have trouble with an ordinance, especially if it matches with our own Department of Defense discipline. That discipline is supposed to require us to conduct all our military operations separate and apart from populated areas to keep civilians safe. That’s military regulations 101. But we don’t actually apply that rule to the real-life situation here, even if separation is essential to protect civilians from the F-35. Fortunately, nobody in power has even thought about making us comply. Until now.

Asked what he thinks is the worst that can happen, Col. Finnegan said, “Well, my biggest worry is that the Winooski City Council schedules some pesky public hearings to consider an ordinance. What the hell are we going to do or say when we are asked to testify about our own regulations? And our sorry record of compliance? Or whether we will even comply with the Winooski ordinance? Now that’s a conversation I am absolutely not prepared to have.

“Look, the Fighter Wing is training to uphold the rule of law,” he continued. “But we only train to uphold it in places like Iraq.”

“No sir. This could be catastrophic, Col. Finnegan concluded. “If a Winooski City Councilor tables an ordinance, and if hearings are scheduled, we might actually be forced to put some space between the F-35s and populated areas. We might have to protect the F-ing children of Winooski after all.”

Write or call your public servants and demand an immediate halt to F-35 training in cities.

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).

Submit your report & complaint to the still active Fall 2021-Continuing Now online F-35 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 plus 77 more so far on the form that remains active now.

Senator Bernie Sanders 800-339-9834 <Senator@sanders.senate.gov>

Senator Peter Welch 888-605-7270 Chief of Staff <patrick.satalin@mail.house.gov>

Rep. Becca Balint <RepBeccaBalint@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 Philip Baruth <Philip.Baruth@uvm.edu>

VT House Speaker Jill Krowinski <jkrowinski@leg.state.vt.us>

Attorney General Charity Clark <Charity.Clark@vermont.gov>

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 Dan Finnegan <daniel.finnegan@us.af.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>