The My Lai massacre 55 years ago this week shocked the conscience of Americans

But no lesson was learned

The assault on March 16, 1968

A few days ago we observed the 55th anniversary of the March 16, 1968 My Lai massacre. Seymour Hersh broke the story in a report published on November 12, 1969. The US Army had filed charges and was completing an investigation against the commanding officer on the scene for deliberately murdering 109 Vietnamese civilians in this small Vietnamese village. The Army charged him “with premeditation murder… Oriental human beings, whose names and sex are unknown, by shooting them with a rifle.”

The Vermont F-35 training in a city location

The Vermont Air National Guard F-35 training flights are themselves in no way comparable to a massacre. But those daily 115-decibel training flights in a Vermont city inherently train the airmen to ignore the suffering of civilians. Get airmen used to hurting civilians. And get them used to ignoring the military discipline that protects civilians.

A city is not the best place for training with F-35 jets: Not good for Vermonters in the flight path. Not good for foreign civilians when airmen trained to use the F-35 in a manner that daily rains pain, injury, and suffering on their own neighbors in Vermont are deployed in the next US war abroad.

Commanders and political leaders knew in advance

In Volume I of the US Air Force Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) the Air Force identified 6,663 Vermonters, including about 1,300 children, living in a 2,252-acre oval-shaped area around the runway. This is the area where the F-35 noise is most extreme, reaching 115 decibels on takeoff (even without use of the afterburner). In Volume II of the EIS the US Air Force said that this area is “generally considered not suitable for residential use,” even though so many thousands of people live there. And hundreds of Vermonters reported pain, injury, and suffering since the F-35s arrived three years ago.

The deafening daily assaults on thousands of Vermont civilians are ongoing, repeating day after day, week after week, conducted by the state’s own national guard under the command of the state’s own governor, Phil Scott.

Air Force commanders and Vermont political and military leaders knew long before the F-35 arrived in Vermont that taking off and landing in a city would target thousands of children and adults in Vermont cities and towns near the airport with extreme 115-decibel noise hundreds of times a month. They also knew of the severe injury, particularly to children, that the US Air Force EIS described in Volume II from exposure to such damaging noise.

∙ permanent hearing damage.

∙ impaired learning and impaired cognitive development of children

∙ deficits in reading comprehension, concentration, attentiveness, problem solving, memory, and verbal skills.

∙ impaired educational attainment of children

Not just the Air Force told of the anticipated harm from training with F-35 jets in a city. Around the same time the Burlington Board of Health conducted a study and “concluded that noise has been associated with hearing loss, stress, sleep disturbance, heart attacks, hypertension and stroke, and delayed reading and verbal comprehension." More recent studies confirm a substantial increase in heart disease and stroke from exposure to noise. Yet others show increased cognitive decline in adults from the noise-induced hearing damage.

The arrival of the F-35

In the 3 years since the F-35 jets arrived for daily training in the Chamberlin School neighborhood of the City of South Burlington, more than 650 Vermonters responded to online surveys with detailed written complaints of pain, injury, trauma, and suffering from the F-35. These survey results were shared with the Governor, legislative leaders, and the news media, and they are available for all to see online.

These devastating survey results were confirmed by independent reporting on VTDigger, “Panic attacks. Ringing ears. Shaking walls. Happy 1-year anniversary to the F-35s,” September 27, 2020. Also on VTDigger, “Pandemic isolation and increased flights spike F-35 noise complaints,” April 27, 2021. In a Seven Days cover story, “Sound Effects: In the F-35’s Flight Path, Vermonters’ Lives Have Changed,” July 7, 2021. In the 12-minute film “Jet Line, Voicemails from the Flight Path.” In the town meeting vote in Winooski, March 2, 2021, at which 2/3 of the voters adopted a resolution calling for a halt to the F-35 in Winooski and any other populated area. By the testimony of 30 residents at a Winooski City Council meeting on September 7, 2021, as reported on Channel 5, “F-35 forum in Winooski brings out residents to voice concerns about jet presence,” September 8, 2021 and as video recorded in full on Channel 17, “Winooski City Council F-35 Forum.” The “impact” to civilians was also confirmed by such authorities as the Vermont Air National Guard Wing Commander and by Senator Patrick Leahy.

In addition, 657 Vermonters signed on to a 62-page complaint to the Inspector General that described the pain, injury, and trauma. The complaint outlined the flagrant violations of the military’s own discipline, federal and state laws, and well-established constitutional rights. That complaint, submitted to the Inspector General and to the governor in October 2020, remains unanswered even though the 150-day time allowed by military regulation long ago elapsed. In response to inquiries, the local Air Force Inspector General stated that it is still actively under investigation.

The US and Vermont military discipline:

∙ forbids targeting civilians.

∙ forbids assaults that fail to discriminate between combatants and civilians.

∙ requires military forces to locate personnel and equipment separate and apart from populated areas.

∙ forbids using an otherwise lawful weapon in a manner for which it was not designed that causes unnecessary suffering.

∙ requires a military necessity before launching any military operation; mere convenience is insufficient.

∙ forbids using civilians to shield military personnel or military equipment and forbids positioning military equipment where civilians will inherently be used as human shields.

∙ forbids launching an operation if the injury to civilians or civilian property is anticipated to be disproportionate to the military advantage.

∙ requires commanders to take feasible precautions to protect civilians before launching the operation.

The training with the F-35 in Vermont cities violates each and every one of these fundamental military-discipline requirements.

The F-35 is being used in a manner for which it was not designed that causes unnecessary suffering

The F-35 was designed for supersonic flight and high-G maneuvers. Not for city life. It is being used in Vermont in a manner for which it was not designed—from a runway in a densely populated city. Safe use in a city was not part of the F-35 design parameters. It is being used in a manner that the governor knows causes pain, injury, and suffering for the Vermonters who live, work, or go to school in or near the extreme oval-shaped noise zone designated by the US Air Force.

Carrying out orders

The defense attorney in the My Lai proceedings said the officer was carrying out orders.

Commanders of the Vermont Air National Guard are also carrying out orders, though the chain of command is different.

Lengthy deliberation, that included the very highest level of the US Air Force, preceded the order to base the F-35 in a Vermont city. The basing order was indeed a federal decision, and it was made by the Secretary of the Air Force.

But the US constitution divides powers, separating the authority over the training of the state national guards from the authority to order the basing of any particular weapon.

The authority to conduct the F-35 training in a city does not come from the Air Force. As expressly stated in the US Constitution and in federal law, the conduct of the training of the state national guard is under the authority of the state. The commander in chief for state national guard training operations in Vermont is Governor Phil Scott. The same federal law requires the governor to conduct that training according to military discipline, which protects civilians.

Internal documents disclosed in a federal environmental law case show that in the weeks before the F-35 basing decision was announced Air Force officials were aware of the military discipline that requires attention to and protection of civilians in all military operations.

For example, On September 11, 2013, an official at Headquarters Air Force Installations office wrote to the F-35 Burlington Basing EIS Project Manager about a possible noise “mitigation” plan:

Why would you think that the noise [of the F-35] at Burlington can be addressed with mitigation? Outside purchase [of the homes] and relocation of those [people] affected, I don’t know what could be done. The results of the EIS indicates Burlington is the wrong answer of all the alternatives.

There were six alternatives. Burlington Vermont was just one of them.

On November 20, 2013, another official from Headquarters Air Force Installations office wrote that the office “cannot answer the question, ‘Why did the Air Force choose Burlington AGS when the EIS clearly showed more people [in the Burlington area] would be affected by the noise of the F-35?’”

Burlington was the only one of the six locations described in the EIS that would have more people hurt by introduction of the F-35. And Burlington’s increase was huge.

As shown in the chart below from Volume I of the EIS, four of the alternate locations showed a substantial decrease in the number of people who would be hurt: While Burlington would have 2,061 more people hurt by the extreme noise, Hill Air Force Base would have had 3,765 fewer people hurt, Jacksonville Air Guard Station 138 fewer, McEntire Joint National Guard Base 468 fewer, Mountain Home Air Force Base would have had no change in the number hurt, and Shaw Air Force Base would have 2,165 fewer people hurt by replacing their then-current aircraft with the F-35.

Illegitimate pressure from Patrick Leahy

The decision to base the F-35 in one of the most densely populated cities in Vermont was issued by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations on December 2, 2013. But considerable pressure had been applied by the most senior of all 100 US Senators at the time, as was shown in the internal Air Force documents and by an admission by the Senator himself.

Patrick Leahy stepped outside his legislative authority. His numerous interventions with top Air Force officials relied on his position as a leading member of the Senate Appropriations Committee—the committee with power over the Air Force budget—to pressure the Air Force decision-maker.

Notwithstanding such illicit purpose and conduct, Leahy maintained the lock-step support of the other members of Vermont’s congressional delegation, the former governor, the present governor, legislative leaders, the Burlington mayor, the Adjutant General, and the Wing commander to foist the F-35 basing on the cities of South Burlington, Winooski, and Burlington and on the Town of Williston.

The decision to base the F-35 amidst Vermont’s most densely populated cities and towns was not a military necessity. Nor was it the result of properly introduced legislation and a democratic vote by Congress. Illicit conduct made it happen.

Depraved indifference

The governor persists in misusing the F-35 to conduct routine training flights in a city even though he is fully aware that its 115-decibel noise is inflicting pain, injury, and suffering on a mass scale. The failure of federal and state officials to use the power each level of government has to put a stop to it and protect the people demonstrates a depraved indifference.

Using and abusing Vermont civilians to improperly train airmen

After years of consideration, study, and deliberation, and more years of a massive number of complaints from Vermonters, there is no doubt that the F-35 training in a city assaults, hurts, injures, and traumatizes civilians in violation of the most fundamental military discipline.

The facts leave no room to conclude that the F-35 training in a Vermont city is for the purpose of training airmen to comply with military discipline.

To the contrary, the F-35 training flights are in a Vermont city to train airmen to ignore the suffering of civilians. To get them used to targeting civilians. To make routine the neglect of military discipline.

The deliberate choice of the city location for the F-35 training is no mistake: Vermont families are deliberately sacrificed to make airmen so cold-blooded that they will unhesitatingly carry out orders to bomb cities full of civilians in future US wars. The lesson of My Lai has not been learned.

Your city or town has the power and the responsibility to push back

Fortunately, Governor Phil Scott is not the only official with the power to halt the illegal, immoral, and unjust F-35 training in the state’s most densely populated area. As described in the article, “Your City Council or Selectboard has the power to ban the F-35 training at BTV,” the Vermont legislature adopted a state law empowering cities, towns, and villages “to regulate vehicles of every kind” by adopting ordinances “for the purpose of promoting the public health, safety, welfare, and convenience.”

What you can do

Call on your city councilors or select board members to hold public hearings at which they can listen to public input and put questions to the governor, the commanders, and the inspector general about the discipline that is supposed to protect civilians from military operations, including training with F-35 jets. At which they can question legislative leaders and members of the local news media about how they are holding the governor to account and upholding the rule of law or failing to do so.

Call on your city councilors or select board members to use the power and the responsibility delegated to local governments by the state to adopt an ordinance to prohibit F-35 training in, over, or near any populated area of your city or town.

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@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>