Editor:

I am paraphrasing the following editorial from The Air Force Association Magazine.As many readers know I was a member of the Air Force and jet Pilot from November 1963 and released from active service December 1968.


Editorial by Tobias Naegele

"Trust is the foundation of all relationships . Once trust is broken confidence is lost.

In Afghanistan, when Bagram Air Base was shut down and American Airpower was removed, the Afghani military quit.Lacking trust in their own government and abandoned by the US Forces that had made them successful, they no longer believed they could prevail.

Notwithstanding the heroic noncombatant evacuation operation led by the U.S. Air Force and supported by NATO allies and civilian volunteers, what the world witnessed was a global superpower making a hasty and humiliating withdrawal'(read disgraceful RETREAT)' from Kabal, capitulating to the demands of a rag-tag Taliban gaggle that waited out the American occupation.Every one of our allies had to wonder what this portends for their own alliance.We will feel the repercussions for decades. "

(President Biden has blamed The Previous President, Donald Trump, for giving him a "hand" he could not play.That is pure balderdash.If he didn't like the agreement left him it was up to him and him only to change the 'deal'.As to the disgraceful evacuation of our Armed Forces, any soldier or airman no matter how junior would have taken our equipment out, then citizens and allies, out before the trigger pullers.I saw pictures of the hundreds if not thousands of small arms left behind; many in plastic containers that were the same containers as when I purchased my Beretta 92FS (better known as an M-9 -9 MM semi-auto pistol.These were brand new never fired - yee gods!Also thousands of M-4 battle 5.56 NATO caliber rifles and all the aircraft -$85 billion.)To continue:

"Now we have a common foe again.

China is no longer just a rising economic power but a real and present danger - to its neighbors to American interests, and to America itself.Air Force and Space Force leaders drummed that point home throughout the AFA's (Air Force Association) Air, Space, & Cyber conference last month, with photographs and videos to prove their point.Missile silos, weaponized satellites, stealth jets, hypersonic missiles, man-made military islands, and advanced artificial intelligence are all elements of a Chinese arsenal purpose-built to counter U.S. Capabilities." (much or most stolen from our defense contractors.And many dollars by NBA, Nike, Hunter B. and his brother - man this stinks! - and not to forget big Democrat donors!)

(Thirteen years ago Defense Secretary Robert Gates derided the tendency toward what was called "next war it-is".He therefore directed that further production of F-22 fighter aircraft be stopped.The Air Force ended up with only half of the requested number - 387.This means that the majority of our fighter fleet are F-16, F-15, and A-10's.These aircraft are 40 years since first flight and are likely obsolete compared to Gen 5 fighters.I might add there are these aircraft are being air refueled by KC-135 aircraft - the aircraft I flew while on active duty - now more than 50 years ago.)Continuing:

"Gates' failure to see into the future grew from a refusal to trust his Air Force commanders.Gates was frustrated by the cost of building more F-22s, which he thought were not worth the treasure they would cost to build.Then, three weeks after the 'next-war-it is' speech, he beheaded the Air Force by firing, at once both Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley.While the trigger was a series of nuclear security failures, the cause was their persistent and increasingly public objection to the risk he was incurring with regard to China.

With hindsight, it's clear that Wynne and Moseley were correct and that Gates was nave.It's also clear the damage goes beyond a lack of airplanes.An entire generation of (military) leaders grew up convinced that speaking truth to power doesn't pay."(The purge continued during the Obama years as many flag officers were fired or retired due to disagreements of tactics and strategy with civilian heads.)

"Now we face our worst strategic crisis since the Cold War.Not only does China possess fifth-generation jets of its own, but it also boasts the biggest air force in the region.By contrast, the U.S. Air Force is saddled with non-stealthy F-15, F-16, and A-10s that make up 80% of its fighter force, aircraft that will be almost worthless in a high-end fight.Now America is 'out of time' as Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said at the Air, Space, & Cyber conference last month.China is maturing and advancing far faster than the United States..Trust is essential to preserving public confidence in our military which rightfully remains among our nation's most trusted institutions.That trust is not a given, but earned."(This only a portion of the editorial, but I hope you get the point!)

(We as a people seem to be attracted to one shiny object after another; our attention span is short!Defund police, rioters and looters not prosecuted, Critical Race Theory, Black Lives Matter, Men who identify as women rape girls in the locker room, Black on Black crime and murder,trucks driven by mad men running down innocent parade watchers, our President calling a 17 year old a "White Supremacist" without any evidence or knowledge of the incident.The words of Prophet Isaiah, 8thcentury BC true to this day:Isaiah 5,20

They say that what is right is wrong, and what is wrong is right; that black is white and white is black; bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.

I feel we as a superpower are close to losing that status.Our enemies are getting stronger and more bold -- China #1, then Russia, Iran, and last but not least North Korea.I fear we cannot count on the Biden Administration to be bold enough to stand up to the above.I pray I am wrong.

America needs an awakening before it too late.My time is running out - who of our many readers will stand up for good over evil for Democracy over Marxist Socialism?Don't let me down!

May our gracious God have mercy on us and give us protection from our enemies now and forever.

Regards,

John Stiegelmeyer

Comments

Submit a Comment

Please refresh the page to leave Comment.

Still seeing this message? Press Ctrl + F5 to do a "Hard Refresh".

RB December 2, 2021, 1:21 pm The evacuation was amazing what the Biden administration pulled off. Thousands of people were evacuated. The only problem was the government collapsed so quickly and the Afghan president was on the first flight out.T Trump did set the stage to leave and rightly so.

I would say we still are a superpower as we soend just short of a trillion dollars per year. That is more that the next half dozen or so countries spend on defense.
GS December 2, 2021, 3:27 pm Sir,
As a retired Air Force Officer, I am troubled by your willingness to associate Mr. Naegele, his magazine and the AF Association of which I'm a lifetime member to your partisan rants -- which seem to be based entirely on disinformation. Your comments lead me to believe you are on the side of the insurrectionists of Jan 6th. If that's the case, you didn't understand the oath of office you swore back in 1963. But more bluntly, please don't posture to speak for those of us veterans who served during the nation's longest war and actually lost friends and colleagues in the theater of operations. We would never presume to do so in reference to the war in Southeast Asia.
Respectfully,
GLEN A. SHEPHERD, Lt Col, USAF (Ret)
Vinton '81; now of Cibolo TX
DL December 2, 2021, 4:35 pm Well, Mr. Stigelmeyer. I couldn't keep track of when you were quoting Mr. Neglect, and when you were offering your own commentary. So, I'll just opine on the article as a whole.
You seem to be gung-ho on our country not following through on its agreements. Just like President Obama followed through on the Bush Administration's agreement to withdrawal from Iraq, so did President Biden, on Trump's "deal" with THE TALIBAN. You surely realize that "Trump makes the best deals". I can't form any argument to defend the process of leaving Afghanistan.

You probably have a point about the F-22s. I just don't know. But, it makes me wonder about the statement that Trump made in his speech on June 23, 2020. He said "The United States military is, once again, the mighty force that it should be".

I'm not sure what you were referring to when you stated that "rioters and arsonist go unprosecuted" I'm guessing you were talking about the riots and protests, after George Floyd was murdered. In Minneapolis, there were 21 people charged with federal charges. All of them have either been prosecuted, or pleaded guilty to charges. One man was fined $12 million for burning down the MPD precinct building. Also, 91 people were charged with State charges. I don't have the numbers on prosecution, except that the 3 officers responsible for George Floyd's death, are in prison for a long time, and now facing federal charges.

I noticed when you were passing out blame for the rising power of China, you specifically called out "Democrat Donors". I found a plethora of headlines that were interesting. Three of those were as follows; " Invitations Offer Wealthy Chinese Access to Trump", "Political Donors Linked To China Won Access to Trump, GQP", "RNC Won't Return Donations That Bought Chinese Officials Access To Trump". I understand that these refer to the Chinese "donating" to members of the GQP, but there's that darn Constitution that we are barely hanging on to these days. I did a similar search for information on Democrats that "donated" to the Chinese, but I wasn't successful with that. So, I can't defend that either.

Now, you have this habit of bringing up things that I'm sure, even you, are smart enough to understand. Yet, you continually use them as derogatory talking points. Defund The Police; is ONLY a Minneapolis City Council issue! That one phrase, that was made by representatives of THAT city, has never been seriously talked about anywhere else in this country. Police Reform (organizing and moving around of funds with each entity) is what is talked about! That is done with the idea of getting our armed police officers out of the psychology business. Critical Race Theory; is a program NOT TAUGHT in any public funded, K-12 school, in this country. Period! That is a college topic that has been debated on campuses in this country, ONLY. President Calling A 17 Year Old, A White Supremacist"; Yes he did! But, remember when your cult leader was occupying our White House? Remember that he had a derogatory name for anyone that was mentioned in the news, before him? Remember that he was praised by your ilk, for "saying it like it is"? Maybe you haven't seen the comments on social media that say things like, "If Biden would just call someone an "N" word, he would earn my respect"? It wasn't right for 45,its not right for any U.S. president. Whether he was right or wrong, #46 shouldn't have said it. But, your hypocrisy is deafening.

You showed concern over Russia, China and North Korea, in your letter. Remember when 45 wanted to form a back channel with Russia? Remember when he said that he and Putin were going to work together on cyber security? Remember when he told Xi about our plans to bomb Syria, while he was eating chocolate cake at Mar a Lago? Remember when he said that North Korea had destroyed all of their nuclear weapon capabilities? Then our Intelligence spotted additions to their testing sites. They didn't stop anything. They sped up their program. The con artist lied to you, about his boyfriend. Remember when he saluted a North Korean military officer?

It's just a few thoughts...
GB December 7, 2021, 8:57 am Randy,
I do not know how anyone who saw the same news footage of civilians storming the airbase and climbing onto the outside of our military aircraft, then falling off after take off could in any way consider that a successful operation only shows what that person does not understand or even comprehend.
Who in their right mind would intentionally pull the troops out first and then have to put troops back in to help with the evacuation? Common sense and judgement was clearly lacking at the highest levels. Some will be quick to point out that some aircraft and vehicles (not all) left behind were disabled. While this is partially true, this was not part of any organizational skills or tactical thought coming from our President. It came as a result of a handful of loyal Afghan fighters who understood something had to be done. The really big issue is what was not destroyed. All of the electronic jamming equipment developed to counter IED devices and encrypted communication equipment was left for our enemies (including China) to study for vulnerabilities and reverse engineering. It took billions of dollars and decades to develop this advanced technology. In my opinion, what was allowed to occur was at best complete incompetence at the highest levels of our government. I call it treason.
We still have Americans as well as Afghans who helped the United States, inside Afghanistan. Let there be no doubt that the Taliban is actively trying to identify and hunt down every one of them. So, to call the chaos we all witnessed unfold with respect to Afghanistan "Amazing" is at best idiotic and clearly comes from someone who has no real understanding of reality. This administration created a fiasco and turned it into a goat screw. To call it anything else is ignorance of the facts.
Make no mistake, our country is weaker because of this administration. The challenges from Russia and China will come and our credibility as a nation to our allies is now in question and China and Russia are taking notes.