U.S. Air Force photo General sacked for remarks that raised congressional ire

The brawl between Congress and the Air Force over the fate of the venerable A-10 Warthog attack jet claimed its highest-ranking victim Friday.

The Air Force brass reprimanded and removed from his command a two-star general who raised the ire of lawmakers when he told troops it would be “treason” for service members to talk with members of Congress trying to save the Warthog from the budget ax.


The Air Force, which has made retiring the 40-year-old fleet of attack jets one of its top legislative priorities, removed Maj. Gen. James Post, deputy commander of the Air Combat Command, after an inspector general’s investigation concluded his remarks had a “chilling effect on some of the attendees and caused them to feel constrained from communicating with members of Congress.”

Post’s comments, to an audience at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada in January, infuriated key advocates for the A-10, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, whose state is home to many of them, and Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), whose husband is a former A-10 pilot.

Ayotte said Friday she hoped the episode would reaffirm the importance of direct dialog between the military and Congress.

“I hope this unfortunate incident will eliminate any doubt regarding the legal right of a service member to lawfully communicate with Congress about the A-10 or any other issue of concern,” Ayotte said in a statement.

The fight over the A-10 has been a case study in the military’s difficulty in terminating a weapon with strong political backing. The Air Force wants to retire its entire fleet of 283 A-10s, designed to provide air support to ground troops in battle, in order to realize an estimated savings of more than $4 billion. But it has been stymied by Congress at every turn.

Ayotte and her allies have enlisted the support of hundreds of fellow lawmakers, organized a chorus of current and former A-10 pilots and veterans — and at times played hardball with the Air Force. Ayotte even temporarily held up the nomination of the secretary of the Air Force until she got answers she wanted from the Pentagon.

The New Hampshire Republican has long insisted her personal connection to the Warthog has nothing to do with her support, arguing it’s the most effective aircraft for supporting combat troops on the ground.

The A-10 was designed to orbit low and slow over the battlefield, destroying enemy tanks and troops with its iconic 30 mm Gatling gun. Backers cite its ability to linger overhead longer and reattack quicker than the multipurpose fighters with which the Air Force would replace it.

The Air Force said Friday the Warthogs of the 163rd Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, of the Indiana Air National Guard, have expended more than 50,000 rounds of ammunition in Iraq and Afghanistan and about 500 bombs since arriving in the region November.

The Air Force also says that in today’s budget environment, the only way to get big savings is with major moves, such as retiring the entire fleet of A-10s, its support structure and its training infrastructure. Service leaders point out that about 80 percent of combat air support missions are flown by aircraft other than the A-10 and that it must begin to focus on its high-tech future force, not what it calls aging “cold warriors.”

This is the context in which Post, speaking to about 300 troops at Nellis Air Force Base, emphasized the importance of presenting a united front to Congress in supporting the request to retire the A-10. Giving the jet’s allies any information they could use to keep it around would amount to “treason” to the Air Force, he said.

The fight over the A-10 has been a case study in the military’s difficulty in terminating a weapon with strong political backing. | AP Photo

After Post’s remarks were first revealed on an Air Force-centric website, the confrontation with Congress got even nastier. Ayotte charged the Air Combat Command was conducting a “reverse investigation” to determine which of its airmen had been talking with her office and others in Congress about the capabilities of the A-10.

Any such internal witch hunt, which the Air Force denied, would have violated a law guaranteeing troops’ right to talk directly with lawmakers, Ayotte charged at the time.

On Friday, Post apologized for his remarks in a statement released by the Air Force, explaining that “it was sincerely never my intention to discourage anyone’s access to their elected officials.”

Other congressional leaders expressed support for the Air Force’s latest action.

House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry called the move “an important and correct action.”

“Members of Congress must be able to receive unfiltered facts and opinions from service members in order to fulfill our duties under the Constitution,” the Texas Republican said in a statement. “Attempts to prevent or restrict that communication cannot be allowed.”

Post’s removal was also hailed by government reform advocates. Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, said Post’s warning had shown he was “unfit for command.”

“Members of the military have a constitutional right to communicate with Congress,” Brian said. “To threaten them with an offense as serious as treason goes against the very oath that all military personnel and Major General Post, himself, had to take.”

Post is a 1983 Air Force Academy graduate and an experienced fighter pilot with more than 4,800 flight hours, according to his official biography, and has served in Iraq.

He will remain in the Air Force but his official reprimand and public removal from command could hurt his chances for a future promotion. Moreover, receiving a third star would require confirmation by the Senate, which may have become a long shot.

The incident is likely to add yet another obstacle to the Air Force’s uphill climb of convincing Congress to allow the Warthog fleet to be retired. But the Air Force is not giving up.

Its chief of staff, Gen. Mark Welsh, also a former A-10 pilot, told reporters this week that as much as he and other leaders like the aircraft, the service needs the money to fund more pressing needs. Commanders whose “requirements” inform how the services are equipped and organized have much higher priorities than keeping the Warthog, he said.

“They’d all like to keep the A-10 just like I would,” Welsh said. “But with the money we are being given, it is not at the top of the priority list.”

The Air Force’s arguments, however, have done little to sway lawmakers, even though they did allow up to 36 Warthogs to be placed in a backup status as part of last year’s National Defense Authorization Act.

This year, Ayotte is pushing for the defense policy bill to block any Air Force effort to “retire, prepare to retire or place in storage” any additional A-10 aircraft. She’s also seeking $737 million in the Air Force’s budget to pay for the fleet.

And she has a clear ally in McCain, who represents Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz., one of the A-10’s main home bases. He made protecting the A-10 part of his campaign kickoff this week for a sixth term.

“I worked with defense and community leaders in the Southern Arizona Defense Alliance to stop the Obama administration’s misguided plan to cancel the entire fleet of A-10 Warthogs,” he said.