Oh Kelly, How Could You!?

Oh, Kelly, How Could You!?

The Secretary of the Air Force Talks to Kelly Flinn U.S. Air Force Photo by Staff Sgt. Angela Stafford Secretary of the Air Force Sheila E. Widnall talks to the "Buff" co-pilot, 1st Lt. Kelly Flinn, in the aircraft's small flight deck. Widnall got a first-hand look at the Air Force's global power capabilities during the B-52 flight.

Thursday, May 22nd 1997: I wonder if the Air Force realizes its site on the World Wide WEB contains this picture of Secretary of the Air Force Sheila Widnall chatting with Lt. Kelly Flinn in the cockpit of a B52. Kelly is the one with her back turned - to protect the innocent I presume. At first glance it appears that the Air Force calls Kelly the "Buff" co-pilot, but in fact the "Buff" is the nickname of a B52.

What could Sheila and Kelly be talking about? How Kelly bags men? Who's the biggest hunk at Minot Air Force Base? The quickest way to break up a marriage?

Nope. My guess is that talked about how tough it was for Secretary Widnall to get where she was.

So what are we up to court-martialing the once-darling of the Air Force because she dared to have an affair with a married man? The whole thing stinks, and the brass was up on Capitol Hill yesterday answering some angry complaints from a group of US Senators who could see an embarrassment in the making.

But surprise! The Air Force is sticking to its guns (no pun intended) and reversed most of the criticism by alerting the lily-white Senate that Kelly LIED and disobeyed an order. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) stumbled after his attack on the Air Force for wasting time and money on this nonsense was met with stiff-lipped rejection of his claims. The Air Force, said its representative, almost sneering, "was not interested in Kelly's adulterous activities."

Sure, and Snow White was a whore.

Both the "lie" and the "disobeyed order" were directly related to her affair with ex-lover Marc Zigo. So what's the Air Force up to here?

What they're up to is holding up for ridicule one of the few women who has risen to a high level of responsibility in the military and underscoring the double-standard which has been the watchword of the American military for two hundred years. Worse yet, they are pretending that Flinn's actions could somehow affect her performance as a purveyor of doom as she flies nuclear weapons to their intended targets -- thousands of other innocent men women
and children. Sad.

Rep. Nita Lowey, (D-NY) was right when she said "Kelly Flinn is not innocent -- but neither is the Air Force."

That's for sure. But word this morning is that the Secretary, exhibiting a heart of stone, will deny Flinn's request for an honorable discharge in lieu of a court-martial. How stupid can they all be? The Air Force is sure to be in the moralizing spotlight for however long it takes for her mock trial to be completed.

The position of the Air Force is a disgrace, and they are a high hypocrite in the melodrama. People are human -- even in wild blue yonder. Kelly Flinn, like most of her male colleagues, made a poor choice in love or in lust, but to throw away millions of dollars in training costs and destroy her career is moronic.

What the Air Force is saying here is "How dare you challenge our authority to rule your private life and what goes on in your bedroom and your conscience?"

Of course, the majority of men and women who will prosecute Lt. Flinn did the same thing at least once in their own military lives. Anyone who had spent time on a military base can tell you that hormones run high in this Rambo world and that sexual escapades are anything but uncommon -- at least for the males.

If academic sex-researchers are correct, 90% of men and more than 80% of women "cheat" during marriage or while in significant relationships.

So remember Secretary Widnall, people who live in glass houses…