He made news and sent tremors through the USAF when he implied that anyone supporting the A-10 would be committing treason, and now Maj. Gen. James Post has been spotted rubbing elbows with the enemy of the A-10. An Inspector General’s report on Post’s comments resulted in Post’s firing from his post and reprimand.
At the sight of Post with a Lockheed Martin representative fueled jokes that he was interviewing. The joke refers to the revolving door of generals from the Services into the service of vendors they supported while serving.
The Air Force Inspector General’s investigation into the matter determined that the remarks by Post, ACC Vice Commander, to a group of Airmen had a “chilling effect on some of the attendees and caused them to feel constrained from communicating with members of Congress.”
Post’s statement was first reported on the popular Air Force blog, John Q. Public, published by retired USAF pilot Tony Carr. In response to Carr’s post about Post’s comments at Nellis Air Force Base Tactics Review Board meeting, an Air Combat Command spokesperson told the ADI that the “general’s use of hyperbole in his comments during a recent discussion with attendees at a Tactics Review Board at Nellis were intended to communicate a serious point: the Air Force decision on recommended actions/strategic choices for the constrained fiscal environment has been made and the service’s position communicated.”
Lockheed Martin is building the astronomically expensive F-35, which the Air Force and Marines are using as the reason to mothball the A-10. For months they tried to argue that the F-35 could replace the A-10 in providing Close Air Support. That argument has been shot down on numerous occasions, and now the Services are left only with the argument that the F-35 is too big to fail.
Former A-10 pilot Lt. Col. Tom Norris (ret) said of Post’s Lockheed encounter, “Zero surprises here. Lockheed had better hope Maj. General Post provides more value to the company than he did to the warfighters.”
Carr said today, “The fact that Maj. Gen. Post has the latitude to interact with defense contractors in an official capacity shows how much responsibility he continues to enjoy. This underscores how little concern the Air Force has for this senior leader’s violation of federal law. They did what they had to do to make the public relations problem go away and get Congress to back off, and then receded back into business as usual.”
“To date, General Welsh has not personally addressed the Post debacle or explained to Airmen what they should learn from it.” Carr concluded, “What they’re concluding is that Welsh apparently didn’t think it was a big deal.”
New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte then called for an investigation by the Air Force Inspector General’s Office. The IG’s report confirmed that Post did use the word “treason.”
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