As I read Flinn’s file last winter, I saw an officer who, within days of arriving at Minot Air Force Base, was having sex with an enlisted man. Then she had an affair with the husband of another enlisted person, lied to investigators and disobeyed an order. She knew better. Flinn was a graduate of the Air Force Academy and had served nearly four years of active duty as a lieutenant. She had been instructed about military standards, values and improper relationships between service members of different ranks. These subjects are taught at the academy and had been much discussed during her period of active duty. In the military we believe that such relationships undermine a unit’s good order and discipline and hinder its ability to function.
When Flinn was confronted about her affair, she lied about it. She didn’t stop seeing her boyfriend–he moved in with her. Finally she disobeyed a direct order to stay away from the guy. It’s been said that her commanding officer, Lt. Col. Theodore LaPlante, should have informally counseled Flinn to stop seeing Marc Zigo, and that if he had, the whole thing would have died quietly. The fact is she had already been counseled by a unit first sergeant. By the time Flinn came to see Colonel LaPlante, it was too late. She had already started lying. Indeed, if Colonel LaPlante had not gone ahead with formal disciplinary charges at that point, I am quite sure that he would have been accused of a cover-up, probably by enlisted troops angry that an officer was getting away with preferential treatment. On a related point, critics have said that Flinn got a raw deal because she’s a woman, but the record shows that men who lied under similar circumstances were treated the same way.
It was very frustrating for me to sit in Washington and keep silent while she was becoming a media darling. But I couldn’t very easily speak out without being seen as attempting to influence the outcome of the case as it was working its way through the military justice system. Finally, when I was up on the Hill testifying about the budget and other matters, Sen. Tom Harkin asked me about Flinn. It was clear from his question that he and others like Trent Lott had been sucked in by the media. By now, the case had reached the office of the secretary of the air force. I felt the time had come to speak frankly. I answered that the issue was not adultery but lying and disobeying an order.
Kelly Flinn understood this perfectly well. All this talk from her and her family about agonizing over whether to fight or settle for a general discharge is a bunch of bull. She had no choice. It was an open-and-shut case–she was facing jail time. Frankly, I don’t think that the secretary should have negotiated with her lawyers at all. Flinn should have been simply told to submit her resignation–and that the air force would decide whether she would get a dishonorable or a general discharge. An honorable discharge was out of the question.
Flinn continues to say she was singled out. The only person who singled out Kelly Flinn was Kelly Flinn. She was clever to put out the story that she was being persecuted for adultery. People ask, why should lying about adultery be such a big thing? If she was a civilian–a college professor, say–she wouldn’t risk going to jail. Well, that’s the point. The military is different. We are entrusted with the security of our nation. The tools of our trade are lethal, and we routinely engage in operations that involve risk to human life. People whose job it is to go in harm’s way must be able to trust each other. Flinn was flying an airplane tasked with a nuclear mission. In a wartime situation, she might have been called on to deliver nuclear weapons. More immediately, on a day-to-day basis she was flying an eight-engine warplane, the B-52, which had been in the inventory since the 1950s. That can be challenging and dangerous work. Her crew has got to be able to trust her, and in a small community like Minot, news of lying and disobeying orders travels fast.
In the end, I thought a general discharge was about right. But it still bothers me: here is an officer who was given a free education and the best flight training in the world. She could have been a very positive influence. Instead, she threw it away, refused to accept responsibility for her actions and blamed the air force. Yet thanks to her own failings, she is now ““marketable.’’ I don’t know how much money she’ll make from her book. But I know we have officers and enlisted troops out there busting their butts, obeying the rules and doing the mission every day. Some of the enlisted troops are feeding their families with food stamps. If fame and fortune go to this failed officer, something is wrong here.
