I know Jack Catton and he is the absolute best America has to offer. He was in the 31st Cadet Squadron, my squadron, in the Air Force Academy. He lived down the hall from me. He was a good guy but I had no idea what religion he was in, if any, until this flap arose last year. He never mentioned it.

Jack is the son of an Air Force general who taught him everything he knew. Most of all, he taught him how to handle people. Jack was one of the most relentlessly fair people I knew. He was remarkably deft at handling people, a characteristic that has undoubtedly helped him in his rise to general officer. Everybody likes Jack. I don’t believe for a minute that anybody under his command was discriminated against for their religion. It’s just not in him.

Jack got an F-15 slot out of pilot training. They don’t hand those out in boxes of Cracker Jack. Those are the most sought after and competitive positions in the Air Force. You have to be damned good to snag one of those. Not only did Jack get an Eagle slot, he thrived in it, the most competitive environment in the Air Force tactical community.

Jack made major in ten years. Usually, it takes thirteen years for the average guy to make major, eleven years for a superior performer. That means nothing to you, but when you have been in a fighter squadron and know the kind of guys who make major below the zone you know what an impressive achievement it is. You’re competing with hyper-competitive guys who dogfight each other every day in the most powerful jets in the sky. By the time he made colonel in 18 years, another impressive achievement, he had served in every important position in the fighter world, very often with distinction. His career is a model for every Air Force cadet to emulate, a combination of technical skill, people management, and drive. He is a model officer.

Now, Jack shouldn’t have appeared in uniform in this video to proselytize for his religion, but that seems like a misdemeanor to me. It is one thing to promote your religion, as Jack did, and another to discriminate against others on religious grounds, as Mike Weinstein falsely charges.

Mike Weinstein was in my class at the Air Force Academy. His name is vaguely familiar but I don’t know him personally. His reputation in the class is bad, an obnoxious jerk. Most cadets want to be pilots. Mike became a lawyer, not a respected profession at the Academy. From what I hear, he went on to become a White House fellow, where his political bent blossomed.

Mike’s attack on Christians in the Air Force was prompted by anti-semitic slurs made against his son who was a cadet at the Air Force Academy. Now, when I was a cadet, I didn’t perceive an anti-Semitic atmosphere at the Big Blue Zoo. However, I have been a student in seven colleges and I can tell you that where ever there are undergraduates, there is offensive speech of every kind. I have no doubt that anti-semitic remarks could be made at the Academy but also have no doubt that such remarks do NOT represent a climate of anti-Semitism there.

Aggravating this situation was an overrepresentation of fundamentalist Christians among the chaplains at the Academy. Christian fundamentalists actively support the military while many Protestant demoninations are pacifist, vaguely anti-American, and reject the military. So Baptist chaplains fill up the chaplain corps while other Protestant clergy enlist in protest marches against war. Likewise, fundamentalist Christians are overrepresented in the military. Now, Baptists can become over-enthusiastic in the profession of their faith. However, most cadets don’t go to chapel and are unaffected by this. Sleep is the scarcest commodity in the cadet world. In a contest between early morning chapel and your bed, the bed wins for most cadets.

However, anecdotal incidents of bias have given Weinstein enough mud to make a mud pie and sling it at the Air Force and super-respectable guys like Jack Catton. Weinstein is one of those misanthropes you find in every organization who seeks to build himself up by tearing other people down. There is just enough truth in his slander to make it believable. What he is doing is overgeneralizing anomalous incidents to falsely argue they represent a policy of religious bias in the Air Force. It’s a crock. Give me a huge organization and I can find examples of any kind of discrimination you want me to find.

The Air Force is a relentless meritocracy that doesn’t give a damn what religion or race you are. The people who rise through its ranks are ruthlessly vetted for ability, resulting in a hyper-competent leadership. You should be thankful for a military that produces guys like Jack Catton to lead it. That’s the reason why the US Air Force is the best in the world. Reasonable people should reject the slander which seeks to cripple or destroy that leadership for base motives. You don’t want a military where opportunistic political attacks determine its leadership.

Tantor on August 5, 2007 at 1:47 PM

James,

We’re not talking about an ordinary guy. An extraordinary guy like Jack Catton deserves extraordinary support, especially from the primitive mud-slingers who know nothing higher than their hog wallow.

I note that you do not dispute anything I said nor make any rebuttal of substance.

Tantor on August 5, 2007 at 4:06 PM

James,

It’s interesting to note that you don’t address the main issue that these generals are not discriminating against anybody in their command, but rather wallow in low taunting. The way you make your case demonstrates its lack of merit. There is no substance to this accusation. Professing your religion in uniform is too thin a charge to do damage to these officers, so Weinstein wants to exaggerate and distort it into something sinister. And you apparently support it.

Tantor on August 5, 2007 at 7:55 PM