Editor’s note: This commentary is by George C. Cross, who lives in Winooski, where he served as superintendent of schools for 12 years. He also served in the Vermont House for 10 years and is currently retired.
For at least three months the world has been consumed by the coronavirus. We have feared for the lives of our friends and relatives. We have obediently faced the perils of this deadly disease by practicing social distancing and diligently wearing face masks. We have tried hard to bend the curve and to protect the lives of our fellow human beings.
But what else has happened in these long months. The Vermont Air National Guard has been practicing with its new F-35 warplanes. At what cost?
In an Oct. 30, 2019, article in Popular Mechanics, the F-35 was estimated to cost $44,000 per hour to fly. I assume that number includes the amortization of the initial cost of the plane, as it should. The Air Guard in a recent letter to the city councils of Winooski, Burlington and South Burlington, dated April 17, 2020, stated that they usually fly 4-8 aircraft twice a day for four days a week, plus one weekend per month. Let’s set it conservatively at 12 one-hour flights per day for four days and 52 weeks, plus 12 flights once per month on a drill weekend. So an annual conservative estimated cost would be $116.16 million. Now the question is, how could $116M be used to fight the virus plague that has so destroyed our normal lives? How many masks might have been purchased and put to use protecting us from the virus? How many ventilators could have been added to an underfunded stockpile so as to be available when needed? How many PPEs could the medical world use to fight for those who are hospitalized?
A more realistic F-35 practice schedule might include average flights of two hours and 16 flights per day resulting in an estimated annual cost of over $300 million. Now that is real money! Again, how many masks, how many ventilators or how many PPEs?
It is important to remember that the F-35s are in Vermont only because of Sen. Patrick Leahy’s intrusion into the base selection process as reported in the Boston Globe on April 14, 2013. This was repeated on a Vermont Public Radio broadcast on April 15, 2013, when they stated:
“The Globe article quotes an anonymous Pentagon source who says Senator Leahy’s sway over the National Guard Caucus in Washington has influenced the Air Force’s decision and undermined the democratic process.”
“Unfortunately Burlington was selected even before the scoring process began,” the unidentified source told the Globe. “I wish it wasn’t true, but unfortunately that is the way it is. The numbers were fudged for Burlington to come out on top. If the scoring had been done correctly Burlington would not have been rated higher.”
It was also mentioned again in a VTDigger article of May 5, 2018, titled “Leahy and staff had central role in F-35 basing decision.” Leahy’s role has been chronicled in a variety of news reports since the Globe article and it has never been refuted with factual references.
