Watson should step out of his flight boots - Letter to the Editor

Like Frank Watson, I’m also a Vietnam-era, retired Air Force officer, with similar life experiences, and yet my values are very different. For example, Frank’s dire warning against the evils of socialism (CFP, 8/1/19) is interesting coming from a guy who spent much of his working life living under a model socialist system.

One of my minor conundrums in getting through my first weeks as a civilian after retirement from the Air Force was deciding what to wear every day. The Air Force not only decided that for me, they also provided an allowance to pay for my uniforms. I received a housing allowance, food allowance, free healthcare for myself and immediate family and free job training and professional education.

One of the other things I’ve come to admire about the military is pay equity. Frank has recently expanded his libertarian ethos by lamenting the “disincentives” of the minimum wage (Sept. 26). Yet he served under a system in which base pay was the same for every grade; for every private, and for every colonel, with like duties and years of service. Furthermore, Frank’s pay as a colonel wasn’t hundreds of times more than the staff sergeant’s who may have crewed his plane. And their pay was the same across race and gender.

The other thing about Frank’s sense of how most Americans live and work in today’s economy is that he still lives in the past. Not just because of his penchant for extolling the virtues of the “good old days,” but also because his service to the nation continues to be rewarded by virtue of a generous Air Force pension, Social Security and a military supplement to his Medicare coverage. Frank and I are fortunate in that we pay a small fraction of what most Americans pay for health care.

I applaud Frank’s service to the nation. Certainly, he’s earned his standard of living. It’s just that sometimes when I read his commentary, I feel that he’d do well to step out of his flight boots and live in someone else’s shoes now and then.

Richard Badalamente

Kennewick, Wash.