I served as a military police officer, a “security police officer,” in the USAF during the Cold War. I served stateside, and was an actual police officer, not a “rivet counter” as we termed the SPs that carried M-16s and guarded hardware like B-52s. Do that for very long, and you know exactly how many rivets are employed to hold those bombers together.

In those days, the military was serious about being a military. We were all inculcated with military values, and military virtue was expected of us all. Do anything to bring disrepute upon one’s squadron and corrective action, including dishonorable discharge, was swift and sure. The only pronoun was “yes Sir!” Any sign of odd behavior or mental illness was swiftly investigated and sorted out. Not so, it seems, in America’s military circa 2024, as Ben Shapiro at Jewish World Review, explains:

This week, a mentally disturbed anarchist and active-duty Air Force member named Aaron Bushnell lit himself on fire and proceeded to burn himself to death while shouting "Free Palestine" in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. In his suicide note, he explained just why he had self-immolated: "My name is Aaron Bushnell, and I am an active-duty member of the United States Air Force. I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I'm about to engage in an extreme act of protest but, compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it's not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal."

Cornell West, a Harvard Professor and current presidential candidate sees Bushnell as a martyr for the Jihadist cause:

Graphic: Twitter (X) Screenshot

Now, nearly every word of this note is factually wrong. The Israeli Defense Forces are not perpetrating a genocide in Gaza — far from it. The only genocidal force in the current Gaza conflict is Hamas, which seeks to kill every Jew — and also seeks as many Palestinian deaths for the cameras as humanly possible. Meanwhile, the IDF is taking extraordinary and unprecedented measures to protect civilian life even as genocidal Hamas terrorists hide themselves — and Israeli hostages — in tunnels beneath civilian areas and among civilians themselves. 

The Democrat/socialist/communist (D/s/c) media is likewise in the mood for canonization:

Graphic: Twitter (X) Screenshot

Fortunately, some are more serious:

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wants to know how the Department of Defense (DOD) allowed a U.S. airman — who set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., on Monday — to serve as an active-duty member since 2020.

Aaron Bushnell, 25, who was an Air Force member from Whitman, Massachusetts, lit himself on fire as a protest against Israel defending itself against Hamas terrorists following the Oct. 7 attacks.

Cotton wants to know how Bushnell flew under the DOD's radar, and whether he had any access to classified information that could compromise U.S. national security.

A good question as Bushnell’s social media presence was not remotely pro-American or clearly mentally balanced.

"You have made it a top priority to address ‘extremism’ amongst our total force, and this act of horrific violence — in support of a terrorist group — raises serious questions about how this individual was allowed to serve on active duty," Cotton wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday. 

In today’s military, it appears being sufficiently mentally unbalanced to become a human torch, and aligning oneself with America’s enemies, is if not exactly encouraged at least tolerated. That would seem to be true even if one is in what would appear to be a sensitive position:

The Air Force said Bushnell was a cyber defense operations specialist with the 531st Intelligence Support Squadron at Joint Base San Antonio.

Such positions require security clearances, which should be regularly reviewed. Anyone expressing online support for America’s enemies must be carefully examined to ensure they’re not abusing their security clearance. The same is true for anyone so emotionally unbalanced as to set themselves ablaze. Is any D/s/c member of Congress as concerned as Senator Cotton?

What’s also concerning is the Air Force’s response to Bushnell’s anti-American, political suicide. Does America’s military any longer demand of its members support for American, military values? Does it any longer demand love of country and strict adherence to duty? Or does it tolerate, even encourage, those that would destroy America from within and without? Is it more concerned with pronouns and drag queens than honor?

Airman Bushnell’s death is a tragedy for his family, and all people of good will can freely offer prayers for him and them, but such people should also follow this case to see how our military, how our government, responds. That response, or lack thereof, will tell us much about our national future.

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.