Protecting our troops*

James Wilkerson, a colonel in the Air Force, was convicted by a jury of aggravated assult and sentenced to 1 year in military prison. This sentence was overturned by Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin.

"General Franklin’s decision to overturn Colonel Wilkerson’s conviction by a jury came after Colonel Wilkerson had failed a polygraph examination concerning the offenses, according to several people close to the case. General Franklin did not check with the victim before making his decision to dismiss the case, for which he has not given a detailed public explanation, and instead tried to promote Colonel Wilkerson and give him a new command, according to people familiar with the case."

General Franklin “was looking for a way to show the pilot community he had their backs,” said one person familiar with the case.

Documents obtained in connection with Colonel Wilkerson’s case also provide a glimpse into the fighter pilot culture of the Air Force that some women say encourages misogynistic behavior. In a personal e-mail he wrote while he was at Aviano in November 2011, Colonel Wilkerson, who had recently been named the inspector general of the Air Force’s 31st Fighter Wing, describes his own behavior in a confrontation with military police. The e-mail, filled with bravado, expletives and fighter pilot jargon, describes an incident in which Colonel Wilkerson and other fighter pilots burned a couch in the middle of the base and then barked at the police and pulled rank to get them to back down when they came to investigate.

He wrote to another pilot that he deserved an award for helping ensure “the ability for the bros to either continue their merriment or skip away without notice.” He added that he cared “about bros and traditions,” and that he wanted to be remembered by his fellow pilots as someone who is “willing to stand up to the man, flip him the most wary of middle fingers, and then daring him to touch it.”

*refers only to "bro" troops.