It can only be hoped that Charles Flynn is the sane brother, because if he’s anything like Mike, this is not good news. And the timing is something. Charles Flynn takes over this command days after his sibling made headlines saying that a Myanmar-like coup d’etat could happen in the United States. Stars & Stripes:
FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii — Gen. Charles Flynn took command of U.S. Army Pacific on Friday, vowing to continue transforming the 90,000-soldier force into one that can meet the challenge of a rising China.
“Today, as China trends on an increasingly concerning path, presenting challenge to the free and open Pacific, the Army is charged to change once more,” Flynn said during a livestreamed ceremony at Fort Shafter. Media were not allowed to attend the event.
Flynn — the younger brother of Michael Flynn, who briefly served as national security adviser under former President Donald Trump — took the reins from Gen. Paul LaCamera, who will move on to command U.S. Forces Korea. […]
Addressing the audience, the Army’s chief of staff, Gen. James McConville, praised LaCamera for his part in developing and testing the Army’s first Multi-Domain Task Force, which is aimed at coordinating air, cyberspace, land, maritime, space and the electromagnetic spectrum in a battle environment.
Flynn said he expected to build upon that soon by incorporating long-range precision fires and integrated air missile defense.
U.S. Army Pacific is also calibrating its force posture to be more agile through prepositioning supplies in the theater to sustain the force, he said.
Not saying that Charles Flynn can’t do this command competently, but it is interesting to note that the Army falsely denied for days that Charles Flynn was involved in a key meeting pertaining to the response to the Capitol insurrection. Flynn later confirmed to the Washington Post that he “was in the room for a tense Jan. 6 phone call during which the Capitol Police and D.C. officials pleaded with the Pentagon to dispatch the National Guard urgently, but top Army officials expressed concern about having the Guard at the Capitol.”
“I entered the room after the call began and departed prior to the call ending as I believed a decision was imminent from the Secretary and I needed to be in my office to assist in executing the decision,” Flynn said.
The general’s presence during the call — which has not previously been reported — came weeks after his brother publicly suggested that President Donald Trump declare martial law and have the U.S. military oversee a redo of the election. There is no indication that Charles Flynn shares his brother’s extreme views or discharged his duties at the Pentagon on Jan. 6 in any manner that was influenced by his brother.
It makes sense that Flynn, as the Army’s deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and training, would have been involved in the Pentagon response. The D.C. Guard answers to the president, but the president delegates control over the force to the defense secretary and the Army secretary, essentially leaving it to top Army officials to make critical decisions regarding the District’s military force. Flynn, however, is not in the chain of command.
Not great optics at all. The Post goes on to report,
Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, who has since resigned in the wake of the security failure, and acting D.C. police chief Robert J. Contee III were flabbergasted by the Army’s reaction, according to four people on the call. Sund had stressed that the Capitol had been breached by protesters and told those on the call that he had reports of shots being fired on the scene.
Who knows? And who knows if we’ll ever find out, either.
One would expect that the constraints of being active duty military, as in no political actions or statements would apply. Also the standards of behavior expected of officers. He may be harboring some thoughts and feelings, as they said he wasn’t in the chain of command during the insurrection and yet was still present during the phone call. Interesting…
I’m not saying I don’t have concerns about this guy. I do. At the same time remember Trump had infested the DOD’s leadership with people he expected to do whatever the hell he said but even some of them were queasy about what we all saw unfolding on our TV screens that day. Some of them maybe even realized that all that would happen was that things would be delayed, Biden would still be sworn in in a couple more weeks and that while Trump MIGHT pardon them he also had a long track record of throwing people under the bus. People for example who had refused to have active duty troops on hand AND willing to order them to take Congress Critters out and say house them under guard at Andrews or Ft. Belvoir. Under guard and under arrest. Since they knew better than to try and order General Milley to to such a thing Trump was likely to take out his fury on them. Any of them who were plotters hoping the rioter’s insurrection would cause Congress to flee the Capitol and even the city had to have been nervous and the reactions coming in from around the country and the world were such that any hopes of a quick “Congress flees” disappeared.
Given all that, it would be natural whether for good reason or ill to summon Flynn’s brother, or even have him on hand (and again given his billet it would ordinarily not be an eyebrow raising thing to do) to talk to his brother over at the WH. To try and convince ole Mike that it was time to talk our EX President down. And get him to call off the mob. Again, whether it was for the good of the country or to try and save their own asses it makes sense they’d want him handy to try and get his brother who was a big driver of letting the riot continue unabated (and even providing military support) to back down and then convince Trump to do so.
Again, even if the younger Flynn has had a sterling record of service (Mike’s was awfully good before HE went off the rails however) this looks bad. You know what really concerns me about the younger Flynn? That, given what his big brother has done (and continues to do) he didn’t after a suitable period of time (to help transition in the Pentagon) retire. Instead, his ambition to higher rank overrode all concerns and sends a terrible message to our allies as well as the majority of people in this country. Sometimes a person has to take one for the team and as far as I’m concerned this is one of those times. The dude would still have a nice pension and benefits and could make a fortune consulting.
Maybe he is actually a good guy and wants to clear his name and his family name by doing a kick ass job in a crucial posting. I get that. But if that’s the case he’s incredibly naive.
It certainly makes me nervous. However, if Charles is sane, it could work to our advantage. Trump** fired two patriot brothers back t bak, Alexander and Yevgeny Vindman. That was petty and personal. We are not. And this peroves it. Of course it depends on Charles being sane. But a command that high needs candidates for commander to be vetted pretty high to … and I do have confidence in Lloyd Austin. And in President Biden’s ability to hore the best.