‘Ex- Colonel Pushes for Peace’

Regarding the article “Call to Disarm, Ex-Air Force Colonel Pushes for Peace and No Nukes” (Feb. 1):

Considering Thomas Tierney’s frequent public reference to his Air Force service and the fact that he is using it to support his credibility in the pro-peace movement, it seems appropriate that he be reported on accurately and his statements be corroborated regarding his service.

For example, you don’t retire from the military after 11 years, you may retire after 20 years service or more. Unless he has been passed over for promotion twice and is forced to leave, an officer resigns his commission if he elects to leave prior to 20 years.

Tierney is referred to as an ex-colonel. He may have been promoted to lieutenant colonel by accelerated advancement within 11 years, highly unusual, but certainly not colonel.

Tierney refers to his time in the Air Force as, 11 “proud years,” and yet he makes repeatedly flippant, sarcastic and disparaging remarks about his experience and the service.

In reality, Tierney appears frustrated that he never became a pilot, that as a junior officer he was a logistician, that he “fought” the war in Vietnam living in an apartment in Saigon assigning targets for others to hit and that a paper he wrote while at the Rand Corp. on controlling weather was not implemented.

Peace is a noble cause, but not peace at any price, such as unilateral disarmament.

H. M. WHITFIELD

Colonel USMC (Ret.)

Mission Viejo

Tierney’s military status was incorrectly reported. He, too, wrote to clarify the point that he was a major, not a colonel, and resigned his commission.