Kelly Flinn incident

1st Lt Kelly Flinn United States Air Force
Born	December 23, 1970 (1970-12-23) (age 43) St. Louis, Missouri
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Air Force
Years of service	1993-1997
Rank	First lieutenant
Other work	Proud to Be

Kelly Flinn, sometimes referred to as Kelly Flynn (born December 23, 1970), was the first female B-52 pilot in the United States Air Force (USAF).^[1] She was discharged from the U.S. Air Force in 1997 after an adulterous affair with the husband of an enlisted subordinate, for military offenses including disobeying a direct order from her commanding officer to break off the affair, and for lying to him about having done so.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]} Flinn's trouble with the Air Force received widespread media attention at the time and was discussed in a U.S. Senate hearing on May 22, 1997.^[2]

Background

Flinn was born in St. Louis, Missouri,^[8] the youngest of five children.^[3] She decided to become a pilot after attending Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama.^[8] She attended the Air Force Academy and bomber training, becoming the first woman B-52 pilot in the USAF.^[1]

Charges, media coverage, and disposition

On May 20, 1997, following an adulterous affair with a civilian soccer coach at Minot Air Force Base who was married to a female enlisted subordinate in her chain of command, Flinn was charged by the military with conduct unbecoming an officer, disobeying a lawful order (in writing, to stay away from the married man), and for making a false official statement in which she lied to her superior officer, falsely telling him she had ended the affair.^{[3][4][5][7][8][9][10]}

Flinn's case, due in part to her high visibility in Air Force recruitment advertisements, drew national attention, eventually creating a media circus. Chief of Staff of the Air Force General Ronald Fogleman testified at a congressional hearing that, "In the end, this is not an issue of adultery. This is an issue about an officer, entrusted to fly nuclear weapons, who lied."^[10] The media, however, largely treated the case as though Flinn were being tried by the military for the crime of adultery, and castigated the Air Force for allegedly firing her on moral grounds; a New York Times editorial on the case emphasized the adultery, rather than the actual military charges with which she was charged, and blamed the military's "antiquated adultery rules and their consistency in administering them, as well as their management training."^[11]

Following the media outcry, Flinn was allowed to resign from the Air Force by Secretary of the Air Force Dr. Sheila E. Widnall with a general discharge instead of facing a court-martial.^[2][4][5][6] She later wrote a book recounting her experiences, entitled Proud to Be: My Life, The Air Force, The Controversy (ISBN 0-7567-5753-3, ISBN 0-375-50109-6).

References