Gullible Americans in other parts of the country where no one serves in the military may buy the line that the American Defense Secretary going AWOL for four days last week was no big deal.

In this military heavy area we know better.

Everyone who lives here is either active duty, retired military, a vet or related to someone in the military. We KNOW what happens when service members go off the grid for a few days. Or worse yet, when they lie about where they were.

Their careers are over.

Apparently the rules that apply to lance corporals, and privates and sailors don’t apply to the top guy in Washington. Retired four-star general Lloyd Austin was rushed to the hospital by ambulance on January 1 and spent four days in the Walter Reed ICU, but didn’t tell anyone where he was, including the commander in chief. He is still hospitalized.

Worse, there are reports that Lloyd pretended to be working from home.

All this while the U.S. is fighting a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, our ships are under attack in the Red Sea from Houthi rebels, North Korea has been testing long-range missiles and China has been saber rattling around Taiwan.

During that period the president was on vacation and Austin’s second in command Kathleen Hicks was vacationing in Puerto Rico.

Who was in charge? As usual, with the Biden administration, no one. Any wonder our enemies don’t fear us and continually tug on Superman’s cape?

Am I the only one that finds it odd that with deadly conflicts in several parts of the world and with our military being targeted daily by Iranian proxies the president and defense secretary apparently go days or weeks without speaking?

Our out-of-touch president is reportedly fine with a defense secretary who doesn’t think it’s important to inform the boss when he’s gravely ill. Politico reported that Austin has no plans to resign and the president is happy with him:

President Joe Biden is not considering firing Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after he did not tell the White House about his emergency hospitalization, four senior administration officials told POLITICO.

Beyond that, one official noted, the president would not accept a resignation if Austin were to offer one.

This raises the question of what one has to do to be fired from the Biden administration besides steal women’s luggage and prance around in their clothes?

Austin’s mysterious hospitalization reportedly resulted from complications from some sort of elective surgery - which he also didn’t disclose - on December 22nd.

No one knows whether that December procedure required anesthesia. In a scathing criticism of Austin’s behavior, Time Magazine compared the current defense secretary’s secretive behavior to that of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld who , in 2006 underwent surgery for a torn rotator cuff.

Before the surgery Rumsfled transferred power to his deputy, which he revoked as soon as he was post-op.

Nearly 20 years later, few hold Rumsfeld up as a model of a Pentagon chief. And yet, his understanding of the basic responsibilities of his office was apparently miles ahead of the current occupant, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who failed to inform practically anyone who needed to know that he had undergone elective surgery on Dec. 22. The Pentagon is pointedly refusing to say whether Austin, during his initial procedure or the follow-up admittance to Walter Reed, was put under anesthesia or lost consciousness. 

Biden officials are invoking HIPAA as the reason the public isn’t being told about the nature of the surgery. What a joke. The man charged with managing the nation’s defense is a public figure and doesn’t enjoy the same privacy that private citizens have regarding their health.

Since Austin won’t reveal what sort of surgery he underwent in December we’re free to speculate: It could have been bariatric surgery, hair plugs like the boss got several decades ago or perhaps gender reassignment.

Whatever it was, abandoning his job and leaving the country vulnerable should result in an immediate, unceremonious sacking.