My " hundreds" I am referring to is the amount of people over the years that are military people , pilots, Navy personel ,upper level people in government. So if all of them are not part of the disinfo campaign ( which there is no evidence of just like aliens) that means some are telling what they believe to be true , its a tangled twisted mess that neither side can prove their case.
I'd say the notion that "some are telling what they
believe to be true" probably accounts for most of it. They
do believe it. But rarely, if ever, are they able to provide any corroborating evidence to support those beliefs. As far as these same people holding impressive-looking credentials from the military or government, two people immediately spring to mind as examples of why one should be cautious when attributing undo credibility to their claims merely due to their rank, title or position held.
1)
Paul Hellyer who served as the Canadian Minister of National Defence in the 1960s. That, in and of itself, should lend some weight to his claims of aliens and UFOs, no? Someone in his position would surely have access to information that the rest of us plebs would never be granted, right? Before his death in 2021, Hellyer was quite vocal in his public support of the topic, confidently referring to recovered craft and different species of beings who had visited our planet multiple times. Only one problem with all of this: His sources and inspiration for such statements? Not any Top Secret government briefings or guided tours of Area 51. Rather he, himself, referred to "many wonderful books" that were written on the topic. Like so many others both before and after him (David Grusch comes to mind), they are all influenced in the same way by the likes of Jacque Vallee, Philip Corso and other prominent authors within the UFO community, as well as decades worth of exposure to the same sci-fi films and TV that the rest of us were. Hellyer is held in high regard by many UFO enthusiasts simply because of his high-ranking position in government. But in reality, his professional life had little, if anything, to do with his perspective or insight on the UAP/NHI topic. He simply exposed himself to all the same decades-old lore, and personally found it compelling enough to become a true believer. Although even after years of government service, he never provided a single shred of evidence to support those beliefs.
2)
Ryan Graves, a former Lt. in the U.S. Navy as well as being an experienced (and presumably well-trained) F/A-18F combat pilot, with two deployments, who also holds a degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering. By all standards, that's a pretty impressive resume. Surely
his testimony about UAPs would be more valid than the Average Joe, no? Again, however, we run into one particular obstacle in all this. Despite his numerous podcast appearances and public testimony before Congress, Graves himself has never seen a UAP with his own eyes. You'd be forgiven for believing otherwise due to the carefully crafted narrative that he tends to spin around the topic, but the facts are the facts. He's never experienced anything firsthand. When asked, point blank, in front of Congress if he had, his simple answer was, "No."
His testimony revolves around the supposed sightings from
others in his squadron, as well as unexplained observations on radar and other tracking equipment. I've no reason to think that Graves himself is involved in a deliberate misinfo campaign, but his much-publicized reports on the matter of UAPs would appear to be driven far more by belief than provable facts or firsthand experience. As is so often the case, the supposed evidence relies on the testimony of others (who
didn't participate in the public hearings themselves) or vague and often unproven electronic "data."
Time and time again in Ufology: When you peel back the layers, you're often left with something far less impressive than what you started with.
