Who is Cian Westmoreland?

Something I saw in my preferred post-twitter social media site.

https://newsie.social/@Motorod@mastodon.social/114325784714367605

Cian Westmoreland is a US veteran and a whistle blower.

Brief bio: he was born in 1988, enlisted in the US Air Force at 18, and in time became Air Force Technician with the 73rd Expeditionary Squadron in Kandahar, Afghanistan. In that capacity he helped create a data-relay system for the operation of killer drones.

He is now out of the service and trying to warn attentive audiences of what he was involved in. "Quite a few civilians died because of what I was working on," he now says.

But what I can't get over is his name. Cian Westmoreland.

Westmoreland, of course, is the surname of the general, William Westmoreland, who held the title Commander of Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, or just "head of MACV," through most of the administration of President Lyndon Johnson.

He was Time Man of the Year in 1965, while serving in that capacity and at a time when there was a lot of hope that the US had found the "end of the tunnel" and that Westmoreland would get us out of there.

So I have to wonder -- and I'm sure Cian gets this question often -- are they related? Grandfather/grandson perhaps? Or is the name just an odd coincidence? The name may be quite common, and there may for all I know be a lot of Westmoreland families not related to each other and all related in some way to the US military.

But ... are these two or aren't they?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Comments

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