You don't just go from a celebrated high-ranking Intel insider to a regular guy who loses all his connections and knowledge and becomes privy to nothing.

This is only true on the assumption that the military feels the same way about Flynn's guilty plea, firing, and subsequent pardon that you guys do.

And my impression is that you guys feel it was all trumped up despite Flynn having been fired from the GEOTUS administration, and that the fact he was essentially forced out into disgrace is largely memory-holed on GAW.

I know that YOU guys don't see it as "that bad", but he plead guilty to a charge related to inappropriate foreign contacts before being pardoned.

For the vast majority of the world outside of GAW, that's what Flynn is. A disgraced former general who escaped justice only because Trump liked him. That's as much weight as his name carries to people who aren't in Q World.

It's entirely possible that the contacts normally afforded to retired military wouldn't want to be in Flynn's orbit considering the circumstances under which he was compelled to leave government service.

And my personal opinion is that because Flynn doesn't have those contacts or those opportunities since he was only saved from a conviction by a Presidential Pardon, then paying lip service to the Trump movement without having any actual power is the only way he can maintain any sort of dignity in retirement. I haven't seen any action by him that convinces me he's doing much more than enjoying the attention he gets from you guys.

I'm open to counter-examples of the military showing respect for and deference to Flynn in the years after his pardon, but given Flynn's importance to this movement, I've looked fairly closely and haven't found anything indicating that the military cares much about him at this point.