It’s not the military personnel...it’s those laymen putting their own colored perceptions on what they saw...Not to mention we have the example of the “foo fighters” from WWII.
Did he make visual contact with the contact? Or did he only have it on radar? Weather conditions? His speed? Was there an unscheduled test? Was something re-entering from space?
Not at all saying he was wrong...but the automatic assumption it was little green men is just a bit too damn pat for me.
The automatic assumption that he couldn’t have or most likely didn’t know what he was talking about is just tooooo cheekily pat, for me.