"For all the years we have been debating the F35, those jets have been flying all over the world on all sorts of mission and duties"

What?  "On 2 August 2016 the U.S. Air Force declared the F-35A basic combat ready". That is, "basic". These things have not flown missions or performed any other duties other than training or testing. The B models, on the other hand, were "declared initial operational capability with about 50 F-35s running interim block 2B software on 31 July 2015". And in turn, the C models are still in training and testing mode with VFA-101 which is a Fleet Replacement Squadron, not a carrier-based operational unit.

All quotes from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_II)