Officers cannot pick and choose the superiors they follow. Either execute to the best of your ability or get out.
Ensign Willie Keith: If that’s true, then we were guilty.
Lt. Barney Greenwald: Ah, you’re learning, Willie! You’re learning that you don’t work with a captain because you like the way he parts his hair; you work with him because he’s got the job, or you’re no good!
The Caine Mutiny 1954
Recently multiple senior military officers have been relieved due to open disrespect to President Donald Trump. Navy Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield was dismissed after refusing to put up the pictures of Trump and Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth on her office chain of command board. She then openly said at a meeting of officers and sailors, “We will wait them out for four years.”
Space Force Lieutenant Colonel Susan Meyers was relieved after sending an open email to Pituffik Space Base personnel following a visit by Vice President JD Vance. Reportedly it said, “’I do not presume to understand current politics, but what I do know is the concerns of the U.S. administration discussed by Vice President Vance on Friday are not reflective of Pituffik Space Base’…’the actions taken, the words spoken [during Vance’s visit], and how it must have affected each of you…’, and Meyers pledged in the message that as long as she is in charge of the base, ‘all of our flags will fly proudly — together.’” Most recently, Colonel Sheyla Baez Ramirez was suspended as Garrison Commander at Fort McCoy WI for refusing to post pictures of President Trump, Secretary Hegseth, and apparently Army Secretary Dan P. Driscoll.
They are not the first officers to have issues with the elected president, but this person is, like it or not, your commander in chief. You publicly show disrespect like that, expect repercussions.
A friend sent me this article on the issue:
The Pentagon Must Go on the Offensive to Defeat Politicized Officers
Kurt Schlichter
That Space Force colonel in command in Greenland – well, formerly in command in Greenland – who ran her fool mouth to undermine her commander-in-chief demonstrates an all-too-common problem with today’s senior military officers. We keep seeing these passive-aggressive, and not so passively aggressive, officers acting out and throwing childish tantrums of resistance to the President that the people of the United States elected. It’s inconceivable to those of us from the military who won the Cold War; we stayed the hell out of politics. Somehow, they must have missed that civilian control block of instruction; non-partisanship is a vital principle of our officer corps. To be political on duty is a violation of our oaths. It’s a violation of our ethos as officers. And it’s got to be brutally crushed – even Barack Obama understood that when he properly canned General Stanley McChrystal for having a staff that thought it was okay to diss the President to reporters…
We simply cannot have a functioning military that tolerates individuals putting their own personal prerogatives ahead of the mission – and that’s exactly what this political posturing is….
I despise Barrack Obama, but I never questioned he was right in relieving General McChrystal. Open disrespect of the national command authority by uniformed personnel cannot be tolerated. As Harry Truman said of Douglas MacArthur, “He can say that about Harry Truman. He can’t say that about the President of the United States.”
Looking that these issues, something kept going through my head, and it finally hit. Twenty years ago there was a major scandal of treatment of Iraqi prisoners of war at the Abu Ghraib military prison. An investigating officer was appointed under Army Regulation 15-6, and a report issued in 2004.
As an officer, reading the document, to be blunt, pissed me off. The 800th Military Police Brigade was composed of eight battalions of military law enforcement personnel. However, they were not an Enemy Prisoner of War (EPW) unit, but a patrol unit. Put another way, they were the street cops, an EPW unit is the jail.
Anyone who has ever worn a uniform is experienced with being tasked for a mission you are not trained for. To borrow the phrase, “You improvise, you adapt, you overcome.” You break out the field manuals on running a military prison, reorganize the unit for this mission, develop standard operating procedures (SOP) for daily practices, train the soldiers on their new duties, and execute. That is what commanders and staff do.
The commander is legally responsible his unit can handle their mission. The implied task is he leaves his office and inspects his unit to insure is functioning as needed. The commander’s staff is there to assist him, under his guidance, in accomplishing this mission. Same with his subordinate commanders, officers and non-commissioned officers (NCO). It’s called the chain of command. The commander can delegate authority, but the responsible is ultimately, and completely, his.
That did not happen in Abu Ghraib. The commander of the 320th Military Police battalion (in charge of the prison) did not have his staff task organize his unit for their mission, and by all accounts rarely left his office. SOPs were not developed, NCOs did not train their soldiers, and most critically, they did not supervise and disciple their troops. Soldiers were “on duty” in civilian clothing, abusing their prisoners and refusing basic military customs and courtesy. Failing to salute officers and addressing superiors by their first name. Familiarity breeds contemp. In this case, it, among other issues, lead to an international scandal.
Why do I bring the Abu Ghraib incident up with recent events? In all these cases, it shows a break down in the chain of command. The 15-6 report details the failures of command, starting from the commander of the 800th MP Brigade, then Brigadier General Janice Karpinski, to the lowest private. If she had done her job (ensuring her subordinate commanders do theirs) this scandal would never happen.
If the three officers mentioned in the beginning of this article had simply done their jobs, as part of the chain of command, there would be no issue. You can have your disagreements with your commander, or in this case commander in chief, as you wish. You cannot express these disagreements openly in your uniform, or to your subordinates. It brings contempt upon the entire chain of command.
Admiral, colonel, lieutenant colonel, would you act against a subordinate who openly said “we will wait out” your time in command, or your views do not reflect on our unit, or refused to acknowledge you as a commander? I would hope so. You are part of the chain of command, and you cannot have a subordinate opening showing you such disrespect.
The President is the commander in chief, by the constitution you swore an oath to “preserve, protect and defend.” You can’t decide which parts you abide by or not. As Gene Hackman said to Denzel Washington in Crimson Tide, “We’re here to preserve democracy, not to practice it.”
I have no sympathy for these three officers. They openly showed disrespect to the civilians at the top of the chain of command. But thankfully action is being taken to purge personnel disloyal to the constitution from our service.
Ladies, you disagreed with the legal orders of your superiors. I was taught if you do, you have an honorably choice. Salute and execute to the best of your ability or resign. You took the dishonorable third option. Live with it, you will not be missed.
Michael A. Thiac is a retired Army intelligence officer, with over 23 years experience, including serving in the Republic of Korea, Japan, and the Middle East. He is also a retired police patrol sergeant, with over 22 years’ service, and over ten year’s experience in field training of newly assigned officers. He has been published at The American Thinker, PoliceOne.com, and on his personal blog, A Cop’s Watch.
Opinions expressed are his alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of current or former employers.
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