Among Morton Blackwell’s laws of the public policy process is rule 26: Personnel is Policy. No matter what the law, rules, or any kind of official policy says, the real way of doing things is what those responsible for enforcement actually carry out. For instance, illegal immigration is, well… illegal. But many blue state officials are directing their police forces not to enforce laws associated with that topic. Marijuana use is against the law where I live in Kansas. But local magistrates choose not to enforce the law when it comes to cannabis violations, thus making it lawful in practice. These are but two simple examples that highlight how those charged to enforce the law sometimes make themselves the law, to no consequence.
During his tenure as Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin abandoned his oath of office as a retired military officer and embarked on a mission to radicalize America’s military. That came in three primary phases. He first made clear that any thought aligned to conservative philosophy was suspect, and should be considered on par with an undefined ‘extremism,’ which was to be rooted out. Second, he forced the radical transgender movement onto the ranks and openly defied law to use Defense Department funds to cover abortion travel. Commanders were required to approve actions related to these wicked ideological movements, regardless of their conscience on the matter. Finally came the unlawful COVID mandate. These three things in concert were designed to make America’s military a place in which morally-minded service members faced a daily barrage of attacks against conscience. Secretary Austin aimed to purge people who love America and its founding ideals from the ranks. To our national detriment, he was largely successful.
In the year since retired U.S. Army National Guard Maj. Pete Hegseth ascended to the position now known as Secretary of War, the foot has been let off the gas when it comes to Austin’s revolutionary campaign. The DEI offices have been shuttered and transgenderism is no longer a way of life officially celebrated by the military institution. For these—and other actions to reassert moral azimuth in the force—Hegseth deserves credit, and I offer it. But when it comes to taking the department into repentance for COVID sins, he is failing. The few very positive changes in the Pentagon have fooled much of the American public into believing that all things are now well in the military. I hear routinely from misinformed civilians of their excitement that the military is completely restored. Unfortunately, the reality is that the deeply-entrenched left continues waging war to fully capture America’s defense force for revolutionary purposes. I say this in mourning, with hands open, and in a spirit of righteous confrontation: much of Lloyd Austin’s evil has evolved to become Secretary Hegseth’s agenda in practice.
There was a general philosophy toward commanders when I was in the Army. When an officer took command of an organization, its accomplishments and failures were technically his responsibility from day one. But we all know that it takes time to turn a ship around, so the tradition was that new commanders had 90 days to get after making fixes. After three months, any defects you fail to make legitimate headway toward repairing become fully yours. The one Pentagon official who seems to understand is Hung Cao, who was sworn in as Under Secretary of the Navy in October. Days ago Cao signed an apology letter, and acknowledged that the Navy and Marine Corps failed those drummed out for refusing unlawful orders. I salute Cao’s initiative, but ask why he stands alone among top Pentagon officials in this act. The buck for a Department of Defense-wide betrayal should not have fallen to a single service undersecretary. Ninety days have now stretched beyond a year that the Pentagon has been under a new chain of command that promised reconciliation with patriotic veterans across the nation. It has yet to come.
In contemplating this I recall the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s dissent in King v. Burwell, the second case in which the Supreme Court rescued Obamacare. Scalia rightly dissented the court’s desire to bend in the moment rather than uphold constitutionality.
“We should start calling this law SCOTUScare,” he said.
Scalia was right. If you see a problem, refuse to remedy it, and enable those who created and perpetuate the problem, it is no longer their problem. It is yours by adoption.
Over one year after President Trump signed an executive order directing the military to right the COVID wrongs, a grand total of 10 soldiers have been reinstated into the War Department’s largest service branch, the Army. Those who returned had to endure an administrative gauntlet that’s an insult to their honor. Great strides are being made to streamline that process now, but it took a full year before such attempt was made by Army officials.
Some critics may counter that the percentage of the thousands kicked out via unlawful COVID policies are small, potentially because many found it more lucrative to remain in their new civilian lines of work. I hope that’s the case for many. But the conversations I have had with fellow veterans on this topic over the course of five years reveals other reasons. Almost all have told me it remains a financial sacrifice, but one they're willing to endure for the following reasons:
First: They don’t trust that the officers who unlawfully forced their discharges will treat them fairly once reinstated.
Second: They would resume military service at the same, or lesser rank, and remain perpetually behind their peers.
Third: The reinstatement process proved more of an emotional hazing ritual than they're willing to go through in order to live under leaders they distrust, to begin anew behind their peers.
Fourth: They have spent the last five years building new lives through tremendous hardship and don't want to reintroduce their families to the turmoil of military life.
Finally, without any indication of accountability for officers who obeyed illegal orders, many patriotic veterans are not convinced that a future democrat-run administration would not recommence revenge on them and their families.
While the Army works to make reinstatement less burdensome, the Air Force is doubling down in forcing leaders out for opposing shot mandates that are 1: no longer required, and 2: have been labeled unlawful by the current Secretary of War. How can this overt disobedience continue? Assistant Secretary of War for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata is the man primarily responsible for the reinstatement mission. He tweets support for it, but demonstrates what appears as alignment in practice with the Biden holdovers in his office who helped to fashion Lloyd Austin’s assault on morality, conscience, and the rule of law under the previous administration. Many of us continue pointing this out, along with the war department’s unqualified failure to bring back as many troops in a year as could be illegally discharged in a matter of minutes during the Austin era. “Keep the pressure on” so "we can be reminded to someday do the right thing" is a line that not one of my military supervisors or commanders would have ever accepted from a subordinate’s lips. But apparently it’s the best that some Senate-confirmed Trump appointees in the War Department can manage. Rampant malicious compliance and outright disobedience are presently allowed across the force when it comes to the COVID reinstatement mission.
Enough time has passed to begin purging evil agents and bringing in people who are willing to aggressively fight for the military’s soul. Inaction on that front is action. Whether deliberately, or passively, the Covid evils of Biden’s defense secretary have become the policy practice of Trump’s. I plead with Pete as a fellow brother in Christ, father, patriot, and soldier to dismiss the sooth-saying courtiers in his orbit, and bring the full weight of the war department to bear in getting this right. Make us believe the military can be a just institution again.
(NOTE: RedState reached out to the Office of the Secretary of War for Public Affairs and requested comment for this column, but did not receive a response prior to publication.)
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