Roughly a year before President Trump was inaugurated for the second time, I joined a group of 230 veterans in signing the Declaration of Military Accountability. It seeks justice for the violation of military members’ rights of conscience during the COVID era and calls for steps to be taken to make amends for abuses of command authority. Having lived through the terror of weaponized institutions being directed at us and our loved ones, those of us who are calling for a return to constitutional rule in the Armed Forces have no interest in an inquisition. It is not a technique we wish to make part of the American tradition. But systems of law remain trustworthy only when they uphold and administer justice.
There are three basic camps among top military management that enforced the Pentagon’s illegal shot mandate.
The Concerned Institutionalists had reservations about the legality and ethics of the Department of War’s COVID policies and enforced them with mercy and flexibility for those under their charge. They recognized that shot, mask, and testing mandates were morally suspect and tempered enforcement with sympathy. Though these supervisory officials personally adhered to immoral policies, they avoided acting in punitive ways toward subordinates who had moral and ethical concerns.
The Deceived Followers believed Lloyd Austin’s COVID policy to be lawful, yet tried to enforce it in ways that still granted a sense of dignity to those who correctly perceived the mandates to be wrong.
This brings us to the third group: Prejudicial Mercenaries. These military officials enforced the shot mandate vindictively and maliciously, shaming those who held moral, religious, or medical concerns. Some went so far as to measure their subordinates’ personal honor and integrity based on their views of mandates for emergency use authorization shots, masking, and testing regimens. This particular tribe presents a clear threat to liberty, both for military members and the American public.
During his 2024 campaign, President Trump sympathized with troops who faced the choice of taking an objectionable jab or forfeiting their careers. At a town hall on October 4, 2024, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Trump responded with the following after former Green Beret John Frankman asked him whether senior military officers would have to answer for pushing the shot mandate: “There would be accountability, that’s right. We’ll fire their asses.” Yet we are now months into the second Trump Administration, and many veterans who enthusiastically supported both Trump’s candidacy and Pete Hegseth’s nomination to lead the Pentagon are still wondering if senior leaders will be held to account.
However, there are limited, but encouraging, signs on that front.
U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Milford Beagle Jr. is quietly retiring. His shot enthusiasm was so great that while commanding Fort Jackson in South Carolina, he barred family members from attending the basic training graduations of their loved ones if they didn’t have a vaccination card. In other words, Beagle made it a violation for soldiers—American citizens—to see their family members at the end of basic training. A soldier’s wife recently claimed that Beagle also required his commanders to read Robin DiAngelo’s book White Fragility. If so, that matched well with then-Gen. Mark Milley’s desire to better understand “white rage,” and a litany of other indoctrination campaigns that he and others promoted across the force in recent years. The Biden Administration promoted Beagle two additional ranks. Fortunately, he will not advance to another.
Another general who adopted Gestapo-esque techniques is Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims. Had momentum held, Sims was to be nominated for a fourth star this year. He signed a policy in 2021 that limited visiting unvaccinated soldiers and civilians to their workplaces and hotel rooms while on base. And he blocked them from using base facilities, including grocery stores. It was a policy of “show your papers to buy food,” which echoed terrifying moments of history that happened not long ago. Fortunately, his career is also now concluding earlier than planned, as Secretary of War Pete Hegseth declined to promote Sims.
Though the careers of some officers involved in COVID totalitarianism are now ending ahead of schedule, several parachuted out before the new administration came to power.
Retired Lt. Gen. Ted Martin was an enthusiastic jab promoter and was merciless toward those who disagreed and applied for accommodations. He torpedoed their careers and insulted them many times with propaganda videos on then-Twitter, general-splaining how the shot would fix all things. You won’t find those posts anymore, though. Years’ worth of content on his X account has since been removed.
Not to be outdone, the since-disgraced Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Pat Donahoe brought all of his non-existent medical expertise to bear in his COVID messaging: “Don’t follow the tinfoil-hat club that’s somewhere online. Do research. Go to CDC.org and read about [it]…. This is incredibly safe. It’s new technology.”
Then there’s the case of U.S. Army 1st Lieutenant Mark Bashaw, the only military member court-martialed over unlawful COVID policy. Two weeks ago, the Army Board for Correction of Military Records formally acknowledged that Bashaw’s prosecution “was driven by political aspirations and personal biases, which affected the outcome of the trial.” The prosecutor was then-Col. Eugene Vindman—the brother of Alexander Vindman and now congressman for Virginia’s 7th U.S. House District.
Such apparatchiks exemplify the kind of officers whose record should undergo a grade review board to determine the last rank at which they served honorably. That is standard practice when officers retire for reasons related to misconduct. The same goes for men like Sims, Beagle, and many others.
Unbeknownst to the public, there are still commanders engaged in discrimination against subordinates when it comes to vaccines. These “leaders” seem to make sport of bringing extreme hardship on our fellow citizens in uniform and their families.
Take for example the crucible that U.S. Air Force Maj. Brennan Schilperoort is emerging from. His commander seems to believe it is still 2022 and Lloyd Austin is in charge at the Pentagon. Schilperoort’s pay was halted this year, and he was put on involuntary leave over vaccination policy, a move usually reserved for those who are convicted of a serious crime or desertion. Fortunately, the Secretary of the Air Force Inspector General recently acknowledged that Schilperoort’s command broke the law. In a just world, such a finding would lead to court-martial for abuse of authority. Commanders whose subordinates were driven to suicide by harsh enforcement of COVID policy should likewise be investigated and—if necessary—tried in a judicial proceeding.
The degree to which COVID policy wrongs were done varies. Some people who took the shot are fine. Many are suffering tremendous physical debilitations that are irreversible. For others, the injury is of a moral nature. Those of us calling for military accountability are not naïve enough to believe that an apology here or a conviction for breaking the law or abusing subordinates there will undo the damage. But legitimate systems of justice still speak, even if they cannot turn back the hands of time.
In some cases, proper accountability is as simple as an apology. In others, it looks like being blocked from future promotion or command. The actions of some are grounds for involuntary separation or retirement. It is a simple rule of thumb that those who are unrepentant cannot be trusted. And yes, there are some military officials who are deserving of court-martial. In that setting, they will be afforded the legal protections denied to their subordinates.
When it comes to the COVID horror campaign carried out under the Biden Administration, the Department of War’s first priority should be reinstating those who are willing to return to service. In January, President Trump signed an executive order to that effect. Yet the Department of War has slow-walked compliance. With cautious optimism, I echo what Secretary Hegseth said during a listening session on September 3: “The only way we fail is when we quit.” I believe his desire to get reinstatements right is sincere. We must grapple with how and why the military’s totalitarian approach to COVID happened, hold those responsible who violated the consciences of soldiers under their command, and take steps to reduce the risk of tyranny in the military ranks.
The next priority must be a thorough after-action review on the order of the 9/11 Commission to determine the exact sequence of events that led to an illegal order being carried out with such force and prejudice across the nation’s military. Such a review cannot undo the past, but it can ensure the truth is captured in the historical record.
Finally, senior Department of War officials who are interfering with the reconciliation process must be shown the door. Whatever talents and experience they bring cannot make up for their refusal to be part of healing this deep wound.
The nation has reconciled before, which took deliberate effort. Recall the magnanimity with which Maj. Gen. Joshua Chamberlain presided over the surrender ceremony of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s forces at Appomattox, ordering a salute and handing out pardons and rail transportation passes to those who were enemies just moments before. This spirit is why there was a reconciliation monument at Arlington National Cemetery. But the Biden Administration tore it down, as if to break trust between reconciled veterans of two centuries past as it worked to break trust among patriots in our time. As that monument rises again, a reconciliation is needed in our own time.
The continued call for accountability in the military is not one of revenge, but a response to the reality that the leadership class thus far refuses to hold itself accountable. I am hopeful that a thorough review will be initiated, based on a recent listening session with Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata. I welcome a day when commanders who abused their authority, medical officers who violated their oaths, staff judge advocates who acted as rubber stamps rather than ethical advisors, and public affairs officers who knowingly participated in a campaign of global disinformation are all held to account.