Partisan Military Actors Terminated
There are consequences for defying the chain of command.
The military has a woke problem, and part of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s job is to root out the rot in the Armed Forces.
Leftmedia outlets like The New York Times have characterized the Trump administration’s dismissals of military leaders as discrimination against people of color and women. If one only reads the Times, one would assume there were no good reasons for the firings beyond racism and misogyny.
The latest “victim” is Colonel Susannah Meyers, the base commander at Pituffik Space Base in Greenland. She was fired last week after Vice President JD Vance visited the base. That visit, as some may recall, was when Vance strongly expressed the need for the U.S. to acquire Greenland for national security reasons. He called out Denmark, saying, “You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland. You have underinvested in the people of Greenland, and you have underinvested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful land mass filled with incredible people.”
Meyers decided that her loyalties were to the people of Greenland, not the American commander-in-chief. She had the audacity to send a mass email to all base personnel, including members from Greenland and Denmark.
In her email, she wrote:
“Spent the weekend thinking about Friday’s visit — the actions taken, the words spoken, and how it must have affected each of you.”
“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.”
“I commit that, for as long as I am lucky enough to lead this base, all of our flags will fly proudly — together.”
This is insubordination. Meyers was questioning and defying the directives from the vice president and president, making the U.S. military look disunited in front of other countries involved. As a result, she was relieved of her command.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell emphasized the reason for her dismissal, stating, “Actions to undermine the chain of command or to subvert President Trump’s agenda will not be tolerated at the Department of Defense.”
Actions to undermine the chain of command or to subvert President Trump’s agenda will not be tolerated at the Department of Defense.
— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellATSD) April 11, 2025
⬇️⬇️ https://t.co/ITFeGw0kUf pic.twitter.com/MO68aje1X2
Meyer’s firing is but the latest in a string of dismissals, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Charles “CQ” Brown; Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti; Admiral Linda Lee Fagan, the commandant of the Coast Guard; and Air Force General Timothy D. Haugh, director of the National Security Agency and commander of U.S. Cyber Command. Some were due to incompetence, while others — like the pink slip for U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield — were due to similarly not submitting to the chain of command.
Chatfield was serving as the U.S. representative to NATO’s military committee and lost her job because she declined to install a picture of President Trump and Secretary Hegseth at NATO headquarters. She reportedly held an all-hands meeting during which she declared, “We will wait them out four years.”
When you are in the military, you don’t have the luxury of being a partisan actor (unless, of course, you are serving under a Democrat administration). You don’t have the right to disrespect the chain of command. That is met with zero tolerance. Chatfield’s was an act of insubordination.
As Hot Air’s Beege Welborn — who is a SSgt of Marines — put it: “Who do these demented, entitled females think they are? Thank God there is zero tolerance, but I want to know about the punishment. Being fired isn’t enough — I’m sorry. This isn’t a whackjob professor at Columbia throwing paint on the weekends. These women are military officers. Women who have troops and junior officers watching as they commit what would be tantrums on the outside but are seditious acts once that right hand went up, however many years ago.”
The Leftmedia wants to paint this series of firings as evidence of what racist and oppressive men Trump and Hegseth are. That’s the sticky thing about adhering to narratives: In the real world, people get fired for not doing the job they were hired to do. In the military, leaders get fired for failing to follow orders, do their jobs, or respect the chain of command.
Fortunately for America, military recruitment and morale are up under President Trump. Other, more qualified leaders are being installed to lead our warfighters. This also marks a return to a United States military that is more concerned with readiness than equity and diversity.
