Recently, Congresswoman Goodlander, a military veteran, participated in a video with several other democratic members of Congress, also veterans. The apparent intent of this video was to directly interfere with the military chain of command, specifically the authority specified under Article 2 of the Constitution and the executive powers it grants to the President of the United States in his role as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
After watching the video, I could only conclude that its purpose was to sow dissension among the members of the military by attempting to goad active-duty service members into questioning orders issued by their respective chain of command. This is extremely dangerous ground and goes to the heart of maintaining effective military discipline and the absolute necessity of ensuring a credible and effective military chain of command.
The military chain of command is one of, if not the most significant part of our entire military structure. It has many purposes, among them: to establish authority and responsibility, to effect rapid decision making, and to maintain good order and discipline. It also has the mission of protecting subordinates from “illegal orders” and is the linchpin between political direction and military execution. It ensures unity of effort. At the end of the day, military members know who is and who is not in their “chain of command”. Members of Congress are not in the military chain of command and exercise no command authority over individual service members.
Our military has recently gone through a devastating period of significant decline in recruiting, retention, and keeping the focus on the warrior ethos, all caused by the introduction of the Marxist ideology of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Replacing our traditional and effective practice of using merit and individual performance for promotion and assignments.
The recent return to merit and performance has had an immediate positive impact. Young men and women are once again electing to step forward and provide selfless service to the nation. The result has been all the services having made their recruiting goals for this year and are on track to meet or exceed next year’s. A significant accomplishment and a tremendous boost to readiness and our warfighting capability. Members of Congress, especially those with military backgrounds, know how important and difficult it is to maintain our warfighting capability. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication on the part of leaders at all levels. The glue that holds this capability together is the “Chain of Command”.
This makes the comments of Congresswoman Goodlander especially egregious and hurtful. She and the other members of this group have had more than ample opportunities to have their voices heard as part of our legislative process, starting with the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, among others. Instead, she chose to insert herself into the military chain of command by making a public statement speaking directly to military members, insinuating without a single shred of evidence or any examples of unlawful orders being issued by the President. If that was not enough, this group, again with no examples, told our service members they had an “obligation” to ignore and disobey any order they did not approve of. I believe this is the first time in the 250-year history of the armed forces that this has happened.
Encouraging members of the armed forces to disobey orders issued by their chain of command places service members at risk of potential court-martial under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. In most cases, this is a career-ending event, carrying a bad conduct discharge with you into civilian life. You also lose a significant number of veteran benefits. I think it would be safe to say that none of these members of Congress would be standing by to help.
Looking back, one can only describe this video as “bizarre,” and we must ask ourselves why this video was made and who coordinated and paid to produce this “public service announcement”. The video was an insult to all our veterans and their families, and the active-duty service members who call New Hampshire home. It is also insulting to the military chain of command and our military lawyers, whose job is to ensure the integrity of our military leadership.
Members of Congress who participated in this attempt to usurp the constitutional powers of the Commander-in-Chief and to cause dissension in the ranks of the Armed Forces should be held to account. This deliberate and calculated act of misconduct cannot be allowed to go unpunished.
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