Reflections on Assessing Character

my take on events unfolding in the building

Update 25APR25: The day after I published this Hegseth acknowledged that the military covid vaccine mandate was unlawful. Go figure. Perhaps this is an indication that there will be reconciliation with Dan Caldwell and good things are to come. In discussion

Neoliberal Feudalism

pointed out that the Senate is totally corrupt and will never confirm any appointee who truly puts the interests of the American people first, so the particulars don’t really matter much. I can’t say I disagree, and suppose I’ll refrain from commenting on the topic going forward, especially given I can’t distinguish between Hunter Duncan and Duncan Hunter. I still maintain that something tragic happened here and hope to see Dan Caldwell fully exonerated, as my gut tells me his priority in all of this was genuinely support and defense of the Constitution and the America people.

When Pete Hegseth was nominated by President Trump for SECDEF, I took it upon myself to express optimism over the development. I’ve now come to believe this optimism was misplaced. Failure to address the unlawful nature of the military covid vaccine mandate was an initial cause of concern that continued to mount until I watched Dan Caldwell’s interview with Tucker Carlson last night.

Dan came across as earnest, well intentioned, and candid throughout the interview. He holds positions that resonate with me, grew up not far from where I grew up, is around my age, had similar motivations to join the military etc. and had extremely consistent body language throughout the interview. If he’s lying, he’s the best damned liar I’ve ever seen. The culminating concern I was experiencing transformed into outright alarm when I saw this segment with Secretary Hegseth earlier today.

Aside from not so subtle deviations from the norm in body language and facial expressions, his plain language seems intentionally deceptive. He talks of an ongoing investigation that he seems to say hasn’t yet produced any evidence that Dan, Collin, and Darin were responsible for leaking classified information, yet seems so confident that evidence will be found that he fired each of them despite their extensive history of loyalty. The crazy thing is that this loyalty isn’t only to the Constitution and the President, but to Hegseth himself, established over many years. If these concerns exist, why not place these men on administrative leave? I know with certainty that there are many senior officials and officers working in the Pentagon that ardently believe the COVID vaccine mandate saved lives and enhanced readiness, DEI strengthened the institution, and trans service members are entitled to an opportunity to serve. To blithely fire the three individuals we can be confident support the EOs barring those with gender dysphoria from service, abolishing DEI, and bringing those wrongly separated for refusing the unlawful.¹ COVID vaccines seems insane to me.

I brought these concerns up to a friend of mine who works in the Pentagon and was basically told that my alarm is well founded. I was told that since the signal chat leaks that made headlines some weeks ago, Secretary Hegseth has become increasingly paranoid, and that this is amounting to a grave national security risk. I’d like to believe this isn’t the case, but I can’t find another way to reconcile what I’m seeing. In this segment with Secretary Hegseth he impugns the character and integrity of people I can’t help but identity with, especially Dan Caldwell. In the same segment, he goes out of his way to glaze Joe Kasper who was Hunter Duncan’s right hand man while he was embezzling campaign funds and cheating on his wife (who he initially tried to pin the embezzlement on while he used campaign funds to pay for lavish dates for the women he was cheating on her with). I think its especially worth bringing up Kasper because there was evidently some animus between him and Caldwell et al. as explained in this article.

Watching the social media ecosystem I see conservative influencers operating on a pay-to-play basis shilling for coca-cola and castigating anyone who questions their motives as insufficiently MAGA. In the segment above Hegseth deflects criticism as all coming from people uncomfortable with the policy changes he is executing. How can this stand? I’m sitting here befuddled. Who else on active duty has written articles criticizing DEI and the wisdom of accommodating those with gender dysphoria to serve? Others have raised concerns about the vax mandate, but I’ve been here calling out full bird Colonels² in the middle of the last administration over these very issues. I’d like to think this track record might allow me to break through the cognitive dissonance and paranoia that seems to be gripping the SECDEF, but he just fired people who had faithfully supported him for years without any evidence, so I doubt it.

I’m honestly at a loss. I feel like the wisdom of sound policy including a focus on warfighting, removing divisive DEI programs from the institution, and eliminating counterproductive accommodations for service members afflicted with gender dysphoria will be lost amidst a scandal that can’t be contained. I can sense they’re committed to advancing the false narrative that the only people that are concerned with this development are simply expressing bad faith political disagreements. Its all mixed up. We need candor, and that is what I saw from Dan Caldwell. I only fear the overall capacity for discernment among military professionals has degraded to the point that they can’t even recognize candor when they see it. If you’re reading this, do me a favor. Watch both of the videos I linked and let me know what I’m missing in the comments.

1. Even though they can’t bring themselves to say unlawful (smh)

2. Criticism of DEI here:

Dear Woke Colonel

Analysis of claims that accommodation of gender dysphoria in the military enhances readiness here:

Trans Colonel Has Many Opinions