Apparently, a legitimate understanding of how the military structure works escapes congressional Democrats—yes…them…the very people who have the authority to declare war and send American soldiers to bleed and die for Washington’s chosen causes.

Shoshana Chatfield, a former officer in the U.S. Navy and representative to the NATO military committee, recently found herself unemployed, with Avery Lotz at Axios framing Chatfield’s firing like this:

The big picture: Chatfield joins a growing list of women and people of color who served in top military roles who have been ousted as President Trump and top officials conduct a purge of so-called ‘wokeness’ in the military.

[snip]

Driving the news: Chatfield was removed from her post ‘due to a loss of confidence in her ability to lead,’ Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement provided to Axios.

Lotz also included a number of statements from D.C.’s pseudo-elites: New York’s Kirsten Gillibrand claimed that Chatfield “is extraordinarily well-qualified and there is no reasonable justification for her removal,” Virginia’s Mark Warner is “deeply disturbed,” and Washington state’s Adam Smith said Chatfield’s termination is “unacceptable” and makes our citizens “less safe.”

Yet, none of them dared acknowledge the very important why behind Chatfield’s departure—she refused to hang up a photo of President Trump and Pete Hegseth as commander-in-chief and Secretary of Defense, respectively, at her unit’s office, and reportedly held an “all hands” meeting to announce her intention to “wait them out” — meaning the president of the United States and his SecDef.

NATO: We've got a real problem when the top US military representative to NATO is openly hostile to both the President and the Secretary of Defense. Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield held an 'all hands' meeting at NATO HQ and explained that she would NOT be hanging the pictures of… https://t.co/5bzdCKxZIl pic.twitter.com/zjCVGGOmUB

— @amuse (@amuse) April 8, 2025

I think they call that insubordination, and it’s a pretty big deal—inarugably, more consequential in the military than any other profession—without a reliable chain of command, chaos and death ensue. And, how can they complain? If Hegseth had the spine I wished he had, he’d court-martial her, strip her of her security clearance, and throw her in the brig. Chatfield got off easy, and her next stop is likely a cushy job at a defense contractor.

Perhaps it’s time to rethink allowing a group of geriatric, money-grubbing criminals to dictate public policy?

Image: Public domain.