Disgraced Former Officer to Help Run Department of the Air Force

The efforts to reshape the leadership of the Department of Defense and the military in the image of the new president continues even as the nomination of Pete Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense waits for the Senate to vote on it. On the 21^st, it was announced that Matthew Lohmeier was being nominated to be the undersecretary of the Air Force and Stuart Scheller will be a senior advisor to the Department of Defense undersecretary.

Like Hegseth, Lohmeier has made public comments assailing the military, specifically diversity programs. Unlike Hegseth, Lohmeier was a Space Force Lt. Colonel when he did it and lost his command of the 11^th Space Warning Squadron as a result. In a self-published book and on a podcast, he is reported to have accused the military of being weakened because of critical race theory and Marxism. He was then relieved of his command because of a loss of confidence in his ability to lead. In announcing the nomination of Lohmeier, the new President cited the nominee’s ability to change the policies of the military. So, the negative views of the military that got Lohmeier to lose his command and subsequently leave the Space Force are the same ones that have led to his new nomination.

Scheller, who was also a Lt. Col. but with the Marines, criticized senior officers leading to his arrest and court-martial. He plead guilty to disobeying orders from a superior office and showing disrespect to them. Since leaving the Marines, Scheller has continued to attack leadership, including calling them incompetent. Now he will advise those leaders on issues of personnel and readiness.

Current or past leaders seen as enemies of the state continue to be a focus as well. Weirdly, the portrait of former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley has been removed from the walls of the Pentagon. As reported by Military.com there is no explanation available for this with the office of the current chairman referring questions to the White House or the Secretary of Defense. At the same time, the woman who was the leader of the Coast Guard has been removed with criticism of her efforts to increase diversity in the quasi-military branch as a claimed “failure to address border security.”

Added to these direct assaults on diversity efforts in the ranks, it has also been announced that there is a new executive order removing the one that allowed transgender people to openly participate in the military. There is no active effort, yet, to force existing members to leave but this is being seen as a first step towards such an action.

For an update on the continuing saga of Pete Hegseth, see this new post by Chuck Fager.