On November 27, in an appeal to the American people, representatives of a group of veterans made public a list of 18 peer-nominated names. According to an X post by Jordan Karr, a nine-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force who served as an intelligence officer, the list “contains potential senior executives for senior cabinet officials to consider as direct staff reports” in the new Trump administration. The “rank and file nominations” can be viewed in her post:
On behalf of the ‘Rank and File’ of the Armed Forces and Veteran communities, please meet 18 Senior leaders recommended for service in the next administration.
These 18 leaders are the first of hundreds recommended through a grassroots campaign conducted in Constitutionalist… pic.twitter.com/pIqyNmJJ1q
— Jordan Karr (@JordanLkarr) November 27, 2024
According to Kacy Dixon, the spokeswoman representing the group, “These veterans do not belong to a special interest group or have any financial stake in receiving an appointment, which makes them ideal to serve in a trusted capacity.”
The Gateway Pundit spoke to some of those named on the list. According to them, it was created to represent a community of over 80,000 impacted veterans who were either kicked out, forced out, or received undue punitive action for standing up to the current administration’s unlawful COVID-19 mandates, feckless policy, and institutional degradation.
Mike Berry, who serves as executive director, Center for Litigation at America First Policy Institute, told The Gateway Pundit that “President Trump’s resounding election victory came not a moment too soon, [and] now is the time for bold, decisive action to return America and our military to its dominant status as the Alpha.”
Berry, who stood out for his staunch legal defense defending service-members’ religious liberties, sees this as a return to American exceptionalism whose best values are espoused in the military. Berry argued, “Now is the time to stop showing military weakness and instead return our focus to lethality, meritocracy, and excellence.”
Each person named on the list that wants to help restore the military to this level has a strong record of service, and according to their peers, have distinguished themselves as individuals who can be trusted due to their courage displayed while standing up to the unlawful actions of the previous administration. Central to this theme is the fact that these veterans stood up for injustices while oversight mechanisms failed or simply rubber-stamped the actions of the out-going administration.
For example, Ryan Sweazey who is the founder and president of Walk the Talk Foundation remains focused on oversight reform within the Inspector General offices, “For too long the Department has operated above the law while entities tasked with the role of performing checks and balances on it have complicity spectated.”
Many others on the list have been featured in various news outlets either by name or by pseudonym. Review of their professional resumes reveal a list of impressive accomplishments, with those who are still in the service leading critical functions across all five branches, while those who are out have excelled in the private sector. These nominees have deep experience in strategic thinking, operations, aviation, personnel management, and a litany of other skill sets.
This experience also extends to the private sector. One nominee, Stephen Simmons, a former Marine Corps major who was forced to leave active duty after 17 years of service, now leads Amazon’s last mile delivery performance operations team, and has added over $1.5 billion of value to the company in his first year with the company. Despite this success, he remains focused on supporting efforts to reform manpower policy, a subject in which he repeatedly has been quoted as a subject matter expert.
For the nominees, the list is about supporting restoration efforts within the Department of Defense (DOD) and broader reform across the U.S. Government.
As president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth continues to grapple with the bureaucratic DOD that is showing itself more and more hostile to the Trump agenda and conservatives in general. To restore the military, it will be critical to place competent and trusted executives throughout the DOD. The list presented offers a unique opportunity to transform the nation’s military through many qualified and trusted candidates.
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