Recently Col. Sheyla Baez Ramirez was relieved of duty at Fort McCoy Wisconsin after the post failed to install photos of President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on a wall displaying their chain of command. (Vance is shown in Greenland above and in a file photo from the campaign below).
In a statement, the U.S. Army Reserve Command said "This suspension is not related to any misconduct. We have no further details to provide at this time while this matter is under review."
Elaine Donnelly is President of the Center for Military Readiness.
"My reaction is it wouldn't be just for that one thing, there must be something else going on, and we don't know what it is. It hasn't been reported. As usual with these cases, they don't say. Loss of confidence is the catch all phrase. Here, if they lost confidence in her, it may have been for a combination of reasons, and the most visible manifestation was the lack of what is a routine thing … you replace one picture with another. "
Donnelly notes this dismissal comes in the wake of the suspension of Col. Susan Meyers from her Space Force command in Pituffik, Greenland.
Space Force released a statement saying Meyers was removed “for loss of confidence in her ability to lead.”
Meyers was let go earlier this month after sending an email to base personnel that took shots at Vance for comments he made during a visit to the base.
Vance was responding to comments Trump made about annexing Greenland into the U.S. It is currently a territory of Denmark, a NATO ally of the U.S.
Vance said Denmark has taken Greenland for granted and has not done enough to keep the island safe amid Russian and Chinese interest and incursions in the region.
“You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland. You have underinvested in the people of Greenland, and you have underinvested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful landmass filled with incredible people. That has to change,” Vance said.
In her email, Meyers wrote, “I do not presume to understand current politics, but what I do know is the concerns of the U.S. administration discussed by Vice President Vance on Friday are not reflective of Pituffik Space Base,” according to Military.com.
You could see this coming
Meyers should not be surprised by the reaction to her email, Donnelly said.
“She was clearly out of line in sending out that e-mail, differing with the Vice President on a matter of policy, namely the status of Greenland. So, in that case it's obvious why she was disciplined."
Ramirez is the fourth military commander fired since Trump took office. Trump has to be supported by military leaders to affect the change for which he was elected, Donnelly said.
“He was overwhelmingly elected by the American people. The American people want him to carry out the mission that he said he would carry out. You can't have low level field commanders differing with that."
