Congressman Ronny Jackson demoted by the Pentagon because he is not a professional officer

Navy demoted the quack 🦆doctor Ronny Jackson after probe into White House behavior. Trump’s former physician and GOP ally is now a retired captain, not an admiral.

Ronny Jackson, the former White House physician turned GOP congressman, regularly touts his military bona fides.

“As a retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral with nearly three decades of military service I understand the commitment and sacrifices made by servicemen and servicewomen to serve our country,” the two-term representative from Texas says on his congressional website in a message posted to a page listing his work on veterans issues.

But Jackson is no longer a retired admiral. The Navy demoted him in July 2022, following a damaging Pentagon inspector general’s report that substantiated allegations about his inappropriate behavior as a White House physician, a previously unreported decision confirmed by a current defense official and a former U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive personnel move.

Jackson has now been demoted to a retired Navy captain, those people said — a demotion that carries a significant financial burden in addition to the social stigma of stripped rank in military circles.

Despite the demotion, Jackson has continued to refer to himself as a retired rear admiral, including in statements released since the Navy reclassified him as a retired captain. Former president Donald Trump and other Republicans have also continued to publicly describe Jackson using his former rank; it’s unclear if they were aware of his demotion.

Jackson’s office did not respond to requests for comment about the Navy’s 2022 personnel action and his demotion. The former White House physician has become a prominent voice in the 2024 campaign, repeatedly affirming Trump’s fitness to serve while castigating President Biden’s.

After publication of this story, the Navy provided Jackson’s service record, which shows the rank of captain retroactively applied to the date of his retirement in December 2019.

For an officer who served 24 years like Jackson, there is a more than $15,000 difference in annual pension payouts between a retired one-star admiral, the rank that Jackson held when he retired from the Navy in December 2019, and a retired captain, according to an estimate by Katherine L. Kuzminski, a military policy expert at Center for a New American Security. That payout gap is likely to widen over time as the military periodically increases its pay rates for each position.

Kuzminski also said that it was inappropriate for Jackson to describe himself as a retired rear admiral. “While it is possible that others will mistakenly refer to him as ‘Admiral’ in perpetuity, he himself should not make that mistake,” she said.

A Navy official confirmed that the service took unspecified action against Jackson in the wake of the 2021 inspector general’s report, which found that Jackson berated subordinates in the White House medical unit, “made sexual and denigrating statements” about a female subordinate, consumed alcohol inappropriately with subordinates, and consumed the sleep drug Ambien while on duty as the president’s physician. At the time of the report, Jackson was classified by the Navy as a rear admiral (lower half), a one-star admiral that is distinct from the two-star rear admiral position.

“The substantiated allegations in the DoDIG [Department of Defense inspector general] investigation of Rear Adm. (lower half) Ronny Jackson are not in keeping with the standards the Navy requires of its leaders and, as such, the secretary of the Navy took administrative action in July 2022,” Lt. Cmdr. Joe Keiley, a Navy spokesman, said via email.

Pentagon Inspector General demoted Ronny Jackson

Keiley declined to comment on Jackson's current rank and whether he had been demoted. The Pentagon inspector general's report had recommended that the Navy secretary take action against the retired officer, concluding that Jackson did not behave in the “exemplary” manner that is required of Navy officers.

Military guidelines allow a provisional retirement rank if an officer is under investigation for alleged misconduct at the time, as Jackson was during his departure from the Navy. Military officials have the option to downgrade the final rank if adverse findings are made, busting down an officer to the last grade at which they satisfactorily served.

Retired officers can respond to the decision, according to Navy regulations, but it is unclear if Jackson did so or otherwise challenged the Navy secretary’s determination.

In his July 2022, (quack-quack🦆🦆) memoir, “Holding the Line,” Jackson dismisses the inspector general’s report as politically motivated.

“If I had retired and not gotten into politics, this investigation would have never gone anywhere,” Jackson wrote. “This was happening because I am a perceived threat to the Biden administration and because a few political appointees in the Department of Defense want to make a name for themselves.” 🦆🦆🦆❗

General Mark Milley: "My loyalty to this nation, its people and the constitution....will never change...."

Transcript - Thank you! General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified about his calls with China over concerns about Donald Trump during September 28, 2021, hearing. 

Read the transcript testimony https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/gen-mark-milley-testimony-on-calls-with-china-transcript?utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=transcript-digest&utm_content=10-01-2021

A video posted on the PBS YouTube channel is at this link here.

General Milley: 
Thank you chairman, and if I could, I know that there’s some issues in the media that are of deep concern to many members on the committee and with your permission, I’d like to address those for a minute or two. Again, I’ve submitted memoranda for the committee to take a look at.

Chairman: 
You may proceed.

General Milley: 
Mr. Chairman, I’ve served this nation for 42 years. I’ve spent years in combat and I’ve buried a lot of my troops who died while defending this country. 

My loyalty to this nation, its people and the constitution, hasn’t changed and will never change as long as I have a breath to give. 

My loyalty is absolute and I will not turn my back on the fallen. With respect to the Chinese calls, I routinely communicated with my counterpart, General Lee, with the knowledge and coordination of civilian oversight. 

I am specifically directed to communicate with the Chinese by Department of Defense guidance, the policy dialogue system.

General Milley: 
These military to military communications at the highest level are critical to the security of the United States in order to deconflict military actions, manage crisis and prevent war between great powers that are armed with the world’s most deadliest weapons. 

The calls on 30 October and 8 January were coordinated before and after with Secretary Esper and acting secretary Miller’s staffs and the inter agency.

General Milley: 
The specific purpose of the October and January calls were to generate, or were generated, by concerning intelligence, which caused us to believe the Chinese were worried about an attack on them by the United States. I know, I am certain, that President Trump did not intend to attack the Chinese and it is my directed responsibility, and it was my directed responsibility by the Secretary, to convey that intent to the Chinese. My task at that time was to deescalate.

General Milley: 
My message again, was consistent. Stay calm, steady, and deescalate. We are not going to attack you. At Secretary of Defense Esper’s direction, I made a call to General Lee on 30 October. Eight people sat in that call with me and I read out the call within 30 minutes of the call ending. On 31 December, the Chinese requested another call with me. The deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asia Pacific policy helped coordinate my call, which was then scheduled for 8 January and he made a preliminary call on 6 January.

General Milley: 
11 people attended that call with me and readouts of this call were distributed to the inter agency that same day. 

Shortly after my call ended with General Lee, I personally informed both Secretary of State Pompeo and White House Chief of Staff Meadows about the call among other topics. Soon after that, I attended a meeting with acting secretary Miller, where I briefed him on the call.

General Milley: 
Later that same day on 8 January, Speaker of the House Pelosi called me to inquire about the President’s ability to launch nuclear weapons. I sought to assure her that nuclear launch is governed by a very specific and deliberate process. She was concerned and made various personal references characterizing the President. I explained to her that the President is the nuclear launch authority and he doesn’t launch them alone and that I am not qualified to determine the mental health of the President of the United States.

General Milley: 
There are processes, protocols and procedures in place, and I repeatedly assured her that there was no chance of an illegal, unauthorized or accidental launch. By presidential directive and secretary of defense directives, the Chairman is part of the process to ensure the president is fully informed when determining the use of the world’s deadliest weapons. By law, I am not in the chain of command and I know that. However, by presidential directive and DOD instruction, I am in the chain of communication to fulfill my legal statutory role as the President’s primary military advisor.

General Milley: 
After the speaker Pelosi call, I convened a short meeting in my office with key members of my staff to refresh all of us on the procedures, which we practiced daily at the action officer level. Additionally, I immediately informed acting secretary of defense Miller of speaker Pelosi’s phone call. 

At no time was I attempting to change or influence the process, usurp authority or insert myself in the chain of command, but I am expected, I am required to give my advice and ensure that the President is fully informed on military matters.

General Milley: 
I am submitting for the record, a more detailed unclassified memorandum that I believe you all now have, although late. And I welcome a thorough walkthrough on every single one of these events, and I’d be happy in a classified session to talk in detail about the intelligence that drove these calls. I’m also happy to make available any email, phone logs, memoranda, witnesses, or anything else you need to understand these events.

General Milley: 
My oath is to support the constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic and I will never turn my back on at oath. I firmly believe in civilian control of the military as a bedrock principle, essential to the health of this Republic and I’m committed to ensuring that the military stays clear of domestic politics.

General Milley: 
I look forward to your questions and thank you, Chairman, for the extra time.

Chairman: 
Thank you, General-

Trumpist's failed seditious response!

January 6th:  This was sedition

Echo opinion to the editor directed toward Congressman Richard Neal published in The Berkshire Eagle, in Massachusetts.

In my first communication with any congressman or senator of these United States of America, I call upon you, and other members of the Massachusetts congressional and senatorial delegations from our great state to proceed to congressional action against the seditionist acts of the #FormerGuy Donald Trump.

These seditious actions by Trump included communications to his blindly loyal cult followers, encouraging them via Twitter “to come to D.C. to protest the results of  the Trumpist's failed candidacy for a second term as the President of the United States.” To wit: Despite any evidence of any significant voter fraud, the current president refuses to accept the results that he lost. The target of the protesting was to be the congressional validation of the Electoral College results, a mostly pro-forma verification of all the states’ tallies.

He furthermore encouraged any protesters coming that “it’s going to be wild” by using that terminology in the invitation, implying and placing his imprimatur on their future actions.

Trump's invitation succeeded in bringing thousands of his supporters to the nation’s capital, where they proceeded to break into our U.S. Capitol by force, storming the building, breaking windows and doors, overwhelming our national security personnel and forcing our Congress along with their staff and any visitors to flee for their lives.

It was a shameful debacle in our nation’s history: The storming of our House of Congress by a bunch of incited hooligans unwilling to accept the democratic process of free elections. You don’t always get what want.

Furthermore, Trump, after being informed of the actions of his invited crazy supporters and their damaging consequences, refused  to end their illegal actions, and refused to issue Twitter notifications also asking them to “back off” or desist — thus again placing his imprimatur or tacit approval on their illegal actions.

Furthermore, Trump then delayed by hours the calling of the National Guard to assist the beleaguered Capital Police officers, thus endangering their lives. Unforgivable.

This act of sedition against the lawful work of our highest governing body in these United States must be addressed by the Congress of the United States before this cancerous and lethal disease spreads, and we become a lawless, third-world country.

From Robert Ericson, Lanesborough, Massachusetts

The writer is a four-year veteran of the U.S. Navy and a 35-year Department of Defense contractor.

cc:  Senator Susan Collins

Shameful failure to help American war fighters - a psychiatrist echo opinion

Brain injuries from Iran air strike highlight military's failure to care for its own

Hundreds of thousands suffer the invisible injuries of war. The medical campaign to treat psychological problems and brain injury has fallen short. There are mounting needs but little research, writes

Dr. Stephen N. Xenakis, echo opinion published in The Spectrum, a Utah newspaper. 

First the Pentagon said no U.S. troops were injured in Iran's missile strike last month on an Iraqi air base hosting Americans. Then it rose to 11 with brain injuries, then 34, then 50, and by Thursday the number was up to 64. That's upsetting, as was Donald Trump's (stupid!) recent comment that "it's not very serious."

This is consistent with a decades long tradition of downplaying the significance of traumatic brain injury. Senior government leadership and the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs have failed utterly in caring for the mental health of war fighters. Later labeled the signature injury of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. military was not prepared in the early days of 2003-4 to either defend against improvised explosive devices (IEDs) or treat the injuries they caused. 

Although the CIA operated a station in Afghanistan in the 1980s supporting the mujahedeen in fighting against the Soviets, it failed to learn that IEDs had been a weapon of choice. If the fighters and medics had paid attention, there should have been no surprises about the seriousness of the injuries and impact on brain health.

It wasn’t until 2010 that the Army took the minimal step of giving 24 hours rest to soldiers who had been hit by IED blasts before sending them back out on patrol.

Historically, mental health services get shortchanged in funding and support across the country, but the failure to care for the war fighters has been notably shameful. 

Looking back 18 years, we find that the medical campaign to treat psychological problems and brain injury has largely failed. Hundreds of thousands of veterans and service members suffer with the invisible injuries of war.

These men and women carry the burden of intractable emotional problems, traumatic brain injury, sleep disturbances, chronic pain and moral injury. Up to 20% of combat veterans develop significant post-traumatic stress disorder, and another 10% to 15% develop post-concussion symptoms, much like the professional football players. On top of that, many incurred injuries that cause chronic pain and exposed them to opioid addiction.

Tragically, suicide by serving military members and veterans has been the most devastating phenomenon. According to a Defense Department report last fall, 541 active military committed suicide in 2018. The Veterans Administration reported in September that more than 6,000 veterans committed suicide each year from 2008 to 2017. The Army set up a major research study in 2010 and awarded $50 million to an academic consortium, but there are no findings that have significantly changed the treatments or programs. The suicide rates have continued unabated.

The medical establishment across the Department of Defense failed from the beginning to acknowledge and respond to the mental health impacts of combat even as the fighting in Iraq intensified horrifically. There have been no significant developments in assessing and caring for the brain injuries from IEDs nor the mental health consequences following combat. DoD Health dragged its feet in gearing up until the problems became glaringly apparent.

It took the media to spotlight the shortcomings in mental health care to the soldiers and the epidemic in suicide and invisible wounds that increasingly burdened them. An Army secretary was forced out for failing to notice and act on inadequate support to outpatients at Walter Reed.

When Mike Mullen was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and I was a senior adviser to him, senior medical leadership repeatedly blocked proposals and initiatives to better diagnose and treat blast concussions and profound emotional problems. Few if any new medications or diagnostic tests have been studied and put into practice.

As the injuries and debilitation mounted, the military needed programs and initiatives that fast-tracked potential diagnostic tests and treatments for PTSD, brain injury, sleep and suicide. To do that, the leadership needed to shift gears, exercise initiative, and challenge medical researchers tied to tradition, legacy processes and time-honored procedures. Fielding treatments to soldiers and veterans expeditiously requires transformation and thoughtful risk-taking. That never happened, and there have been few improvements in day-to-day care. And, judging by a lack of published reports about better treatments, any serious criticism has been discouraged.

Our inadequate medical care for combat veterans is particularly poignant at this time when both the DoD and VA are working to outsource more treatment to insurers and the private sector. That will further weaken military medicine and set it up for failure in the future. Military medicine has unique features and requirements. Supporting and caring for our war fighters requires that the help they need come from dedicated doctors and medical teams, in uniform. The shortfalls in treating the invisible wounds of war should be another lesson learned from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Stephen N. Xenakis, a psychiatrist and retired Army Brigadier General, serves on the executive boards of The Center for Ethics & the Rule of Law at the University of Pennsylvania and is an Adjunct Professor at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences. Follow him on Twitter: @SteveXen

Houston Chronicle opinion echo ~ Donald Trump failed border policy

Donald Trump should have listened to Colin Powell.*

“The government readily keeps track of personal property of detainees in criminal and immigration proceedings.” U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw wrote Tuesday. “Yet, the government has no system in place to keep track of, provide effective communication with, and promptly produce alien children.”

The president’s knee-jerk, zero-tolerance policy affecting mostly Central American asylum-seekers remains hopelessly oblivious to a prescient bit of wisdom from the former secretary of state: “You break it, you own it.”
Trump didn’t just break up families, he broke the bank with this extravagantly expensive scheme of feeding, housing and clothing thousands of children and parents for an undetermined amount of time — roughly $2 billion in extra spending per year, according to Roque Planas at the Huffington Post — and rejecting more affordable alternatives to detention. He also broke with the priorities of the Justice Department, which should be targeting dangerous drug-traffickers and smugglers, not on moms, dads and toddlers.

And he broke his promise to run government like one of America’s best companies. Instead, he ran it like one of his own companies: into the ground. This time, though, the billionaire braggart who has declared bankruptcy six times doesn’t have that convenient out.

Migrant families cannot be housed indefinitely

Frankly, the man (Donald Trump), who once boasted, “I alone can fix it,” will have to do so. But how?

Much of the damage can’t be undone: Too many children have suffered psychological harm. Some parents have been deported while their children remain in U.S. custody. Many kids may never see their families again.

Trump could have foreseen these consequences if his administration had spent more time contemplating this policy than the president takes to fire off a tweet.

“This crisis was made as a result of a decision to separate the kids,” the emergency manager at the Tornillo detention camp outside El Paso told reporters recently. “It was an incredibly dumb, stupid decision that our leadership made.”

At this point, more than 2,000 children remain in custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement after being forcibly separated from their parents. Even though a federal judge mercifully has ordered them all reunited within a month, it seems the administration never established a plan for doing so.

“The government readily keeps track of personal property of detainees in criminal and immigration proceedings.” U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw wrote Tuesday. “Yet, the government has no system in place to keep track of, provide effective communication with, and promptly produce alien children.”

Meanwhile, actual bad guys are getting away. Federal prosecutors have been forced to divert time, money, and manpower from prosecuting serious drug-smuggling along the border in order to handle the surge of immigration cases.

Another key force in fighting drug smuggling — the U.S. Coast Guard — will also have its resources redirected to help pay for Trump’s fiasco to the tune of $77 million. An agency that routinely intercepts professional drug runners, last year seizing 455,000 pounds of cocaine at sea, will now have funding dedicated to stopping peaceful families seeking asylum.

That same agency, by the way, is also tasked with search-and-rescue missions in the aftermath of major flooding events. Does anyone think detaining 4-year-olds is a better use of time and money than responding to a Category 5 hurricane?

The Department of Defense, too, will have to rally resources under Trump’s plan to house up to 20,000 immigrant children on military bases.

Further inland, other Republicans must grapple with Trump’s policy of steering parents and kids into controversial detention centers. U.S. Rep. Pete Olson, R-Pearland, has called for the closure of the Shiloh Treatment Center, which houses immigrant minors. Shiloh made headlines after being caught giving kids psychotropic drugs without parental consent. 

And as the Center for Investigative Reporting revealed, the doctor overseeing the operation, Dr. Javier Ruíz-Nazario, lost his certification years ago.

In Williamson County, north of Austin, the majority-Republican commissioners court voted this week to end its contract with the T. Don Hutto detention center, which currently houses detained immigrant women. Hutto has a history of accusations of abuse, including sexual misconduct and medical neglect, and has been the subject of a series of lawsuits.

Those less moved by the damage Trump has done to migrant parents and children should open their eyes to the damage his ill-run government is doing to our nation. Trump has been lucky that, outside of hurricane season, the only real challenges he’s faced were ones of his own making. From the looks of this immigrant disaster, though, Mother Nature has found a formidable opponent.

*Immigration is part of our life’s blood
We invite skilled workers to come to America from all over the world to fill the good jobs that are waiting here. I think that’s great. Immigration is part of our life’s blood. It’s part of the essence of who we are as Americans. I am the son of immigrants. But I also want our kids here educated and trained for those jobs. We owe it to them, and we’ve got to get on with the task right now.

Source: Speech at the Republican convention , Jul 30, 2000