You may recall that Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman testified in the impeachment hearings in the House of Representatives. He did so at risk of his career. He lost his career.
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (Ret.), a career U.S. Army officer, served on the National Security Council as the director for Eastern European, Caucasus and Russian affairs, as the Russia political-military affairs officer for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and as a military attaché in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
This article appeared in the Washington Post:
After 21 years, six months and 10 days of active military service, I am now a civilian. I made the difficult decision to retire because a campaign of bullying, intimidation and retaliation by President Trump and his allies forever limited the progression of my military career.
This experience has been painful, but I am not alone in this ignominious fate. The circumstances of my departure might have been more public, yet they are little different from those of dozens of other lifelong public servants who have left this administration with their integrity intact but their careers irreparably harmed.
A year ago, having served the nation in uniform in positions of critical importance, I was on the cusp of a career-topping promotion to colonel. A year ago, unknown to me, my concerns over the president’s conduct and the president’s efforts to undermine the very foundations of our democracy were precipitating tremors that would ultimately shake loose the facade of good governance and publicly expose the corruption of the Trump administration.
At no point in my career or life have I felt our nation’s values under greater threat and in more peril than at this moment. Our national government during the past few years has been more reminiscent of the authoritarian regime my family fled more than 40 years ago than the country I have devoted my life to serving.
Our citizens are being subjected to the same kinds of attacks tyrants launch against their critics and political opponents. Those who choose loyalty to American values and allegiance to the Constitution over devotion to a mendacious president and his enablers are punished. The president recklessly downplayed the threat of the pandemic even as it swept through our country. The economic collapse that followed highlighted the growing income disparities in our society. Millions are grieving the loss of loved ones and many more have lost their livelihoods while the president publicly bemoans his approval ratings.
There is another way.
During my testimony in the House impeachment inquiry, I reassured my father, who experienced Soviet authoritarianism firsthand, saying, “Do not worry, I will be fine for telling the truth.” Despite Trump’s retaliation, I stand by that conviction. Even as I experience the low of ending my military career, I have also experienced the loving support of tens of thousands of Americans. Theirs is a chorus of hope that drowns out the spurious attacks of a disreputable man and his sycophants.
Since the struggle for our nation’s independence, America has been a union of purpose: a union born from the belief that although each individual is the pilot of their own destiny, when we come together, we change the world. We are stronger as a woven rope than as unbound threads.
America has thrived because citizens have been willing to contribute their voices and shed their blood to challenge injustice and protect the nation. It is in keeping with that history of service that, at this moment, I feel the burden to advocate for my values and an enormous urgency to act.
Despite some personal turmoil, I remain hopeful for the future for both my family and for our nation. Impeachment exposed Trump’s corruption, but the confluence of a pandemic, a financial crisis and the stoking of societal divisions has roused the soul of the American people. A groundswell is building that will issue a mandate to reject hate and bigotry and a return to the ideals that set the United States apart from the rest of the world. I look forward to contributing to that effort.
In retirement from the Army, I will continue to defend my nation. I will demand accountability of our leadership and call for leaders of moral courage and public servants of integrity. I will speak about the attacks on our national security. I will advocate for policies and strategies that will keep our nation safe and strong against internal and external threats. I will promote public service and exalt the contribution that service brings to all areas of society.
The 23-year-old me who was commissioned in December 1998 could never have imagined the opportunities and experiences I have had. I joined the military to serve the country that sheltered my family’s escape from authoritarianism, and yet the privilege has been all mine.
When I was asked why I had the confidence to tell my father not to worry about my testimony, my response was, “Congressman, because this is America. This is the country I have served and defended, that all my brothers have served, and here, right matters.”
To this day, despite everything that has happened, I continue to believe in the American Dream. I believe that in America, right matters. I want to help ensure that right matters for all Americans.
Lt. Col. Vindman made one mistake: In Donald Trump’s America, right does not matter. Loyalty to Trump is the only thing that matters, and God help those who make the mistake of thinking differently and putting country above loyalty to the Leader.
Regardless of who is president or the administration, what Lt. Col. Vindman did was a “career ender”. If he didn’t know that then he wasn’t paying attention during his years in the Army, or he was very, very naive.
Bob Carlson, I disagree with your catch-all general statement.
It depends on who that president is and/or the political climate at the time. It also depends on what Party holds the most power.
If a Republican is president and the Congress is controlled by Democrats and the whistleblower exposes more corruption for Trump, I doubt it would end his/her career because that whistleblower would have support from the Democratic controlled Senate and House that is a possible scenario if Trump wins a 2nd term.
The military careers of the My Lai Massacre whistleblowers did not end with that scandal.
Hugh Thompson Jr. was a warrant officer when he stepped up to reveal what had happened during the Mai Lai Massacre in Vietnam, and he stayed in the military reaching the rank of major before he retired in 1983 He died at 62 in 2006.
In 1970, Thompson testified against those responsible for the My Lai Massacre. Twenty-six officers and enlisted soldiers, including William Calley and Ernest Medina, were charged with criminal offenses, but all were either acquitted or pardoned (Nixon was president).
Thompson was condemned and ostracized by many individuals in the United States military and government, as well as the public, for his role in the investigations and trials concerning the My Lai massacre.
As a direct result of what he experienced, Thompson experienced posttraumatic stress disorder, alcoholism, divorce, and severe nightmare disorder. Despite the adversity he faced, he remained in the United States Army until November 1, 1983, then continued to make a living as a helicopter pilot in the Southeastern United States.
In 1970, Hugh was a warrant officer. In 1983, when he retired he was a major.
I do not know what Warrant Officer rank he was in 1970. There are five different ranks from Warrant Officer 1 to Chief Warrant Officer 5.
If he was a Warrant Officer 1, he had to climb seven steps to reach Major in 13 years. Climbing through the ranks is not easy. I had an uncle that was in the Navy during World War II, and he stayed in for 3r years to retire as a Lieutenant Commander. Robert, my uncle, started out at the bottom as a seaman and climbed the ranks, 18 steps to reach Lieutenant Commander.
The president in 1970 was Nixon. I’m sure Nixon was not happy with the scandal from the Mai Lai Massacre and a lot of the pressure Thomason death with came from that admiration and continued under Ford.
Nixon resigned in 1974.
Ford was president till 1977.
Then, Jimmy Carter, a Democrat became president until 1981.
Hugh retired when a Republican, Reagan was president.
All Vindmun had to do was wait it out like Thomason did until Trump is gone and the Republicans out of power, and his situation would have probably changed, too.
Once Trump and the GOP was out of the equation, Vindmun’s rank would have been determined by higher-ranking Army officers and 70 percent of the officers in the U.S. Military do not approve of Donald Trump. The Trump appointees to the DOD had to be the ones blocking his chance of promotion and once Trump was gone, they would be gone, too.
Vandeman could have also retired and then joined the National guard or stayed in the reserves, inactive, wherever he retired. When the political climate changed, he could have gone active again.
I can’t see where you are disagreeing with Bob Carlson other than saying it’s not universally true. Whistle blowers, in general, are not well treated and if you happen to have a superior, military or not, who doesn’t like you, you are toast whether you are “righteous” or not. Obviously, others in the chain of command chose to cover their “assets” rather than follow their oaths.
Vindman outed a traitor in the highest office of the land. I very much hope that Biden gives him a medal and a significant post in his administration. He deserves it. He is a hero.
I often complain about the overuse of the word hero. Not in this case. Fiona Hill and Marie Yovanovich as well.
I remember when he said that to his father, and I wondered. Like many Americans, Vindman thought we were too far away from autocracy to be punished for telling truth to power, but under Trump, that is where we are. And that is why many sensible people are worried Trump will refuse to abide by election results. I hope Col. Vindman will be rewarded eventually, the wheels of justice grinding slowly and all, but I just don’t know anymore. In the meantime, we can use his example and fight for what is right, regardless of outcome.
Anyone that serves the country in the age of Trump may wind up being ridiculed, harassed, intimidated or just plain canon fodder like LT. Col. Vindman. Trump is an irrational tyrant that lashes out at anyone that dares cross him. Trump carries long lasting personal vendettas against anyone that dares to stand up to him. That is why some of the Southern governors are willing to sacrifice students and teachers to Covid to open schools despite high rates of infection. These governors are cowards that serve their orange paper tiger. Vindman is a true American patriot that has the courage of his convictions.
He will have a significant position in the Biden administration, of that I am sure.
Should Biden win (and I’m still not convinced, but hopeful), I hope you are correct. Put him in charge of the Pentagon’s Russia surveillance program, that way he can find more evidence to turn over the Justice Department to prosecute the Idiot.
Your words to God’s ears, Greg!
This is a little out of left field. But I often ask myself how come politicians can swiftly set up elaborate profit-making systems that enable them to operate with great dispatch? Just as they create virtual monopolies and nurture large enterprises (cable networks, pharmaceuticals, utilities) without competition via favorable legislation and no-see regulators. But somehow they still have not set up no mechanisms to encourage and reward whistle blowers. Hmmm.
Decades have passed since A Ernest Fitzgearld blew the lid off the Pentagon’s waste and overspending in the letting of contracts. And the Vindmans and Fiona Hills of the world are abused in plain sight–an example to teach us never to speak truth to power.
Trump, as “Commander in Chief,” has the title, the authority, and nothing else that deserves respect.
I find Vindman’s statement well-reasoned and also courageous in “speaking truth to power.”
Donald Trump is the phoniest phony of them all. Not to mention his army of skanks, McConnel, Graham, Pence, his children, Miller. I hope karma gives them their just deserves.
When Trump FINALLY leaves the White House, throughout the Executive Branches, people will be singing with joy like the Munchkins on the death of the Wicked Witch of the East.
Ding, dong the orange clown. . . .
Which old clown?
The orange clown.
Ding, dong the orange clown has fled.
How long for this relief we’ve waited!
Have the Oval fumigated.
Ding, dong the orange clown has fled.
If hell were real, he’d go below.
Below, below, where goblins go,
(Miller’s one for sure, you know).
With his slimy spawn in tow,
Soon no doubt to jail he’ll go.
Ding, dong the orange clown has fled.
I am still terrified that the Idiot will stay in the White House. Either because the Duke Effect will prove to be more real than I fear, or because enough white males in the military and police will violently enforce a coup. (White males are the problem–35% excepted–go to any hardware store to get a palatable sense my fear.) But IF I am proven to be wrong and hyperbolic, and I sincerely hope I will be, here’s one of the first acts I want to see in a Biden administration: pardon Reality Winner. https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/21/us/reality-winner-texas-medical-prison-coronavirus/index.html
Vindman lost his career. Winner lost her freedom.
Yes. Another American hero.
Reality Winner
In Nature’s competition
Reality’s the winner
Cuz factual sedition
Will surely be the dinner
“For a successful technology [and National security, as well] reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled” — Richard Feynman