Service members are understandably pleased with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s commitment to make America’s military a strong and lethal force once again – but according to some, a few bad actors within the force are undermining his efforts.

WorldNetDaily spoke to Dr. Chase Spears, a retired U.S. Army public affairs officer, writer and host of the Finding Your Spine podcast. “There have been some notable restorative changes in the Defense Department under Pete Hegseth’s tenure,” noted Spears. “But constitutionally minded friends and colleagues of mine still in the force tell me that fear of defending truth remains palpable in the ranks.”

For example, said Spears: “One shared candidly that a left-wing supervisor is openly contemptuous toward the new secretary,” noting that he could not remember observing a single similar instance during his 20-year career.

Then Spears widened his scope to describe the larger military “deep state” view of President Donald Trump, Hegseth and the rest of the Trump team: “The defense complex views this as a war and is determined to wait the Trump Administration out.” In fact, he added, “Many of the senior officers charged to carry out Hegseth’s orders were promoted for their fidelity to leftist ideology.” For Spears, “Trusting generals and colonels who created these problems to help clean them up is unwise at best. It’s past time to send the majority of them on their way.”

For one example, there’s Navy Vice Admiral John B. Nowell Jr., who desired a “fully vaccinated force” and promised to separate those who refused the shot “at the earliest possible opportunity.” As chief of Naval Personnel, Nowell essentially ignored the rights afforded to service members through both the U.S. Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Working under Nowell was Rear Adm. James P. Waters III, under whose authority the Religious Accommodation Review team used a Standard Operating Procedure to unlawfully, and preemptively, deny religious accommodation requests regarding the COVID shot. While Nowell was clearly responsible for violating the rights of sailors,. Spears argues Waters was equally culpable for executing the religious accommodation denial process.

Waters now serves as commander of the Navy Recruiting Command. Once again violating federal law, the First Amendment, he blocked the X account of Navy Commander Robert A Green, Jr., from the Navy Recruiting Command’s official X account in June 2024.

Although a formal complaint was filed, the incident has not been resolved.

Waters’ actions apparently violate the Supreme Court’s ruling in O’Connor-Ratcliff v. Garnier on the unconstitutionality of blocking users from an official government account based on their viewpoints or for engaging in protected speech.

Spears responds to this by pointing out that “character matters,” adding: “If you refuse to honor a rightful law, Americans have no reason to believe that you’ll honor your oath to any other proper authority, Constitution included.”

“Admiral Waters, and anyone else still openly violating the law, must be relieved and referred for court-martial charges,” Spears suggested. “Anything less sets dangerous precedent that military officials are above the law.”

In addition, he said, “People who believe that, especially those who command well-armed combat formations, historically tend to become extraordinarily dangerous to the people they’re charged to protect.”

Glenn Neil, a former military officer of 13 years who was booted from service as a result of the shot mandate, also spoke to WND, using a pseudonym due to fear of reprisals. While he would like to return to service, he’s concerned those who harmed the nation’s security by violating service members’ rights will continue to walk scot-free.

“People keep throwing around this number of the 8,000-plus that were purged from the military for refusing the shot, but in reality,” Neil said, “tens of thousands were forced to leave.” While the latter group may have chosen to resign or retire from service on their own, it’s because they refused to denounce their religious objection or risk their health over the “unlawful as implemented” mandate.

According to Neil, these two groups of service members had the ability to discern right from wrong, choosing to “stand up and do what was right.” Many were also “highly skilled” and “highly trained,” he added. “That’s tens of thousands of them at millions of dollars each in experience, and you can’t just simply replace that with new recruits.” So it’s inevitable, he said, that “national security will suffer.”

Neil also pointed out that many service members survived the purge as a result of court injunctions that blocked the mandate or the recission of the mandate in January 2023. He also affirmed that many took the shot under duress – and now they’re “pissed.” Finally, he added for completeness’ sake, there’s always one more category of “‘yes men’ who did, and will do, whatever they’re told.”

Some of those who took the shot are now suffering from adverse effects, like myocarditis, cancer, neurological problems and more. “These people were once assets, and now many of them do not trust the government, so once again, national security suffers as result.”

Interestingly, said Neil, “I’ve worked with service members who used to ace their physical training tests before the ‘vaccine’ and now they can’t run. They’re physically unable to.”

The above examples demand accountability, Neil declared. He recalls President Donald Trump previously stating, “Yeah … there would be accountability, is right. We’ll fire their asses.” But according to Neil, “hundreds, if not thousands, of the military leaders that forced the mandate and purged tens of thousands of troops from the service are still in positions of power.”

To Hegseth, he would say, “You have to get these people out.” Rules were clearly broken and unlawful orders were given. “You have to make it a point to let them know we know this was wrong and there must be consequences. Saying ‘I’m sorry’ and offering to reinstate troops is not enough,” he lamented. “If they’re willing to do it once, what’s going to stop them from doing it again and harming people in the future?” Accountability is a must, and therefore “these are the people who need to be purged.”