By Col. Rob Maness
March 22, 2025

As a 32-year veteran who rose from enlisted ranks to full Colonel, I’ve seen the best and worst of our military justice system. On this week’s Whistleblower Wednesday on The Rob Maness Show, I dove deep into the recent firing of the top Judge Advocates General (JAGs) from the Army, Navy, and Air Force by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. This “Friday night firing” has sparked outrage from the establishment, but as my guests—Navy Commander Rob Green and retired Navy Captain Dan McCarthy—made clear, it’s a long-overdue step to restore trust and readiness in our armed forces. Here’s why.

The Core Issue: A JAG Corps That Lost Its Way

I once had absolute faith in the JAG Corps, having wielded court-martial authority and supervised JAG officers as a senior commander. But something has gone terribly wrong. “The status quo hasn’t worked very well at the Pentagon,” I said on the show. “It’s time for fresh blood.” Commander Green, author of Defending the Constitution Behind Enemy Lines, put it bluntly: “We have lost touch with what the Constitution fundamentally means, and the law profession in the Navy is due for a reset.”

Captain McCarthy, a Naval Academy grad with a storied JAG career, traced the decline to a lack of moral courage. Serving as legal advisor to Secretary of the Navy John Dalton from 1992 to 1998, he often had to say “no” when the law demanded it—like when he told the Chief of Naval Operations a proposal was illegal, despite the CNO’s frustration. “There are two kinds of courage,” McCarthy explained. “Battlefield courage, which is instinctive, and administrative courage—the courage to say ‘no’ when everyone wants to hear ‘yes.’” Too many JAGs became “yes men,” possibly due to a “focus on DEI and woke thinking,” failing to serve either their leaders or the troops who risk their lives daily.

The COVID Mandate Debacle: A Betrayal of Patriots

The most glaring failure came during the COVID vaccine mandate, which both Green and McCarthy called illegal. “I knew as soon as I heard it that that can’t be legal,” McCarthy said, noting the lack of authority to separate troops for refusing an experimental drug. Green detailed the devastating fallout: nearly 100,000 service members were forced out, many left homeless, some driven to suicide. “We had a sailor—a Navy SEAL—who committed suicide after being treated terribly,” Green recounted. “His last job was doing yard work outside a building he was no longer permitted to enter.”

Troops who refused for reasons of conscience faced harsher treatment than serious criminals, who often get 18 months of judicial proceedings. “We provide all rights to be protected for service members that commit violations of very serious crimes,” Green said. “We didn’t treat them like we did over this vaccine mandate.” The JAG Corps, instead of defending constitutional rights, sought “loopholes and word nonsense” to let commanders say “yes,” leaving patriots to suffer.

The Establishment’s Fearmongering vs. the Truth

The fake news has spun this as a Trump power grab. A Georgetown law professor claimed the firings are “what you do when you’re planning to break the law,” suggesting Trump wants to use the military against citizens without legal oversight. I called this “hyperbole,” and McCarthy laughed it off: “I sort of laugh when I hear law professors that haven’t been there try to explain this.” The reality is the opposite—the JAGs weren’t upholding the law; they were enabling its violation.

Tim Parlatore, in a clip I played, exposed the rot: of the Navy’s last four JAGs, one exerted unlawful command influence to keep an innocent man in jail, another buried felony allegations and named the culprit as his successor, and the most recent, Admiral French, retired after just two and a half months, likely to avoid prosecution. Green dropped a bombshell: whistleblowers revealed the last two TJAGs committed UCMJ violations, prompting an NCIS investigation. “They were covering up their own potential crimes,” he said, handpicking successors to perpetuate the corruption.

Beyond COVID: A Systemic Failure

The fallout isn’t limited to COVID. Green highlighted ongoing lawbreaking, like a Navy JAG admiral defying Trump’s executive order to remove DEI by simply renaming it. “That type of lawbreaking is bubbling up,” I said. Colonel Gannon Burton, an audience member, called it a “cover-up of a crime scene,” pointing to silenced reports of vaccine injuries, including rising miscarriage rates. “It wasn’t just a failure of the law,” Burton said. “It was a failure of command.”

This betrayal has shattered trust across the force. “The most important thing is trust,” Green emphasized. “We have now destroyed trust with service members.” Recruitment and retention are still recovering, and readiness to fight and win wars is at risk. “We have to believe our oaths that we’re protecting and defending the Constitution,” I said. “I see the weaknesses that have been imparted all the way down that chain of command as a major issue.”

Accountability: A Path to Restore Trust

McCarthy offered a solution: grade officer determinations under 10 U.S. Code 1370. These administrative reviews can demote retirees to the last pay grade they served satisfactorily in, serving as a deterrent. “Hold the seniors most accountable,” he urged, naming figures like former Secretary Lloyd Austin, who oversaw the vaccine mandate and the Afghanistan debacle. “If you do that, the subordinates will get the picture.” In 2017, a four-star was retired as a two-star—precedent exists.

Court-martialing senior leaders like General Milley is impractical—how do you convene a jury senior to a four-star?—but McCarthy cautioned against going after every mid-level officer. With 8,500 troops impacted, “it’ll just all come apart,” he warned. Instead, focus on the top to set the tone. Green, facing reprisal himself (the JAG Corps recently targeted him for prosecution over his whistleblowing), urged junior ranks to “hang on tight and keep doing the right thing—help is on the way.”

The Road Ahead

President Trump’s push to reinstate affected troops with back pay is a start, but we must rebuild the entire chain of command. “We’ve got to get back to where we’ve fixed and repaired the entire chain of command,” I said. Hegseth’s bold move is a step forward, but accountability must follow to restore trust and readiness. Support The Rob Maness Show at wvwfoundation.com—your donations keep this content free. Check out worldviewtalk.com for privacy-focused cell phones and solar generators. Join us tomorrow for Truth Thursday with Sally Pipes on Doge’s Medicaid and Medicare efforts. May God save America.

WATCH FULL SHOW: https://worldviewtube.com/vault/video/military-service-jags-fired-secre…