Docs reveal damaging discrimination in National Guard even as 'woke' military under attack
WASHINGTON − A Black soldier in Michigan says superiors referred to him as a “coon.”
Another in Maryland was passed over for promotions by his white superiors.
A gay soldier in Idaho says his commander called gay marriage “immoral” and transgender people “sexual deviants.”
These are three of dozens of incidents documented by the National Guard that paint a picture of discrimination from Topeka, Kansas, to Puerto Rico. They come as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has made it his mission to eradicate "woke" sensitivities in the military.
"I think the single dumbest phrase in military history is ‘Our diversity is our strength,’" Hegseth said at the Pentagon weeks after being sworn in.
Hegseth, who served in the National Guard and came to President Donald Trump's attention as a "Fox & Friends" television co-host, now presides over an increasingly diverse force. In 2010, 19.5% of guardsmen were racial minorities. By 2023, the latest figures available, that percentage had risen to 24.2%. Hegseth fired Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a Black officer, on Feb. 21. On Friday, the Black head of the Pentagon’s sprawling health care system resigned abruptly.
"It feels pretty racist," said retired Army Maj. Gen. Dana Pittard, who is also Black. "I know CQ Brown. I know he's a warrior. I served with him in the Middle East. He was doing well as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He did well as the chief of staff of the Air Force. It gives the impression that unless you're a white male in this administration, you're thought of 'less than.' That's a terrible signal to send to the U.S. military and the American people."
Guard confirms discrimination in its ranks
National Guard documents obtained by Paste BN through the Freedom of Information Act and freshly filed lawsuits show employment discrimination throughout its ranks. They represent the most egregious cases that reach national leadership for corrective action.The records tally more than 330 pages of investigative memos related to 35 discrimination complaints spanning from 2015 through 2022. Among them is the report revealed in 2021 by Paste BN about a Black Guardsman forced to wear a heavy chain for allegedly leaving a training event early.
In that case from 2015, a National Guard Bureau investigator wrote that Maryland National Guard Sgt. Bruce Weaver's superior had "selected the most humiliating punishment imaginable to use against an African American" soldier.
Paste BN requested the records in 2021 after reporting on Weaver's case and filed a suit in federal court to force their release.
About half of the claims in the documents were substantiated by top-level investigators, meaning they were affirmed and led to some sort of reprimand – up to firing and a bar from reenlistment. After waiting years for their discrimination claims to be heard, some soldiers received the rare victory of years of back pay after they were passed up for promotion.
“That half the complaints were found to be substantiated is remarkable, in my experience,” said Eugene Fidell, who teaches military justice at Yale Law School. “That .500 batting average alone tells me there's a real problem.”
The National Guard Bureau, in a statement, said it would not comment on the lawsuit because of ongoing litigation and referred questions to the Justice Department. The Pentagon declined to comment.
Reprimanded sergeant files suit
The documents and interviews show that racial and sexual discrimination have damaged careers, sapped morale and held back soldiers back from, in the Army's own slogan, being all they can be.
In 2023, a gay soldier in the Idaho National Guard came back from paternity leave to meet his new commander, Maj. David Worley.
With some quick Google searches, the soldier came across unsuccessful bids Worley had made for local mayor and state Senate. The campaign materials were unequivocal: Worley believed LGBTQ influences in society were immoral.
The sergeant first class seized on Worley’s participation in MassResistance, an anti-LGBTQ group, and filed a complaint. Worley received a General Officer Memorandum of Reprimand, a severe punishment that stripped him of his command.
Alleged joke about raping gay soldier
In a twist, Worley's reprimand was based not on his political activism but on his response to the gay soldier’s complaint. The letter says Worley failed to respond to the discrimination complaint, at one point telling a colleague, "Well, it’s not like I raped (the complainant) … well, not yet.”
In January, Worley took the rare step of fighting the decision and filed a federal lawsuit against the governor and state National Guard leader.
His suit argues that he was removed for his religious expression and speech and that the Guard rooted through his old social media posts seeking “concerning ideologies” that labeled him an “extremist.”
Worley’s suit is backed by the Liberty Counsel, a national evangelical Christian litigation organization that has sued elsewhere over church closures during the pandemic and COVID-19 vaccine objections.
Daniel Schmid, an attorney representing Worley, said the 22-year Guard veteran deserves an apology and hoped Hegseth would change the military’s approach to employment investigations.
“Unlike the prior administration, I think investigating little EO complaints isn’t the military’s top priority anymore,” Schmid said, referring to equal opportunity complaints. “The fight should be to protect the homeland. These are meritless EO complaints, and it distracts everybody from performing at their best.”
Idaho Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Borders declined to comment, citing the ongoing suit, but confirmed Worley has not lost his rank and is receiving benefits and pay.
Maryland case reverberated across National Guard
One of the biggest impediments to uncovering such abuses is how long it takes.
Take the case of Weaver, the Black sergeant forced to wear the heavy-duty chain. By law, state officials had 180 days to process Weaver's complaint. The state took about 1,200 days, prompting the bureau's investigator to label Weaver "the most unlucky person in the Maryland National Guard."
Weaver's case represents a wider problem for the National Guard, whose units in each state, territory and the District of Columbia operate with autonomy over how they respond to complaints. The National Guard Bureau in Arlington, Virginia, which referees appeals between state Guard units and troops, serves largely in an advisory role.
The bureau can recommend that state Guard units discipline their troops for discrimination or harassment, but it cannot enforce the penalties. That punishment is ultimately left to the same state officials whose investigations have frustrated the troops bringing complaints.
Complaints such as Weaver's enter a byzantine structure of “informal resolution requests," where state officials determine whether discrimination occurred and how to address it. That can take months or years. The Army also can direct its own internal investigation.
If soldiers or airmen in the Guard units still aren’t satisfied, they can seek redress from the National Guard Bureau leadership in Virginia. The documents obtained by Paste BN represent that high-level review and “Notices of Proposed Resolution” sent back down to state adjutant generals.
In 2020, National Guard Bureau leadership took Maryland officials to task for dragging their feet on Weaver's complaints.
'Like a slaughterhouse'
Derrick Allen, chief of complaints management and adjudication for the National Guard Bureau, called the delays “inexcusable” and “beyond disappointing,” warning that it appeared there were systemic problems.
The lengthy complaint process prompts many soldiers to give up, said Weaver, 48. He filed his initial complaint with his chain of command, then the state of Maryland, and finally the National Guard Bureau.
“It’s almost like a slaughterhouse,” Weaver said. “They keep you going from one stage to another before you run out of time.”
A 2022 memo from the National Guard Bureau that closed out Weaver’s case noted that the officer who discriminated against him was promoted despite its findings in favor of Weaver. Nor were the officer’’s acts documented in his performance reviews, the memo noted.
'Trying to stack the deck'
In a separate 2021 case, the bureau pointed to lackluster investigative work by the Maryland Guard. It said it appeared the state was “trying to stack the deck against the complainant.”
In that case, a Black guardsman was seeking promotions dating back to 2017 with the 169th Cyber Protection Team based in Baltimore. He successfully argued that a white female commander “created a poor working environment” and singled him out because of his race.
The Guard Bureau proposed giving that officer, whom they did not identify, a general officer letter of reprimand, which can result in nonpromotion or administrative separation.
Paste BN has identified the complainant as retired Chief Warrant Officer 3 George Ross, an Iraq War veteran who said he was surprised his application for the Maryland National Guard’s new cybersecurity team had been rejected. He qualified as an expert in IT and cybersecurity.
Ross' performance reviews had been good − better, he suspected, than others the unit’s new commander had hired. Ross filed a complaint with the state of Maryland after his third rejection. A process that was supposed to take five days stretched to nine months, he said.
“My file was sitting in a closet or sitting in a file cabinet collecting dust,” he said.
After Maryland officials found no wrongdoing, Ross appealed to the National Guard Bureau. The bureau conducted its own investigation and found racial discrimination and a hostile workplace.
“You name it, they found it,” Ross said.
Excluded from meetings, Ross went unnoted while others received praise. It took a toll, he said.
"I’m human," Ross said. "It’s hurtful. It cuts you to your bone if you’ve never experienced it. As a Black man, I’m in the United States Army. I served. I’d done everything I was supposed to do. And you’re still doing that to me. That hurts. But I overcame all of it."
Ross enlisted in the Army when he was 21. He later joined the Maryland National Guard and was deployed to Iraq three times.
Now retired from the Guard at 62, Ross continues to work in cybersecurity for a contractor at the U.S. Cyber Command. He said he finds solace in the Maryland National Guard signing off on a settlement that included back pay and attorney's fees.
Fit and affable, he led a tour of his "man cave" in Glen Burnie, Maryland. Photos show a younger man at Army posts around the world.
“I was satisfied,” Ross said. “I exposed y'all and I won that. I was hoping that it would help change the way things are conducted. But it's the same old same old.”
Racial discrimination spans the National Guard
The documents obtained by Paste BN include other incidents that were investigated for discrimination against Black, Latino and Indian American Guard members.
In Topeka, Kansas, a white officer was reprimanded for asking his Black subordinate about “his people” being inferior to “my people” and for belittling his Baptist religion.
In Raleigh, North Carolina, a Black sergeant was denied promotions based on his race. An underlying survey showed 30% of the unit felt discrimination based on race, color or national origin. The sergeant was subsequently promoted and received back pay.
In Lansing, Michigan, a Black service member complained about a superior’s social media post referring to him as a “coon,” which the Guard called de facto racial harassment.
That 2021 memo references a “zero tolerance” policy for discrimination and describes why it’s crucial in the military.
“Our members must be able to depend on each other – and trust each other – implicitly because unit and military readiness depends on it due to the nature of the environment and the importance of the military’s mission,” the bureau wrote.
“Leaders must take action when substantiated discrimination occurs − especially when such discrimination is further intended to undermine command and control,” the memo said.
Sexual harassment
Documents show that in Kentucky’s Air National Guard, a female physician’s assistant with the 123rd Medical Group in Louisville proved she was discriminated against and sexually harassed.
A superior denied her opportunities to advance after she rebuffed his sexual advances. She was subsequently promoted and the Guard Bureau proposed curtailing and not renewing the man’s active-duty tour.
“Based on the totality of the evidence, it is obvious he is not the kind of leader the National Guard wants front and center,” a Guard leader in Virginia wrote.
In another incident in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, a male superior sexually harassed and discriminated against a female subordinate − going so far as to track her down at her civilian job to threaten her and speak with her boss.
The bureau called the incident stalking and said it amounted to a hostile work environment that was both “severe and pervasive,” adding the superior had “tormented and terrorized” the complainant.
“The Agency is lucky this matter did not end tragically,” the Guard Bureau wrote to Oklahoma leadership, suggesting it bar the woman’s superior from reenlisting.