November 11 is Veteran’s Day in America. Most Western nations share this holiday under different names — Armistice Day, Remembrance Day. It’s the day set aside to honor the brave and tireless men and women who fought for our freedom in wars of yesteryear. The ability to fight is what makes Jordan Karr’s story so compelling.
As a former Air Force intelligence officer, Jordan Karr understood that it was her duty to fight for constitutionally protected rights for herself, but also for those junior enlisted members. “This is why I'm so harsh on the officer corps,” she says, “we have an obligation to be critical, we have an obligation to question…”
Karr says many do not understand their oath to the Constitution, even though they swear to uphold it as part of their obligation of service. In fact, that oath is what anchors the purpose to serve. “Everything that we do is because of the Constitution and because of our oath to the Constitution. And so many officers are not aware of that. They've never read the Constitution. They don't understand their role when it comes to upholding their oath and upholding the law.”
The COVID pandemic compelled the US military to introduce a vaccine mandate. Karr fought this tooth and nail with her higher-ups, including seeking exemptions and using the Constitution to showcase the unlawful nature of what was happening. Her conviction ultimately cost her job.
Still, she knew she was on the right path, not just fighting the illegal mandate, but taking on a system that had somehow allowed discipline to atrophy, standards to drop, and morale to be crushed. This has had a devastating impact on the US military, she says.
“We are not ready,” says Karr on the subject of military preparedness. When she goes to the gym on base, “I look around, and these military members are out of shape. I'm in better shape than them, and I've been out of the military for two years.” Many service members are on medical waivers. Many of them are injured because of the vaccine. Many are overweight and many are demoralized.
She adds that when they present their concern to their chain of command or medical provider by saying: “I think that this is a vaccine injury because I didn't have COVID. I got the shot. I followed orders and now I'm injured. They're being gaslit. They're not being listened to.”
As America readies itself for a new administration, and potentially a 2025 filled with chaos and mayhem, Karr says there is still the opportunity to undo the damage done. It comes down to one word: accountability.
“Without accountability even the people who are out of the military because of COVID and because of… Afghanistan, DEI policy, whatever reasons… they do not want to come back to a military when there is no accountability for what has been allowed to happen.”
Karr’s optimism for the future hinges on restoring trust in the chain of command and in senior leadership. To achieve this, she is advocating for the use of a very specific and important tool — court martial — which is often misunderstand by civilians. “A lot of people hear court martial and they they think, ‘oh, dictatorship.’ But it's not. It is an opportunity to present the facts.”
There’s a specific, if somewhat underhanded reason, the public has not seen any kind of court martial process happen, according to Karr. “A lot of my friends forced out of the military requested court martial. They were denied court martial because that would set a precedent.”
“If one of them went to a court martial and were proven right — that the mandates were unlawful, that the mandates were unconstitutional, and the implementation was unconstitutional — that would set a precedent across the Department of Defense, and every branch would have to act accordingly. And so they denied [it].”
Backing down was not an option