What STARRS Accomplished in 2025 Because of You

2025 was quite a year with a new Administration and Pentagon leadership that had the same aims as STARRS: eliminate the divisive CRT/DEI ideology from the military and remedy the C19 vax mandate mess.

Here is a review of what STARRS accomplished in 2025 because of your support:

DOD/WHITE HOUSE

In the early part of the year, STARRS closely monitored the wonderful Executive Orders and Memos coming from the Trump Administration, including from the Pentagon, to eliminate the DEI agenda and return to merit, as well as bringing back those who left because of the vax mandate. More than often, these orders/memos reflected the same words and goals that STARRS pushed for many years. It was great satisfaction for all STARRS and their supporters to see come to fruit what all of us had been advocating for, for a long time.
In September, SecWar Pete Hegseth gave what we consider to be the absolute best speech in the history of Pentagon. It was very powerful and covered everything STARRS has been advocating for the past 4+ years regarding merit in the military and against the divisive woke DEI agenda. Many contacted STARRS to see if we had helped write his speech. Here are comments about what people thought of the speech.
Board of Advisor member Admiral Dean Lee, USCG ret was invited and attended a special meeting at the Pentagon in September that was held as a listening session for service members forced out of the military over the vax mandate. Senior Pentagon officials led the meeting, including Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Under Secretary of War for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata.
In August, a STARRS delegation went to Washington, DC along with members of the MacArthur Society (MS) and the Calvert Task Group (CTG) where we met at the Pentagon with Under Secretary of War for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata to discuss the MS-led Duty, Honor, Country Commission initiative supported by STARRS and the CTG. Mike Rose also introduced a concept developed by Lt. Gen Bishop called Operation Sentinel with incorporates four pillars—the DHCC initiative, Operation Warrior Ethos, Operation Rescue and Restore, and Operation Right the Wrongs.
Also in August, STARRS Executive Vice President and General Counsel Mike Rose meet at the Pentagon with Under Secretary of the Air Force Matt Lohmeier to discus Operation Rescue and Restore and presented 15 cases for expedited review and adjudication.

CONGRESSIONAL/LEGISLATIVE

Delegation to Washington D.C. February 3 -7, 2025:

A STARRS delegation to Washington D.C., along with members of the MacArthur Society and the Calvert Task Group, conducted outreach to key leaders on Veteran Affairs and Armed Services Committees in both the House and the Senate for legislative support on policies outlined in our Position Papers to Restore Purpose, Unity, & Trust in the US Military.
The delegation also connected with the leaders of the Restore America’s Fighting Force – Task Force (RAFF-TF), a task force under the direction of the Secretary of Defense to fulfill a specific requirement in Presidential Executive Order on DEI.
Seven policy areas discussed to varying degrees in the meetings included: Eradicating DEI/CRT; Commission on COVID and Anthrax Policy (COMCAP); Duty, Honor Country Commission; Board of Visitors Reform; FOIA Issues; Race-Based Admissions/Meritocracy in the Military; and RAFF-TF Connections.
The Delegation gave a face to the issues through the stories shared and emphasized the depth and breadth of the resource capability of the organizations represented.
The delegation met face-to-face with 8 elected officials, additional personal “handshake” contact with another 14 members of Congress, and over 25 staffers.

STARRS ORGANIZATION

In January, STARRS Executive Vice President Matt Lohmeier gets nominated by President Trump, in May he goes through a Senate hearing, in July he gets confirmed by the Senate, and in August he is sworn in as the Under Secretary of the Air Force.
Documentary “Call Sign Courage: The Matt Lohmeier Story” is finally released in November after Matt had been working on it for the past two years. STARRS attended the premier at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC. The host of the evening was Benny Johnson and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard gave remarks, as did Matt.
In November, Maj. General Bentley Rayburn, USAF ret, USAFA ’75, is named the new STARRS Chairman of the Board. Lt. General Rod Bishop, USAF ret, USAFA ’74 steps down to become Chairman Emeritus
Col. Bill Connor, Esq., USA ret, Citadel ’90 is named the STARR Chairman of the Board of Advisors and Capt. Jerry Rovner, USN ret, is named the Vice Chairman
New members of the STARRS Board of Advisors in 2025:
- Lt. General (Dr.) Paul Carlton, USAF ret, USAFA ‘69
- Brig. General Mick Zais, USA ret, USMA grad
- Brig. General Christopher Walker, USAF ret, USAFA ‘88
- Brig. General Howard Ingersoll, USAF ret, USAFA ‘69
- Col. Bill Connor, USA ret
- Col. Leonard Ekman, USAF ret, USAFA ‘63
- William Scott, retired bureau chief with Aviation Week & Space Technology
- Dan Clark, professional motivational public speaker, author
- Rick Addante, PhD, professor, neuroscientist and Analog Astronaut
- Rebecca Friedrichs, teacher, education activist
- Maurice Washington, businessman and former SC elected official
There are 175 STARRS Ambassadors representing 27 states

LEGAL ACTIVITIES

STARRS began Operation Rescue and Restore to help current and former servicemembers who were harmed by the Covid or Anthrax vaccine mandate or by the DEI agenda. Request forms were reviewed to either provide legal advice/assistance or dismiss. Many cases were forwarded to the Pentagon for resolution.

Total number of cases received: 204

COVID confirmed: 65
DEI confirmed: 56
COVID & DEI confirmed: 7
TYPE TO BE DETERMINED: 76
AIR FORCE – 78 active cases; 10 closed
ARMY – 30 active cases; 4 closed
NAVY – 14 active cases; 1 closed
MARINES – 3 active cases
COAST GUARD – 4 active cases
MERCHANT MARINE ACADEMY – 1 active case
TO BE DETERMINED FROM RECORDS: 56

FOIA Activity:

Total requests files: 61
Total FOIA requests remaining open: 17
Most notable open case: Requested course materials for courses taught by USAF Academy’s Professor Garcia, when she corrected Defense Secretary Austin by saying she absolutely does teach Critical Race Theory. Request was filed on July 7, 2021 (four and a half years ago).
Total lawsuits: 3
Lawsuits closed: 2
Lawsuits open: 1
Potential lawsuits: 3

EVENTS

Town Halls

January 2025: STARRS held a Town Hall with STARRS Executive Vice President Matt Lohmeier as guest speaker.
April 2025: “Military’s Leftwing Ideological Resistance: Fighting Back Against CinC & SecDef’s Military Reforms” with guest speakers Sam Shoemate, retired Army intelligence analyst and Chase Spears, PhD, retired Army public affairs officer.
July 2025: “Exposing DEI: Understanding the Strategy Behind Institutional Indoctrination” with guest speaker Stanley Ridgley, PhD, professor and author of “DEI Exposed” and “Brutal Minds”.
Sept 2025: “DEI is NOT Dead at the Department of War” with guest speaker Rick Addante, PhD, professor, neuroscientist and DEI whistleblower.

Presentations

Throughout the year, STARRS gave 13 presentations of “The American Creed Threatened by Radical Indoctrination” to groups in Arizona, California, Colorado, Ohio and South Carolina to over 500 people.
In July, STARRS helped arrange and promote a presentation in South Carolina, “Habit of Honor, Faith & Patriotism” given by Col. Doug “Stoli” Nickolai, USAF ret, USAFA ’89 and vice chair of the USAFA Board of Visitors.

USAFA Board of Visitors

June 2025: STARRS representatives met with new USAFA Board of Visitors (BOV) member Charlie Kirk to provide him with background, strategy and advice. He set up a Signal group chat with them to keep informed.
In June 2025 STARRS met with Dan Clark in preparation for the August USAFA BOV meeting and now serves on the STARRS Board of Advisors.
August 2025: STARRS leaders attended in-person the USAFA Board of Visitors meeting in Colorado Springs, CO. Charlie Kirk gave his memorable closing remarks to USAFA: “Make sure USAFA cadets can articulate and feel in their soul American Exceptionalism”.
STARRS recorded the entire session, saving it for transparency and history despite USAFA taking down their own recording a few hours after the meeting ended.
In September and October, STARRS Chairman Lt Gen. Rod Bishop, in his role as a board member of the USAFA Association of Graduates, pushed to have the AOG recognize in some manner assassinated Board of Visitors member Charlie Kirk.
December 2025: STARRS leaders attended the Board of Visitors meeting held via Zoom. STARRS Executive Vice President and General Counsel Mike Rose presented a statement. STARRS helped coordinate additional statements and advised board members. STARRS recorded the meeting.

Other

In February at an event at Mar-a-Lago, STARRS Executive Vice President Matt Lohmeier was presented an American Exceptionalism award by Lt. General Mike Flynn.
In April, STARRS President Col. Ron Scott, USAF ret, was the guest speaker at the Commanders Call of the MacArthur Society of West Point.
In July, Virginia State Leader Les Gabriel, a USAFA grad, had a STARRS booth to distribute materials at the popular event “Conservative Soiree” near Washington, DC.
In August, STARRS Vice Chairman Maj. General Joe Arbuckle, USA ret, was the guest speaker at the Commanders Call of the MacArthur Society.
In October, STARRS Chairman Lt General Rod Bishop, USAF ret, was the guest speaker at the Commanders Call of the MacArthur Society.

COMMUNICATIONS

Educational

STARRS produced eight STARRS & Stripes podcasts:
In January, the documentary “Woke Warfare” was finally released. Four leaders from STARRS are in the documentary, having been filmed for this more than a year prior.
STARRS Authors wrote 153 articles in 2025 which were published in media outlets such as The Daily Wire, Real Clear Defense, Patriot Post, etc as well as on the STARRS website.
STARRS created and published 33 email newsletters covering articles on the website, DOW and White House orders and other news, information, events and resources. In April we switched from weekly to bi-weekly newsletters.
The STARRS website is the central hub for monitoring the elimination of the DEI agenda, issues around the vax mandate and warning/educating about the dangers of Marxism. The website has nearly 3,500 posts. Of these, 1,081 posts were made on the website in 2025 with a total of 1,001,913 words for the year.
Towards the end of the year, STARRS added two new social media accounts (Instagram and TikTok) to its existing accounts (X, Facebook, LinkedIn, TruthSocial, Gettr, Gab, YouTube and Rumble).

Media/PR

STARRS issued 11 press releases in 2025.
STARRS leaders, advisors and other STARRS-related people had 86 media appearances in 2025, including TV, radio, podcast and news articles. Among the media outlets STARRS was on:
The Will Cain Show, PBS, The Free Press, Colorado Springs Gazette, KOAA News 5, Real America’s Voice, Glenn Beck Show, Truth & Liberty Show, Gateway Pundit, Restoration News, Rob Maness Show, America’s Frontlines

Other

In June, the leadership of STARRS, MacArthur Society and the Calvert Task Group sent an open letter to President Trump regarding pardoning service members harmed by the Covid vax mandate.

ADDITIONAL

STARRS assisted in getting five Air Force Academy graduates elected to the Board of Directors of the USAFA Association of Graduates. It began as a campaign to update the AOG Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws were updated/amended to be more merit-based and not censor views of grads who were concerned about the DEI agenda. This immediately resonated with many grads, with thousands signing the petition in agreement as well as stating their opposition to the divisive DEI agenda. In February, all five candidates were elected.

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