Call Sign Courage: A Triumphant Outcome for the Space Force Commander Who Risked It All

“The world needs voices like Matt’s,” said Lohemeier’s wife Sarah.

Matt Lohmeier was a rising officer in the U.S. Space Force when he stepped into a fight most in uniform avoid. He could have kept his head down, finished his command tour, and moved quietly toward a full military pension without drawing attention to himself or the system around him. Instead, he chose to raise concerns about the growing politicization of military training and culture—specifically the rise of Marxism and critical race theory—and in return, he was “fired from his command, without pension, and made a public example of as a non-compliant officer under the Biden administration.”

That description comes from the filmmakers of Call Sign Courage: The Matt Lohmeier Story, a documentary by Marshall Lee made with support from Root/Cause and The Heritage Foundation. Lee previously worked as an editor on 2022’s national conversation-starter, What is a Woman?, among other projects. This marks his directorial debut. 

Evidently, reception to Call Sign Courage has been strong enough that the The Heritage Foundation recently made the documentary available for free during a 48-hour period beginning April 17 via X Streaming. The good news was even shared by Elon Musk, whose repost brought Heritage—and the film—a cool 17 million views.

That 48 hour window has since closed, but the film remains available for purchase online.

In the film, Lohmeier explores how the Space Force in particular became “distracted by political discourse,” particularly after then-President Joe Biden reinstated a federal commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. This created an environment wherein base commanders would use their station to subject their subordinates to weekly town halls about identity politics, critical race theory, white fragility, and white supremacy… and white guilt.”

The result of that, Lohmeier describes, is “a climate of fear where if you’re a white male, you don’t dare try to hold a black female accountable in your unit for something she’s done wrong because you might be [told you are] a racist.”

The film includes shocking testimony from military personnel and slides from an Air Force Academy training module which lectures participants about the dangers of gendered language—and why soldiers should refrain from saying “mom” or “dad” in favor of “parent one” and “parent two.”

In 2020, after seeing firsthand how these woke initiatives had directly made his colleagues uncomfortable, Lohmeier issued a formal Inspector General complaint against one such base commander, who happened to be a black male. While writing the complaint, his home—which was located on a military base—was broken into under extremely unusual circumstances.

Not only was Lohmeier’s complaint quickly dismissed, but the same base commander was promoted to a one-star general the following day. 

“So [senior leaders] aren’t held accountable for their political worldview, but young people will be held accountable,” Lohmeier later said during a Congressional hearing. 

The following year, Lohmeier began writing a book titled Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military and appearing on podcasts to tell his side of the story. This led to his dismissal by Lieutenant General Stephen Whiting. 

“I’m living evidence and a living example of the fact that the diversity initiatives are discriminatory. I was kicked out for saying I’d like to depoliticize the workplace. Not for advocating for Republican candidates. Not for criticizing Democrat candidates,” said Lohmeier.

The film structures itself around the leadup to a U.S. House Oversight Committee meeting to which Lohmeier was invited by Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI). Along the way, Lohmeier speaks to both advocates and opponents of Marxism. One such opponent is Xi Van Fleet, a Chinese dissident and author who has written extensively about the negative effects of cultural Marxism in her homeland. The two walk through George Floyd Square, an area of Minneapolis which has been transformed into a scene more closely resembling Maoist China during the Great Leap Forward, complete with shrines, slogans, and imagery evoking the Communist Revolution. They recount how Black Lives Matter founders such as Patrisse Cullors described themselves as "trained Marxists.”

“This [is] really, really close to my heart. I feel that we are losing this county and I feel like so many Americans are just not waking up,” said Van Fleet. “They don’t know because they haven’t seen the ending of that movie that I was in.”

Lohemeier’s testimony before Congress is presented as a culmination of both the film and his public advocacy. There, he lays out his case—before combative Democrat Congressmen and women—for why diversity for diversity’s sake is not a strength in the military. 

“Skill and performance matter in the military if you’d like to deter conflict and win our nation’s wars. Period… Lethality matters, merit-based selection and promotions matter, and your ideology doesn’t matter one bit,” said Lohmeier. “We need to identify principles which will preserve our union and preserve the unity of the United States military. If we do not, we’ll lose that union.”

Fortunately for Lohmeier, his story didn’t end with being fired from the military. Many have branded him a hero, including President Donald Trump, who would go on to nominate Lohmeier to the position he holds today: the 29th Under Secretary of the Air Force. 

“Matthew will work with the GREAT Secretary of Defense Nominee, Pete Hegseth, to end the devastating ‘woke’ policies that have destroyed our Military, and make our Country STRONG AGAIN,” Trump said at the time.

The vote fell on party lines, but he was approved nonetheless. In his this role, he oversees organization, training, and equipping of both the Air Force and Space Force, manages an annual budget exceeding $200 billion, and is responsible for roughly 680,000 active-duty, Guard, Reserve, and civilian personnel and their families

Not a bad outcome given the hand he was dealt.

“The world needs voices like Matt’s because he’s willing to be bold and courageous and he’s willing to speak the truth despite the consequences,” said Lohemeier’s wife Sarah. “He’s not doing this as a popularity contest. And that gives him the freedom to speak the truth rather than be concerned about speaking what people want to hear.”

As previously mentioned, the Heritage Foundation encourages those interested to visit its website to see viewing options. For fans of physical media, DVD copies are available as well.