Will you support us as we stand for Liberty and God given rights in the Department of the Air Force (DAF) and the United States Space Force (USSF)? There is a playbook at hand (been happening across Military) to go after those brave service members who are willing to stand up for what’s right and stood up against the unlawful COVID mandates. It is an ongoing COVID purge. My husband is the next target on the list. He is being targeted with reprisal and retaliation.

Dear Friends & fellow citizens,

My name is Sara. I am a military spouse and mother. We have three young children. We are a Christian, Homeschooling, Patriotic family. We love Jesus, Family, America and Freedom. We value: Faith, Family, and Freedom. My best friend & husband, Matt, is an honorably-serving 15-year-Active-Duty Space Force officer who is being actively persecuted for his stand for religious & medical freedom in our country. Note that the USSF falls under the DAF. Our stand for religious and medical freedom began nearly 5 years ago when the now-publicly-declared ‘unlawful’ COVID shot mandates rolled out.

Our basic human rights are God-given, and may not be denied by man.

In 2020, we moved to New York for my husband to pursue a PhD at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) as part of an Air Force Institute of Technology-Civilian Institution program. In 2021, I was pregnant with our second child, and we only had each other to stand up to the draconian COVID measures of NY state and the Department of the Air Force (DAF). Matt requested religious exemptions to both RIT and the Department of the Air Force COVID vaccine mandates. My husband found himself barred from the RIT campus due to RIT’s vaccine mandate policies and was ultimately disenrolled. All the while, he was also engaged in a separate struggle with the Department of the Air Force.

After weathering denials, hiring a lawyer, a DAF wide class injunction, and a literal act of congress, Matt was able to stay active-duty USSF. However, he had suffered serious career setbacks because of the dual (RIT and DAF) unlawful COVID mandates.

Since 2024, he has been passed over twice for promotion due to the unlawful COVID-19 vaccine mandate career impacts. He also reached out to RIT for tuition waivers and support due to how badly RIT treated him. He has reached out to Promotion Boards and the Board for Correction of Military Records (BCMR), and he has presented his case to be promoted with back pay.

The Secretary of War stated on X that the “previous administration issued unlawful orders on mandatory vaccines on an experimental vaccine, COVID-19” (https://x.com/secwar/status/1915164433157968186?s=46).

Further, the Secretary of War signed memos directing the Department to “make things right for the Service members who were subjected to the Department’s unfair, overbroad, and unnecessary coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine mandate”(https://media.defense.gov/2025/Apr/23/2003696408/-1/-1/1/PROVIDING-SUPPLEMENTAL-REMEDIES-FOR-SERVICE-MEMBERS-AND-VETERANS-NEGATIVELY-IMPACTED-BY-THE-DEPARTMENT-OF-DEFENSE-DEFUNCT-CORONAVIRUS-DISEASE-2019-VACCINATION.PDF).

Instead of helping him and making things right (as directed by the Secretary of War), they instead decided to punish him with a Letter of Reprimand (LOR). Now it appears that they are trying to completely destroy his career and future job impacts by railroading him into Administrative Separation.

He was providing excellent award winning performance at work and then all of a sudden his military command comes from off-to-the-side and out-of-nowhere with a total surprise LOR. Giving him this LOR goes against what every military school teaches. This LOR could have been addressed with a 10 second chat at any time over the one-year time span in the LOR. The LOR was about duty hours. There was never any duty hours set, any initial feedback, midterm feedback, and absolutely no communication that there was any issue. The one-year time period in the LOR included the time I was a high-risk pregnancy, our son was born through the first few months of his life. My husband was helping me with doctors appointments while I was pregnant and watching over our two young daughters. He was helping with co-op homeschool. We do not have family in the area. In fact, Matt’s trying to do what he can to help family 3000 miles away because his parents are aging and his mom is in very poor health. Of course this is causing even more stress and family concern.

It seems like to me that he is also being persecuted for being a good dad and a good husband. He was successfully balancing mission, being an officer, being a dad and husband.

He has deployed to Afghanistan and he has been on call for round the clock operations support at his previous assignment. I remember him being called into the work late at night at his previous job. In his current job, he works at a desk. He is not in an operational or deployment situation. However, they are treating him differently than others at work, applying stress needlessly and making him feel like he is on call 24/7 and is not allowed to watch his own children while I am away. Because of this, I feel like a single parent at times and have not been able to schedule doctors appointments.

In the midst of all of this, we discovered that he has serious health problems that his command is at best apathetic towards and may be even using against him. We were even afraid for him to go to the Emergency Room one day because they would try to find some way to punish him for taking care of his health.

The afternoon before he had a day of leave (which was approved and scheduled well in advance) they told him he had to go to work the next day for a meeting with the General and he had to be in service dress uniform. He was still charged for the day of leave. I had planned to work that day and I had to cancel my work. My husband had planned to celebrate St Patrick’s day with our children (to celebrate our faith and Irish heritage). His day that he had planned to create precious memories with his children was ruined. He went to work on the day of March 17th, and they gave him an Article 15. The General was not even there. Note that the above is just one example of the terrible treatment inflicted on my husband.

It became clear due to continual harassment from his command, preventing me from working, the out of nowhere LOR, weaponizing health and mental health against him etc. that his command’s plan was to railroad him towards administrative separation. They kept piling on the stress further impacting his health, hurting his ability to heal.

Instead of honoring my husband’s constitutional rights as a citizen of this country—which he has sworn an oath and his life to defend—and try to find a way to help him, they are trying to do whatever they can to destroy him and are even preventing him the ability to watch over his own children so I can work to address our financial struggles.

He later rejected the Article 15 and after about 3 months of waiting they decided to court-martial him.

Our financial struggles have increased now due to the need to fund Matt’s defense case

We will win the legal battle for freedom! However, in the process, the DAF is attempting to starve us out of our fight against their lawlessness by railroading Matt towards administration separation and hurting his job prospects outside of the USSF and it appears they are trying to prevent me from working.

God's Word reminds us:

"Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:2, NKJV)

"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." (Galatians 6:9, NKJV)

Please pray for us. Also, if able to, please contribute to helping us fund our legal case for freedom and help us stay on our feet as we make significant personal sacrifices to do so.

Thank you for standing with us as we continue to press forward.

My love and gratitude to each of you!

–Sara Smith

Court-Martial: Military Records Board Fails Service Member Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Shot Mandate Fallout

By J.M. Phelps 

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/06/court-martial-military-records-board-fails-service-member/

Also please see on X as well:

https://x.com/kevincorke/status/2065483630051254414

https://x.com/JMPhelpsLC/status/2066616221013852203

https://x.com/JMPhelpsLC/status/2065465559404167195

Please refer to Duty to Disobey movie (in theaters on June 30) https://dutytodisobeyfilm.com and DVD available

By Dawn’s Early Light https://bydawnsearlylightfilm.com/watch-for-free

Disclaimer:

Thoughts and opinions are my own and do not represent the US Government, Department of War, Department of the Air Force, and/or US Space Force.

Funds in excess of need will be donated to charity.