The U.S. Army has suspended a female commander after two portraits of President Donald Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth were flipped to face the wall at her military base.
Col. Sheyla Baez-Ramirez was suspended from her post as Fort McCoy Garrison Commander at the Wisconsin base on April 18, “for administrative reasons”, a U.S. Army statement read Saturday. The military base has dismissed any claims suggesting she was responsible for flipping the pictures.
“As previously stated, she was not suspended for misconduct,” it read. “To reiterate, no one on the Fort McCoy leadership team, which includes Col. Baez-Ramirez, directed or supported the removal of any leader portraits. The Leader Board was corrected upon notification of the issue. We have no further details to provide at this time while this matter is under review.”
Days earlier, Trump’s Department of Defense shared a post on X with a photo of the wall, displaying the new chain of command where Trump, Hegseth, and Vice President Vance’s photos, along with an image that showed the portraits had been turned around to face the wall.
“Regarding the Ft. McCoy Chain of Command wall controversy….WE FIXED IT!” a DOD statement caption read above the photos.
“Also, an investigation has begun to figure out exactly what happened,” it added.
Baez-Ramirez was previously heard in a video celebrating her status as the first female Commander at Fort McCoy and “the first minority that commands this installation.”
“I think that as a society, we are looking to integrate, and we’re better with each other. I think showing the public that we can have diversity in every part of our society is important,” the Commander was heard saying.
According to her Army biography, Baez Ramirez assumed duties as Garrison Commander at Fort McCoy in July last year.
Prior to that, she served as the chief of the Reserve Program, Army Intelligence and Security Command at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, according to her Army page.
She formerly studied at the University of Puerto Rico, in Cayey, Puerto Rico, and the Army War College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
The experienced and highly decorated Commander was scorned by X users after the DOD shared images of the flipped photos.
X user Sadie wrote: ”Bravo. If you can not respect the chain of command, you should not be in the chain of command!”
S.L Stiles, who claimed she used to work at the base, added: “FIRE HER. I worked at Ft. McCoy for years, as did my husband. Every aspect of employment at Fort McCoy is political. This “first female commander” must be fired.
The Independent contacted Fort McCoy for more information.
