‘HUMILIATING PUNISHMENT’
Black cadet’s allegation of being forced to wear heavy chain comes as National Guard reckons with race
WASHINGTON – Sgt. Bruce Weaver recalls in an instant the heft of the chain that the all-white trainers at the Maryland National Guard forced him to wear during training at officer candidate school.
For three days, Weaver, a Black soldier in the Maryland National Guard, hauled the chain – running, falling behind under the burden, being hectored by instructors. They claimed it would remind him to follow the chain of command. It felt as if he’d been subjected to the kind of punishment used by enslavers, Weaver told USA TODAY.
“At first, my inclination was to drag it,” Weaver said. “They said, ‘No, no. You wear it. That will keep you down.’ That hit me. That hit me. I sup
pressed it and kept going. The next day, they said, ‘You’re still wearing this chain.’ I told them this is inappropriate punishment. It’s also messing with me psychologically. Chains mean something to Black people.”
A USA TODAY investigation brings Weaver’s previously unreported case to light as it nears resolution after five years of delayed investigations and conflicting findings.
Weaver’s case represents a wider problem for the National Guard, whose units in each of the states, territories and District of Columbia operate with a great deal of autonomy and with little oversight of how various units respond to complaints of inappropriate conduct, such as allegations of racism and sexual assault. The National Guard Bureau in Washington, which referees appeals between state Guard units and troops, serves a largely advisory role.
Eugene R. Fidell, an expert on military law and professor at New York University Law School, referred to a “perfect storm” of factors contributing to a case like Weaver’s:
h Lack of oversight by Congress.
h Little transparency into how the state and territorial Guard units operate.
h Need for a uniform process for handling complaints of discrimination.
“This case screams out for some remedy,” Fidell said.
In a scathing report obtained by USA TODAY, the National Guard Bureau Office of Equity and Inclusion substantiated 11 complaints of discrimination and one of harassment lodged by Weaver and accused Maryland of violating Weaver’s right to due process.
The Maryland National Guard has exonerated its personnel after several internal investigations and is appealing the bureau’s decision. In his own harsh letter to the National Guard Bureau on April 8, Maj. Gen. Timothy Gowen, the Maryland National Guard’s adjutant general, accused the bureau’s Office of Equity and Inclusion of attacking the state with “erroneous and unsupported allegations.” Gowen also said the office was acting as an advocate for Weaver and another Black Guardsman who filed a complaint, instead of its mandated role as a “neutral third party.”
He called for a review of the office and corrective action.
Racism in the US – and its military
Weaver’s case comes as the nation and military reckon with issues of race – and the National Guard, a confederation of state-run militias, continues to be thrust into the debate in highly visible ways.
In June, when racial justice demonstrations spread in the wake of George Floyd’s death, states and the federal government deployed National Guard troops to city streets. In Washington, D.C., the Guard’s response to mostly peaceful protests received flak for heavy-handed tactics such as buzzing crowds with military helicopters.
In January, tens of thousands of Guard members from several states flooded the capital after insurrectionists attempted to overturn the election. Several Guardsmen had to return home after authorities found reason to suspect them of sympathizing with white nationalists.
By law, custom and oath, Guard members are sworn to uphold the Constitution, including the First Amendment right to freedom of speech and to assemble peaceably. In reality, Guard troops are men and women who reflect a society grappling and at times riven by race. At times those high-minded ideals and ugly divisions conflict as Weaver claimed happened on Nov. 6, 2015, at the Delaware base where he trained.
“This is not the military service that I thought I’d do,” Weaver said. “I don’t view myself as a civil rights activist.”
Designed to ‘humiliate’
Weaver, 44, lives with his wife and young son outside of Washington, D.C., and has worked for the federal government for 12 years. He has bachelor and master’s degrees from the University of Maryland and also served in the Marine Reserve before joining the Guard.
Weaver had left a training site without prior authorization, a charge he disputes. For that, he received what a National Guard Bureau investigator called “the most humiliating punishment imaginable to use against an African American cadet.”
A photo, taken by a classmate and forwarded to Weaver, shows a chain braided over his right shoulder and entwined around his wrist. The classmate was stunned by the scene, documented it and wanted Weaver to have proof, according to Weaver.
The bureau’s investigator scoffed at the claim by the Maryland instructors that the chain represented the importance of the “chain of command,” the military edict to follow orders of superiors.
“To conclude that such punishment, meted out by an all-white chain of command on a subordinate minority cadet to reinforce that the chain of command is in charge, is simply a mischaracterization of what happened,” the report states.
Maryland National Guard officials denied race was a factor in the discipline. One of its investigations determined that the chain belonged to the Delaware National Guard, which had discontinued its use for discipline in about 2015.
Weaver says he was singled out. “This punishment was designed to be humiliating on a cultural level as it mirrored slavery,” Weaver wrote. “I have not seen this punishment before ... nor have I seen it since. It was uniquely designed to single out and humiliate.”
‘The intent was not what you see’
The report points to two instructors for their treatment of Weaver: Sgt. 1st Class Andrew Carbaugh and Capt. Jacob Day.
“SFC Carbaugh knew precisely what the chain would mean to both Complainant and the other cadets. SFC Carbaugh wanted to teach Complainant a lesson about who was in charge and he used a heavy chain to accomplish this and the rest of the OCS (Officer Candidate School) Cadre let him,” the Bureau report stated. “The allegation of discrete discrimination based on race or color is SUBSTANTIATED.”
Carbaugh, now retired, said in an interview that Weaver had not been singled out because of his race. Instructors had required white and Black candidates to carry the chain, an ammunition can and a rock because Weaver and others had left another training site without proper authorization, Carbaugh said. The idea was to slow them down and drive home the lesson not to leave anybody behind.
Weaver did not have to wear the chain, Carbaugh said, but he did have to haul it.
“I can understand the optics of the picture look very bad,” Carbaugh said. “However, the intent was not what you see in the picture.”
Day declined to comment on the advice of military lawyers.
The National Guard Bureau found that Day and Carbaugh had singled out Weaver “and concluded he would not succeed based at least in part on his race,” according to its report. The bureau also found that requiring Weaver “to wear a heavy chain was based on Complainant’s race and the desire to humiliate Complainant and let him know the OCS chain of command was in control.” There was also no evidence that the chain had been used by the Maryland National Guard before or since the incident involving Weaver, the National Guard Bureau report said.
The Maryland National Guard investigated and in a January 2020 memo
stated that none of Weaver’s allegations of discrimination could be substantiated and that he had offered no “concrete proof” of racial bias. The investigating officer, whose name is redacted, cited sworn statements that “suggest” Weaver did not believe the chain was used in a discriminatory way.
The Maryland National Guard defended its investigation and is appealing parts of the decision made by the National Guard Bureau, said Maj. Kurt Rauschenberg, a spokesman for the Maryland National Guard.
“We are aware of the allegations made in this case, and we conducted a thorough investigation, which failed to substantiate these claims,” he said in a statement. “We believe the investigation was properly conducted and are aware of the concerns raised by NGB.”
A chain’s heavy symbolism
Weaver filed a complaint in 2017, during his second attempt to complete the second of three phases of officer candidate school, he said. Maryland National Guard officials dropped him from the program for failing twice to pass the second phase of the school.
Though the Maryland National Guard and the National Guard Bureau and Weaver dispute each other’s characterizations of what happens, nobody denies that the heavy chain was used as punishment by an all-white group of instructors on a Black cadet.
A 2017 memo from the Maryland National Guard concedes that the chain had racist overtones and would no longer be used.
“The issues of racial inequities continue to be something that we as an Army must address,” the memo stated. “To that end, the use of carrying a chain to reinforce the importance of the ‘chain of command’ is discontinued. While the investigating officer found no intent to mistreat or create a racially charged situation, this approach is something that all leaders agree leaves too much to personal interpretation.”
Michael Ricci, a spokesman for Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, said discrimination in the Guard and elsewhere is intolerable.
“With regards to the chain: In 2017, the governor’s office was advised by the Guard that the matter was fully investigated and that the practice was discontinued,” Ricci said. “No one, soldier or otherwise, should feel harassed or discriminated against.”
Who decides on ‘ability to lead’?
To Weaver and the National Guard Bureau, racism is at the heart of the chain’s use as discipline. The bureau’s report noted that the instructors did not want Weaver to become an officer.
“The intent was to degrade,” Weaver said. “To degrade and challenge my ability to lead. And that was successful.”
The Army continues to struggle to attract and promote Black officers to career fields deemed a prerequisite for future senior positions, USA TODAY reported last fall.
Weaver’s case has the attention of Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who chairs the Armed Services Committee panel that oversees the National Guard.
“Stories like these are painful reminders of how much work remains to make our military a safe and welcoming place for all service members,” Duckworth said. “As the Chair of the Airland Subcommittee, I am focused on rooting out these kinds of degrading and discriminatory incidents that harm our troop readiness and national security. We need greater diversity in the upper ranks of our military leaders, and we need leaders of all backgrounds, genders and races to send a clear message that they won’t tolerate discrimination of any kind.”
While 15% of those serving the Army National Guard nationwide are Black, in Maryland that number is 34%. About 25% of its officer corps are people of color, including Black, Asian American and American Indian troops. Yet at the time of Weaver’s incident, the OCS instructors were all white. In 2021, its 17-member instructor cadre includes 10 white troops, six Black and one Hispanic member, according to the Maryland National Guard.
One of the bureau’s proposed remedies for Weaver is to allow him to rejoin officer candidate school. Weaver instead wants a direct commission as an officer, an action that would bypass officer candidate school. Weaver wants to serve as a data science officer.
“I don’t think realistically I could go back to OCS in Maryland and get a fair shake,” he said.
‘Hostile work environment’
The National Guard Bureau’s report on Weaver was followed closely by another blasting the Maryland National Guard for treatment of a Black soldier and the investigation of his case.
In that case, the Bureau harshly criticized Maryland’s treatment of Chief Warrant Officer 3 George Ross, according to the document obtained by USA TODAY. The bureau’s report concluded that “race was a factor” in a different white officer’s decision to deny Ross’ bid to join a cyberprotection team. The bureau’s finding was “based on the hostile work environment (the officer) created for minorities generally and Complainant in particular.”
As in Weaver’s case, the bureau pointed to a flawed mechanism to report discrimination and harassment.
Ross filed his complaint in November 2017, and it should have been processed in six months.
Maryland officials’ delay in investigating Ross’ harassment complaint and the “cumulative efforts by the State to hamper or influence the MEO (military equal opportunity) process in this matter are significant and suggests the State is trying to stack the deck against the complainant.”
Ross, through his attorney, declined to comment. Maryland is appealing the decision. In Gowen’s letter, he accused the bureau of bias in reviewing the case and findings not supported by facts.
Equal opportunity issues aren’t restricted to the Maryland National Guard.
In a survey of other states, USA TODAY found that attendance in required equal opportunity training within the Ohio National Guard was attended by fewer than half its troops. In one document signed and dated December 2018, 41% of listed Ohio National Guard members attended the training. Attendance among senior leaders was 44%.
Ohio National Guard requires units to conduct equal opportunity training every six months, but there’s no mandatory participation requirement, said spokeswoman Stephanie Beougher.
Officials at the National Guard Bureau’s Office of Equity and Inclusion determined that Maryland officials “violated the due process rights” of Weaver and Ross in the way they processed their complaints, said Nahaku McFadden, a bureau spokesman, in a statement.
The bureau proposed several remedial actions in Weaver’s case and blasted Maryland officials for a shoddy investigation of Weaver’s complaints that took years instead of months to complete.
It noted that “every unusual instance just happened to occur in this matter,” including the use of the chain, a poor evaluation of Weaver despite no negative reports on file, and the processing of his complaint.
“From the looks of the (investigative report) assembled by the State, Complainant is the most unlucky person in the Maryland National Guard,” the report’s author concludes.
The bureau plans to review responses from Weaver and Maryland and make a ruling within weeks. Maryland could then request a review of the decision by a general officer assigned to the bureau, said Air Force Maj. Matt Murphy, a spokesman for the bureau. The official deciding on that request could recommend suspension or termination of federal funds for Maryland’s National Guard. The bureau, however, does not have command authority over state National Guard units, which is reserved for state officials.
Michelle Bercovici, a partner at Alden Law Group in Washington, has advised Weaver as he represents himself in the appeal.
“If this cannot happen for Bruce, then the whole system is entirely toothless and unjust,” she said.
“No one, soldier or otherwise, should feel harassed or discriminated against.” Michael Ricci Spokesman for Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan