Today we covered a vitally important issue that has just come to our attention.
On May 28, 2025, SECDEF Pete Hegseth issued a memorandum fast-tracking and prioritizing the Dept of Homeland Security and Customs & Border Patrol within a military program called SkillBridge.
SkillBridge is a program that’s been around since 2011, but it has been an impartial and apolitical transition assistance program to facilitate servicemembers transitioning out of active duty service to civilian life during the last 180 days of their active duty enlistment contract. They provided many jobs and training but never pushed one over the other onto the service members.
This changed as this new initiative rolled out in early June of this year. As SECDEF put it:
“Department is expanding opportunities for transitioning Service members to support southern border activities, particularly through the SkillBridge program, which provides real-world job experience during their final 180 days of service. To support this effort, the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness has established the necessary agreements with OHS to support United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to enhance SkillBridge opportunities within those organizations. The Defense Human Resource Agency (DHRA) will work with the Military Departments, as an exception to policy, to prioritize and broadly advertise these critical DHS career opportunities to transitioning Service members. In support of the Military Departments’ efforts, DHRA will update the SkillBridge web site and use other social media venues to highlight these opportunities. The Military Departments will approve Service member requests for SkillBridge participation with CBP and ICE to the maximum extent possible in the last 180 days of service. Requests should be disapproved only where approval would impact the critical readiness and operational needs of the Military Service concerned.”
The unusual nature of this request was noted internally, as seen with this quote from Michael Miller, the director of DOD’s military-civilian transition office:
“Typically, the department does not recommend to service members any specific post-separation career field,” he said. “Instead, we inform them. We provide them the skills to navigate the employment arena, and we then leave them to identify their post-separation career field independently.”
In the first six months of 2024 alone, over 12,000 service members participated in the SkillsBridge program. With this level of prioritization and pressure, we can easily estimate that the number of active duty service members currently working in/with DHS and Border Patrol to number in the thousands.
What this means is this: combat-trained active duty Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen are potentially on the streets of our cities in the uniform of ICE and Border Patrol, bypassing the Posse Comitatus Act entirely and circumventing the need for the President to formally deploy troops on American soil through legal avenues.
A reminder: this is highly unusual and an admitted deviation from policy, as cited in the statement made by Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell: “Recently the Secretary announced the Department’s historic agreement with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to enhance opportunities for transitioning Service members within United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). As an exception to policy, the Military Departments will prioritize and broadly advertise these critical DHS career opportunities to transitioning Service members.”
So what can I do??
This is the time to speak out. We as American veterans and citizens need to demand full and total transparency, clarity, and oversight of this highly problematic programmatic change.
If you aren’t sure how to contact your local elected representatives, no worry: simply visit 5Calls.org and type in your zip code. You’ll get a list of contact numbers for your elected representative(s).
Then we just need to state something along the lines of:
“It has recently come to my attention that the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, authorized and ordered an unprecedented usage of the SkillsBridge program to persuade active duty service members interested in SkillsBridge to choose the Department of Homeland Security or Customs & Border Patrol for their SkillsBridge participation during the last 180 days of their active duty contract.
We demand full and total transparency over these service members’ involvement in the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, and Border Patrol. We demand an investigation by the House Oversight Committee to determine if active duty military personnel have been or are currently deployed on the streets of Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Chicago, Portland, or any other American city in the uniform of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Border Patrol, or any other law enforcement entity associated with DHS and CBP. If this is determined to be true and active duty military personnel are currently serving on the streets of American cities wearing the uniform and carrying out the duties of ICE agents, we demand an immediate cessation of this program and an investigation into potential violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, as well as the Posse Comitatus Act, for any and all personnel involved.”
Now is the time to act.
Spread this message as far and wide as you can, and contact every one of your elected officials to demand accountability for this program.
I am Melissa Corrigan, and I consider it a continuation of the oath I took on March 2003 at Fort Jackson in Columbia, SC, to protect and defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic, and to do so- as I learned in US Navy basic training- with honor, courage, and commitment- to bring you this news and to keep investigating potential violations of federal code, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and even international law during this unprecedented time in American history.
I am challenging you today to do three things: share this post, visit 5Calls.org and contact your reps, and make your own Note here on Substack, and on any other socials you feel comfortable, about this matter. As an additional challenge, consider upgrading to a paid subscription to Banner & Backbone to assist in spreading our reach and visibility.
Thank you
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