U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) speaks to reporters following the Democrats weekly policy lunch on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 14, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
The U.S. Army shut down an entire network of official social media accounts this week after a post celebrating Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Purple Heart recipient who lost both legs in combat, drew backlash from a pro-Trump veteran online.
The "Soldier for Life" program, which connects veterans and their families to employment, healthcare and retirement resources, posted a tribute to Duckworth's military career as an Army lieutenant colonel and Iraq War veteran. Within 24 hours of a former Army paratrooper criticizing the post on X, it was deleted.
Chase Spears, a former Army paratrooper and veteran of the war in Afghanistan, criticized Duckworth, calling her 'one of the most brazenly hostile partisans to have worn the uniform,'" NOTUS reported Wednesday.
“There are so many warriors worthy of being praised, men and women who didn’t sell their souls along the way. But this is who @SecArmy Dan Driscoll’s Army continues going out of its way to pay homage to,” Spears wrote on X.'
Shortly after, the Soldier for Life Facebook page was locked down.
Driscoll, Trump's Army secretary, ordered all Soldier for Life accounts shuttered after the negative online reaction, a Department of Defense source familiar with the decision told The Hill. An Army spokesperson insisted the move was "simply a circumstance of the Army handling routine Army business," citing a December memo requiring accounts not managed by qualified personnel to be deactivated.
Duckworth, who served more than two decades in the Army Reserve and Illinois Army National Guard before retiring in 2014, lost both legs in 2004 when her Black Hawk helicopter was shot down over Iraq.
During Driscoll's confirmation hearing, Duckworth pressed him to pledge he would refuse illegal orders from the Trump administration and ultimately voted against confirming him. She has also called for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's resignation.