April, 24, 2025
As we reported earlier this week (story below), Ft McCoy’s first female garrison commander, Col. Sheyla Baez-Ramirez, was suspended on April 18. The exact reason for that suspension is still not completely clear. The timing of the suspension came after some viral social media posts about photos on a leadership board at Fort McCoy that conspicuously did not have pictures of President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
But a statement from U.S. Army Reserve at the time of her suspension said it was unrelated to the photo issue. Yesterday a social media account for Ft. McCoy again stated that Baez-Ramirez’s suspension was not related to the photos and she was suspended for “administrative reasons”, The statement stops short of saying exactly what those reasons are.
THE U.S. ARMY RESERVE AND FORT MCCOY SENIOR COMMANDER RELEASED THE FOLLOWING UPDATED STATEMENT:
Col. Sheyla Baez-Ramirez was suspended as Fort McCoy Garrison Commander on April 18, 2025, for administrative reasons. As previously stated, she was not suspended for misconduct.
The investigation into the Leader Board incident at Fort McCoy is ongoing. 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.
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Fort McCoy’s first female garrison commander suspended, Army Reserve officials say it is not related to missing photos on a command board
April 23, 2025
FT MCCOY, Wis. – Details are still unclear about why Army Col. Sheyla Baez Ramirez was suspended as garrison commander of Fort McCoy, but Army Reserve officials say it is not related to missing photos on a command board at Fort McCoy, or any misconduct. According to a statement from the U.S. Army Reserve, Baez Ramirez was suspended as garrison commander of Fort McCoy on April 18.
The command board photo controversy cropped up last week when an online photo was shared on social media that allegedly showed a leadership board at Fort McCoy that conspicuously did not have pictures of President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
An official account run by the Secretary of Defense’s office addressed the missing photos stating:
“Regarding the Ft. McCoy Chain of Command wall controversy…. WE FIXED IT! Also, an investigation has begun to figure out exactly what happened,” wrote the Defense Department’s “Rapid Response” X account on April 14 with a photo of the leadership board with missing pictures visible.
A Fort McCoy social media account later posted a statement about the command board photos on April 16 stating:
The Fort McCoy leadership team and the Army Reserve were unaware of the vandalism on the Leadership Board. Once it was brought to their attention the leadership at Fort McCoy took immediate action to correct it. This was not an action of the installation leaders and appears to be a malicious act by individual(s) unknown at this time.
The command has initiated an investigation to determine the facts and circumstances surrounding this incident.
We take matters such as this seriously and our primary concern is ensuring that all legal and appropriate actions are taken in accordance with our commitment to upholding the highest standards of conduct among our Soldiers and civilian personnel.
Baez Ramirez is the second female leader that has been removed from command this month that also coincidentally faced leadership board questions. Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield was fired by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in early April as U.S. representative to the NATO Military Committee over a similar incident.
According to Baez Ramirez’s official Army biography she became Fort McCoy’s garrison commander on July 19. She was commissioned as a military intelligence officer in 1999 through a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program. She also served in Bosnia-Herzegovina in support of Operation Joint Forge.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology/mental health from the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey and holds a master’s degree in strategic studies from the Army War College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Prior to arriving at Fort McCoy, Baez Ramirez served as chief, reserve program, United States Army Intelligence and Security Command at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Previous assignments include serving as chief of operations for U.S. Army Reserve Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; strategic planner for the chief of the Army Reserve/U.S. Army Reserve Command commanding general at Fort Bragg; and deputy commander of the 501st Military Intelligence Brigade (Theater) and the deputy chief of the Special United States Liaison Advisor Korea at Camp Humphreys, South Korea.
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