Previous Guest Speakers

Previous Guest Speakers at the MacArthur Society's Commanders Call:

Doug Truax
USMA '92

Doug Truax is the volunteer, unpaid Founder and CEO of Restoration of America. A 1992 West Point graduate, he is passionate about seeing the prestigious institution restored to its former greatness and once again lead the U.S. military, the country and the world. Doug saw six years active duty in the U.S. Army, completed the nation’s most difficult leadership course, Ranger School, served as a platoon leader and aide to a general, leaving the service honorably as a Captain. He also attained the Certified Employee Benefit Specialist designation from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Doug is the author of the recent article “Until President Trump Fires Woke Leadership, West Point Will Never Get Back to Forging Warriors.” He has founded RestoretheMilitary.com to “…expose the bad actors bogging down the culture of America’s fighting forces with woke policies and corporatization, then work to reshape the military into the fighting force it needs to be….” As announced during an interview with Fox News, Doug has established a tip line for DoD employees to report DEI, ‘woke’ overreach. Doug resides in Florida with his wife of 32 years, Nicole. They have three grown children, one grandson, and another on the way!

Will Thibeau

Will Thibeau is a husband, father, and Army Ranger Veteran. Will deployed for combat to Iraq multiple times during his time on active duty with the 75th Ranger Regiment as a Platoon Leader and Company Executive Officer. After leaving the military, Will worked in defense technology at Palantir. Since 2023, Will has served as the Director of the American Military Project at The Claremont Institute, where he guides activity focused on the institutional integrity of the military and a revived concept of civil-military relations in the 21st Century. Will has written numerous articles and reports concerning the negative effect CRT/DEI ideology/agenda has had on the US military. He is the author of the study “Identity in the Trenches: The Fatal Impact of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion on U.S. Military Readiness” available for purchase on Amazon. His latest article is “West Point Trades Real Reform For Illusory Paper Compliance“.

Tom Burbage
USNA '69

Capt. Tom Burbage, USN ret, USNA ’69, is the President of the Calvert Task Group (CTG), whose mission is to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, the Navy and Marine Corps and the United States Naval Academy. Tom is one of the author of CTG’s book, “DON’T GIVE UP THE SHIP: Woke Politics Are Endangering Our Military and Our Nation.” Tom Burbage retired from the Lockheed Martin Corporation in April 2013. He was the President of the Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems Company and the Executive VP/GM for both the USAF F-22 Raptor and the multi-service, allied next generation fighter, the F-35. Prior to joining Lockheed, Mr. Burbage was a Naval Aviator, completing the U.S. Navy Test Pilot School in 1975. He has accumulated more than 3,000 hours in 38 different types of military aircraft. As a reservist he retired as a Navy Captain in 1994. Mr. Burbage has received numerous industry awards, including the U.S. Naval Academy/Harvard Business Review Award for Ethical Leadership; the Aerospace Industry Personality of the Year; the Society of Automotive Engineers Leadership in Aerospace Award; the Donald C. Burnham Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers; the Silver Knight Award from the National Management Association; three Aviation Week Magazine Laurels Awards and the Society of Experimental Test Pilots James H Doolittle Award for outstanding accomplishment in technical management and engineering achievement in aerospace technology. He was elected an Associate Fellow in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in recognition of notable contributions to the arts, sciences and technology of aeronautics and astronautics. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society in the United Kingdom. Mr. Burbage received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and holds master’s degrees in Aeronautical Systems from the University of West Florida and Business Administration from UCLA. Tom and his wife, Ellen, reside in Alpharetta,

Ron Scott
USAFA '73

Col. Ron Scott, PhD, USAF (Ret.) is the President and CEO of Stand Together Against Racism and Radicalism in the Services (STARRS). Ron is a 1973 graduate of the United States Air Force Academy. He has over 30 years of leadership experience in the Air Force, including command at all levels from flight to wing, senior policy positions at a major command and at the Pentagon, combat as a command pilot with flight time in the OV-10, F-4E, and C-130E/H, and overseas assignments in Europe, Asia, and Southwest Asia. Ron has a master’s in psychology from the University of Northern Colorado and a PhD from Arizona State University. Ron discussed how Trump Administration efforts are impacting the STARRS vision for the future.

John Hughes
USMA '96

Former Army Lt. Colonel John Hughes, MD who discussed his new book, “West Point’s Cult of DEI.” John is a 3rd generation West Pointer, graduating #1 in his class from the Military Academy in 1996. He branched Infantry, successfully completed Airborne and Ranger training, and deployed to Haiti with the 82nd Airborne Division. Soon after, he attended USUHS medical school and became a Medical Corps officer (ER physician). He deployed to Iraq in 2005-06 with the 4th Infantry Division and to Afghanistan in 2007, 2008, and 2009 with 7th Special Forces Group. His last deployment was with a British field hospital in Helmand, Afghanistan in 2013. In 2015, he resigned his commission as a Lt. Colonel subsequently working in private sector emergency rooms. His first book was titled, American Doctor, Coming Home to War. He is the past president of the MacArthur Society. John will discuss his new second book, West Point’s Cult of DEI.

L. Todd Wood
USAFA '86

L. Todd Wood is a 1986 US Air Force Academy graduate. He discussed the impact of the first three weeks of the Trump administration on the U.S. military in general and the service academies in particular. As a Air Force Special Operations pilot, L. Todd Wood flew missions for Seal Team 6 and Delta Force. He’s on a new mission now — to protect the American way of life and rescue it from the destructive grip of the socialist ideology that threatens its sovereignty and everything that makes this country great. With his real-world experience in finance and national security, along with a passion for history, Todd sees and reports on threats to our nation, zeroing in on the warning signs of potential dangers. After separating from the U.S. Air Force, he pursued a second passion in finance and became an accomplished international businessman. Todd is the author of four historical thrillers, several short stories and is a sought-after security and political analyst by media outlets in America and overseas.

Scott McQuarrie
USMA '72

Scott McQuarrie, a 1972 West Point graduate and attorney, discussed “Identity-based admissions practices at West Point and their adverse effects on quality.” Following graduation from West Point, Scott completed Airborne and Ranger Schools and then served in the Infantry. After receiving his law degree he served as a JAG officer until 1982, when he left the Army for private practice, subsequently becoming a litigation partner in a global law firm, from which he retired in 2007. Scott is President of Veterans for Fairness and Merit (VFM), a 501(c)(19) veteran’s organization with over 600 members, most of whom served in combat, including 21 recipients of the Medal of Honor and recipients of over 900 other combat valor awards, 45 former POWs, and 121 retired general officers. In 2022 it filed an amicus curiae brief in the SFFA v. Harvard/UNC racial-preferences-in-college-admissions case, advocating for equal opportunity, race neutral and exclusively merit-based military officer accession, assignment and promotion polices. Since the 2023 Supreme Court’s SFFA decision banning the use of racial preferences in college admissions, Scott has led service academy admissions legislative reform efforts working with various members of Congress. Those efforts bore fruit in 2023 and are continuing today.

Bill Marshall

William F. (Bill) Marshall is a Senior Investigator for Judicial Watch. Bill was raised in Queens, New York, and graduated with honors from St. John’s University in Jamaica, New York with a B.A. in Government and Politics, and an M.A. in International Affairs from American University in Washington, DC. He served as an Intelligence Analyst with the Drug Enforcement Administration. He was then a Senior Investigator with the Investigative Group International, President of the Investigations Division of Armor Holdings North America, and co-founder of the international investigations firm GlobalSource LLC. He then founded the investigations firm Veritas Intelligence LLC. He joined Judicial Watch in 2013 as a Senior Investigator. Bill discussed how Judicial Watch seeks to ensure high ethical standards in the U.S. Government through monitoring activities and the use of the judicial ethics process to hold U.S. Government officials accountable.

Ty McCoy
USMA '67

The Honorable Ty McCoy, USMA ’67 has had a distinguished career in Washington in senior positions at the Pentagon, including serving as the Acting Secretary of the Air Force. He currently serves on several important defense related boards including being Chairman of the Space Transportation Association and Vice Chairman of the Defense Forum Foundation in addition to our MacArthur Society Board of Advisors. Ty discussed how the election results will impact the Department of Defense.

Amber Smith

This was a joint event with STARRS and the Calvert Task Group. Amber Smith is the former Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Outreach in Public Affairs. Amber is a former U.S. Army OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter pilot and air mission commander in the 101st Airborne Division, and flew two combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. She is also the author of the recent book, Unfit to Fight: How Woke Policies Are Destroying Our Military, a topic of great concern to all three organizations.

Ernie Audino
USMA '83

Brig. General Ernest Audino, USA ret, graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1983 and retired from the Army in 2011. He served multiple assignments in armor, cavalry, infantry and Stryker units. Other key assignments include service as an Army Congressional Fellow in the US Senate, duty as the Executive Assistant to the Vice Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Director of Nuclear Support at the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency. His last assignment was as the Deputy Director of Operations for Headquarters, US Army, in the Pentagon. He currently serves as District Director for U.S. Congressman Michael Waltz from Florida (who is a VMI grad). Biography

Our monthly Commanders Calls are hosted by Matthew Newgent ’96 and held on Zoom. MacArthur Society President Bill Prince ’70, as well as others, provide an update on our organization’s activities.

This event is open to all West Point graduates and supporters who align with our mission to “Save and Restore” West Point. Our policy is not to record, so please attend in-person. REGISTER HERE