Lt. Col. Theresa Long’s story

Army flight surgeon’s deep faith led to her becoming, arguably, the most significant whistleblower of our Covid times.

Lt. Col. Long (center with red hair) is shown next to her husband Jeff, her son, daughter and many friends and admirers at a brunch held in her honor sponsored by the Huntsville, Alabama grassroots freedom group Focus on America.

Author’s note: The subject of certain feature stories is so significant these stories need to be told in “long form.” This, in my opinion is one such feature article.

Anyone who doubts the veracity of Covid’s myriad authorized narratives is perhaps familiar with Theresa Long. 

These citizens might  know that Lt. Col. Long is the flight surgeon at the home of Army Aviation (Ft. Novosel, formerly known as Ft. Rucker in south Alabama). More than three years ago - propelled by her belief she was serving God, and by a sense of duty to the troops she served -Lt. Col. Long became, arguably, the most important whistleblower of the Covid years.

Long quickly concluded “everything” the public and military personnel had been told about Covid is and was “a lie.” Furthermore, the health and lives of service members were being put at great risk by vaccine mandates ordered by the Secretary of Defense.

Lt. Col. Long shared these beliefs in a sworn affidavit in a lawsuit seeking to stop the mandates. … not just with helicopter pilots at Ft. Rucker, but throughout the military.

While the Army doctor’s sworn statements failed to go viral in the (captured) mainstream media, Dr. Long’s convictions reverberated throughout the alternative media, dispensing the medicine of hope to millions of citizens and military personnel desperately searching for a genuine leader guided by the truth, the Hippocratic Oath and the oath of military officers who’ve pledged to defend the U.S. Constitution.

In August, the freedom group Focus on America sponsored a speakers’ symposium in Huntsville, Ala. which specifically honored the bravery and integrity of Lt. Col. Long. 

This feature story incorporates comments made by Lt. Col. Long at two conference events, comments of admirers who shared anecdotes of how Lt. Col. Long’s sacrifices impacted their lives, as well as information and quotes from other research sources.

Citizens seeking to identify genuine role models will hopefully be inspired by this detailed account of one patriot’s gripping life story.

The Power of God and deep personal faith

Theresa Long’s story cannot be told without accentuating the power and influence of Long’s deep Christian faith and how this faith gave one believer the courage to challenge an organization as massive and powerful as the U.S. military.

As I also learned in Huntsville, Dr. Long’s career path is far from typical.

Long, who will soon retire from the Army after a career of more than 30 years, enlisted in the Army at the age of 17. She earned her undergraduate and medical degrees and became a commissioned officer many years after she’d first joined the Army.

“I have gone from an almost homeless teenager on welfare to a Lieutenant Colonel physician in the United States Army,” said Long in remarks at a November 2021 roundtable panel of Covid whistleblowers organized by Sen. Ron Johnson. “I have truly lived the American dream. Everything I have and everything I am I owe to Christ alone.”

According to her husband, Jeff (a former military aviator who is now a commercial pilot), Long suffers from a severe learning disability (dyslexia). After being diagnosed with this condition, Lt. Col. Long seemed to make it her life’s goal to fill her mind with knowledge and serve her nation through her career as a military physician.

Speaking at a brunch held to honor the sacrifices and courage of his wife, Jeff Long said his wife - after tackling her learning disabilities - “became a savant.”

In one period of her life, Dr. Long left the military, but, after 9-11 re-enlisted and embarked on a years-long path which allowed her to become a commissioned officer and medical doctor, including earning several sub-specialities that made her imminently qualified to understand the facts and fictions of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Help me. I’m going to die.”

At a brunch honoring her sacrifices, Dr. Long recounted details from one memorable event early in her medical career that provide insights into why this particular doctor would later become one of the world’s most significant whistleblowers.

In 2009, Dr. Long was a novice medical resident practicing family medicine. 

One day, near the end of her rounds at a military hospital, Dr. Long’s colleagues notified her of a patient who purported to be in tremendous distress. Per the consensus of staffers, the patient’s complaints were either minor or imagined and, perhaps, were caused by nothing more serious than heartburn or constipation.  

Doctors and nurses thought the patient was “making a mountain out of a mole hill.” Still, a colleague asked the novice physician to examine and speak with this patient.

“Help me. I’m going to die. I can’t take it anymore, ” the patient immediately told Dr. Long.

Dr. Long was also not able to detect any life-threatening clinical markers from the patient’s medical chart. However, the patient’s obvious anguish alarmed Dr. Long, who asked for permission to pray with the patient.

Dr. Long became convinced the patient’s life was indeed at risk.

Out of the blue, a question pierced Dr. Long. 

“Who do you serve?”

Dr. Long’s answer came immediately: she served God …  and, yes, God would use her to help someone in despair. She believed the “little voice I heard in my head” was God.

At this moment - as well as in every moment that would follow - she had to obey God.

Despite her position as an inexperienced family physician, Dr. Long immediately called a surgeon who worked at a local civilian hospital.

When Dr. Long informed the surgeon of the patient’s non-existent medical markers, he “cursed me out” and asked Dr. Long the source of her “medical expertise and confidence.””

Now answering to God, Dr. Long refused to be intimidated.

“Doctor, I am advising you to go to the hospital and treat this patient,” she told the far-more experienced physician.  Absent emergency exploratory surgery, this patient could die, she told him.

For whatever reason, the surgeon followed the guidance of a novice doctor he’d never met.

The next morning, a Saturday, Dr. Long decided to check on the patient who’d been transferred to the better-equipped civilian hospital.

When she arrived at the hospital, she was informed the patient was in post-surgery ICU, which told Dr. Long her divinely-inspired instincts had been correct.

Several medical staffers - seemingly in awe - commented to her: “You’re the military doctor” and then: “… How did you know?” 

The surgeon discovered the patient suffered from perforated tissues, a life-threatening condition that somehow had been masked. The patient, who nearly died on the operating table, would have died absent the emergency exploratory surgery Dr. Long demanded.

When asked “how did you know?” Dr. Long replied, “I didn’t know. God knew.”

The never-forgotten lesson was obvious to Dr. Long. “I am nothing without God.” While she now worked for the military, generals - or perceived experts - were not her supreme boss. 

(Please share if you think others may be inspired by Lt. Col. Long’s example.)

Skip forward to 2020, the Year of Covid …

By 2020, the year of Covid, Dr. Long had earned a master’s degree in public health, received specialized training in infectious diseases and was trained in a unique area of military medicine - treating and caring for airmen and pilots.

Dr. Long had already formed the opinion the novel coronavirus did not constitute an alarming health risk to military personnel.  Young, fit military personnel faced virtually no mortality risk from a respiratory virus whose typical victim is over 80 years old and suffers from multiple co-morbidities.

“I see the healthiest population … Pilots are an even healthier subset,” she told Greg Hunter of USA Watchdog.  

Dr. Long was now routinely treating patients with conditions she’d rarely or never seen in a medical practice where most of her patients had yet to reach the age of 30.

A doctor who knows medical personnel can help - or harm - patients

Dr. Long had also formed the opinion that alphabet public health agencies and doctors associated with prestigious medical associations are “not infallible.”

Her views on healthcare were influenced by a medical crisis following the birth of her first child.

“In my first year as an army physician, I suffered catastrophic complications after the birth of my daughter at the hands of fellow physicians,” said Lt. Col. Long in her public remarks at Sen. Johnson’s whistleblower roundtable. “The impact on my family and my life has been enduring, painful, and life-changing. My plans for my family and my career abruptly pivoted. It was during this time I tried to ensure something good would come out of something very painful.”

Lt. Col Long has cited statistics asserting that approximately 440,000 Americans - the daily equivalent of passengers on three 747 airplanes - die every year from errors made by health professionals. This belief informed Lt. Col. Long’s views regarding the potential dangers of erroneous medical guidance.

Given these views, Lt. Col. Long was not inclined to accept medical pronouncements without performing her own research.

One year into the official pandemic, she was struck by the fact only 12 members of the military had reportedly (or allegedly) died from Covid.

She identified another red flag when she asked the military’s chief epidemiologist for data on vaccine injuries and was told this information was not being tracked. From VAERS data, she became convinced far more military personnel had likely died from vaccines than from Covid. 

She also knew the military utilized the world’s most comprehensive data base of medical diagnoses, the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED). Dr. Long and other skeptical colleagues used this system’s historic data to quantify the explosion of medical diagnoses and deaths that occurred after the vaccine roll-out.  

As recounted at Dr. Paul Alexander’s Substack, “She and two other flight surgeons reviewed DMED and made … stunning discoveries about the high incidence of apparent vaccine injuries among members of the military.

“According to the whistleblowers, certain disorders spiked after the vaccine mandate went into effect, including miscarriages and cancers, and neurological problems which increased by 1000 percent.”

In response to this eye-opening analysis, the military responded that data from 2016-2020 had simply been incorrect and revised the “corrupted” data from the prior five years.

Alarming medical diagnoses spike after vast majority of military was vaccinated

By early to mid-2021, the vast majority of military personnel - subjected to extreme coercion - had been vaccinated. 

Within a matter of weeks, Dr. Long observed an undeniable spike in adverse medial events among her own patients, a finding she knew (from conversations with colleagues) were duplicated at military bases around the world.

At some point, she became familiar with the contrarian views of renowned cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough and the group America’s Frontline Doctors and these skeptical doctors began comparing notes and sharing patient outcomes.

Via this network, Dr. Long came to the attention of attorneys who were representing plaintiffs who were challenging the military’s vaccine mandates (an order made by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in August of 2021).

The attorneys asked Dr. Long to provide sworn testimony in their lawsuits. (Federal Courts at the District, Appeals Court and Supreme Court ruled against Plaintiffs, effectively deciding the mandates/military orders were legal. Note: The military’s vaccine mandates were vacated by Congressional action in 2023).

Being asked to provide this affidavit was Dr. Long’s “moment of truth”

Like a small number of military officers (typically, and tellingly, among those below the rank of Colonel), she believes the orders were unlawful and her oath as an officer told her she could disregard an unlawful order. Secondly, she was convinced that God was - again - speaking to her

Long’s deep religious faith warned her that the “ripple effect” of “disobeying God” would be calamitous.

By becoming a whistleblower and challenging the highest ranks of the military’s chain of command, she knew her career could be ruined, that she, perhaps, could be run out of the Army or lose her medical license.

Still, she told her husband, “I’ve got to do it.” 

Her husband agreed that someone needed to speak out against the harm caused by the mandates, but Mr. Long did ask one key question:“Does it have to be you?”

By this time, Long’s husband knew the answer to his question.

“I always felt God had a purpose for Theresa’s life,” said Mr. Long, adding, “Theresa is completely God-focussed and Christ-centered.”

His wife, he added, was “never trying to be anti-establishment. She was simply trying to speak truth to lies.” Theology aside, Lt. Col. Long was simply advocating for the principle of “informed consent.”

Lessons from Gideon …

In her prepared remarks at the Huntsville speakers’ symposium,  Lt. Col. Long highlighted passages from the Old Testament to frame why she agreed to be a public whistleblower and challenge the leadership of the world’s mightiest military.

As those familiar with their Bible are aware, Gideon - trusting the word of God - used an “army” of just 300 righteous warriors (using clay pots as “weapons”) to defeat a vastly larger force. 

For Lt. Col. Long, this scripture commands Christians to believe in “God’s battle plan” even if they don’t understand how this plan will serve’s God larger purpose.

At the end of her prepared remarks, Dr. Long presented what might be her bottom-line solution. To defeat (evil) forces of vastly superior size and seemingly unlimited resources, “It’s fine to be a keyboard warrior, but we need those 300 (believing) warriors,” she said.

“Fire for effect” …

Lt. Col. Long initially thought her legal affidavit might attract the attention of a small group of “legal junkies. “

Nonetheless, she took a deep breath and asked God for strength before hitting “send” on an email to lawyers, informing them she would be the medical whistleblower they’d been searching for.

Before she stepped out onto a stage in front of an audience of potentially billions of people she knew might identify her as a quack, traitor or villain, her thought was: “Here goes … Fire for effect” … and she hit “send.”

As it turns out, details in the affidavit did quickly “go viral” - at least in the alternative press. 

Now a bonafide “whistleblower,”  scant time had passed before Lt. Col. Long experienced strident blowback.

Dr. Long said she was immediately ordered to quit treating patients. Her military email communications were curtailed or censored and her presence on Facebook was wiped out “in the blink of an eye … The level of censorship was very frightening,” she said.

Lt. Col. Long began her 30-plus year career as an enlisted soldier.

Did Theresa Long even exist?

According to Dr. Long, it was like her superiors didn’t want anyone to know she exists or was a real person.

The profile of Dr. Long grew significantly when she was invited to be a headline speaker at a roundtable panel organized by Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson in November 2021.

Sen. Johnson told Lt. Col. Long, “This will prove you are real.”

At least among the growing number of citizens who receive news from the alternative media, Theresa Long was a real - and heroic - figure.  

However, another brazen tell about the completely-captured mainstream press was revealed by the fact no corporate or establishment news organization covered the event, a speakers’ symposium which included more than a dozen whistleblowers … all making claims deserving of Page-1 headlines.

Among the few mainstream media organizations which later mentioned Lt. Col. Long’s affidavit, every journalist seemingly received orders to discredit the would-be Army whistleblower.

The focus of an article from The Daily Beast (“The Bonkers Lawsuit to Stop the Pentagon’s Vaccine Mandate”) was mimicked by several mainstream organizations, including The Hill. 

Clearly designed to lessen the impact of Long’s sworn claims, the articles focussed on a single small passage of a lengthy affidavit where Long made numerous claims worthy of serious national attention.

However, the only claim that warranted headlines was Long’s purported (and, in this author’s opinion, disingenuous) characterization that the Covid vaccines included a key ingredient of “anti-freeze.”

From a cursory internet search, no journalist or editor included a link to Long’s entire affidavit (wherein readers would have been able to read all of her claims). Nor did these “fair and balanced” journalists use any column inches to summarize her main points, all of which were thoroughly researched and included numerous observations from her own medical practice.

Main points in an affidavit the public was not supposed to see …

For example, Lt. Col. Long’s affidavit states (emphasis added):

“Numerous Soldiers and DOD civilians have told me of how they were sick, bed-ridden, debilitated, and unable to work for days to weeks after vaccination. I have also recently reviewed three flight crew members’ medical records, all of which presented with both significant and aggressive systemic health issues. 

“Today I received word of one fatality and two ICU cases on Fort Hood; the deceased was an Army pilot who could have been flying at the time. All three pulmonary embolism events happened within 48 hours of their vaccination... 

The subject matter of this Motion for a Preliminary Injunction and its devastating effects on members of the military compel me to conclude and conduct accordingly as follows…“That this Court should grant an immediate injunction to stop the further harm to all military personnel to protect the health and safety of our active duty, reservists and National Guard troops.”

Dr. Long’s affidavit also expressed her concern that the mandate is unethical.

“The use of force to administer a medical treatment or therapy against the will of a mentally competent individual constitutes medical battery and universally violates medical ethics,” Dr. Long stated.

“… Based on her experience treating COVID-19 patients on base, she further asserted that the federal government’s civilian health guidelines should not be used to guide the treatment of healthy aviators in their early 20s tasked with national defense.

“Literature has demonstrated that natural immunity is durable, completed, and superior to vaccination immunity to SARs-CoV-2,” the colonel said.

A very specific example ignored by the MSM …

Lt. Col Long’s “stunning” affidavit included another anecdote never mentioned by the corporate journalists.

“I personally observed the most physically fit female Soldier I have seen in over 20 years in the Army, go from Collegiate level athlete training for Ranger School, to being physically debilitated with cardiac problems, newly diagnosed pituitary brain tumor, thyroid dysfunction within weeks of getting vaccinated. Several military physicians have shared with me their firsthand experience with a significant increase in the number of young soldiers with migraines, menstrual irregularities, cancer, suspected myocarditis and reporting cardiac symptoms after vaccination.”

If Dr. Long was characterized as a quack, she was a quack with impeccable medical credentials, a conscientious officer the military continued to promote and, as the base flight surgeon, the person charged with overseeing the health and readiness of 4,000 troops at the home of Army Aviation.

Instead of receiving support from senior leadership, the opposite occurred …

Lt. Col Long has noted that “no leader at the highest levels of the military has ever called me.”

“After I reported to my command my concerns that in one morning I had to ground three out of three pilots due to vaccine injuries, the next day my patients were canceled, my charts were pulled for review, and I was told that I would not be seeing acute patients anymore, just healthy pilots there for their flight physical,” she testified in front of Sen. Johnson’s panel.

“… I made numerous efforts to get senior medical leaders to, at the very least, inform soldiers of the risk. Leadership ignored my concerns. This is very troubling for many reasons. You can't have informed consent if you don't tell your patients of the risks and benefits of a treatment or procedure.

“…There’s a concept of the 10th man, the loyal dissenter … the person you select to be the dissenting opinion to prevent groupthink. Patients are entitled to a second opinion on their medical care. What happens when bureaucrats mandate that there is no dissenting opinion?”

‘Straight-up cowardliness’

The absence of “open dialogue” continues to disturb Lt. Col Long. “We should not be berating people or name-calling because someone is trying to engage in an open or free discussion,” she said.

Lt. Col. Long is also disturbed that civilian and medical doctors never “built an off-ramp.” They never proved - via their actions - that officials were “going to monitor (vaccine safety) closely. They didn’t.”

It’s been particularly “disheartening” for Lt. Col. Long to hear from many colleagues who privately told her they agree with her views, but publicly say, “I’ll disown you” if you reveal this.

This, said Long, is “straight-up cowardliness.”

The Legend of Lt. Col Long spreads through the ranks and world

Not everyone in the military holds a negative view of Lt. Col. Long. In fact, anecdotal evidence suggests large numbers of military personnel deeply admire her courage and the example she’s set as an officer seeking only to protect troops under her care.

Long said the level of gratitude she’s received from soldiers across all branches all over the world left her “pretty shocked.” She told Greg Hunter she’s heard from probably “thousands” of military members who applauded her courage and continue to lift her up in prayer.

Her conclusion: “People are so hungry and desperate to see leaders rise up and see people tell them the truth.”

At the Huntsville event, several current and former military officers told Lt. Col. Long her example provided a beacon of light in a world where darkness seems to be spreading.

(More than one speaker shared the view  Lt. Col. Long is leading a revival through the military ranks, a religious movement that might save the institution from its “woke” direction.)

Long’s husband, now a commercial pilot, said many pilots have told him his wife’s example inspired them.

Robert A. Green, a former Navy officer, wrote a (highly-recommended) book on his experiences as a military officer who challenged the vaccine mandates and rejected much of the authorized Covid “science.” Green’s book spends two pages singing the praises of Lt. Col. Long.

“Long’s public opposition to the prevailing narrative was like seeing a shining light ahead and hearing the voice of friend guiding me to safety,” he writes.

Long and other military whistleblowers “exposed the politicized nature of so many senior leaders who refused to conduct a legal and constitutional analysis of their orders as they are required to do by their oaths,” writes Green.

As noted in this article, skeptics of the official Covid narrative have been forced to use clandestine tactics to organize support groups of like-minded personnel. One such group includes members who regularly meet at a secluded lake near Ft. Rucker.

One speaker at the brunch honoring Lt. Col. Long said he remembers when he first heard about a high-ranking medical military officer who’d made her views public in a potentially significant lawsuit. However, he didn’t know the identify of this person.

One day - when the group met at their secret gathering place - a lady walked up and introduced herself.

It quickly became apparent that the whistleblower was right in front of him and serving at their base!

Long has never quit speaking out …

Lt. Col. Long is not a person who would give one affidavit and then go silent.

Not long after she’d “gone public,” a grassroots group of freedom fighters in Enterprise, Alabama held its first big meeting/rally.

Clint Grantham, one of the founders of South Alabama Liberty, said they were expecting 30 people to attend the rally at a local agriculture complex. Instead, 350 people showed up.

One lady stood out because she was wearing a mask - an NPI accessory choice most people at such a rally would definitely not make.

Like many others, Mr. Grantham had heard of an important whistleblower but wasn’t completely sure she actually existed.

The lady with the mask - who felt compelled to support her neighbor’s protest efforts - was/is THE famous/infamous whistleblower.

(Long later explained that she had to wear the mask or else she would get into even more hot water with her superior officers).

The response to Long’s unexpected attendance  “was like Elvis had walked into the building,” said Grantham.

Dr. Long shared emotional truths with a federal judge …

Due to whistleblower legal protections, Long has been free to attend such events and speak publicly (albeit with no mainstream media coverage). Still, she’s clearly experienced powerful push-back from the military chain of command.

Lt. Col. Long testified in front of one judge who heard arguments on the merits of the vaccine mandate case.

As reported by the website The Western Journal, when asked during her testimony about data in the DMED, Long replied, “I have been ordered not to answer that question.”

“Ordered by who?” queried Judge Steven Merryday of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Long said she was told by high-level command not to bring up military data in her testimony.

Matt Staver of Liberty Counsel, representing the embattled (military officer), then asked if the data were important and relevant.

“Yes,” Long said.

“Why?” asked Staver.

“Nearly in tears, Long looked at the judge and said, ‘I have so many soldiers being destroyed by this vaccine. Not a single member of my senior command has discussed my concerns with me,’ adding, ‘I have nothing to gain and everything to lose by talking about it. I’m OK with that because I am watching people get absolutely destroyed.’ “

Views young troops as similar to her children

In other interviews, Lt. Col. Long notes that she views herself as an advocate and protector of the troops she’s charged with caring for. Most of her patients are much younger than she is and almost feel like her children, she said.

“Our service members are national treasures,” she testified before Sen. Johnson’s panel. “They have stared down bullets, been blown up by IEDs and bombs, they have endured thankless and protracted wars, missing the birth of their children. They bore the burden no matter the cost. They did so without respect to political party or narrative. These are warriors, not lab rats. They deserve the best medical care.”

In Long’s opinion, one of the first duties of an officer should be efforts to enhance the well-being of troops. Instead, almost all officers have been practicing “herd politics” to either advance their careers or not harm their career prospects.

Lt. Col Long says what she thinks …

Podcast journalist Greg Hunter asked Long “if an Army pilot walked into your office and asked if the Covid vax was safe, what would you tell them?”  Dr. Long quickly replied, “I would tell them, ‘Hell no; I don’t think it’s safe.’”

She also told Hunter: “If you think for a moment that the very same doctors, politicians or whoever that told you this was safe and effective, if you are waiting and holding your breath for them to come back and say, ‘oops, we made a mistake, it’s dangerous and deadly’, that’s never going to happen.”

Long sometimes wonders if her efforts have made an impact …

Long confided to admirers in Huntsville that “It sometimes feels like I’ve had no impact,” but she’s received peace and comfort from the knowledge that “so many bold people have me in their prayers and were praying impactful, important prayers.”

Her husband told the group on “many nights” his wife “cried herself to sleep .. but she never let up.”

Added Mr. Long: “The number of people she’s helped is amazing,”

Lt. Col. Long thanked the many people who honored her at the Huntsville symposium, saying, “This event did a lot for my heart.”

She thanked her husband and children for supporting her when she needed them most.

In Summary …

Theresa Long was willing to “jump on a grenade” because she felt someone in her position had to do this … because God told her she must do this … and, also, “because I knew I was right.”

As long as at least a few hundred “Gideon warriors” and genuine patriots like Theresa Long exist, the medicinal power of hope should comfort millions of citizens engaged in what many now view as a battle between Good and Evil.

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