ARKANSAS, USA — Colonel Dillon Patterson, who assumed his role as commander of the 188th Wing of Ebbing Air National Guard Base in June, announced his resignation on Dec. 18 due to religious beliefs, according to a letter from Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders to President Joe Biden sent on Jan. 2.
"Unfortunately, Col. Patterson was forced to personally choose between either continuing his command or adhering to his sincerely held religious beliefs against abortion. Because he adhered first to his faith instead of overtly political mandates, he voluntarily resigned his command," Gov. Sanders said.
The Arkansas National Guard confirmed on Jan. 2 that Col. Patterson submitted his resignation on Dec. 18 for "personal reasons." Brigadier General Wes Nichols assumed interim command of the 188th Wing on Dec. 28 and will lead the wing until a permanent replacement is found.
Col. Patterson will remain an active member of the Arkansas Air National Guard. The resignation will not impact his rank or service record.
"He has led the wing and Ebbing Air National Guard Base with integrity, selfless service, and excellence through a significant transition period as the base readies to host the F-35 Foreign Military Sales mission and Singapore’s squadron of F-16s," the Arkansas National Guard said.
Col. Patterson took the role of commanding officer of the 188th Wing in June 2023 after Col. Jeremiah Gentry retired.
In his 20 years of service, Col. Patterson has also commanded the 188th Mission Support Group at Ebbing in Fort Smith, the 214th Operations Support Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, the 30th Reconnaissance Squadron Detachment 1 at Kandahar Air Base in Afghanistan. He also served as chief of executive engagements at the Pentagon's Air National Guard.
According to Sanders, Col. Patterson's resignation comes after the U.S. Department of Defense issued a policy that "had disregarded his service and abandoned his most fundamental constitutional rights in favor of more fashionable political and social experiments."
The Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, making the right to abortion no longer federally protected. Instead, the ruling left the decision to allow abortions up to the state.
Arkansas was among the states that banned abortion following the Supreme Court decision.
In October 2023, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued the Pentagon's travel policy, which allows reimbursement for travel expenses when a service member has to go out of the state for an abortion or other reproductive care. This policy was passed by the House on Dec. 14, 2023, as a part of the National Defense Authorization Act.
Gov. Sanders said the policy "subverts the actions of states like Arkansas by using taxpayer dollars to fund the travel, meals, and lodging associated with out-of-state servicemember travel for procurement of an abortion procedure."
She included that this policy goes against "deeply held religious convictions" of commanding officers, like Col. Patterson, as they are forced to approve abortion leave.
The Arkansas governor asked Biden to rescind the policy immediately.
On Jan. 3, the Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said the Department of Defense's policy is not an abortion policy but a travel policy.
“The department does not have an abortion policy. The department has a travel policy, which is in place to ensure that all of our service members—regardless of where they are stationed—have equal access to reproductive health care," Singh said. "Should a commander be uncomfortable approving requests for non-covered reproductive health care, they may consult with their chain of command as to whether such requests may be referred to a higher echelon of command for approval."
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