A U.S. Air Force tech specialist who has spent more than 15 years in the service and described it as his dream job worries that his career could soon end.
Thomas Goddard, 40, is a technical sergeant (E-6) at Travis Air Force Base in California. Next month will mark 16 years in the U.S. military for him, and he’s currently up for a promotion to master sergeant (E-6).
About five years ago, he was an enlisted accessions’ recruiter and was diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which he believed he always had, but it marked the first time he was actually medically diagnosed. He was prescribed Adderall by a military doctor.
Goddard told Military.com that in early July of this year, he was selected for a random urinalysis in the same manner he’d been tested in the past. A few weeks after that test, his first sergeant came and got him, took him up to Security Forces, and they read him his rights.
Goddard was told that he tested positive for amphetamines, one of the base components of Adderall.
“I agreed to talk to them, and I said, ‘Hey, you know I tested positive for amphetamines because I have an active prescription for Adderall,'” Goddard said. “And they went and called David Grant Medical Center, which is hospital here on Travis, and they basically confirmed with my doctor that I had a prescription for Adderall.”
Goddard said that the investigator, a Security Forces staff sergeant, told him that the case was likely unfounded. She told him to go back to work.
But things later became much more complicated.
Positive Test Unraveled Into Something Bigger
Goddard, who has been stationed at Travis since 2023 and is in his second tenure there, said that life went on as normal following his positive test.
Roughly a month later, however, he received another call from his first sergeant. He swiftly discovered that his security clearance had been pulled and that an investigation into the test had remained ongoing.
“I went to the Area Defense Counsel (ADC) and said, ‘What the heck’s going on here? Do I need to have representation? I have a prescription. I don’t understand, how is this investigation even still going on?'” Goddard said. “And no one can really explain it. I went and confirmed with my doctors that my prescription had never lapsed. The prescriptions are a 90-day supply, but they’re good for a year.”
Then, a few days after his clearance was pulled, he was called back up to Security Forces and found out he was being booked. They fingerprinted him, took a mushot, and he was charged under 10 U.S. Code § 912a (Article 112a), which covers the wrongful use, possession, manufacture, distribution and introduction of controlled substances in the military.
“It’s emotional talking about it,” Goddard said, speaking through tears. “It’s ruining my career, my life. I’m supposed to be doing my EPB [Enlisted Performance Brief], trying to get a promotion statement for master sergeant this year.
“Now I’m facing if I’m just getting screwed out of my entire 16-year career, for no f****** reason.”
Travis AFB Officials Respond
Military.com asked the U.S. Air Force about Goddard’s positive test, his medical background and Adderall prescription, and the current standing of the behind-the-scenes investigation.
An Air Force spokesperson deferred comment to Travis Air Force Base officials, who were asked the same questions.
“To maintain good order and discipline, the 60th Air Mobility Wing takes any suspected violations of military standards and conduct seriously,” a 60th Air Mobility Wing spokesperson told Military.com. “We conduct all military drug testing in accordance with Department of the Air Force policy and procedures. We cannot comment on the specifics of an individual’s medical information or legal matters.”
Goddard, who was formerly charged last week with Article 112A, said he’s previously taken multiple drug tests—including some he’s “sure” he tested positive on, mostly during tests conducted at Tinker Air Force Base while he was working as a recruiter in Fort Smith, Ark.
That’s where I did my drug tests and never heard anything back. So, naturally, this time when I took this drug test, I thought it would be the same deal. But I guess Security Forces here had different ideas.
Goddard said his report is being completed now that he has been booked, and should be going to his commander to decide if they’re doing a non-judicial punishment or otherwise.
Impact on Psyche, Job Performance
Goddard is gay and has been married 10 years to his husband, Nicholas, a public elementary school teacher. The couple has 6-year-old fraternal twins, one boy and one girl.
“It’s been awful, I just never know what to do,” Goddard said. “I’m depressed. It could ruin the rest of my life. We planned on having my Air Force retirement for a long time, and now we don’t know if I’m even going to get an honorable discharge over taking a medication that was prescribed to me by a military doctor.”
The work situation has also “weighed so heavily” on Goddard’s home life, he said, to the point where chores are not being completed as expeditiously as in the past. He has put his physical fitness on the back burner, even as someone who’s routinely scored 90% and above on testing. Fixing cars or going fishing has become less commonplace, too.
There’s a long-term concern about where life will take the family of four as a final decision awaits, in a time of economic uncertainty.
“As far as our finances, we don’t even know what to prepare for,” he said. “You know, this shouldn’t even be happening. How do you prepare for something that is just so out of the realm of what you even thought was possible?
“At the beginning, I was like, ‘This is fine. Nothing can possibly come of this. I didn’t do anything wrong. Surely the right thing is going to happen here.’ And it just continuously has not. So now, I just come home and lay down and don’t do anything anymore. It’s terrible.”
It’s extended to his work as well. His most recent role as a flight line expediter, and Goddard alleged that during a commander’s call a few weeks ago, his senior enlisted leader pulled him aside afterward and questioned whether he was vaping during a roll call. Goddard denied the accusation.
“I was taken aback by it,” Goddard recalled. “I was like, ‘What? I wasn’t.’ And I was like, ‘Why would you ask me that?’ I can only assume that it was because he’s sitting there thinking, ‘Oh, this guy’s a druggie now.’ … I’m the guy that calls that out, not the guy that gets accused of that.”
Goddard’s Advocates
Goddard, who grew up in the Albuquerque, N.M., area, was searching for help. It came in somewhat of a strange way.
The former Eagle Scout was in the same troop as a boy whose father is Mikey Weinstein, the founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF). Goddard, recalling MRFF’s work and the old connecMRFFtion from decades ago, reached out for assistance because—aside from his Area Defense Counsel (ADC)—he felt his options were limited and that his career and livelihood are on the line.
“Mikey actually gave me a way forward rather than just wait for my inevitable…whatever the hell they’re gonna do to me,” Goddard said.
Weinstein told Military.com that the “shock here is that this is a highly celebrated airman who’s done nothing wrong other than to follow the medical advice of his Air Force physicians,” linking Goddard’s personal situation with what he views as “the template for success and the approved solution to be in today’s military.”
“You have to be four things,” Weinstein said. “That’s why we’re seeing triple the clients coming to us for help, like Thomas Goddard. That’s to be straight, white, Christian nationalist, and male, and if you’re not those things, you are immediately suspect.
“It’s interesting here that the OSI [Office of Special Investigations] has not gotten involved. It is the Security Forces entity that has done this investigation. Apparently, there doesn’t appear to be a commander-directed investigation.”
MRFF advised Goddard it would assist in filing an Article 138 complaint against the commander should charges be brought, or some other sort of reprimand.
He added that if it’s going to be an Article 15, MRFF will work with ADC. Article 15 essentially allows Air Force commanders to handle minor offenses without a court-martial.
“You don’t have to accept an Article 15, non-judicial punishment,” Weinstein added. “If it’s offered to you, you can turn it down and demand a special court-martial, at which you are innocent until proven guilty. The Air Force would have to show [guilt] beyond a reasonable doubt.”
MRFF, composed of roughly 95% of Christians either currently or formerly serving in the U.S. military, also represents more than 1,200 LGBTQ+ clients.
For Goddard, the last approximately three months have caused him to question a lot. Especially his military service.
“I was an enlisted accessions recruiter for four years,” he said. “I put well over 100 people into the Air Force, and now I’m regretting it. What have I done to these poor guys? They’re all going to get screwed over like me.
“It went from being something that I thought about telling my kids, [that] this is an option, to [now telling them it’s something to] stay the heck away from. It’s not something I’d recommend for anybody, they’re just going to do whatever the heck they want to. You could be innocent, and you could just get screwed just because they want to.”
