A Woke Military? Or A Broke Military?
The importance of a strong military for the United States cannot be overstated. One of the few responsibilities of the federal government explicitly mandated by the Constitution of the United States is “to provide for the common defense.” When I was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, and each time I was promoted up to the final rank of Colonel, I swore an oath (like every American military officer) to “support and defend” this Constitution.
The core mission of the American military is to protect and defend our nation. This means deterring potential aggressors and, if deterrence fails, fighting and winning wars. This is the foundational principle of the United States Military. The armed forces literally exist to deter war and to decisively win wars. All else is ancillary and, while possibly important, is marginal to this primary mission.
Recently, the Pentagon reported that every branch of the U.S. military was falling short of its recruiting goals for this year. For example, in the present fiscal year, the Army is short 10,000 new troops and projects a 28,000-recruit shortfall for fiscal year 2023. Over the next two years, the Army is predicted to be 40,000 recruits short of what it needs to maintain the force. Some question whether the draft should be reinstituted, calling into question whether the all-volunteer force, established in 1973, is still viable.
The struggle to get young people to join the military is partly to blame on the fact that obesity, drug use, and criminal records disqualify some individuals. Last month, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville testified before Congress that only 23% of Americans ages 17-24 are qualified to serve without a waiver to join, down from 29% in recent years. However, an internal Defense Department survey obtained by NBC News found that only 9% of those young Americans eligible to serve in the military had any inclination to do so, the lowest number since 2007. Even the people physically and mentally qualified have real reservations about joining the military.
Why is the most powerful military in the world struggling to find people who want to join?
Certainly, overall trust in the U.S. government and its institutions has declined, and this impacts the armed forces. Last year, a survey by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute revealed that only 45% of Americans had a great deal of trust in the U.S. military, down 25 points in just three years.
The Army is now offering flexible enlistments from two to six years and a $10,000 bonus if a person agrees to go to basic training quickly. Some branches of the military are offering bonuses up to $50,000 for certain job specialties in the Army, Navy, and Air Force. But according to the NBC report, one U.S. military official said, “We can throw money at the problem all we want, but until we change how young people see us in uniform, we are going to struggle to get them to raise their right hands.”
I submit there is more to the problem than that. The shortage of recruits can be traced to senior leadership in the U.S. military, including top officials at the Pentagon. It is related to the leadership at the DOD trying to change the culture in the military to make it more “woke.” In testimony before Congress, General Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Lloyd Austin, the Secretary of Defense, vividly illustrated their disconnect with the rank and file of not only those serving—but also those who are considering joining. To try and relate to potential recruits, they literally illustrated their disconnect from this very target audience.
The two top leaders in the Department of Defense, one a four-star general and the other a retired four-star general (both of whom I have met and for whom I worked) have implied that one of the dangers of today’s U.S. military is racism and the presence of white supremist people in the ranks. For anyone who has ever served in the military, they know this is a farce and an attempt by two men who know better to try and illustrate how in touch they are with the Left-leaning Administration and the concerns of the leftist progressives in society at large. This is not to say there are no racists and radicals in the force. They are there. But this is not a systemic problem. These kinds of individuals are the rare exception in the ranks, and they are deplored and opposed by the other service members. Like America generally, the armed forces are NOT racist with a few anti-racists in it. Rather the opposite is true: the U.S. Armed Forces is proudly and extremely anti-racist with a few racists in it.
The U.S. military was fully integrated in 1948. My experience was that a sure way to end one’s career was to mistreat someone based on their skin color or their gender. We took pride in our love for one another and our unity. People in the military generally don’t care about one’s race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. Those matters are simply not important. When you are in a foxhole with someone, literally or figuratively, what you care about is that person having your back, you having theirs, and hopefully that they are really good at using the weapon issued to them.
Pentagon leadership, parroting White House lines, identifies climate change as an existential threat to the military. The service academies devote time and energy to accepting one’s chosen gender identification and using the correct pronoun when addressing these people. These issues are simply not issues for most people wearing the uniform. Matters like these—and whether your battle buddy is secretly a domestic terrorist—are simply nowhere near the top of the list for people in the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force.
When a problem that is a rare exception is inaccurately identified as a problem permeating the force, not only is it insulting and demoralizing to those who serve—it is a negative to those who are considering joining the military as well. When leaders major on the minors, like these issues, you can be assured they are also minoring on the major issues.
General Milley, for example, tried to defend training in Critical Race Theory (CRT) in the ranks by saying it was merely a matter of trying to understand what upsets people. But few in the military spend much time thinking about CRT. He may be upset about this perceived societal problem by a minority of people—his troops generally are not. His defense on certain questionable books being promoted in the military was his own desire to understand CRT and “white rage.” Perhaps that is an issue for the general. It is not generally an issue for the men and women serving. Secretary Austin took pride in an anti-extremism “stand down,” where service members were required to stop training and other activities to ponder the issue of extremism in the military today.
Admiral Michael Gilday is the Chief of Naval Operations, the highest-ranking sailor in the Navy. Former military officer Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas sparred with the Admiral over controversial books that are recommended readings for sailors. One of the books was highly critical of capitalism, as opposed to beliefs held by communists and Marxists. The exchange between the two men was very revealing of the woke agenda being promulgated–not by the average service member, but by their highest leaders.
We need warrior generals. Instead, we have woke generals—at least at the highest levels in the Pentagon. It is no wonder that young people are not inspired to serve and that the U.S. Armed Forces are not meeting their recruiting goals. These sentiments are echoed by my colleague at the ACLJ, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in his recent post, “We Must Reject Wokeness in our Military.”
The focus in the military today is terribly misguided. The Pentagon is missing its target audience. Most people who join the military are from the American South and Midwest–the more conservative parts of the country. They are not primarily concerned with woke versions of equity, diversity, and what is wrong with America. They are truly turned off by recent recruiting commercials which reveal an obsession with Left-wing social engineering by Pentagon leaders. These young men and women are not losing sleep over climate change. When these are the issues at the top of the list for senior leaders, it is predictable that people will not wish to join.
Until we have new leadership at the Pentagon and a renewed emphasis on American greatness, patriotism, and selfless service, our military will continue to struggle with recruiting. Our senior military leaders need to seriously rethink what they are emphasizing, quit paying untold amounts of money to marketing and focus groups led by people who have never served in the military and would never want to serve—and get back to basics. People who join the military are realistic about what might be wrong with America. But they also know we are unique in the world, and they join the military due to their love of country and willingness to sacrifice themselves in service to the nation.