(Fox News) The U.S. Armed Forces have one mission: to protect our nation from foreign enemies. Our troops are as committed to that mission as ever before. But according to a bracing new report, our warriors’ ability to do their job is being undermined by civilian leaders more interested in woke indoctrination and partisan politics than warfighting readiness.
“The Report of the National Independent Panel on Military Service and Readiness” is an urgent warning about creeping politicization at the Pentagon and its corrosive impact on America’s national defense. As the report details, the Biden administration’s whole-of-government embrace of woke politics is becoming a dangerous distraction for servicemen and women who signed up to protect and defend, not virtue-signal.
The top-line statistics compiled in the report are jarring.
Public confidence in the military is falling precipitously, and even military families – from which most recruits come – are less likely to recommend military life. (iStock)
Last year, the Army missed its recruiting goal by 25 percent. They expect this year to be even worse. The Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps began the new fiscal year in October 50 percent below their normal recruiting numbers. Public confidence in the military is falling precipitously, and even military families – from which most recruits come – are less likely to recommend military life.
What explains the decline? According to a November poll, the most common explanations included “military leadership becoming overly politicized” and “so-called ‘woke’ practices undermining military effectiveness.” Another survey found that 65 percent of active-duty servicemen and women are concerned about politicization, including the woke training programs and equity-minded reduced physical fitness standards.
Troop retention rates are falling, too, and for the same reasons. As the report notes, “the perception that non-warfighting missions are distracting senior military leadership may alienate experienced, skilled and knowledgeable warfighters, incentivizing their early departure[.]”
It’s no coincidence that the Heritage Foundation’s latest annual Index of U.S. Military Strength rated our Armed Forces preparedness “weak.”
Up and down the ranks, Team Biden’s DEI-focused initiatives are degrading the warrior ethos, “grounded in values such as courage, honor and self-sacrifice,” on which military morale, respect and success depend.
The Department of Defense touts its “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” agenda like a third-tier college, apparently unaware that the institution they lead is “by design, exclusionary to ensure its readiness.”
Politicized initiatives like DEI always spawn enormous bureaucracies that distract the rank-and-file from their real jobs. The military is not immune. A report on the Navy compiled for members of Congress observes that, today, “non-combat curricula consume Navy resources, clog inboxes, create administrative quagmires, and monopolize precious training time.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks during the 19th International Institute for Strategic Studies, Asia’s annual defense and security forum, in Singapore, June 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Danial Hakim)
Biden’s DOD sometimes seems more interested in culture-war activism than combat training and lethality. The Pentagon now pays for abortion travel expenses, on-base pride celebrations, and drag queen story hours.
