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Defense Department has “Drastically Shifted Off Course”

Defense Department has “Drastically Shifted Off Course”

Rep. Mike Waltz Says, as Military Readiness Panel Report reveals deficiencies in recruiting and preparedness.

The Daily Signal reports that “[i]n October, The Heritage Foundation launched the National Independent Panel on Military Service and Readiness in response to what it called ‘all-time low recruitment in 2022,’ announcing that the panel would ‘examine what, if any, impact the progressive social and environmental agenda has had on U.S. military readiness.'”

The panel was made up of numerous defense professionals and national security heavy-hitters, including Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, U.S. Army (ret.), a West Point grad with a PhD in Military History, who is the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Rebeccah L. Heinrichs, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, specializing in U.S. national defense policy with a focus on strategic deterrence, adjunct professor at the Institute of World Politics where she teaches nuclear deterrence theory, and staff member of the Defense and Strategic Studies Program at Missouri State University; Chairman of the Board of Stand Together Against Racism and Radicalism in the Services (STARRS) Lieutenant General Rod Bishop, U.S. Air Force (ret.); and others, including Congressman and panel Chairman Mike Waltz (R-Fla.), the first Green Beret to be elected to Congress, who currently serves as a Colonel in the Florida Army National Guard and is a former White House and Pentagon policy advisor.

That panel filed its final report on March 30, and the results are alarming, to say the least. A downloadable copy of the panel’s 48-page report can be found here.

The same day, at a Heritage military readiness event aptly entitled “Restoring the Military’s Focus on Warfighting,” heralding the panel’s report, Congressman Waltz had this to say:

“Over the last couple of years, we have seen a fundamental shift in our military culture, in the military itself, and in the Defense Department’s priorities. And to underscore that: Bottom line is rather than focusing on military readiness, on warfighting, and preparing our soldiers to hopefully deter the next war, but if necessary, fight and win it, the Defense Department … has drastically shifted off course.”

As specifically regards military recruiting:

“The Army, in particular, is losing divisions’ worth of soldiers that they’re not bringing in, and that trend wasn’t just a one-year COVID-related episode like we’re being told is the case.  It’s continuing this year.”

“That means it will likely continue to the next [year], because these are cumulative effects and if we don’t arrest this downward trend, I believe the volunteer military could become in the coming years at risk.  And that would have all kinds of follow-on consequences.”

As regards warfighting readiness by active military forces, Congressman Waltz said this:

“[O]ur military has become hyperfocused, to its detriment in my view, on climate initiatives and on other initiatives such as preferred pronouns and eco-friendly tanks, rather than lethality, rather than putting bullets and bombs on enemy soldiers and making them believe that we have the full capability [and] intent to do so,” Waltz said.  “That demonstration of strength is how we keep the peace.”

The report makes the following recommendations to improve recruiting and retention, as well as warfighting readiness:

—Eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) from the Defense Department.

—Redirect politicized efforts to combat extremism toward improving readiness.

—Establish standards for the Defense Department and the various services based on readiness.

—Prioritize security and defense over combating climate change.

Here is a small snippet of Congressman Waltz’s remarks at the “Restoring the Military’s Focus on Warfighting” event:

Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts said in a written statement:

“The world is becoming an increasingly dangerous place, and defense leaders need to remember that at its core the United States armed forces have one mission: to protect our nation from foreign enemies.”

“While the Biden administration pursues a politicized ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ experiment, the National Independent Panel on Military Service and Readiness has focused on recommending actionable steps to solve our government-created military recruitment and readiness crises. Now is the time for patriots to step up and restore our military’s warrior ethos and readiness, not to be distracted by the political agenda of bureaucratic elites.”

DOD did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Signal, a spokesman saying instead: “I would refer you to recent congressional testimony provided by senior Department of Defense leaders on these topics. We have no additional information or response to provide.”

The report itself is chock full of shocking nuggets. Here are some that I, as a 31-year military veteran, found particularly concerning:

– “DOD’s own Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Strategic Plan contains a litany of goals related to identity politics rather than warfighting. For example, the list of individual characteristics that must be protected according to the plan include parental or caregiver status; gender identity or sexual identity, to include lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual, and all others (LGBTQIA+); pregnancy; disability, including people with hidden disabilities and the neurodiverse population; members of religious minorities; persons who live in rural areas; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality.”

– “An Air Force Academy slide presentation titled, ‘Diversity & Inclusion: What it is, why we care, & what we can do,’ advises cadets to use gender-neutral language and avoid terms such as mom and dad. Shockingly, it included an admonition to avoid using the term colorblind and instead be ‘color conscious.'”

– “The [Air Force A]cademy has also encouraged cadets to apply to the Brooke Owens Fellowship program—a nine-week paid internship for cadets interested in aerospace. The program, however, excludes ‘cisgender men,’ as it is reserved for women and ‘non-binary, agender, bigender, two-spirit, demigender, genderfluid, genderqueer, or another form of gender minority.'”

– “The military has promoted ‘Pride’ events on military bases and official Twitter pages. Some bases have featured ‘family friendly’ drag queen performances and story hours at base libraries.”

– “Standards to join the military have also been lowered by the modification of military entrance criteria to allow enlistment of transgender individuals suffering from gender dysphoria. At the start of the Biden Administration, the President quickly removed any enlistment restrictions on transgender individuals who suffer from gender dysphoria. Allowing individuals suffering from gender dysphoria—proven to be medically pre-disposed to severe anxiety and who attempt suicide at rates 10 times the general population—to enter service with no regard for consequences was reckless. It may have satisfied a campaign promise but at the expense of reduced military readiness. In a break from centuries of military entrance policy, the Administration also permitted enlistment of these individuals with full knowledge that they may require appropriated funds and extensive paid time off for gender reassignment surgery and hormone therapy.”

– “During the humiliating retreat from Afghanistan…the Pentagon was busy developing a climate strategy in response to the President’s guidance to ‘prioritize climate change considerations.'”

There’s lots more. Read the whole thing here.

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Comments

TheOldZombie | April 2, 2023 at 12:15 pm

It’s looking like it’s going to take the loss of tens of thousands of lives before the military shakes off this leftist flu it’s caught.

Like every agency the far left takes control of, they no longer CARE about the actual mission of the organization.

All they care about it exploiting it to push their insane politics.

    CommoChief in reply to Olinser. | April 2, 2023 at 12:48 pm

    Stating the SR leaders ‘don’t care about the mission’ is a bit too far, though that day is approaching. The reality is that these SR leaders are catering to whims of political fashion to ingratiate themselves with the ideology of the current Civilian leadership. Not exactly a new phenomenon though the level and degree of deviation from a pure mission focus certainly is.

    That’s not just the Biden admin by the way, there are plenty of weirdo bureaucrats at DoD and in the service’s Civilian hierarchy who don’t rotate with change in admin. These SR Civilians are protected by their ideological allies in Congress who are ultimately elected by their CD and State.

    These SR uniformed and civilian leaders believe the incorporation of all these weird ideological issues into the force won’t detract enough to cause complete mission failure or that when failure occurs they will be retired and the leaders in place at that time will be left holding the bag. Meanwhile they will have transitioned to lucrative gigs as consultants/analysts at think tanks, board seats at defense contractors and so on.

    IMO the rate of burn on the goodwill/prestige the military built since creation of the all volunteer force fifty years ago is too rapid. Roughly 2/3 of each year’s recruit intake comes from the families with a tradition of military service. Those families are overwhelmingly more traditional than average and are not amused with the thought of trans and woke ideology. They are now far less likely to recommend military service to their children, nieces and nephews and for good reason. Ultimately the volunteer force is dependent upon this ‘military caste’ and without their willingness to enlist the force will shrink to level recruiting elsewhere can provide or a draft of some sort will be imposed.

      mbecker908 in reply to CommoChief. | April 2, 2023 at 3:38 pm

      We are a Marine Corps family. It hurts me to say that I would urge a young man to stay very far from any military service.

      Democrats, in general, and this administration in particular, are working hard to to turn out military into a third-world force to be used primarily against US citizens.

        CommoChief in reply to mbecker908. | April 2, 2023 at 8:05 pm

        It is incredibly sad and frustrating that many Veterans, myself among them, won’t recommend even a single team of enlistment to your people due to the over politicized nature of our Nation’s military and the lack of faith in military leadership.

        Either our armed forces reduce in size to compensate down to level they can maintain replacement rate a draft of some sort will be instituted to make up the shortfall. Currently the Army is about 25% behind in recruiting. That is with a bevy of bonuses increased and offered to retain Soldiers who were ending their term of enlistment.

        Eventually the load on the remaining Soldiers becomes too heavy and even more attrition than normal occurs despite offering incentives to reenlist. That’s when the draft comes back into existence and suddenly all the people who rarely think about the military, much less offer themselves or their family to serve, will become very focused indeed about the 5 W of military service.

          Eric R. in reply to CommoChief. | April 3, 2023 at 6:02 am

          If they go to a draft, it will only be white deplorables who are drafted. It will be forced on them to “atone” for their systemic racism.

        Dathurtz in reply to mbecker908. | April 3, 2023 at 9:05 am

        My school is small. Graduating classes around 30 or so. Around 5 kids a year entered some type of military service. In the last 3 years, zero have entered the service.

2smartforlibs | April 2, 2023 at 12:32 pm

We can’t even keep ourselves armed but we give all we have to BUYdens cash cow.

The Chinese, Iranian, Russian and other malevolent/belligerent regimes around the world are laughing at the U.S. Armed Forces and our civilian and military leadership, and, why not?

Corrupt, tottering, feeble, dim-witted, mendacious, avaricious, ornery, obnoxious and incompetent dotard-marionette is safely tucked away in the White House geriatric ward, while SecDef Austin and Joint Chiefs Chairman, Milley,” combat the phantom specter of alleged “white rage” in the U.S. Armed Forces and ensure that combating “climate change” and making accommodations for trannies are given top priority — all while battle readiness, troop morale and recruitment hover at all-time lows.

Trans/defense, trans/portation, trans/social, trans/gender, trans/humane, etc. Trans/life (e.g. planned parenthood, planned parent/hood) set a forward-looking precedent for states and processes of divergence from normal.

ThePrimordialOrderedPair | April 2, 2023 at 1:28 pm

The gutting of our military is entirely intentional, just like the criminal refusal to defend our border in any way, shape, or form. It isn’t a “crisis” to the traitors in Washington, it is their policy – and it is treasonous policy, as any normal person understands without hesitation.

This is what happens when you have traitors (self-hating nihilists, in our specific case) actually in charge.

Steven Brizel | April 2, 2023 at 1:53 pm

The armed forces are in worse war fighting condition right now than they were either before the Civil War or Pearl Harbor

Silly Milley is a disgrace. A lunatic.

Young man enlist!!!!

You will be fighting for SYSTEMIC RACISM!!!

You will fight for the systemic racist institutions that keep black people out today!!!!

You will fight for a system that rigs elections because we don’t for a second believe 200o, 2004, or 2016 were real elections!!

You will be learning about your White Fragility!

Your white rage means we will be watching you for special discrimination!!

You will realize CISGENDER NORMATIVE PATRIARICHIES ARE EVIL

You will BE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST

If we learn you are part of the conservative portion of your generation YOU WILL BE COURT MARTIALED

If we learn you don’t back BLM YOU WILL BE COURT MARTIALED (actually happened to a cadet)

If we learn you don’t back DEI YOUR GONE

If we learn you revere some of the most consequential Americans of all time YOUR GONE

Anyone see why the military isn’t attracting recruits?

Even China knows without patriotic fervor you don’t have an army.

inspectorudy | April 2, 2023 at 2:46 pm

When I was a Marine pilot many years ago I and no other pilots in my squadron could survive in today’s Marine Corps. When in combat and when your body and mind are focused on one thing, there is no time to analyze the situation to see if it is proper or not. The camaraderie of the men and women in a platoon or company has to be totally family in nature or the trust will not be there. There can be no offended members who resent others or who demand to be something they are not. It is also absurd to allow transgender personnel into the service because of the drugs they must take to survive and the questionable mental state that they are living with. In two or three more years, we will have to reinstate the draft to meet the basic quota for all of the branches. No one wants to join an oppressive and woke military and it is showing up big time. The mandatory vaccine also set an example of what any new recruit could expect from the military in the future.

    Gosport in reply to inspectorudy. | April 3, 2023 at 1:57 am

    And God help us when we see what the draft drags in. The pool isn’t very deep.

    If you really want a sobering thought… who’s going to train the draftees? How do you renew an ethos which has been thoroughly destroyed on purpose?

    Semper Fi

      IBoat in reply to Gosport. | April 3, 2023 at 9:56 am

      At this point it is a MUD PUDDLE at best!

      Subotai Bahadur in reply to Gosport. | April 3, 2023 at 4:23 pm

      And if they go to a draft again, and as Eric R. suggested this morning that they restrict it to white deplorables . . . times may well get interesting.

      Subotai Bahadur

        Gosport in reply to Subotai Bahadur. | April 3, 2023 at 7:47 pm

        All drafts before this were male only. Wouldn’t reparations theory suggest it should be all women this time?

        The effect on gender confusion would be interesting.

When Trump was President he had Milley and others not following him. It was clear that Trump did not want our military operating across the world in active war actions. Trump followed the Constitution and US Law, which meant war actions had to be voted on by Congress and was not an automatic decision by the President. This was against the Military Industrial Complex even though Trump had updated the military.

Milley directly contacted Peoples Republic of China to tell them he was in control, when Trump was President, and that is treason. The military forced its people to take the COVID vaccines yet they had not been tested so the military is now infected with issues that can cause problems.

Put a bunch of woke-@ss c*nts in charge whose focus is ‘climate change’, ‘diversity’ and indoctrinating the soldier’s kids with tranny fantasies and what the f*ck would you expect to happen?

My son’s term in the US armed forces is coming to an end this year, and I really don’t want to repeat anything he’s said about the wokeness of the service, but it seems the Army at least is focusing on new recruits and ignoring retention. That’s going to make woke worse, since the highest percentage of woke is in the young kids who don’t realize how destructive it is yet.

henrybowman | April 2, 2023 at 6:40 pm

Every dark cloud has a silver lining.
Consider the probability that their next engagement will be against a real enemy… instead of against “domestic insurrectionists.”
I wouldn’t put money on that bet.
Real soldiers wouldn’t take such orders, but those days are history.

BierceAmbrose | April 2, 2023 at 9:01 pm

You only direct your military to something else, when you think your safety is a given.

The overlords have tipped their hand again. They believe the military will be good enough to keep them safe no matter what they do to it.

See also: economy, banking, energy, transportation, health care, education, foreign policy…

The US military has made it clear they do not value patriotic Christians. Which is hilarious! Who exactly are they planning to recruit??? MS-13 members? Why would anyone go through boot camp only to make cents on the dollar and have to follow orders all day??? Patriots. Patriots with a strong religious background, determined to do their duty. Virtue-signaling wokesters are in no way prepared to do so.

Gunny’s tirade to the recruits in Full Metal Jacket need to be now directed at the military brass.

“Sucking golf balls through a garden hose” seems to have become a plus for recruitment.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo02ljYmSTo

docduracoat | April 3, 2023 at 8:41 am

They did not rescind the mandatory vaccination requirement until 2023.
Literally thousands of soldiers left the armed forces because of the requirement, and none are coming back.
Recruiting will never reach their goals as the conservative, mostly southern families that have filled the ranks for generations are no longer sending sons and daughters to join due to woke d e i mandates.

It turns out that there are not enough homosexuals and transsexuals who want to serve to fill the ranks of the armed services.
Who knew?

There is NOT a chance in hell that I would join today’s military. Ex-U.S Navy