‘Woke’ Air Force Colonel Promotion Still Stalled – An Update
Air Force Colonel Ben Jonsson’s promotion to brigadier (one-star) general on hold after his racist screed attacking “white” Air Force officers
Last August, I reported on a U.S. Air Force colonel whose promotion to brigadier (one-star) general was being held up due to his support of “woke” military policies: Air Force Colonel, Selected for Promotion to Brigadier General, Pushes DEI, CRT, and Racist Dogma:
[F]rom the Daily Signal…comes a disturbing report about an Air Force Colonel who seems to believe it is his place to lecture his fellow colonels about how racist they are: Air Force Colonel in Line for Promotion Preaches DEI Agenda, Endorses CRT Book
In the weeks following George Floyd’s death in 2020, a U.S. Air Force officer…accused his fellow “white colonels” of being the “biggest barriers” to addressing “racial injustice” in the military and being “blind to institutional racism.”
Col. Ben Jonsson’s 825-word commentary in the Air Force Times on July 1, 2020, recounts several examples of what he describes as “white defensiveness” in the aftermath of Floyd’s death. Jonsson concludes with an endorsement of critical race theory promoter Robin DiAngelo’s controversial book, “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism.”
“Dear white colonel, it is time to give a damn. Aim High,” Jonsson wrote.
After this thorough demonization of “white colonels,” sure to engender fissures in an already race-imbued military culture, and his embrace of divisive, now-greatly discredited CRT-based propaganda, you would think he would be next in line to be invited to retire after 20+ years of mostly honorable service.
But you would be wrong, as President Biden has nominated Jonsson for promotion to Brigadier (One-Star) General.
Fortunately, and thank God, Senator Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., used a Senate procedure requiring a roll-call vote, rather than “unanimous consent,” to hold up Jonsson’s and many other officers’ promotions, thereby allowing further investigation into the military’s descent into CRT/DEI hell.
The Biden Administration’s liberal and woke policies are the real threat to military readiness.
I’m trying to keep politics out of the military.https://t.co/Ylvvrw9f8v
— Coach Tommy Tuberville (@SenTuberville) August 12, 2023
And, although Tuberville has since relented, and most of those officers’ promotions have now gone through, Johnsson’s is still on hold.
From military.com: Nomination of Air Force Officer at Center of GOP’s Fight Against ‘Woke’ Military Extended to 2025:
An Air Force officer whose promotion to brigadier general has been stalled by a Republican senator fighting against diversity initiatives in the military has been granted another year to try to win Senate confirmation.
Col. Ben Jonsson’s nomination to become a one-star general was set to expire May 1 under a law that says military officer promotions that require Senate confirmation must be approved within 18 months after they are first nominated.
But the law also allows nominations to be extended for another 12 months, if the president chooses to do so. Jonsson was granted that extension, making the new deadline for his confirmation May 1, 2025, a Defense Department official told Military.com.
* * *
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., has used a procedural tactic known as a hold to block Jonsson’s confirmation….When Tuberville ended his blanket hold on all senior military officer promotions in December, Schmitt announced he was placing a hold on a few officers as part of a fight to “eradicate” diversity, equity and inclusion programs he labeled “divisive.” Schmitt has since dropped his hold on every officer but Jonsson.
Military.com then points out something that I referred to in my initial post on Jonsson – Tuberville’s, and now Schmitt’s, “hold” is not really a hold; it simply requires a roll-call vote for Jonsson, but democrat senators are too scared to put their names on anything supporting Jonsson, so they refuse to do so:
While Jonsson has now been given an extra year to win Senate confirmation before his career would effectively be ended, it’s unclear whether the extra time will help as Schmitt continues to keep his hold.
Please take the time to review Jonsson’s holier-than-thou screed against white officers who aren’t as enlightened, i.e., racist, as him.
Also, of note, as the Daily Signal reported, subordinates who served under Jonsson at MacDill Air Force Base were not impressed and said so in a DOD survey of those serving under Jonsson from 2020-2022:
“I trust [squadron and group] commanders, but not Col. Jonsson. He has bias in [equal opportunity] and [judge advocate] matters especially if someone is white,” one respondent stated. “He wants anyone white to feel ashamed.”
Survey respondents also said skin color was a factor in opportunities for promotion.
“Wing hiring practices are not based on [the] most qualified person, but focus solely on perception of diversity,” one comment states.
Another adds: “The core of promotion, advancement and opportunities must be performance based … period [but] that is not what we do at MacDill.”
The Pentagon’s climate assessment concludes with a recommendation addressing those concerns: “Review the Recognition program/promotions for fairness and equity to ensure it is rooted in merit and achievement (and not other factors like race/gender or personal favorites).”
Check out these succinct, cogent synopses of Jonsson as well:
Air Force Col. Ben Jonsson is a proponent of DEI, wokeness, concepts of institutional and systemic racism, and preaching down to"white colonels". I truly hope he is never promoted to Brigadier General. He exemplifies the problems in our military. https://t.co/vMs9FCiwAW
— Concerned Vet (@Dpirinku) August 18, 2023
…this guy belongs in politics and not in today's military…
Col. Ben Jonsson’s views on DEI are reflective of broader trends in the U.S. Air Force. @SenEricSchmitt is blocking his promotion to “root out divisive DEI policies and their advocates.” https://t.co/bOWdSBo1Fu
— Joe Biden Showered With His Own Daughter (@realGregKarnes) December 19, 2023
Col. Ben Jonsson should never be promoted. Kudos to @SenEricSchmitt https://t.co/UuPoQGL1JQ
— marguerite telford (@mtelford_cis) December 24, 2023
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Comments
China and by extension, Iran, are laughing all the way to the bank that their “purchase”, currently sitting in the White House, has worked out much better for them than they had ever envisaged.
I mean Iran in particular must be thinking all their Christmases have come at once with being flush with money to fund terrorism around the world and they didnt have to do a damn thing for it!
How did this schmuck reach O-6, let alone get tagged for promotion? (I know…largely rhetorical, but still).
I can tell you who started it (George W Bush) and exactly how and even when it started: March 13th, 2007. That was the day Gen Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said this in defense of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell: I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts. I do not believe that the Armed Forces of the United States are well-served by saying through our policies, “It’s OK to be immoral in any way.”
Pace, a former CO of mine and one of the finest Marines I have ever known, is a devout Catholic and offered his opinion in response to a direct question on the subject. So, ‘conservative’ president George Bush had Pace’s back, right? Nope. Bush immediately threw him under the bus and Pace became one of the only CJCS who wasn’t renominated for a second term.
That incident sent a message to O-4s and O-5s (like myself at the time), that if they were traditionalists, religious and/or held conservative social views, they had no home and NO CAREER PATH in the military. So, when they reached a point in their tenure when they were eligible for retirement, they took it.
Bush replaced Pace (a decorated combat veteran and Academy grad), with Mike Mullins, a naval officer who was known to possess ‘progressive’ social opinions. Mullins was also the first CJS who did not rate the Combat Action Ribbon/Badge. The slow embrace of everything woke began under Mullins. He was the architect of what we have today…all thanks to George Bush.
Very nice summary. There is ample reason to reassess the “compassionate conservatism” of W. Maybe it should be reclassified as “woke lite.”
F” him.
“Compassionate conservative” was “don’t scare off the Republican voters-ese” for liberal. From the family who turned the USA into a national police state.
The man the Left called “Hitler” on a daily basis.
Correct. That’s the power they have to move the Overton Window. They said similar things about Mitt Romney. MITT ROMNEY. And now, look how revered the Romney, Bush and Cheney families are today. There’s likely not a single member of those families who will be voting for Trump this fall.
ovomit is a right winger by this time
Bush the neocon globalist
And to think what he did to the world and us
Floyd should have received the Darwin award, promoting the lie of Floyd merits being retired immediately.
Send this turd of a COLONEL to run some radar station in the Aleutians.
Why punish the poor devils already stationed there? Bounce him out into Civvy Street and let him fend for himself.
PFFFFFFFFFFFFFTT, a woke O-6 is guaranteed a GS-15 position in civil service, and one that looks like he loved getting the jab, and most likely berated those who were refusing. I went through hell with all the woke and DEI bullshit from Gen. Brown plus the vaxx mandate before I gave civil service the middle finger and retired. He needs to be put in his place with a good ass kicking behind the hangar.
In the navy we called those paint locker conversations.
He’s nuts. Has a wife and three blonde children plus two adopted sons that look like they come from the hood.
Black is the new Chinese of the 80’s
Today, if he adopts, they will be trans no doubt
Antiwhite.
https://www.nowhiteguilt.org/going-free-faq/
“stalled”??????
the obvious seditious and traitorous actions by this “general” should be followed up by a purging of anyone who votes for him
so what??
Fortunately, and thank God, Senator Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., used a Senate procedure requiring a roll-call vote, rather than “unanimous consent,” to hold up Jonsson’s and many other officers’ promotions, thereby allowing further investigation into the military’s descent into CRT/DEI hell.
they will sneak it through
they will “force” the gop to sign another lefty loving “compromised” bill
and this pos and his comrades will be calling the shots
the shots against pro americans
its a comn
From reading the text, I fear we fell for a shell game. We held up this one guy front and center to make an example of him, meanwhile letting all his “almost as woke” nomination group through the approval process already.
take what the military is doing going woke
combine that with the “teachings” at the medical colleges going woke
the defunding of the police
the rigging of elections
the shutting down of free speech
the allowing of criminals to run the streets
its an EXACTTTT repeat of 1930s germany and the ussr agenda
we are not helpless except we wait for the “leadership” from the gop
that is more fragmented than an fjb statement
No promotion. Cashier the traitor.
I admit I am surprised that they merely extended his eligibility for promotion. I would have expected that as a sign of confidence by the State and Party that he would have been given a brevet promotion to Major General [two star] rank and assignment.
Subotai Bahadur
Shouldn’t someone send him a case of Bud Light?
I didn’t see anything in that commentary about killing people and breaking stuff, as directed, in the national interest, when that’s the last remaining, least bad option. Or, the military part of military-ing.
As a culture we’re pretty confused about war these days. There is no combat lite, or limited warfare for the people in it. It’s always ugly and destructive. There’s nothing good about war, except very occasionally, when it’s less destructive than the alternative.
Like, say, it may be time for a war, war rather than letting a group dedicated to your own destruction remain after a long-planned incursion to rape, kill, and kidnap your civilians under a sky-blackening swarm or rockets demonstrated that they mean what they say. Just a hypothetical.
Well, they say the Air Force is really a corporation. So, of course.