Dropping a Bomb on DOD DEI

By Nate Jackson | Patriot Post

During his Senate confirmation hearings, newly confirmed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth promised he would dump the Left’s social engineering via DEI and return the military to a meritocracy. He and his boss, Commander-in-Chief Donald Trump, are off to a good start.

“Our standards will be high,” Hegseth told the Senate, “and they will be equal (not equitable, that is a very different word).”

Over the weekend, he posted on X, “The President’s guidance (lawful orders) is clear: No more DEI at [the Department of Defense]. The Pentagon will comply, immediately. No exceptions, name-changes, or delays.”

The guidance he referenced comes from two executive orders Trump signed on Monday. In the order titled “Restoring America’s Fighting Force,” the president stated his belief and objective:

“As Chief Executive and as Commander in Chief, I am committed to meritocracy and to the elimination of race-based and sex-based discrimination within the Armed Forces of the United States. No individual or group within our Armed Forces should be preferred or disadvantaged on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, color, or creed.”

This contrasts with his predecessor, who “implemented Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs and their attendant race and sex preferences within the Armed Forces.”

Such policies, Trump noted, “undermine leadership, merit, and unit cohesion, thereby eroding lethality and force readiness,” as well as “violate Americans’ consciences by engaging in invidious race and sex discrimination.”

The solution: “Abolishing the DEI Bureaucracy.” Hegseth referred to this with the comment about “no exceptions, name-changes, or delays.” When leftists face public opposition to their cockamamie schemes, they don’t change course; they rebrand. Trump and Hegseth are ready for that.

In fact, the order bans teaching all “un-American, divisive, discriminatory, radical, extremist and irrational theories” in the ranks or at service academies.

Unfortunately, that led to a leftist charade and tantrum — reports that the history of the Tuskegee Airmen could no longer be taught. That was, as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis rightly observed, “political theatrics,” which Hegseth said was “immediately reversed.”

Part of the executive order requires Hegseth and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to report on progress after 180 days. That will be fascinating to see.

The second order, “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” addresses the growing plague of gender confusion in the ranks. The order is plainly predicated on longstanding Pentagon policy ensuring that service members are “free of medical conditions or physical defects that may reasonably be expected to require excessive time lost from duty for necessary treatment or hospitalization.”

After listing other basic medical conditions that exclude people from service, the order rightly extends this to gender confusion.

Consistent with the military mission and longstanding DoD policy, expressing a false “gender identity” divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service. Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life. A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.

Well said. The Washington Post, however, didn’t think so, huffing that such language “takes aim at transgender people in personal terms.”

Given that those genital-obsessed individuals demand acceptance, affirmation, and money to finance their delusions, exactly how else are Trump and Hegseth supposed to address it?

Military service, especially during wartime, is immensely stressful. Service personnel should be at the top of their game, so to speak, or it will be detrimental to the mission.

Almost by definition, someone deluded enough to think they need to “change genders” is not mentally well enough for service — never mind the physical limitations created by elective medical intervention or mutilation.

Activist groups claim Trump’s order may affect 15,000 service members. If that’s true — and color me skeptical — then addressing this critical failure of military readiness is even more important. (STARRS NOTE: that number was made up, see below)

While the military has suffered serious recruitment shortfalls in recent years, I suspect that the people who are most naturally drawn to serve our great nation by writing a blank check for service will be more inclined to join now that the adults are back in charge.

Follow Nate Jackson on X/Twitter.

First published on Patriot Post