By Mike Gallagher and Kevin Wallsten
Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal
In his recent viral essay, “The Lost Generation,” published in Compact, Jacob Savage describes how U.S. media and academia in the 2010s closed their doors to millennial white men.
The self-righteous, racist ideology of diversity, equity and inclusion wasn’t a problem only within those rarified fields. It also infected the U.S. armed forces.
Under President Biden, senior officers worked to make our military less white, precipitating a recruitment crisis.
During the first Trump administration, lethality was the military’s overriding focus. That changed in 2021.
Mr. Biden issued an executive order embedding “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” across “all parts of the Federal workforce.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin took the unprecedented step of ordering a “stand-down” to combat “extremism” in the armed forces. By the time an independent report commissioned by the Pentagon found these concerns to be baseless, they had already formed the ideological permission structure for a DEI crusade.
In 2022, Gen. C.Q. Brown (later promoted to chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) issued a memorandum that set numerical quotas for everyone from white males to Pacific Islander females among commissioned officer applicants to the Air Force.
Racial discrimination likewise distorted admissions to the U.S. Naval Academy. Black applicants scoring in the fourth decile had an admission rate higher than that of whites in the eighth decile.
These stories could have come out of Mr. Savage’s essay, but the military isn’t the media. It requires young people to sign up for unglamorous and sometimes dangerous jobs far from home.
By signaling that white men were less welcome, DEI initiatives pushed thousands of them away from military service.
Between 2013 and 2023, annual male enlistments in the Army fell 35%, from 58,000 to 37,700. From 2018 to 2023 the number of white Army recruits dropped from 44,042 to 25,070. No other groups saw such steep declines.
Meanwhile the share of white high school boys who in Monitoring the Future surveys said the military is doing a “good” or “very good” job declined from 76% in 2014 to 57% in 2024.
The focus on DEI also fueled a “recommendation recession.”
The percentage of white male veterans who said in a 2019 Pew study that they would advise a young family member to join the military was 81%. Only 63% said so in the 2024 Survey of Military Veterans, which also asked why.
Far more white male respondents pointed to the military’s “DEI and other social policies” (66%) than to the “possibility of physical injury or death” (38%) or the “possibility of psychological problems” (35%).
These recommendations matter: According to a 2023 article in the Journal, 80% of recruits have relatives who served.
Our best chance to reverse these disastrous Biden-era trends is the “reset” led by current Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which eliminates DEI, implements sex-neutral standards, and re-emphasizes war fighting.
Initial evidence suggests the reset is working, with the Pentagon announcing its “best recruiting numbers in 15 years.” All active-duty services met their fiscal 2025 recruiting goals, and 2026 recruiting numbers suggest “a strong and promising start.”
The Pentagon hasn’t released data on white male enlistments, but the postelection 2024 Reagan National Defense Survey found a 12-point increase in the willingness of white people under 30 to serve compared with a year before.
In the 2025 survey, the share of adults who would encourage a young person to join the military increased 8 points among whites and 14 points among veterans from two years earlier.
DEI advocates often framed their initiatives as necessary to attract female and nonwhite recruits. Today’s evidence contradicts that self-serving view.
Female recruitment is up from 16,725 in 2024 to 23,985 in 2025. Encouragement to enlist increased among blacks (9 points), Hispanics (14 points), and women under 55 (15 points) since 2023 in the Reagan National Defense Survey.
The Hegseth reset alone didn’t end the recruitment crisis. A successful operation in Iran and administrative and operational reforms also helped.
But it is clear that stressing identity over mission drives young people away, while emphasizing merit and lethality helps the military recruit across demographic lines.
If the U.S. wants to sustain its all-volunteer force, we must rebuild trust in the military as a uniquely egalitarian institution in which standards are uniformly high, excellence is rewarded, and no one receives special treatment. And we must maintain this commitment across administrations.
The conversation around DEI discrimination is long overdue.
It isn’t about who wins MacArthur genius grants, but whether our military can fulfill its sacred duty.
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Mr. Gallagher, a Journal contributor, is head of defense at Palantir Technologies and a distinguished fellow at the Hudson Institute. Mr. Wallsten is a professor of political science at California State University, Long Beach and an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
First published in The Wall Street Journal
So STARRS has been saying for the past five years:
Evidence that the DEI/CRT agenda in the military DOES hurt recruiting and retention
20-second excerpt from our What’s Happened to Our Military” video:
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See entire video:
What People Are Saying
Some comments from the Wall Street Journal article:
“I can attest to your observations! After working for a very long time with a MonSter financial firm I saw DEI destroy people, careers, good people and elevate the horrible into self-destruction. I saw offices trip, crumble and disintegrate into nothingness, And no one learned even the most obvious lessons. They were so sold on the idea, like a cult has mind control over a group of people, they don’t know they are slaughtered until it’s too late.”
“So true. I have some friends that are DEI warriors and I find them exhausting. They (at least the ones I know) aren’t as sincere as they like to seem. They want attention, they love judging, and at base they are somewhat angry people who are always looking for a cause that they can use an excuse of vent their bile, and still appear virtuous. I’m hoping they will all move to Minnesota to hang with their kind. Eventually they will turn on each other.”
“The DEI warriors consider themselves noble in righting so many wrongs, yet what they do is so wrong they harm everyone.”
REPLY: “It’s good discrimination though! They are discriminating against the bad people, the evil white male devil capitalist colonizers with white privilege! You know, those guys who invented every modern comfort in society like electricity, the internet, semiconductors, computers, air conditioning, internal combustion engine, vaccines, antibiotics, aviation, jet engines, and GPS.”
“In 2010 I took the Air Traffic Skills Assessment test. It was 4 hours and I finished it in one hour. I looked around me and there was a “diverse” crowd of women and minorities still taking the test. I thought maybe I missed something. I spent 15 minutes checking and turned it in. I got an email saying I was in the 99th percentile. Great, I can start training for ATC! A week later I got a call from HR informing me that they aren’t hiring anymore white males but as a consolation I could try again next year. Now those who took on hours on the test are responsible for air safety.”
“The damage Biden did to our military is unarguable… the question is when the Democrats eventually take back the White House, will they be dumb enough to do it all again? I think we all know the answer.”
“Despite the press attacks, Hegseth has done an amazing job in one short year in recruitment and retention, clarifying the mission, and embracing the warrior ethos in the armed forces. It is abundantly clear to any fair observer that a true outsider was required to address the Biden era collapse of military effectiveness, and Hegseth was that change agent.”
“My first real job was in the U.S. Army in the early 1980’s. The only color that mattered was green. Everybody was green and that settled that. The most skin color blind organization I ever was a part of. Don’t even remember any discussions on racism. It was always mission, mission, mission. You either performed or you didn’t. Hope we can get back to that.”
“The sad thing is, the military had probably the best culture in America, in terms of having both a color-blind ethos AND a lot more “diverse” faces than you find in most civilian institutions. If you look at true diversity extending to life experience – WAY more. But in the greatest irony,. Biden directed the diseased side of the body to infect the healthy side with DEI. Madness.”
“I worked in a large, multinational company before retiring. I’d say about 60% of my black, male colleagues were army veterans (my former company is well known for prioritizing the hiring of veterans).. These men were successful and with an excellent work ethic. When one progressive dufus made a derogatory comment about the military, one of these guys verbally pounced on him and put him in his place. He then told me how the army had been his saving grace, giving him valuable life skills and a stellar education. Not once did I ever hear any of these fine men act like victims or complain about anything. They did their job and unlike the white, ponytail, yoga pants wearing dunces, were an example of honorable manhood.”
“I was told during an interview in the early 1990s that “I’ve really enjoyed speaking with you today, but off the record, the federal government is not hiring white males right now”. This is legally sanctioned racism, and it has been going on for literally two generations.”
“This was an eye-opening article for me. I had noticed that the new administration was removing many women and Blacks from high positions in the military and attributed this to a desire to pander to a certain base. The biggest problem with programs like DEI is that its hard to know whether someone has been hired on “merit” or is just a “DEI hire.” As a woman, I am sensitive to this; it’s better for women to have to work harder to prove themselves than for people to dismiss them as DEI hires. As a citizen, I want the best people in the top jobs.”
“DEI is one of humanity’s most ironic things. The people championing it are essentially saying…because you’re a minority, you’re too stupid to compete on your own…but trust us, its the other guys who are racists. Its actually kind of funny.”
“As a Marine Corps veteran, I’m still nor ready to start recommending military enlistment to young people again. And I won’t be ready until all the generals and admirals who encouraged or went along with DEI are out of uniform. They. Must. Go.”
“As a former AD officer from the 70s and 80s, who spent time in the Army’s Recruiting and Retention School, I can tell you from personal experience that it doesn’t matter what your skin color is, (or any other group identification) the clear majority of people enlisting join for the challenge of being successful in a challenging career. DEI does not challenge anyone, indeed, it is encouraging the exact opposite. Good move by DOD’s Secretary.”
“As someone who served in the navy for six years from 77-83, I can tell you that race meant nothing anyplace I served. You were expected to do your job and follow the rules. Racism was never tolerated.”
“I was in the Navy 76-81 and had the same experience. It was the most fair, meritocratic job I’ve ever had. It was very diverse as well.”
“As a white male commanding a company in the Regular Army from 1989 through after Desert Storm, I had the honor and pleasure of serving with soldiers who were black, white, brown, and yellow. However, all anyone in my company saw was green.”
“To put it another way–Would you be more inclined to sign up and serve under the leadership that executed the strike on Solemani, the strike on the Russian mercenaries in Syria, Operation Midnight hammer, and the high stakes capture of Maduro, or the leadership that delivered the Afghan withdrawal, the complete lack of accountability thereafter, and the flat footed deer in the headlights response to the Chinese spy balloon?”
“Stressing “identity over mission” doesn’t just drive young people away from the military; it drives any competent person away from any organization that stresses DEI. I won’t work for any organization that stresses that divisive ideology, and many are with me.”
“The irony is that before DEI became fashionable, the US military was the paragon of non-discrimination. There was basically no stigma that minorities rose in the ranks for any other reason than merit.”
“Any honest words out of my mouth would be appropriately censored by the wsj language bot. I find the unmitigated ignorance of serving officers who implemented these policies is disgusting. They put their career advancement before their oath to the constitution. Every General and Admiral who implemented these directives should face a court martial. They violated their oaths and the destruction of their careers needs to be so public that it serves as a warning to future officers that some decisions have terrifying consequences. Strip them of their rank and pension.”
“This veteran and all of my veteran shipmates WITHOUT EXCEPTION were dismayed and disgusted with what we saw going on with promotions and recruitment. It was nothing less than a crime.”
“My son is serving in the navy and he tells me that morale is great. Why? Exactly what the article stated.”
“What the proponents of DEI have never understood is that white males who are ambitious, energetic and intelligent will avoid organizations promoting DEI, whether business or government, because they do not see a path to a rewarding career with more challenge and more opportunities. What is intolerable for these individuals is being in a position where they are deserving of a promotion, but watch someone less qualified get the assignment because of their sex or the color of their skin.”
“I served in the Marine Corps infantry from 2010 – 2014 and what most attracted me and others like me to join was that the Marine Corps would tell you upfront that you can’t hack it. The DEI trash had a negative effect because it took that challenge out of the equation and demonized white males like me…who make up the vast majority of combat arms positions in the military.”
“No wonder Gen CQ Brown got fired by Trump. I spent 22 years in military. We used SEI – “skill, effort and intelligence”.”
“We are going to fight discrimination with more discrimination. We are going to achieve higher standards by lowering the standards. We will blatantly lie to people then denounce anyone who points out our lies as bigots and racists. Only a blue haired lib could think any of this is a good idea.”
“As Dr. King’s day approaches, it is with sadness that we see he may be brought down from his lofty perch atop many honorary statue bases. His message of a country that cares about the content of character and not the color of skin is now diametrically opposed to the current Democrat ideology that proclaims skin pigments are the first, most important, and most descriptive quality of a person. It will be a sad day but we know its coming when the left wing mobs will tear down his likeness and road signs in his name, like those of our country’s founders.”
“I chronicled the origins and the rise of DEI in my books Invisible Victims: White Males and the Crisis of Affirmative Action” (1991) and “The Diversity Machine.” (1997). Well before the 2010, these policies spread through most American institutions and the military was an early target. DEI and its impact on white males waxed and waned in these decades. EEO officers were stationed throughout the military to monitor “progress” in recruitment and promotions of women and minorities, especially in promotions. And most officers and rank-and-file received some form of diversity training. President Obama was obviously a “champion of diversity.” The authors are somewhat correct in that blatant exclusion of millennial white males may have been the most pronounced during the past ten years. There were two reasons: the election of Donald Trump and the murder of George Floyd. Trump’s election made DEI proponents double-down on their efforts–they were a backbone of “the resistance.” And Floyd’s murder turbocharged DEI ideology and efforts which branded “white supremacy” the top threat to the nation. Most white males feared open protest of these policies out of fear of being labeled “racist” (by the Left) or “victims” (by the Right).”
“Hopefully the country will not forget the literal horror of the Biden years.”
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