By Evan Smith, US Air Force Academy cadet
[The author’s name has been changed to a pseudonym to protect the author’s privacy.]
When I reported to the Air Force Academy, I knew it was where I belonged. I was ready to start my new life, ready to achieve my goals of becoming an officer and a pilot in the world’s greatest Air Force.
Leading up to my arrival at the academy, I always thought I would be surrounded by like-minded people: young men and women who love their country just as much as I do, men and women who want to see the survival and prosperity of our nation’s values in the face of rising adversaries.
I’d like to preface this by saying that my initial thoughts proved to be true: Roughly 95% of the people I have met at the Air Force Academy care about this nation’s values and want to see them flourish for years to come.
However, one bad apple tends to spoil the bunch, and the leftist ideologies, including critical race theory and diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings, being forced upon us by academy leadership have divided the cadet wing from within, in a profession where unity is essential.
I was first introduced to DEI and CRT by the academy before I even arrived. Upon accepting an appointment to the academy, appointees are given a laundry list of documents and training to complete online before reporting on Induction Day, or I-Day.
One of these training modules was DEI training. I had never seen something more divisive in my life.
As a white man, I felt that I was being generalized because the training always made white people look like oppressors and minorities as victims.
Another part of the training used a scenario in which students were going to attend a Black Lives Matter (an openly Marxist organization) rally, and a white man was criticized for not agreeing with the teachings of the organization and declining to attend the rally with his peers.
We were also taught about other made-up fallacies, such as microaggressions.
I thought that would be the end of my DEI and CRT training, but when I arrived on I-Day, the first thing I was handed was a copy of They Called Us Enemy by George Takei. This book painted America as a racist place, condemning our nation because of sour moments in our history while ignoring the many noble, aspirational parts.
The book also openly criticized former President Donald Trump, the former commander in chief, over his “Muslim ban,” (the one in which almost half the countries restricted were not of Muslim majority).
After glancing through that book, I realized the academy wanted me to think in a way that was contrary to my values, a way that I knew was far more divisive than unifying.
The indoctrination continued.
Throughout my freshman year, I was exposed to countless sessions of DEI training that were fundamentally flawed and divisive.
Most cadets kept their heads down and just let the information pass in one ear and out the other, sitting through these briefings just to avoid negative paperwork for failing to attend a mandatory event.
But at the beginning of my sophomore year, we saw some of the most divisive training to date. We were told during a DEI briefing not to refer to our parents as “mom and dad” because it was “divisive language because everyone might not have a mom and a dad.”
After this training was exposed by Fox News, academy administrators did their best to backtrack on their teachings, saying, “We just want cadets to be polite to everyone.” It was a sorry attempt at covering up their divisive teachings.
We were also taught during this training not to be “colorblind” but “color conscious” instead.
I would love to say more about the continued teachings of the Air Force Academy’s DEI program, but after media exposure, all DEI training is being presented as controlled unclassified information. We have been told that if we disseminate these trainings to outside sources, we could face prison time.
The majority of cadets do not like this training and see it as divisive and bad for morale.
But the academy continues to elevate the voices of cadets who agree with the training and want to spread leftist ideology further.
I was taught from a young age that in order to make change, you have to do so from a position of power.
I came to the Air Force Academy to become an Air Force officer, pilot, and to protect the ideals that we hold dear as Americans.
Though I may not agree with the teachings of the Air Force Academy’s DEI program, I will continue to sit through the divisive briefings and boring lectures because one day, I will be on the other side, and I will teach my airmen about how we are united by what brings us together: our national identity as Americans.
Regardless of race, sex, or ethnic backgrounds, we are all Americans, and we are all united under the values outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
The ideals in those documents, not an ideology that teaches us to look at each other through the lens of race and division, are what have and will continue to guide our military and our nation through future conflicts.
United, we stand. Divided, we fall.
Evan Smith is a U.S. Air Force Academy cadet.
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