The #1 graduate in the 1996 West Point graduating class, John Hughes, MD, a veteran of Iraq, Afghanistan and Haiti, has published a new 443-page book, West Point’s Cult of DEI.
From the book description on Amazon:
TO THE LONG GRAY LINE & THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
This book is the second book in my exploration of DEI and CRT and its toxic effects on the military.
My first, American Doctor, Coming Home to War, was published in 2023. This second book is one that should never have to be written.
It was written by one of many concerned West Point graduates who have watched the United States Military Academy plunge into dysfunction.
West Point was founded in 1802 to serve the nation in war and peace. Its graduates for the most part have done that honorably for over two hundred years.
The institution was founded on the concept of Duty, Honor, Country and its bedrock was its Honor Code. West Point’s graduates have not won a major war since WW2.
I personally participated in failed military misadventures in Haiti, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
I have deep ties and tremendous love for the institution known as West Point. I am a 3rd generation West Pointer and one of three siblings that graduated from West Point.
Attending West Point was all I wanted to do growing up. I gave it my all as a cadet and graduated #1 in my West Point class.
Multiple deployments to the lost war in Afghanistan that was led by many West Point graduates and the recent scandals that have rocked West Point have shaken my faith in West Point’s recent leadership and even led me to question its present raison d’etre.
I want to be very clear that I value diversity in both my military and medical experiences.
The best tactical officer/advisor I had at West Point was then LTC Abraham Turner, a black infantry officer. He branched the correct branch (Infantry) and advanced through the ranks via meritocracy.
Similarly, some of my best medical mentor advisors, teachers, and peers have been minorities and/or women.
In medicine’s purest form, stature is based on clinical excellence and academic workload, as it should be, regardless of demographics or gender.
While I have concerns also with the devolution of the Honor Code, the recent scandals that have disgraced the institution, poor general officer leadership and other issues, this book focuses mainly on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).
West Point didn’t invent DEI. Outside political forces thrust it onto West Point and the rest of the military.
From 2021 onwards, it slowly permeated into nearly every corner of West Point’s existence.
Their motives for doing so will never be known, but the speed with which they tried to cover up their involvement when DEI went out of political favor indicates that they likely knew what they were doing was wrong and also indicates their leadership focus was and is on self and self-preservation rather than for the greater good of West Point and the nation it serves.
Question – If DEI was so good for West Point and the military, why did West Point’s generals hide it from the public and elected officials for years and then quickly remove its public face once it was banned by presidential Executive Order in 2025?
Even after service, I and many other concerned grads feel a calling to serve my country by being watchdogs for nefarious events transpiring at West Point.
Although the newly inaugurated president banned DEI in the federal government on day 1 of office in 2025, much work needs to be done to remove all of DEI’s ill effects that have seeped deeply into West Point’s culture and curriculum.
LTG Gilland and his staff labored to remove DEI and hide the evidence of what went on. They defied FOIA requests, congressional inquiries and used other stalling tactics.
This book is meant to capture DEI’s toxicity at its height under LTG Steven Gilland (Superintendent West Point) and BG Shane Reeves (Dean of Academics West Point).
Political winds will change in the future and DEI needs to be captured in all of its evil for future generations to see, understand, learn from, and prevent from ever coming back to West Point again.
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