By Victoria Manning | Restoration News
When senior military leaders push divisive ideology that conflicts with military readiness and even the Constitution itself, the entire structure of the military is threatened.
Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) is one of the few leaders pushing back against the promotion of woke military leaders. More Republican senators should pay attention.
In July, Sen. Banks objected to the promotion of Air Force Col. George Hall Sebren, Jr. to the rank of Brigadier General. Sebren’s graduate paper pushing for affirmative action in the military was at the center of Banks’ decision.
The Senate is supposed to be a roadblock for rejecting woke military officers who come under review for promotion. To make the daunting task of vetting each officer up for confirmation easier, we launched RestoretheMilitary.com—which details over 100 senior military officers like Col. Sebren who’ve pushed divisive identity narratives rather than a strict focus on training warfighters.
Divisive Ideology in the Military
Military servicemembers take an oath to support and defend the Constitution. They also swear to obey the orders of the officers appointed over them. When those orders conflict with the Constitution and military readiness, it creates division in the ranks and threatens unit cohesion.
In 2017, Col. Sebren authored and published a research paper claiming the Air Force was not promoting enough officers based on what he called the “big three”—race, gender, and ethnicity.
Rather than focusing on how to improve military warfighting as a topic for his graduate research, Sebren centered it around affirmative action practices.
How could anyone serving under Sebren trust that he would treat them fairly? He very clearly outlined in his 21-page paper that race, gender, and ethnicity should be a factor in military promotions.
Sebren claims that since a higher percentage of general officers are white compared to officers in the lower ranks, it must be because of discrimination:
“Since officer accessions have a much different demographic, the percentages listed above [related to general officers] indicate there is some level of discrimination that happens as officers move up in rank from Second Lieutenant (O-1) through Lieutenant Colonel (O-5) and beyond.”
Yet Sebren doesn’t provide any evidence to back-up his contentious claim that the demographic make-up of the general officer corps is due to racism.
Follow President Truman’s Executive Order
In 1948, President Truman issued an executive order desegregating the Armed Forces. His order directed that:
“. . . there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.”
Truman’s executive order was never overturned or changed. Yet there are those still in military leadership, like Col. Sebren, who push to treat people differently based on their race.
War Sec. Pete Hegseth has clearly ordered that merit must be at the center of all decisions, not immutable characteristics such as race. Officers who’ve displayed ideology counter to that directive must be eliminated from the ranks for the good of military order.
The military must be cohesive and free from discriminatory practices such as those espoused by Col. Sebren. Pushing affirmative action rather than merit puts lives in danger.
Servicemembers don’t care about skin color. They care about whether the person next to them can complete the mission and task at hand—because that could mean life or death.
Credit is due to Sen. Banks for his willingness to lead the nation in the right direction. More elected leaders in the Senate responsible for the confirmation of senior leaders should stand with Banks.
They should also utilize resources from watchdog groups such as Restoration of America to assist in their decision-making. The nation depends on it.
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Victoria Manning is a Senior Investigative Researcher for Restoration News specializing in education freedom, immigration, and military issues. She is the author of Behind the Wall of Government Schools. Victoria served 8 years as an elected school board member and has a master’s degree in law. She also brings the perspective of a military spouse and mother to her reporting. Email Victoria HERE
First published on Restoration News
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