Op-ed by Rep. Kevin McCabe in Anchorage Daily News
Rep. Andrew Gray’s recent opinion piece on Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s Quantico speech (“Our neighbors are not the enemy”) is heartfelt but misguided.
As a former Army National Guard officer and medical professional, Gray’s personal views color his interpretation, turning a needed reset into a supposed attack on diversity. He’s wrong.
The U.S. military isn’t a stage for woke dogma; it is, and must be, a razor-sharp tool to win wars.
Hegseth’s call to end “fat generals,” “identity months,” and DEI offices isn’t about exclusion; it’s about performance. Every soldier, from Anchorage’s JBER to Quantico, must meet brutal standards. Twice-yearly PT tests for all ranks, no exceptions, ensure readiness, not embarrassment.
Moldy barracks and endless DEI seminars sap morale more than any fitness test. Hegseth’s fixes are overdue, and Alaskans, with our proud military communities, know it.
Gray’s defense of diversity misses the point; when DEI becomes the mission, it divides.
A 2024 Defense Department survey found that 15% of troops said DEI training split units, stealing time from combat skills.
Russian media mocked drag shows on bases as propaganda gold, eroding the deterrence our global edge demands. America still ranks number one on the 2025 Global Firepower Index, but optics matter when enemies watch.
Yet diversity, done right, strengthens us. The Army’s 20% Black, 18% Hispanic, and 18% women reflects a wide net for talent, helping smash FY2025 recruitment goals with 61,000 new recruits, 116% of target.
But as Secretary Hegseth said, standards must be blind, same PT, same ASVAB, same grit. Federal law bans gender-based job standards; Hegseth’s “highest male standards” simply mean everyone meets the toughest bar. That’s fairness, not exclusion.
Gray’s worry about fired officers, like a Black general or female admiral, has a kernel of truth. If dismissals chase ideology over performance, we lose talent. But the secretary is targeting leaders who prioritized narratives over readiness, not their identity. Some veterans call this a “purge of weakness,” but it’s a tightrope. Reforms need scrutiny to avoid mirroring the very loyalty tests they replace.
His wildest claim, that Trump’s “enemy within” rhetoric signals a military turned on Americans, is pure fearmongering. Soldiers swear to the Constitution, not to any president. Trump’s 49.8% vote isn’t a mandate for martial law; it’s a call to focus on real threats. Suggesting troops “train” in cities is reckless, but Gray’s dystopian leap is absurd.
When critics point to President Trump’s limited deployment of the National Guard during the 2020 riots and unrest, they blur the line between lawful order and imagined authoritarianism. There’s a big difference between using the Guard to restore order when local governments refuse to act, and the dystopian picture some commentators paint.
The National Guard is not an occupying force; it’s a constitutional tool for emergencies. Governors call it up regularly for floods, wildfires and riots. When cities burn, police are overwhelmed, and federal ICE officers have cartel bounties on their heads, a targeted, temporary Guard presence isn’t tyranny; it’s leadership.
In Portland and elsewhere, hesitation cost lives while lawlessness reigned. Targeted Guard use saved them. During those deployments, Guard units operated under strict rules of engagement, coordinated with local authorities, and withdrew once calm returned. If anything, the problem wasn’t that the Guard was used too forcefully, but that it was used too little and too late.
The Constitution empowers federal and state leaders to protect citizens when anarchy reigns; failing to use that authority responsibly is dereliction, not restraint.
So when Secretary Hegseth or President Trump talk about “law and order,” it’s not code for oppression; it’s a reminder that peace is fragile and safety is the first duty of government. A society that cannot defend its streets cannot defend its borders.
Limited National Guard deployment in lawless cities is not an attack on civil liberty; it’s a defense of it. The Guard exists for exactly that reason: to restore order so that rights can be exercised again in peace. That’s not martial law; that’s America taking care of its own, and many presidents and governors of all political stripes have used them.
America’s military edge, still the world’s most lethal and innovative force, must stay sharp. Diversity works when it flows from merit, not mandates. Rep. Gray sees what’s happening as a retreat, but it’s really a refocus.
Our troops, from Alaska to Afghanistan, deserve a force driven by performance and patriotism, not politics, because that’s how we win wars, and that’s how we keep peace.
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Rep. Kevin McCabe of Big Lake is the Alaska state representative for House District 30, which encompasses Point MacKenzie, Big Lake and follows the Parks Highway north to Anderson.
First published in Anchorage Daily News
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