The Playbook and its Players

By Scott McQuarrie, USMA ’72
Leader Quality Matters

Who would continue DEI training/indoctrination when the majority of the people experiencing the training would tell them “It is divisive, demeaning, demoralizing and creates resentment?”

Many are in leadership positions substantially because they became committed to (and part of) the Pentagon’s ideologically motivated drive to “transform” DoD culture.

That transformation, away from the traditional “colorblind” meritocracy characterized by true selflessness, racial neutrality, and undiluted merit (regardless of subgroup identity), is well underway.

Pursuit of their goals is fervent and relentless, rarely deterred by the Constitution and, unfortunately, unconstrained by their obligation to be transparent and truthful.

They ignore evidence of failure (e.g., our becoming tribalized and disunified; recruiting shortfalls) and actively conceal their methods (e.g., racial preferences under the guise of “Inclusion”).

They are oblivious to and/or undeterred by evidence that their campaign is destructive to a core strength of our military.

Its culture formerly was founded on an expectation of total subordination of self, including of subgroup identity, and total commitment to the mission and to fellow teammates (regardless of skin color/ethnicity).

Those norms are being replaced with focus on self/subgroup identity and vague notions of social justice. Combat readiness is secondary (and eroding).

Their “ends-justify-the-means” mentality rationalizes their crossing ethical lines and disregarding leadership norms.

That is why they disregard information contrary to their narrative (i.e., “they don’t listen to their people” observation) when what they would hear is contrary to the ideology.

Their mission – to transform the culture – is, to them, paramount to any other loyalty, including their oaths to “bear true faith and allegiance to the [Constitution], which prohibits their use of racial preferences in accessions, assignments, command selection and promotions.

The Nation will eventually pay a horrific price – mission failure and/or loss of many warfighters’ lives – when a geopolitical adversary calculates that our military has been sufficiently weakened.