What would they say?

By Edwin R. Jonas III
STARRS North Dakota State Leader

For more than 40 years, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial has stood as a symbol of honor to the men and women who gave their lives in military service. Nearly 60,000 individual names are inscribed in granite, people who were killed or missing, those who bravely and selflessly offered the ultimate sacrifice any American can provide for his country.

I woke up the other morning and had a vision of me standing in front of the Memorial and wondering if each of those on the wall could hear what would I say?

How could I explain why I was not doing more to stop the dangerous DEI/CRT in the military?

I next pondered what if they could speak, what would they say to us for not doing more to stop it?

It is impossible to visit and remain unmoved by the massive loss of life represented by the Wall, all in the pursuit of freedom. They would say it is our duty to defend the freedoms they died to protect.

What would they further say to us if they could see what has become of our military today – in the wake of the 2011 Military Leadership Diversity Commission that shifted priorities away from meritocracy and non-discrimination, moving instead toward “diversity” and “equity” as paramount goals?

Our military, which once focused on excellence, unity, and war-fighting readiness, now seeks to implement dangerous and destructive DEI ideology, separating troops on the basis of color, race, gender, and sexual identity.

They are lowering standards in countless areas to meet “inclusiveness” goals based on these categories, seeing percentages of a given category/group as more important than the effectiveness of that group.

The impact has been nothing short of devastating – to morale, to standards, and to overall war-fighting readiness.

I respectfully urge you to check out the website STARRS.US, which is engaged in combating the destructive ideology of DEI/CRT with dozens of stories from those discouraged to serve our country.

As an example, the military overall is facing the largest recruiting crisis in over half a century – short by some 41,000 service personnel. The Heritage Foundation – one of the only comprehensive, non-governmental assessments of our military readiness – for the first time provided an overall rating for 2024 of “weak,” down from “marginal” in 2023.

Per the Reagan Institute, in just five years, the percentage of Americans saying they had trust and confidence in our military plummeted from 70% to 45% – the first time ever that a minority of the country expressed a great deal of trust and confidence in the military.

In his farewell address at West Point, General MacArthur told his military audience:

 “The long gray line has never failed us. Were you to do so, a million ghosts in olive drab, in brown khaki, in blue and gray, would rise from their white crosses, thundering those magic words: Duty, Honor, Country.”

I am confident that those voices are thundering now – directed at military leadership. And what are they saying?

Well, it might not be this politely put, but I am pretty sure they would agree that it is time to eradicate the destructive and politically driven DEI policies and practices from our military.

First published on InForum