“Diversity is our strength” is a face-dragging phrase familiar to every soldier in the military who has endured the constant battery of compulsory training slides and mandatory classes.
This phrase, infamous to every ground pounder and desk surfer no matter the military occupation, couldn’t have sounded more corporate if the training officers could have tried.
And oh, how they have tried.
On a cold winter morning in early 2021, my Army unit was shepherded to a classroom for what we were told was routine sexual harassment and equal opportunity training — normal, mandatory training. This time, however, a representative walked in beside the training officer and proudly began a slideshow lecture on the new and shiny flavor of the week, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
“Diversity is our strength!” the training representative proclaimed to silent fanfare. “America is strong because of our diverse population!” She then began to browbeat about the merits of transgenderism and the evil of being white, straight, or male in general. About five minutes in, in a move I had never seen before considering that training is the Army’s religion, nearly the entire room stood up and left.
In the DEI training introduced in the dawn of the 2021, the Biden administration began pushing the notion that identity rather than ability was the way forward for America’s future warfighting force. The results of such thinking became apparent rather immediately, with leaders at all levels swiftly taking to the exits to greener, or at least less oppressive pastures.
The tragic part in all of this infection of rampant DEI policies is that the phrase “Diversity is our strength” is used entirely wrong. Before all this, “Diversity is our strength” meant the diverse range of skills and knowledge a group of people could bring to bear against a common enemy or problem, not the sexuality, ethnicity, or color of their skin.
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Thankfully, there is light at the end of this dark tunnel with the return of the Trump administration and, in particular, Pete Hegseth being considered for Secretary of Defense. Now, I hear you asking, why does it matter that some random news anchor from Fox News is getting hired as part of President Trump's Cabinet?
Unlike what the title may suggest, the Secretary of Defense does much more than just pass on the bossman’s new shiny memo, they define the very policies and direction the Department of Defense (DoD), and one of the first things Hegseth has committed to is getting rid of DEI and other like-minded programs.
Now hold on for a moment.
What exactly is so bad about providing more opportunities for those outside the ethnic or sexual minority? Surely elevated representation of so called “diverse” groups would inevitably lead to a widened pool of skills and experiences, right?
Did you forget that this is discussing these programs within the military? One of the most demanding and deadly occupations in the world?
In my experience, not a single thing about DEI has made my life within the Army better, only serving as an incentive to distance myself from the Army as much as reasonably possible.
These programs and the attitude of discrimination contributed significantly to my transfer to the Army Reserve component where I could continue to serve my country but only have to deal with these programs and the nasty attitude it promoted a couple days out of the month rather than every day.
If any policy, training, or allocation of time and resources does not serve to improve the warfighters’ ability to make war then it must be expelled. The color of a person’s skin nor their bedroom habits have anything to do with the abilities and knowledge they possess and to suggest otherwise is misplaced sympathy at best and disingenuous or even politically malicious at worst.
With the changing of the guard with President Trump in the White House and Pete Hegseth expected to take the helm within the Pentagon anticipation is high. And what about those that had pushed for these backward misguided discriminatory policies? They find themselves fleeing for the hills.
The future of America’s warfighting forces has been returned to our hands instead of those that fit a checklist demographic, a change dramatic enough to convince even me to fully return to the fold.
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