Posted on 06/06/2026 10:34:34 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
WASHINGTON (AP) — After Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cut nine Navy officers, including all the women, from a promotion list, several female officers say they see the unusual intervention as a sign that their careers now have a ceiling and worry for the future generation of female military leaders.
The Navy had selected 31 sailors to promote from the rank of captain to one-star admiral, but Hegseth recently intervened to strike nine people from the list, including three women and two Black men, according to a defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss information not permitted to be released publicly.
As a result, the Navy is not promoting a single woman to the one-star admiral rank this year even though women make up about one-quarter of all Navy officers and nearly one-third of the sea service’s midgrade ranks, according to military data from 2024.
The Associated Press spoke with eight female Navy officers of varying ranks and time in service after Hegseth’s cuts, which were reported earlier by The New York Times, became public. They spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution from their superiors.
The more junior officers said they saw the development as a sign that their careers would become politicized if they rose too far in the ranks, and some said they felt they now had a limit on how far they could be promoted. Some said it made them feel less valued within the military and wondered whether that wasn’t part of the intent.
The Pentagon has not offered any rationale on why the women, or any of the other six people, were removed from the promotion list.
The Pentagon says promotions are based on merit
Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s top spokesman, said...
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
None of our enemies are staffing their ranks with DEI candidates, so why should we?
The DEI BS undermined the military...and everything else it touched. Tough luck for those who are DEI losers.
if the women joined for a career, they joined for the wrong reason. They are to serve the country regarding war. And if the higher ups (new ones, not the ones they joined under) recognize they are not up for the task or responsibilities of a higher position, then the women have a choice to serve at current level or find a place that cares about “career advancement” more than mission.
Maybe another fair question is to ask how all 31, including the women and blacks, were put on the list in the first place...
Because DEI and quotas is why many were put on advancement lists...
How the hell do we have 31 open slots for one-stars? What happened to all the Admirals that were in these positions?
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