Military Depoliticization, Hegseth, and DEI

The fight over DEI in the military centers on a fundamental question: is removing ideological programs politicizing the ranks, or depoliticizing them?

As I read and hear the usual cavalcade of woke, retired Democrat generals and admirals like McRaven, McCaffrey, Franken, and others falsely claiming that Pete Hegseth is “politicizing” the senior ranks of the U.S. military, inside my head, I am screaming in rage at the impunity with which they spread this pernicious and wholly inaccurate falsehood. Hegseth is doing EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE as he depoliticizes our military’s ranks by eradicating the very most political doctrine to ever infect the U.S. military since the U.S. Civil War: so-called “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” or “DEI.”

DEI is an expression of Marxism by way of the Frankfurt School. Instead of building Marxist systems based on economic class, the Frankfurt School’s teachings build systems based on grievance classes. Known also as “critical theory,” DEI espouses the concept that there is no such thing as objective truth, that all truth is instead subjective, and that such truth is subjectively decided by whoever is in power at the moment.

This philosophy is in stark contrast to the Constitution, which stands on the shoulders of natural law—the idea that profound truth is objective, ordained by God, and that all men are created equal, with certain unalienable rights.

DEI instead claims that there is an inherent imbalance in society driven by race, ethnicity, religion, sex, and sexual preference. Since “truth” is what you make of it via power, DEI uses force and power to strip individuals of autonomy and individuality in favor of their skin color or what is between their legs. DEI is a form of Marxism, and it is the ultimate expression of bigotry in modern society.

(By the way, given the manner in which DEI seeks to destroy the natural law principles underpinning the Constitution, it effectively sits in defiance of the sacred oath of U.S. service members to “support and defend the Constitution.”)

The U.S. military long had rudimentary forms of DEI in its promotion systems, with promotion board results constantly reworked to reflect the “correct” racial and gender balances. However, with the advent of DEI as a more formal, society-altering structure, under the Obama and Biden administrations, the wholly political DEI doctrine was massively forced on the military like a dog shoved into a car on its way to the veterinarian’s office for neutering.

White service members were told they are inherently evil based solely on their skin color. Combat arms professions were opened to women who, on average, were manifestly physically unqualified to perform required duties. Pressure mounted for 18-year-old females in the barracks to be forced to live with biological men play-acting as women. “Pride” celebrations were rampant. Racist DEI books became mandatory professional reading for officers and senior NCOs. The United States Air Force decided skin color was the basis for being an Air Force officer.

It went so far that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (“CJCS”), Mark Milley, said before Congress, “I want to understand white rage. And I’m white. And I want to understand it.” In doing so, he racially slandered every white troop under his command (yes, I know CJCS is not a command position, but you get my drift), and the political Left and the other woke generals rejoiced.

Where we once only saw red, white, and blue and the color of our uniforms, suddenly, the only color we were allowed to see was the color of human skin.

In the field and afloat, white male commanders learned to be very circumspect in disciplining wayward black, female, or gay troops, because it was just too easy to be labeled a “racist” or a “misogynist” or a “homophobe” in career-ending fashion.

And the retired admirals and generals you hear moaning today to Goebbelsesque propaganda rags like The Atlantic? Not only did they not object, they embraced it because that is how these wholly political officers were able to advance. Now that Pete Hegseth is purging our hallowed military halls of the diseased, racist, misandrist, bigoted, hate-mongering, Christophobic, intolerant, diversity-destroying, inequitable, exclusionary, expressly political doctrines of DEI, these political animals are OUTRAGED. They see their Brutalist, Marxist spiritual edifice in tatters, and they don’t much like it, so they lie and say it’s all “political.”

DEI is the worst thing that has happened to the U.S. military in any of our lifetimes. It was the ultimate expression of a political acid test shoved down the throats of everyone serving in a U.S. uniform. It was Marxism on a massive scale, specifically designed to polarize the ranks and make our military less combat effective.

And Pete Hegseth has unraveled this monster in a mere two years. We are rebuilding our military on top of the ruins of the failed DEI experiment.

In all of U.S. history, no one has done more to DEPOLITICIZE the U.S. military than Pete Hegseth.

So, when you see the legacy media and the usual generals and admirals who would not take Douglas MacArthur’s advice to just “fade away” screeching that Hegseth is “politicizing” the military, know that they are angry only because he is doing exactly the opposite. The star-laden critical theorists are losing, and they will not go down without a fight.

But losing they are, and so long as the 2026 and 2028 elections stay the course, they have already lost.

Do not buy the fabulistic “Hegseth is politicizing the military’s senior ranks” narrative. Exactly the opposite is true.

I had posted this in early December 2024. If you don't mind, I will repost it in this thread because it outlines what was at stake at the time. I had a lot of blowback from the usual suspects here on Free Republic we would expect disagreement on this subject with:

I just finished his book "The War on Warriors" and I also saw video of two senior enlisted Sergeants who served with him, and what they said about him matched very much the impression I got from reading his book:

He isn't the kind of guy who is intimidated by doing a job he has to learn on the fly how to accomplish.

He is the right man for the job, which is why they are coming at him so hard. They know he is the right guy.

He knows exactly what the problem with our military is, and I think he will allies in the military who will serve him well.

I know for a fact that there are people who love the opportunity and experiences that the US Military has given them and they HATE with a white-hot-burning-passion what the Left has done to the military.

There are many (though not all, obviously) who have kept their heads down, been forced out, or otherwise left the service.

I believe that many of these people will sign on with Pete Hegseth to fight this horrible cancer in our military.

And I believe, as those Patriots gravitate to him, his skills as a combat leader will serve him well. After reading his book, I doubt he will be taken in by people who will discard their wokeness in order to get into his circle and back in power. From what I know of good combat leaders who command respect, they are good at doing rapid reads on people and sizing them up.

When Hegseth begins evaluation of the situation and team building, those Perfumed Princes who are motivated by either malice or survival will attempt to shed or hide their woke involvement and begin the process of burrowing in, some to sabotage the system, and some to find a way to survive and prosper in it.

I have the gut feeling, after reading his book, that he will not be fooled. I suspect he has developed a pretty good nose for wokeness, as many of us have in these times. Personally, I can see Leftism/Wokeness pretty rapidly and reliably, and it doesn't seem a stretch to me to think an effective, respected, and admired combat leader would be exponentially better at that than I am, simply because I have rarely had to exercise that skillset because my life or the lives of others around me depended on it.

I just think he is better equipped at spotting the traits he is going to want his team infused with to achieve success in the coming battle, and he is also better equipped to discern wokeness in people he is dealing with, no matter how hard they may try to hide it. And if he doesn't discern it, he won't leave it at that. He will find loyal people who are in the system, and they will know who to ask about who did what. Too many people have had eyes on this crap for the last few decades to assume past behaviors and affiliations won't rise to the surface.

In summary, I think Hegseth will get confirmed in the Senate. I think when he gets to the Pentagon, he will begin establishing a network of teams, and Patriots who hate what the Left has done to the miltary and its institutions will come out of hiding and rally to him and assist him.

It will be a battle, no doubt.

My heart aches to consider what is going to happen in this internecine warfare that is going to take place in the DOD. I think it will take place because Trump sees the evil that is inherent in wokeness, and Hegseth has seen the result of that evil in action. Trump and Hegseth will both be pulling in the same direction, and with equal intensity. So the battle is going to happen.

Like the contests that routinely took place between Soviet and American submarines in the Cold War, much of this warfare between Wokes and Conservatives is going to take place out of the sight of the public, as if it were taking place at 600 feet below the surface of the North Atlantic. We are only going to be aware of some of the big battles that spill into the Media, but invisibly, in a network stretching to all but the most remote enclaves of the military, Confrontations are going to take place. Records are going to be looked at. People are going to be questioned. Careers are going to be ended. People will be called to answer for their actions. Some may be unfairly accused, and some that were active in perpetuating Marxist principles will somehow skate free.

So, my heart aches to consider the necessary battle to take our military service off the path that only leads through tyranny. And yes, I do firmly believe that woke principles are rooted in Marxism, and as such, can only lead to tyranny. And we just cannot have our military on that surefooted path to disaster. We can't.
When I saw these pictures below, words cannot express how profoundly appalled I was:

This image of these black female cadets raising their fists was disturbing to me:
I saw them all raising their fists in uniform, and THIS is the first thing that my mind visualized:
Those fists being raised by West Point cadets is DIRECTLY derived from the clenched, raised fist symbol of Communism. That disturbed me to see that coming from Cadets.

But the feelings I had were nothing compared to the ones stirred up in me when I first saw these images shown below:

When I first saw these images, I could not comprehend it. Just couldn't.

When I see a stupid college kid wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt, I feel a collage of emotions ranging from general contempt to an odd pity that they are so malleable and ignorant. I see how that is. Ignorant Dumbass.

However, when I saw this Cadet above opening his shirt and showing the inside of his cover, I felt emotions ranging from deep rage to an unexpected fright.

And the fist he held openly, in sight of other Cadets. The Communist Fist.

I could not absorb this. And finally, when I was able to fit it into a reality-based context, it unexpectedly frightened me, because the military had been a pillar of my life. I grew up as the dependent son of a Naval Officer whose career stretched through the end of WWII to the Vietnam POW's coming home, with a destroyer off the coast of Korea in combat, and another destroyer off the coast of Cuba in October of 1962. I grew up on military bases in the Pacific during the Vietnam conflict.

When I graduated from High School, I enlisted alongside my best friend, and the two of us went off to Boot Camp and Jet School together.

I wasn't always an enthusiastic Navy brat or enlisted man on deployment, even if I did sign up for it. But I served my four years and did the best I could and advanced as far as was possible.

With the passage of years, I came to realize just what my life as a military dependent had brought to me in experiences, coupled with what I had learned about myself and the world during my enlistment, I was (and still am) nearly overcome with gratitude for my country for allowing me to serve and learn all those things about work, life, purpose, principles, and ultimately to learn about myself. Serving, I learned my own capabilities.

All on the government dime.

And those capabilities took me through every door in my career since then. Not a day goes by when some lesson I learned during those four years in the US Navy can't be seen in any action I take.

And that is why I felt so angry and even a bit frightened seeing those pictures.

I knew things had been changing, but it seemed like, overnight, there were open Marxists serving OPENLY in the US Military! And I believe that is what frightened me. As an amateur historian, I am cognizant of the evil that Leftist militaries can wreak on their citizenry. To think I had been so asleep at the wheel that open Marxists could be standing on the porch of their barracks, in uniform, raising their fists, and even taking pictures, or opening a shirt to show Che Guevara and writing on his cap his open support for Communism...well, it frightened me.

It didn't frighten me that there were open Communists at West Point as much as it frightened me that I could have been so blind for so long. And I was.

That is why I see someone like Pete Hegseth as a hill we should choose to fight on. If he is denied confirmation, or does get confirmed but fails to excise this cancer from the US military, I can live with that, because if we don't get someone in there who is interested in doing battle, then we have lost anyway. And perhaps nobody can fix it. It might not be possible.

But if he is confirmed, and Trump takes office...there is at least a chance. And that is a hill we should fight on and get Pete Hegseth to fight on, because our military is worth that much to us, and it means even more to me.

Pete Hegseth has shown us in spades why he was and is the right person for the job. I had one person in particular on this forum, ostensibly a veteran, who was against Hegseth because he didn't have the experience running a large corporation in the way someone like Robert McNamara did. I countered that skill wasn't required. Knowing the right thing to do was required. And I believe the eradication of DEI was the right thing.

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