WASHINGTON — House Republican lawmakers, led by Rep. Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin, held a hearing Thursday to examine whether “wokeness” is harming U.S. military readiness and effectiveness.
Winding, over two hours hearing by a House Oversight and Accountability Committee subpanel touched on topics including recruiting, military family benefits, Marxism, Alabama GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s stance, among others many months of blockade military promotions, military desegregation, the abolition of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and even a retrial to end the Vietnam War.
The hearing did not focus on any specific proposals.
In his opening remarks, Grothman, who chairs the Homeland Security, Border and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee, said the military is “grappling with the Biden administration’s social experiments in incorporating principles of diversity, equity and inclusion – or ‘DEI’ – into their ranks.” “
Among his concerns, Grothman highlighted the Pentagon’s request for about $114 million for programs in the Army Approved but not yet funded $884 billion budget.
“To be clear, acknowledging the diverse experiences of our service members has the potential to increase our overall strength and resilience as a nation and fighting force,” Grothman continued. “But ultimately, our differences must give way to what we have in common. A responsibility to protect the American freedoms we hold so dear.”
Witnesses invited by the GOP-led subcommittee told the panel that DEI policies and alleged quotas undermine the military’s professionalism and are the cause of lagging recruiting numbers, which is down That number is 39% since its last peak in 1987, according to the nonprofit USAFacts.
Pentagon reported The military services collectively missed their fiscal year 2023 recruitment goals by 41,000.
“I have watched DEI training divide our service members ideologically and, in some cases, sow seeds of hostility against the very country they are sworn to defend,” said witness Matt Lohmeier, a U.S. Space Force veteran who told lawmakers he was relieved of duty with reason views on DEI in 2021, the same year he published the book “Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest and the Unmaking of the American Military.”
Democrat opposes DEI arguments
When asked Thursday afternoon, the Pentagon did not respond to the criticism, including specific accusations about quotas.
However, the subcommittee’s ranking member Robert Garcia strongly disagreed with many of the claims made during Thursday’s hearing and rejected the notion that DEI policies are causing the decline in enlistments.
“The data and evidence shows that sexual assault, mental health care, affordable child care are real factors impacting military recruitment, retention and readiness,” said Garcia, a Democrat from California, expressing that he was “dismayed and disappointed ” that Thursday’s hearing was the subpanel’s version returned hearing took place in March.
“The idea that the quote ‘woke’ was a major threat to national security made no sense then and makes no sense today, and makes even less sense now given the world we face,” Garcia continued.
What the research says
Military-sponsored and other analyzes reveal reasons for concern about newfangled U.S. military service.
According to the most recently available annual report from the Department of Defense Joint Advertising, Market Research and Studies, in 2022, youth ages 16 to 21 cited the possibility of injury or death as their primary reason for not joining the military questionnaire.
Other main causes include the possibility of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other emotional problems; leaving family and friends; other professional interests; and aversion to the military lifestyle.
The main reasons for joining the army given by youthful people included money, paying tuition, travel, paid health care and the opportunity to acquire professional skills.
Get the morning headlines in your inbox
Some analysis conducted by the RAND Corporation found that while Americans still have overwhelmingly positive views of veterans, most would discourage a youthful person from enlisting.
However, a 2023 analysis by a leading defense research firm found that 61.2% of American adults would encourage youth to join the Reserve Officer Training Corps, commonly called ROTC, or apply to a service academy.
The analysis also found that nearly a quarter of adults believe that most Americans admire military service members, while only 4% believe that society views them negatively.
“The armed forces were destroyed” by 1970
Retired Brig. US Army. Gen. Ty Seidule told the panel Thursday that the U.S. military is more effective today because of social changes accelerated by Congress over several decades, with the decline of gender barriers and the expansion of legally protected classes.
Seidule, another witness before the subcommittee, said that although President Harry Truman ordered military desegregation in 1948, changes did not occur until Congress required it in the 1970s.
In 1971, “race relations were at their lowest point and drug use was at its peak. The armed forces were broken and unable to defend the nation,” said Seidule, visiting professor of history at Hamilton College and professor emeritus of history at West Point.
The Department of Defense established the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute in 1971 to develop standards and training. According to the department, the institute is funded annually by Congress and continues to provide education, expanding in recent years to include cultural awareness, interpersonal relations and harassment prevention.
“Over the next twenty years, the Department of Defense established and internalized a culture of diversity that transformed the military and won victory in the first Gulf War. The military has been working on diversity for a long time because it works,” Seidule said.
Other changes that occurred included allowing women to attend service academies and ending President Bill Clinton’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which allowed LGBTQ members to serve as long as they hid their sexual orientation. Among other changes, Seidule highlighted: ending the exclusion of women from combat and removing Confederate commemorations.
National Defense Authorization Act of 2021 added requirements for a Pentagon-wide chief diversity officer and senior diversity and inclusion advisers in each department.
House Republicans passed a version of the annual defense legislation for fiscal year 2024 that would have eliminated all DEI programs and Pentagon positions, but the amendments were deleted from the final version.
However, negotiators decided to include a hiring freeze and pay cap on DEI workers in the text of the NDAA approved by Congress in December.