Commentary

Since authoring my blog piece, “Watching the Deterioration of Our Military on President Biden’s Watch,” October 27, 2022, sadly, my concern for the lives of our service men and women has worsened, while our readiness is highly questionable.

While several military items have landed on my stack of stuff, it was this week’s  Wall Street Journal story, “President Weighs Joint Chiefs of Staff Pick,” that triggered my decision to do a follow up.

President Biden is considering individuals to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in what the Journal states “will be the president’s biggest opportunity to shape U.S. military leadership.”  I agree, but that’s scary.

In October, I wrote of my disgust with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, both of whom folded and became pawns in the Biden administration’s climate change and equity agenda.

I recommended that wokeism should be avoided at all cost, and remove “equity,” “inclusion,” “gender identity,” “climate control,” and “systemic racism” from the military glossary.  Instead, concentrate on military readiness.

Biden’s selection will likely be sometime this spring, and whoever he chooses will need to face Senate confirmation.

While I was pleased to learn that an Air Force man could return to that position. Air Force Gen. Richard Meyers was the last, with his term ended in 2005.

Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown, the current Air Force chief of staff, appears to have the inside track.  A veteran of 130 hours of combat missions, Brown is highly thought of for his inspiring minority officers. Having attained the rank of four-star general as a minority makes him a credible mentor.

I must admit that I was concerned when I learned that he had made remarks about civil unrest shortly after the killing of George Floyd by police.  The civil unrest that resulted in his death, led by the Black Lives Matter movement, was disastrous as evidenced especially by riots in Minneapolis, Seattle and Portland. 

The BLM movement was “successful” in intimidating individual Americans, but more so businesses and large corporations that coughed up huge donations to their cause.  It has now slipped into relative anonymity as we have learned about corruption within its leadership.

Curious, I read Brown’s remarks of June 4, 2020.  He began by suggesting that “many of you may be wondering what I’m thinking about the current events surrounding the tragic death of George Floyd.”

After nicely weaving his own experiences of being an African American in the Air Force, including those of his family, he transitioned smoothly into his thoughts of the historic nomination of being the first black to serve as Air Force Chief of Staff.

While stating that he cannot “fix centuries of racism in our country nor fix decades of discrimination that may have impacted members of our Air Force, “I’m thinking about how I can make improvements personally, professionally, and institutionally.”

Which leads me to my follow up on the deterioration of the military, that has continued throughout 2022.

Within the progressive political agenda, the Biden administration has pushed “wokeness,” and our military leadership has felt obligated to fall in line by imposing its social, ideological, and environmental policies.

Training in all of the services has embraced wokeness, from “gender-inclusivity” programming at the Air Force Academy, critical race theory classes at West Point, to a study to devise a “gender-integrated training model” in the Marine Corps.

The DOD inaugurated its first Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisory committee in September.  Gender identifiers like “sir” and “ma’am” will no longer be used.

While the Marine Corps is reportedly ditching its male-centric boot camp training, the newly-created Space Force has decided to end traditional yearly fitness tests that involved sit-ups, push-ups and a timed run.  The Army is modifying its physical fitness tests to “better measure combat readiness as opposed to overall wellness.”

Millions of dollars are being invested in changing the names of military bases, taking down portraits and statues and other identifications of Confederate generals has been a priority of Lloyd Austin.

All of the services continue to work toward mitigating their supposed contributions to climate change with a goal of “100 percent carbon-pollution-free electricity” on all facilities although no date has been determined.

I think about our military equipment support to Ukraine and how we benefit from the willingness of Ukrainians to take on one of our foes, Russia.  And I think about our readiness with the threat of China

But the memory of our botched withdrawal from Afghanistan still remains and I can’t help but think that the man responsible for that – President Biden – will soon be nominating the replacement for one of the men – General Milley – who advised him against withdrawal of the troops prior to the evacuation.

“It would be an incredible act of defiance for a commissioned officer to just resign because my advice is not taken,” said Milley in Congressional testimony. 

We shall see what kind of leader replaces Milley, whether its Brown or one of the two others currently being considered, Marine General David Berger or Army Gen. Paul Nakesone.

Whoever it is, he will, I’m sure, have had to pass Biden’s wokeness test.

May God continue to bless the United States of America.