Biden Defense Spox John Kirby Denies ‘Wokeness’ Hurting Military Recruitment. He’s Wrong.

john kirby woke military
Glenn Fawcett, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Military recruiters have faced one of the most challenging years for recruiting young brave men and women since the end of the Vietnam War. The military branches claim that there are numerous reasons for this difficulty, from a tighter job market to young Americans being either too fat or too dumb… literally. 

No doubt those are valid and plausible reasons why military recruitment is low this year. However, another possibility has been raised by Republican lawmakers – that a contributing factor for why we have a shortage of men and women willing to raise their right hand to protect and defend the Constitution is due to ‘wokeness’ infesting the ranks.

With some recent revelations out of the military academies and the Department of Defense’s education branch, some are finally starting to raise these questions in the media.

Unfortunately, former Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby found himself on the receiving end of these questions, and his answer, while not surprising, was disappointing.

Toeing The Company Line

Now National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, John Kirby was interviewed by News Nation host Dan Abrams regarding the military recruitment woes. Mr. Abrams put it bluntly:

“Some on the right have suggested that it’s the administration’s policies, right? It’s the requirement of the vaccine, it’s the ‘woke policies’ in the military that’s leading less people to want to join? What do you make of that?”

Retired Admiral Kirby shot down the accusations, stating, “there’s no indications of that” and the concern is “a bogus claim.” I’m not particularly surprised by this answer.

Still, it’s hard to believe that Mr. Kirby buys what he’s trying to sell to the American public – especially given the recent reports popping up across the DOD.

Off We Go Into The Woke Blue Yonder

GOP lawmakers have consistently raised alarms over the military’s woke training in the last few years. However, recently diversity and inclusion training instituted at the once prestigious United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs has re-ignited these previous concerns.

The training instructs cadets to use words that “include all genders” and to refrain from saying words like ‘mom’ and ‘dad.’ The PowerPoint presentation includes a slide that speaks to this point:

“Some families are headed by single parents, grandparents, foster parents, two moms, two dads, etc.: consider ‘parent or caregiver’ instead of ‘mom and dad'”

The slide goes on to instruct cadets to:

“Use words that include all genders: ‘Folks’ or ‘Y’all’ instead of ‘Guys’; ‘partner’ vs. ‘boyfriend or girlfriend'”

But it’s not just gender inclusivity that the training tackles. You can’t have diversity and inclusion training without talking about race.

The presentation instructs cadets that they are:

“Not ‘colorblind’ or ‘I don’t see color,’ but Color Conscious.”

Sadly, this training is not a one-off in the military.

RELATED: The Truth Behind Military Brass Incompetence And The System That Perpetuates It

A Disturbing Trend

Last year, West Point, which graduated the likes of General Ulysses Grant and General Stormin’ Norman’ Schwarzkopf, was outed when news of their training titled ‘Understanding Whiteness and White Rage’ became public. The training explained to cadets:

“In order to understand racial inequality and slavery, it is first necessary to address whiteness.”

In May, an email was obtained that was sent out to senior leaders and Commanders at Andersen Air Force Base Guam that instructed when writing performance reviews and other similar materials such as awards packages:

“Do not use pronouns, age, race, etc.”

It’s important to note that Andresen AFB falls within the United States Pacific Air Forces Command, which is responsible for, among other things, deterring Chinese aggression in the region.

Do you think the Chinese military spends even one millisecond on this nonsense?

Add to that the Navy gender pronoun training video, mandatory Army pronoun training, and gender transition surgery training. So I think it’s safe to say there is a prevalence of wokeness in the military.

Uncle Sam Wants You!…To Embrace Leftist Ideology

A spokesperson for the United States Air Force said in defense of the diversity and inclusion training:

“It is the diversity of Airmen and Guardians coming from all corners of our nation who perform the Department of the Air Force’s hundreds of critical mission sets that make us the best, most, innovative Air and Space Forces the world has ever known.”

I’m going to have to disagree with them on this point. The bravery, sacrifice, grit, and tenacity of Airmen and, I’d argue, Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines used to make us the best, most innovative, lethal fighting force in the world.

Unfortunately, the integration of the dare I call it Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Industrial Complex will make us one of the weakest, most ill-prepared, and ill-equipped fighting forces on the planet.

RELATED: A Reimagined Military: Pentagon Introduces New ‘Equity’ Plan

The Air Force Academy training included an exercise that separated cadets into small groups that had to write down as many “G-Animals,” or better put, animals whose names begin with G, as they could think of in a minute. These are the future United States Air Force and Space Force Commanding Officers.

My daughter does these sorts of exercises for school, and she’s six years old. But the worst part of the training was the condition laid out:

“What’s said here, stays in this room (let’s have each other’s backs).”

A blatant attempt to silence those cadets who rightfully know this sort of training does the opposite of what it claims to elevate.

I Never Thought I’d See The Day

Serving my country was one of the best decisions I ever made. I loved being a part of something greater than myself, serving my country, putting that service ahead of my needs and wants and those of my family, and growing into a tough and resilient citizen through those experiences.

There are many great reasons to join the Armed Forces. I got my bachelor’s and Masters’s Degree using Tuition Assistance and my GI Bill. I traveled the world, albeit to some not-so-great locations, but also to many incredible places like Greenland, where I met my husband. 

RELATED: 37 Years And 7 Tours In The Military, And All We Get Is Our President Calling Us Extremist Fascists?

However, with two children of my own, my daughter in particular, who looks up to me and wants to be a soldier when she grows up just like mommy, I’m not so sure I’d be keen to support either of them joining the military as their mom and dad did. There are almost just as many reasons not to join with the below list; just a few I could think of offhand:

I’m sorry to say it, Mr. Kirby; that only 9% of the population wants to serve is indeed partly due to ‘wokeness.’ No amount of denial from you or other military brass is going to change that.

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USAF Retired, Bronze Star recipient, outspoken veteran advocate. Hot mess mom to two monsters and wife to equal parts... More about Kathleen J. Anderson

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