Sen. Rubio: 'Woke activists' are hollowing out U.S. military

By Casey Harper
The Center Square
https://www.thecentersquare.com/

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio blasted the Pentagon’s increasingly leftward bent as it struggles to keep up with national security interests.

“The United States military is the greatest fighting force in the world, but woke activists in the Biden Administration are undermining military readiness, cohesion, and purpose,” Rubio, R-Fla., told The Center Square. “We cannot allow these left-wing crazies to hollow out our military. The world is an increasingly dangerous place and America’s security requires a strong military capable of deterring – and if need be, defending – our nation.”

Rubio’s comments come after The Center Square reported that the Pentagon is struggling to fulfill military requests even as it increasingly gives attention, and funds, to diversity, gender and critical race theory issues.

The Pentagon would struggle to manufacture enough precision missiles if conflict with China broke out, reports indicate. That comes after the U.S. sent over a decades worth of Stinger missiles to Ukraine as soon as the war there broke out, one of multiple shortages or potential shortages exposed by the U.S.’ support for Ukraine.

Critics argue the military has become distracted. For example, a recent Department of Defense Comptroller report points to $86.5 million for "dedicated diversity and inclusion activities."

"The Department will lead with our values – building diversity, equity, and inclusion into everything we do," the report said.

In a hearing earlier this week, Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Chairman Glenn Grothman, R-Wisc., raised concerns about “progressive ideals” infiltrating the military.

“We all know that the primary mission of the Armed Forces is to protect and defend the nation and our interests abroad,” Grothman said. “However, the military is not the institution for social experiments and political correctness. This Administration seems to be willfully blinded by how its progressive ideals are affecting military readiness and recruitment.”

GOP lawmakers have introduced legislation to ban the teaching of critical race theory in the military as well as cut off the funding for the diversity offices that push these ideas, but the legislation has not gotten enough traction.

Grothman said the liberalization of the military is hurting recruitment, which has become more difficult in recent years. The Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps all failed to meet their recruiting goals last year.

“Despite lowering fitness standards, relaxing tattoo policies, and increasing recruiting bonuses, fewer and fewer young adults are joining our military ranks,” he said. “Meanwhile, the Biden Administration is more focused on how cadets at military academies use the correct pronouns rather than learn how to lead, work as a team, and defend our nation.

“The Biden Administration thinks that service members understanding ‘white rage’ – as recently described by General Mark Milley, our highest-ranking military official – is more important than promoting cohesiveness throughout the armed forces,” he added.

Rubio and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, commissioned a report on these kinds of concerns that was released last year. It showed several examples of gender and racial ideology in U.S. military training, policies and leadership.

In one case, official training materials for West Point cadets lecture them on white privilege. The report points to another example where a slide presentation for the Air Force Academy is titled, “Diversity & Inclusion: What it is, why we care, & what we can do." This taxpayer-funded training warns cadets to avoid using gendered language, which includes terms like “mom” and “dad.”