Several years ago, after a lengthy exchange with my then 4-year old adopted son in which he was questioning parental authority, I frustratingly turned to him and said, “You know something – you are obnoxious.” It ended the exchange with him exclaiming he was not, before then seeking out his mother to query what exactly “obnoxious” meant.
I recalled that exchange after reading an outlandish comment by chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) Gen. Mark Milley, in response to an interviewer’s query whether the military is too woke. Milley responded, “No, not at all. You know I’m not even sure what that word truly means!”
It is difficult to fathom that the highest-ranking officer in the military – one personally responsible for the military’s ideological transition from a band of brothers embracing a mindset of “one for all and all for one” into a military where values such as merit, treasured for so long, no longer exist – would not know the meaning of “woke.”
While defending the reading in the military of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and white rage – the source of which has Marxist roots – Milley told Congress in June 2021, “I’ve read Mao Zedong; I’ve read Karl Marx; I’ve read Lenin. That doesn’t make me a communist.” He went on to add he “personally” found it “offensive that we are accusing the United States military, our general officers, our commissioned, non-commissioned officers, of being ‘woke’ because we’re studying some theories that are out there.”
From an educational standpoint, Milley is right – there is absolutely nothing wrong with studying them. But doing so while embracing a policy of DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) for the military, which also has Marxist roots, gives such theories instant credibility. The whole focus of DEI is to create divisiveness by ignoring merit, instead basing one’s advancement in uniform on race. CRT and the white-rage theory do nothing to promote harmony within the military – they simply give wings to an element absolutely necessary for Marxism to thrive: class conflict. It is most disturbing Milley cannot grasp the common link of class conflict inherent within these theories that only invite division in our military.
Milley’s promotion of Marxist ideology is mocked in an editorial cartoon depicting a scene from the 1970 biographical war film about World War II Gen. George Patton. Portrayed as Patton and taking editorial license with his motivational speech to his troops, Milley says, “No #$%&? ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by understanding white rage and Critical Race Theory.” Patton’s words motivated troops; Milley’s words (fabricated here but nonetheless reflective of his mindset) do not.
This is the same Gen. Milley who assured us in July 2021 that “Afghan security forces have the capacity and capabilities needed to fight and defend their country,” only weeks before a complete U.S. withdrawal that enabled the Taliban to overrun those security forces.
Milley may not appreciate that his tenure has witnessed the military’s disastrous turn toward wokeness, but others do. Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been very critical of the “politicalization” of the military and has sworn to “rip woke out of the military” if elected.
While Milley toots his own horn concerning reading about Mao, Marx and Lenin, it is clear a book he has not read is “America’s Cultural Revolution” by Christopher F. Rufo – listed as a New York Times bestseller. Rufo “exposes the inner history of the left-wing intellectuals and militants who slowly and methodically captured America’s institutions, with the goal of subverting them from within.” While the seeds for this cultural revolution were planted during the late decades of the 20th century, they have borne fruit in the early 21st century, promoted by social activists blinded to the fact that fruit is poisonous to democracy. Whether in academia, politics or – as evidenced by Milley – in the military, these activists have been making the rest of us drink the Kool-Aid embracing this division. Rufo notes that helping to drive this cultural revolution is a Democratic Party that abandoned its more conservative 20th century values for its far left values of today. Ironically, the Democratic Party of John F. Kennedy is closer to today’s Republican Party than to today’s Democratic Party.
A new JCS chairman, Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., has been nominated to replace Milley at the end of his term in office. Brown’s promotion – as well as those of 300 other military officers – is being held up by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., over the issue of the Department of Defense budgeting for abortions. Hopefully, the delay will allow members of the Senate to closely examine Brown’s position on the Marxist ideology of DEI. As chief of staff of the Air Force, he has promoted changes that can only be described as racist. When testifying before Congress and asked if there were too many white officers, reference was made to a memo by Brown suggesting the percentage of white officers be reduced by 9%. Thus, the equivalent of 5,400 officers would be let go simply because they are white. Merit be damned; full speed ahead with DEI!
A telling indication of the military’s wokeness is the fact the services all failed to make their enlistment goals this year. It was the first time the U.S. Air Force failed to do so since 1999. Undoubtedly contributing to this failure by the Air Force was Brown’s racist declaration. Even some who previously served in uniform are refraining from encouraging their children and grandchildren from serving.
The JCS do not lead combat forces and have no executive or command authority over the military forces; their mission is simply to advise the president on military matters. Milley boasted that, during the last days of President Donald Trump’s tenure, as CJSC he feared a coup. A book published in 2021 reported the JCS was prepared to resign, one-by-one, to underscore their opposition to such a coup. In a draft resignation letter he never sent, Milley told Trump he was “doing great and irreparable harm” to the country. Yet, as Biden does great and irreparable harm to our military and thus our national security, we hear nothing but silence from Milley.
In a 1964 U.S. Supreme Court case on obscenity, Justice Potter Stewart was unable to define the word but commented, “I know it when I see it.” Today, when it comes to wokeness, Milley is incapable of doing either.
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