The House Armed Services Subcommittee for Military Personnel held a hearing last week to discuss the growing national security crisis arising from the military's cratering recruitment numbers.   A potpourri of Pentagon nincompoops all universally lauded the Defense Department's ideological obsession with "lived experiences" and "diversity for diversity's sake." While championing the Marxist military's decision to waste over six million man-hours of training on the dangers of "extremism" and "white privilege" and the seminal importance of "diversity, equity, and inclusion," not one Pentagon official could muster a real answer as to why recruiting numbers are so disastrous.

The touchy-feely, group hug–loving mandarins proved experts in Critical Race Theory but poor problem-solvers when tasked with the actual duties of their jobs — building and maintaining lethal military forces filled with top-notch warriors who will fight to win.  Intentionally dividing Americans against each other and pouring salt in old wounds obliterate personnel cohesiveness.  As Representative Elise Stefanik succinctly concluded: "Biden's woke agenda comes at the expense of our military's readiness."

Listening to high-ranking Defense Department bureaucrats bloviate and spin lies just as effortlessly as the politicians in D.C. always puts a bad taste in my mouth.  It is an unfortunate truth that rank and promotion within the armed services are just as tainted by the same loathsome "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" disease that infects the rest of the federal government's compromised workforce.  The end result is that, with a few notable exceptions, those who make it to the top of the military's hierarchy are light on talent and wisdom but weighed down with incompetence, craven career considerations, and an exuberant penchant for cocktail-circuit politicking. 

The "best and brightest" generally tend to find themselves prevented from ever rising high enough to challenge the ruling mediocrity, while the self-promoting shallow thinkers are rewarded for their easily maintained vassalage.  You end up with a command structure proficient in undermining America's strategic security posture and incapable of recruiting, maintaining, or strengthening the globe's premier fighting force.  Woke joke Joint Chiefs chairman Mark Milley and retired four-star general and current secretary of defense Lloyd Austin typify this tragedy.  Milley is more comfortable talking about "white rage" than meeting force readiness goals.  Austin is so committed to pushing propaganda narratives around the world that he's willing to demean himself (and Americans) by showing up on foreign soil wearing enough personal protective equipment to ward off COVID to look like a frightened hypochondriac unexposed to the brutal conditions of war.  Both parrot leftist gobbledygook as their secular faith; both look too fat to survive a routine obstacle course; and neither ever speaks about Americans' historic sacrifices for freedom and human equality.  These guys couldn't lead a self-help group, let alone the most lethal fighting force in the world.

Why are recruitment numbers in the toilet?  Because hardworking, athletic, intelligent warriors who pursue excellence in their lives want nothing to do with a woke, anti-American, politically correct nut-job factory invested in a Marxist worldview and promoting an overtly anti-Christian, anti-conservative, anti-white agenda.  That answer is so obvious that just as with every other important issue of the day — "green" energy-induced inflation, central bank money-printing, government censorship, open borders, warrantless surveillance, surging crime, global war — normal people know what's going on, while only America's leaders choose to play dumb (although, in their defense, many aren't playing).

What makes a superior warrior?  An individual willing to rise every day and push his body and mind to the limits.  Someone who is capable of taking an absolute beating yet unafraid to get back up and continue the fight.  A person who is constantly working to get stronger, be tougher, think more clearly, and achieve tomorrow what could not be achieved today.  A warrior works all the time because when he is not working, someone else is, and when those two meet on a battlefield, only one will walk away.

That is not the mindset of today's woke armed services.  Whining, psychobabble, coddling, and grievance-conditioning do not create a superior fighting force.  "Safe spaces," fear of "triggering" words, and fixation on personal pronouns make minds weak.  Blaming mental and physical shortcomings on others will always result in future mission failure.  Rewarding ineptitude while disregarding merit in the name of "diversity" will ensure a diverse collection of dead bodies when hostile forces strike.  No person in harm's way gives a fig what color skin encases the person fighting to his back; no person in harm's way has the time to worry about another American warrior's "social justice" virtue.  When it is do or die, skillful excellence alone purchases life, one minute at a time.  There is no such thing as a "woke warrior" because they do not survive.

How have the "woke" policies of the armed forces become a national security threat to Americans?  Well, take a moment to consider what you most want in a warrior standing between you and annihilation.  You want someone whose foundations are rock-solid, whose character is aboveboard, and whose mind is right at all times.  You want someone who knows exactly why he's fighting, who loves his country without limits, and who is willing to pay the highest price for his nation's survival.  You want someone who understands the empowering effects of faith and family.  You want someone who converses so regularly with his Maker that he finds peace and comfort when chaos and danger strike.  You want someone who cherishes personal sacrifice and will reach down deep to find courage that can be found only under the protection of an All-Loving God.  You want someone who will never cease honing his skills, who will quietly seek perfection in his craft, and who will resolutely refuse to give up when ultimately tested.

In other words, when waters get rough, the warriors best suited for survival, resistance, and victory are tireless fighters with their heads on straight who are calm under pressure, emotionally resilient, and spiritually robust.  That describes a lot of liberty-loving, conservative, religiously devout, family-oriented, patriotic, and proud Americans.  It does not tend to include people so confused about their own identities that they aren't even sure how to describe their biological sex.  It does not describe Americans who despise their country's illustrious history, believe its people to be inherently racist, and insist its foundations rest not on freedom but rather slavery.  It does not include self-centered egoists too obsessed with personal pronouns to reflect upon a higher calling or personal sacrifice.  It does not include people who would rather fight so-called "global warming," "systemic privilege," or "hate speech" than foreign armies intending mortal harm.

Those who find themselves offended easily and who cannot distinguish between language and violence have no place on a battlefield.  They are, at best, a nuisance keeping real warfighters from doing their jobs and, at worst, a fifth column assisting the enemy in doing its job — which is to kill and subdue Americans.  Woke is a joke, but it is also deadly.

Why is the military failing?  Because it has turned its back on authentic warriors while licking the boots of the nation's woke wimps.  Someone who believes in hard work and personal excellence does not want to be part of an organization that punishes merit and rewards identity theatrics.  Someone with a strong devotion to God does not want to be commanded to hide his faith, or worse, to replace his faith with politically correct claptrap.  Someone willing to defend liberty at all costs will not submit to an immoral power structure forcing servicemembers to endure experimental injections, ideological brainwashing, and anti-American propaganda.  Those warriors will stay home and guard their families' futures.

Image via the Department of Defense.