by Debra Heine
Over 1,000 former members of the military have signed a scathing public letter warning that the increased priority placed on “wokeness” in the military is a threat to the Constitution and the nation’s military readiness.
The letter comes after Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley defended the teaching of critical race theory in the military during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Wednesday.
Former President Donald Trump blasted Milley as “pathetic” for defending the toxic ideology during an interview Friday morning on Newsmax.
“General Milley – I watched his statements and it was pathetic. I watched the statements of some others – your head of the Navy. It was pathetic,” Trump said. “They didn’t talk that way when I was around, I can tell you. They didn’t talk that way or I would have gotten rid of them in two minutes. In particular Navy and Milley, just sad, pathetic statements,” the former president added.
Two military groups – Flag Officers 4 America and the Committee to Support and Defend – have joined forces to warn that the military’s embrace of the woke ideology is a major national security issue. LTC Allen West is a member of the Policy Board of the American Constitutional Rights Union’s Committee to Support and Defend, and leads its military initiatives.
The purpose of the letter, according to a press release, is to encourage citizens and leaders “to assess the outlined public policy threats to the nation and work together to constructively and cooperatively advance freedom.”
“Over 1000 signers to date have reaffirmed that the oath they took to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic has no expiration date, and that current military leadership promoting ‘wokeness’ undermines the military’s warfighting mission,” the Committee to Support and Defend said.
The letter, posted below in full, condemns “dismantling of the rule of law” in the United States, “the erosion of fair and honest elections,” the “politicization and ideological purging of our military,” social media censorship, the abusive COVID lockdown policies, and the collapse of border security.
As former members of the U.S. military who have proudly served our nation, we write to express our support for Constitutional freedom and liberty and our concern for our country as many powerful forces seek to bring Socialism and Marxism to our land.
When we agreed to serve our country, we pledged to support and defend the U.S. Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. During our active-duty service, we did just that.
Today, although no longer active-duty warriors, we are still bound to this pledge and believe we are ethically obligated to protect our country. As such, we put our nation’s leadership on notice. We believe the hard left turn toward Socialism and Marxism endangers our citizens and the future of this great nation. Although a difficult step to take, we believe this step is necessary for us to continue to demonstrate the integrity and moral courage our oath requires.
• We are disgusted by the dismantling of the rule of law in our great country. We never thought we would see the return to Vietnam-style disdain for public service. Unfortunately, this disregard and disrespect is corrosive and will lead to dangerous situations for citizens and law enforcement. A revolving door for criminals and a two-tiered justice system that offers up different penalties based on the viewpoints of the accused must end.
• It disturbs us to see the erosion of fair and honest elections. Civilians doubt that our electoral system accurately reflects the will of the people. Current servicemen and women struggle to find clear instructions on how they can execute their own constitutional right to vote and doubt their ballots will be counted. We reject efforts by those who seek to avoid fair and honest elections by deeming commonsense voting measures “racist.” The gold standard in voting, recognized throughout the world, is in person, with identification, yet politicians are seeking to end this in the U.S.
• We oppose the politicization and ideological purging of our military. The focus of our military should be on training, readiness, and defense of our Nation, not leftist cultural “wokeness”.
• We decry the assault on our constitutional rights through censorship of written and verbal expression and we point out the complicit arrangement between private corporations and those in power to present only one point of view. Never did we think we would see the day when our media resembled Pravda.
• Bureaucratic abuses that have led to business and school closures and excessive lockdowns should not be tolerated by the American people. We do not get our rights from the CDC, the FDA or from private corporations. And, as such, we will not tolerate Soviet-style internal passports or anything resembling the Chinese social credit system where citizens are monitored and controlled, whether that system be carried out by the government or by their cooperative partners in the private sector.
• We stand with Israel and call upon all Americans to continue with the Mideast peace initiatives, the “Abraham Accords” and oppose re-engaging in the Iran Nuclear Deal. Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons is not in the interest of freedom-loving individuals. We believe it is in the self interest of all Americans to oppose this deal.
• We must continue our efforts for energy independence. We believe it is in our nation’s best interest to reopen the Keystone Pipeline and focus on regaining U.S. jobs and protecting the national security interests provided by energy independence.
• The perforation of our southern border is a lifeline for terrorists, drug cartels and human traffickers. The current administration’s position on open borders and illegal immigrants places our nation at risk from a health, economic and safety perspective. As a sovereign nation we have a right and a duty to protect our borders.
• We oppose the establishment of cooperative relations with China as we believe the Chinese Communist Party is focused on global militaristic and technological domination. It is currently amassing weapons to stage a takeover of Taiwan. America is bound by the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty which protects Taiwan from invasion by the People’s Republic of China. Our cooperation with China is at odds with our signed alliances and is not in American self-interest. We must focus on preventing Chinese expansionism and protect our nation from attacks on our infrastructure by securing our gas pipelines and electric grids from penetration.
We call upon the American people to join us in opposing the advancement of socialism by holding public officials accountable in the public square and the voting booth. We must elect local, state, and federal candidates who will always act to defend our Constitutional Republic.
The survival of our Nation and its historic values, liberty and freedom are at stake.
One of the signatories, General Joe Arbuckle (ret.) said in a statement: “Critical Race Theory and other such programs are intentionally designed to divide people into groups based on oppressors vs oppressed; sowing discord and distrust in each other. This is exactly the opposite of the team building based on the essential trust and confidence needed in military units for unit cohesion and readiness. If allowed to continue, CRT and other such divisive programs will do tremendous damage to our military, its missions, and therefore our Nation. No doubt our adversaries across the globe are carefully watching how this unfolds.”
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Debra Heine is a reporter at American Greatness.
