Admiral and Veterans Group React to DeSantis’ Pledge for Military Overhaul.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Promises “Big Changes” in the Military
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is promising “big changes” in the military if he’s elected president. In response, a retired rear admiral and the leader of a veterans organization share their thoughts on which GOP candidate is best qualified to accomplish those changes.
At a campaign event in Columbia, South Carolina, on July 18, Mr. DeSantis revealed his “Mission First” proposal, vowing to eliminate harmful social policies from the U.S. military and to “take very swift action to right the ship.”
Mr. DeSantis is among the 10 challengers facing off against former president and Republican front runner Donald Trump to become the GOP’s nominee for president. The other candidates are former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, political commentator Larry Elder, businessman Perry Johnson, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
During a July 6 appearance on “The Chris Salcedo Show” on Newsmax, Mr. DeSantis, a former naval attorney, said he has members of the military coming up to him “all the time” saying they don’t want their children or grandchildren to “join today’s military” because it has “become a petri dish for social experimentation.”
“They’re putting political fads over military readiness,” Mr. DeSantis said, vowing to “rip the woke out on Day One,” and to bring “major changes in all the armed services” if he becomes president.
“Veterans around the country will rally to that,” he predicted.
DeSantis and the Military
Unlike Mr. Trump, Mr. DeSantis has an enlisted military background.
In 2004, Mr. DeSantis, a Yale graduate, joined the U.S. Navy where he earned the rank of lieutenant and became an officer in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. He received his law degree at Harvard University in 2005.
As governor, Mr. DeSantis has done much for the military in Florida.
On June 9, 2022, he signed six bills in support of Florida’s veterans, military members, and family members in finding jobs and securing educational opportunities.
On May 26 of this year, Mr. DeSantis signed an additional 10 measures.
In 2021, Florida ranked sixth in the nation for active duty military members, Statista reported. In 2019, it had the third highest veteran population in the country, and the state has been a top source of military recruits in recent years.
Mr. DeSantis also promised “big changes” for the military during a prior Memorial Day appearance on Fox News, saying “the military I see is different from the military I served in.”
“I see a lot of emphasis now on political ideologies, things like gender pronouns,” he said, attributing the plummeting recruitment numbers and low morale to the introduction of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.
On Jan. 25, 2021, Mr. Biden signed an executive order enabling “all qualified Americans to serve their country in uniform,” saying “gender identity should not be a bar to military service.” Two months later, the Pentagon announced new policies (pdf) that canceled the Trump-era policy banning transgender people from serving in the military.
‘Meritocracy’ Versus ‘Quota System’
Retired Rear Adm. Charles R. Kubic agrees that the “wokeism” in the military has to go.
“It’s the whole DEI program and the whole issue of CRT and other things that are finding their way into military training,” Mr. Kubic told The Epoch Times, noting how the new system of selection and promotion within the military structure is “moving away from meritocracy towards more of a quota system.”
Critical race theory (CRT) is a quasi-Marxist framework that views the United States as systemically racist and divides people into the role of oppressed and oppressor.
Mr. Kubic once served as one of Mr. Trump’s top foreign policy advisers.
In a May 20 letter to U.S. House leadership (pdf), Mr. Kubic and over 160 retired generals and admirals asked Congress to “take legislative action” to remove all DEI programs from the Department of Defense and to “ensure no DEI-related policies, programs, and funding are included in the 2024 [National Defense Authorization Act].”
The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2024 narrowly passed in Congress on July 14 by a vote margin of 219–210.
“There’s always been an ‘affirmative action’ look in promotion boards for the past 30 years or so,” Mr. Kubic said. “But we’re proceeding into an area where the whole idea of DEI and quality of outcome rather than opportunity has infiltrated into both the promotion and the assignment system.”
Legacy Military Service Discouraged
Mr. Kubic noted how Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth, a civilian official within the Department of Defense, “has come out with a policy that is not in the best interest of the Army.”
As reported on July 10 by Front Page Magazine, Ms. Wormuth is pushing Congress to enact a policy that would bar recruits whose family members have served in the military for generations from entering military service.
She fears that such recruits will create a “warrior caste.”
While Ms. Wormuth boasted that “the Army is also on track to meet its directed level of 5,800 officer commissions while increasing diversity representation within the combat arms branches,” the Army missed its 2022 recruitment goal by 15,000 soldiers, Army Times reported.
All branches of the military are failing in their recruitment goals.
Over two dozen members of the military reached out to The Epoch Times in a recent report to say they’re now discouraging their children from enlisting, closing the door on what has become a family legacy for some. Among their reasons are progressive social policies and distrust in leadership.
Mr. Kubic said there’s a systemic “lack of confidence in command at the operational and tactical level within the military” because of what they see as “a cultural war against the ethos of the war-fighting military.”
“How many people are just tired of all the political pressure that’s coming on them to live within this new woke culture?” he asked, insisting that the whole premise of woke ideology “just doesn’t mesh with the ethos we need to have war-fighting units within our military.”
“I think that’s a big problem,” Mr. Kubic asserted. “Hopefully our next commander-in-chief will fix that, including who he or she will appoint to various positions within the political civilian bureaucracy within the military.”
‘We Will Have to Reinstitute a Draft’
Mr. Kubic agrees with Mr. DeSantis that the morale issue in the military is “a big problem right now.”
“In fact, it’s such a problem that I think at some point and time someone is going to have to come out and point out that if the Army can’t meet its recruiting totals, we will have to reinstitute a draft.”
He also suggests that “a draft will require both men and women to serve.”
If the United States suffers a national emergency or enters a war that can’t be supported by the current all-volunteer military, the president and Congress have the authority to reinstate the draft and to force citizens to serve in the military.
“That’s a pretty drastic step,” Mr. Kubic conceded.
Another challenge the United States is facing is “the declining population of Americans who are physically, mentally, and emotionally fit to serve in the military.”
On Dec. 18, 2020, then-acting Secretary of Defense Christopher C. Miller announced the “Recommendations to Improve Racial and Ethnic Diversity and Inclusion in the U.S. Military” by the Department of Defense Board on Diversity and Inclusion.
Among the 15 recommendations was the suggestion to “remove aptitude test barriers that adversely impact diversity.”
“The next commander-in-chief and the person appointed to serve as secretary are going to have to deal with it,” Mr. Kubic proposed. “The way it’s happening now is it’s a reflection of the ‘woke’ culture that DeSantis wants to rip out and equally former President Trump. I think many of the other candidates would follow suit because it has to stop.”
DeSantis as ‘Establishment’
Over 230 retired senior military officials have endorsed Mr. Trump in his reelection campaign in a joint letter.
Stan Fitzgerald, a retired police detective,…
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