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Matthew Lohmeier on the Military Justice Today Podcast

On this episode of Military Justice Today, attorney Robert Capovilla interviews former space-based missile squadron commander and author, Matthew Lohmeier.

Topics include his best-selling book, Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military, as well as his opinions about the impact of CRT/DEI/Woke ideology on the U.S. Military’s operational readiness.

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Experienced military attorneys representing active-duty service members, Veterans, and military families in their most important legal matters.

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Matt Lohmeier on Marxism, CRT, and the Unmaking of the Military joins Take FiVe

“I really want to emphasize that men and women have no better opportunity in their lifetime to exhibit courage on the world stage and in their sphere of influence than they have at the moment. I’d like to invite men to step up and be men, and to have courage.”

Matt Lohmeier was interviewed on His Glory TV. Starts at the 4:40 mark. Watch:


Transcript

Dave Scarlett, Take Five Host
. . . . All right. Now, Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Lohmeier. Lieutenant Colonel, thank you for joining us.

00:04:43:02 – 00:04:45:00
Matt Lohmeier
Happy to be here. Thanks.

00:04:45:03 – 00:04:59:17
Dave Scarlett, Take Five Host
So, could you give, the his glory, audience and family a background on yourself? I mean, I look at that year to master’s degrees in Space Force and wow, fighter pilot. This is pretty, pretty impressive stuff.

00:04:59:20 – 00:05:25:29
Matt Lohmeier
Yeah. I started my military career at the US Air Force Academy out in Colorado. And, that’s where I decided I wanted to fly after graduating and commissioning. ended up doing that. I was a T-38 instructor pilot for a number of years in Oklahoma. I spent a bit of time, down in Texas. In fact, we have a program called the Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals that we do after someone leaves pilot training.

And in my case, after I left, being an instructor pilot in Oklahoma, I went down to Wichita Falls, Texas, for my first time in Texas. left there, went to, Oregon to learn how to fly the F-15 C and went on from there to Okinawa, Japan, and flew jets, as you’ve indicated before joining the Air Force Space Community, which later became the U.S. Space Force and ultimately finished up my career as a commander in the U.S Space Force and leading, a unit that accomplishes our nation’s space based missile warning program.

00:05:59:26 – 00:06:16:28
Dave Scarlett, Take Five Host
Wow. That’s a that’s amazing. well, we’ll get into that. Also, the day of the military and what’s happening on our military today. Yeah. but fighter pilots are near and dear to my heart. My grandfather was a reason I went in the Marines was because he was a fighter pilot in World War Two, in the Korean War, a marine, lieutenant colonel as well. And, so watch what you guys do as a fighter. Pilots are just absolutely amazing stuff. So can you talk about, the day and state of our military right now? Well, what’s happened to our military?

00:06:31:02 – 00:07:08:27
Matt Lohmeier
Yeah, I do focus personally and professionally on diversity, equity and inclusion. It’s lineage of ideas which stem from Marxist ideology; many people are waking up to that reality. but it is DEI that is not the only the reason our military is currently suffering retention and recruiting issues. It’s not the only reason, our ability to maintain an effective mission ready force is being affected or it’s not the only reason it’s suffering.

However, I do focus quite a bit on that, and it plays a tremendous, role. It is one of the root causes for, many of the problems were suffering. So diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives have been around, of course, in the universities for decades now. And we’ve seen, if we’ve been paying attention, the ways in which ideology can be so utterly divisive, it can wrecked it, can wreck proper thinking as it seeks to attack Western civilization.

Critical theory, specifically, any of its variants, what people are now colloquially referring to as wokeism is precisely what I’m talking about. And that is a kind of religious worldview in and of itself that determines for you who the bad guys are, who the good guys are, and how to line up on on the right side of things, who the oppressor and who the oppressed classes in society are now that’s predominantly race based, although they’ll they’ll grab a hold of any particular subset of society they think they can sufficiently agitate to cause unrest, aggression, hatred and violence.

In my view, the father of lies is the founder of all of this. And it’s not just as old as Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who happened to put together the Communist Manifesto in 1848 with a similar narrative. It goes back to the very beginning of recorded human history, and, and it wears many masks. It goes by many different names, but its most recent variant, I’ll say, to keep it simple is diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that pits people against one another.

You can imagine how that might wreak havoc in an institution such as the Department of Defense that requires unity in order to be effective in its mission. Instead of unity, you have division. You have mistrust. For the other, you have a disrespect for leadership and race politics, eventually, or inevitably then, predominates in the culture.

That’s the thing I’ve been trying to speak up about and against for several years now. It’s the reason I was fired from my command back in 2021. And, in fact, the reason I’ve joined a nonprofit organization called STARRS, you can see the sign right over my shoulder that that is a veteran led nonprofit that focuses specifically on eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives from the United States military and tries to refocus our troops, our senior leaders in the military on, the things that actually unite people, which is their mission, their common mission, their common blood, their common uniform, and a love, for their country and for the Constitution and the ideals that shaped our country.

00:09:56:22 – 00:10:14:19
Dave Scarlett, Take Five Host
Yeah. It’s, it’s, insanity what’s happened to our military is you talking about stars? We’ve had General Bishop on several times. He’s been a huge fighter and proponent to stop this day. I did get a call about a year ago from a Canadian former Canadian general, what they were doing in our academy in the Air Force. I got it to General Bishop, and he was able to change it in the academy. But to for that type of behavior to get that far was extremely concerning. How did how does our military, the generals, allow something like this to happen in our academies?

00:10:32:22 – 00:10:55:18
Matt Lohmeier
Some of them happen to be true believers in these ideas, unfortunately, and many of them are afraid to speak up. And there’s a lack of courage, culturally, we’ve created a climate of fear. There’s a pendulum that swings, of course, back and forth. And, in the aftermath of the last presidential election and the instantiate of a new regime, there was a tremendous fear that people had.

They were afraid of being labeled something like racist. They were afraid to say something that could be perceived as going against a party, an official party line, and as we’ve seen, I think especially in the past year, people starting to regain some courage there. They’re learning enough about these issues that are hurting recruiting and retention, thanks to organizations like STARRS and General Bishop and others to to to make that determination in their mind that enough is enough.

If I don’t speak up, who will? I’m willing to join the ranks of those who are fighting back and speaking up and try and make a difference, even at the local level. The best all of us can really do is to try and become educated ourselves, and then to exhibit the courage to speak up and use our voice freely and respectfully in whatever sphere of influence it is that we happen to occupy.

And that can go much further and make tremendous impact in ways that we can’t foresee always.

00:11:54:07 – 00:12:18:21
Dave Scarlett, Take Five Host
Well, General Bishop, General McInerney, General Valley–General McInerney, and General Valley are on with us every month. So the last jabs that went after, military people in the military that, you know, had lieutenant colonels like yourself in the Marines, there were fighter pilots in Arizona, 18 years experience, if they wouldn’t have taken the jab that they were going to get dishonorably discharged.

What has happened again to our military? And talk about somebody like your level, Lieutenant Colonel, you’re the one of the most seasoned, officers out there, and all the training is taking you to get to that point. How damaging is that to our military and readiness?

00:12:37:13 – 00:13:11:16
Matt Lohmeier
It’s proven to be terribly damaging, not just because we’ve lost over 8000 of our troops because of what I now clearly see was, an unethical and illegal mandate. In some ways and, it seems to have specifically targeted conservative Christian service members who had a spine and, whether or not any individual went about their resistance to that unethical mandate, appropriately, they were all trying to, be true to their own convictions.

Now you’ve got that small percentage of the military that’s effectively been purged during this regime as a consequence of them standing on principle, saying it went against their personal views or convictions or religious ideas or convictions and, what’s more, and what’s equally as concerning to me, it’s not just the injustice of the treatment of some of those who resisted.

It’s the lasting, consequences for those of our service members who are still in uniform, who chose, in many cases, very reluctantly, to go ahead and and take that shot or series of shots. They’ve had terrible health problems. There’s a Lieutenant Colonel Theresa Long in the Army who’s just now retiring after her honorable service, and she’s been a foremost whistleblower, talking about some of the terrible, devastating consequences of, as as a result of this, really quite foolish policy of mandating that your very young, all volunteer, healthy, relatively healthy force, submit themselves to an experimental shot.

You have to begin to question the motives. Of course, as we’ve seen, the difficult, consequences from a health perspective are good. The grounding of pilots and, and people ending up with lifelong, debilitating, sickness, for example, you have to wonder what agenda was at play and who’s behind an agenda, because I don’t think it was an accident that that’s what we saw happen now.

00:14:51:06 – 00:15:09:12
Dave Scarlett, Take Five Host
And it’s very concerning when you hear pilots that just collapse, in the cockpit. Right. And I heard many stories of Marines that way.

Lieutenant Colonel, can you talk about the readiness of our armed forces? We see recruiting numbers are way down. Readiness? Just, potential recruits. I saw something yesterday. Like 70% of American, youth could not pass a physical to get into the military today. so where are we at? A readiness if we had to go to some sort of extended war or, heaven forbid, on 2 or 3 fronts at once.

00:17:49:20 – 00:18:15:21
Matt Lohmeier
Yeah. We do have a problem overextending ourselves on the world stage, which is a concern even when you’re in a, a ready to fight fit, state as a military. Of course, there’s been concern for some time that we’re not necessarily in a ready state to to fight a war. I just had an email come in earlier this morning sharing with me from a cadet at West Point that Elon Musk just visited this past week.

I was really interested in finding out what Elon Musk was going. I’m surprised they let him show up at West Point in the first place given the controversy about his stand on free speech and his alignment with conservatism over the past couple of years, and West Point’s been the opposite, in fact, in many respects, but Elon Musk shared with this group of cadets, as a primary concern, the military’s readiness to wage conflict and not just on a multi, regional scale, but in any, serious conflict with a great power competitor.

I think it was unspoken. I don’t have a recording of what he said. I think it’s unwritten. But, he indicated, that he thought our ability to manufacture weapons and military capabilities in this country is far too slow. And I’ll add from a to compete at that level anymore, and that, I’ll add.

Our ability to keep ready aircraft, and mission capable numbers, of both personnel and machinery has suffered for the for the past several years even as we can’t retain the talent that we have, even if certain people are on medical profiles or have become sick as a consequence of this illegal shot mandate. so there’s a very negative trend as far as military readiness, our ability to wage combat.

Heritage Foundation even has conducted annually independent assessments of the US military strength. And I think that the name of their annual report that they put out is an index of U.S. military strength. Overall, in 2023, the report concluded that, the US military was weak, I think is the word that they used as their overall rating. There were multiple levels and some of the branches of the military, including the Air Force and Space Force or one or the other was very weak, and that the way in which they go about making that assessment is not just, a wag.

They have, metrics that they use, like the mission capability of our fighter force, for example, of our Navy ships. So when you see both, word of mouth, feedback coming from our troops about their dissatisfaction about morale in the workplace, on the one hand, you see metrics based, analysis coming out of institutions like the Heritage Foundation who are trying to provide the American people and members of Congress, some awareness of what they ought to be looking into and how to fix some of these problems.

You begin to see a very concerning picture emerge. It’s that there is a consensus from boots on the ground to, to members of Congress, to, the veteran community that we might not necessarily be properly postured to wage a serious conflict, on the world stage, that ought to frighten Americans. If if all of the other concerns and problems that we were having as a country didn’t exist, and there are many of those from border issues to public education issues to you name it, whatever your issue is said.

All of those aside, let’s say they were all cleaned up tomorrow, and the only remaining problem was whether or not you’ve got a lethal, capable, ready, high morale military to protect your nation. That issue alone is is has enough weight to it that, it could protect it could potentially put the United States in jeopardy, of losing its security and not being able to defend itself.

I think we’ve seen a turn in and the tides, so to speak, from the comfortable position we were in post-Cold War where we came out, the kings of the world, so to speak, and, had a relatively, hubristic, proud approach, on the world stage and, the ability to exert power in the Middle East and on multiple fronts to now the, a debacle in the withdrawal from Afghanistan and the lack of credibility and seriousness both with our allies and the enemies on the world stage.

All of that goes a long way when you’re trying to project power or to maintain your security. We’re we’re staring into the abyss at the moment, I think standing on the precipice and the American people have really, you know, I say this is not speaking on behalf of my organization, but just as a personal opinion.

The American people have very serious decisions to make here come election season. If we’d like to plunge into that abyss or if we’d like to try and reverse course and, and we have to choose wisely and hope that our, our votes count. Right. And hope that the system hasn’t been so ultimately compromised that none of that matters anyway, that in fact, it does matter.

And so we speak up. We vote, we vote, and we we try our best to influence a positive outcome because that’s that’s about all you can hope to accomplish as a bystander and as a citizen at this point. You do your part and you pray and hope that, the outcomes can be different for the next administration.

00:23:32:23 – 00:23:50:27
Dave Scarlett, Take Five Host
So how do we how do we do that? How do we get this, get our military back in ready order. And I’ll ask you a second question. The question is, which I ask every lieutenant colonel and every general that comes out his glory. What happened? What’s what’s this disconnect between the lieutenant colonels and a four star generals of today? And why are the four star generals not exercising their constitutional rights in the military to make sure this stuff does not happen on their watch?

00:24:02:01 – 00:24:24:04
Matt Lohmeier
Yeah. You know, Lieutenant colonels, for example, promote through the ranks based on their merit. Largely it should be that way, and accomplishment and talent. You get beyond that to a certain point, people begin retiring, and then you have political appointees that end up being general officers, flag officers. Many of them are good, good men and women, don’t get me wrong. I’m grateful for the good men and women. but there is a political aspect to their ongoing service, as general and flag officers, that they are reluctant, extremely reluctant to compromise, and to, be disloyal to. I think they’re interested in being yes men and yes women.

There’s been a time and place for that, and it’s been necessary for a functioning military. There’s civilian control of the military, but we’ve now got, a position where we’ve got more and more political ideologues who are rising to power because of their political worldview.

If they don’t share in the same political worldview or seem to be contrary in any way, then they they find that they’re somehow disqualified for continued progress through the ranks, and that there’s been a subtle shift over time. But it’s apparent now, now that it’s kind of taken root. There was a purge of general officers under the Obama regime, and you ended up with, certain political leaning after that phase.

There’s been a purge that’s been deliberate during this administration. People find themselves disgusted if they maybe share our worldview or some semblance of our worldview. So they choose to retire, they choose to get out of that arena and to go into a more private life at the very moment when they should, in fact, be speaking up.

So that’s why I think there’s a disconnect between maybe the lieutenant colonel and the general officer ranks. But back to your first question. How do you solve this problem? The military up front. We need a different administration. You’re not going to solve these problems with the current administration or a 2.0 of this administration after election season, and you need new senior leaders.

We need we need to hold senior leaders accountable. We need to hold the lowest level of our military accountable for political activism in any form. They’re welcome to their political worldview, but they need to be laser focused on the mission that they do and becoming lethal ready warriors. They need to have instilled in them the kind of respect for the warrior ethos from senior leaders that we’ve had for so many decades that we’ve now lost.

I just reviewed some training from the Air Force Academy, in fact, that I got yesterday in an email and was a bit I was embarrassed to read the language that our new cadets that are coming into the Air Force Academy are getting from their senior leaders. It doesn’t engender respect. It’s not impressive. It looks like it was written by people who are somewhat uneducated, but who have a political ax to grind.

I thought, yeah, these young men and women are going to show up and what they thought they were signing up for. It is not what they’re meeting with and their experience there and some of them are going to be discouraged by that, and some of them might not choose to stay in and commission. Some of them have expressed I’ve heard anecdotally that they hope things will be different when they commission and get out into the real Air Force.

They might be unfortunately surprised, too. So we need an overhaul of the leadership in the military. You can’t do that under the current administration. I think, speaking of accountability. Some people need to be recalled and tried for illegal activity. That’s the that’s the bottom line. You can’t let people get away with criminal conduct, illegal discrimination, unethical behavior and go off quietly into the night and and enjoy a comfortable retirement.

I’m not calling for anything radical. I’m saying you need to instill accountability in this country. Otherwise you lose it forever. You have an unjust state. When you have an unjust state, things will devolve all the more rapidly into something I warned about in the book that I wrote, which is civil conflict.

So to say nothing of all of our great competitors on the world stage, the rest of Russia’s and the Chinas of the world, and maintaining the respect of our alliances in the on the world stage, you’ve got a domestic problem, that’s been fueled by illegal immigration, but it’s also fueled by the terrible partisan divide that we’ve got at the moment where people actually hate the other, and that’s grown so aggressive that there are people now of the view.

I’m not advocating for this, but they’re now of the view that there’s only one solution to the problem we face. It’s to kill. When you get to a point like that in a country, any number of matches, so to speak, could be lit. That could ignite the whole thing. You can’t predict how that might play out.

So I really hope and pray that we have more time to solve some of these problems, reverse course, repent as a country, and to start to heal some of the fractious divide that we’re seeing, lest we end up on that path.

00:29:07:18 – 00:29:25:05
Dave Scarlett, Take Five Host
Yeah. Absolutely. Right. When we sign up for the military, we’re signed to the Constitution, lawful orders. I like what you said. We have to follow these generals need to follow lawful orders. Me as a private I have to follow lawful orders. I’ll let you have the last 30s. Lieutenant Colonel.

00:29:25:08 – 00:29:43:11
Matt Lohmeier
Well, I really want to emphasize that men and women have no better opportunity in their lifetime to exhibit courage on the world stage and in their sphere of influence than they have at the moment. I’d like to invite men to step up and be men, and to have courage.

00:29:43:13 – 00:30:01:10
Dave Scarlett, Take Five Host
Thank you so much, Lieutenant. The lieutenant Colonel, thank you for serving this great country. God’s not done with us, Eagle Nation. Thank you so much. That is today’s take five going is.

radio

Lohmeier: DEI is Crushing Military Morale and Readiness

Matthew Lohmeier was recently interviewed on the Brian Thomas Morning radio show about his book and the problem of the radical DEI agenda in the military.

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Episode Transcript
Transcript automatically generated

Hi, It’s Brian Thomas, 55 Carsey Morning Show. Happy to welcome to the 55 Carsey Morning Show Matthew Lohmeier. He is a 2006 graduate of the United States Air Force Academy. He started his active duty military career as a pilot, flew over twelve hundred hours and a T-38 as an instructor pilot after followed by the F-15C.

After flying, he cross trained into space operations: first in a space based missile warning October twenty twenty, he transferred to the United States Space Force. He’s got two Masters agree and a Military Operations Art and Science, Masters of Philosophy and Military Strategy, and up until recently it was a Lieutenant colonel at command of the Space Based Missile Warning Squadron in Colorado.

Welcome to the fifty five Ksey Morning Show. Now retired, Matthew Lohmeier, author of,  came out in 2021, but still so very important Irresistible Revolution: Marxism Goal of Conquest, and the Unmaking of the American Military.

Matthew, it is a pleasure to have you on the program. And what a scary title that is.

It is a scary title, very deliberately written, and I’m happy to join you.

Well, we’ve got a lot of military families in the listening audience. I do everything I can in my power on the radio to help out veterans and veterans causes, and so you’re going to sell a lot of these books, and rightfully so. DEI in the military.

I’ve been reading about it for years. I’ve had my I’ve got military folks currently serving and have recently served or retired talking about what a problem is all the resources thrown at DEI issues, and mostly the E is the problem.

They’re promoting people from outside the normal channels of the ranks, and people who are qualified getting pushed back to the side, and having folks promoted above those that are qualified merely because they fill the blank in on certain DEI related issues. I mean, that’s just not right.

That’s got to be terrible from morale. And what’s that got to do, if I may be so bold, Matthew Lohmeier, what has that got to do with killing people and breaking things, which is the primary goal of the military.

Well, you’re absolutely right that the E in DEI is a tremendous problem. But the diversity part is also a problem because what they pretend to aspire to is some kind of authentic diversity. What they really mean by that is race based quotas, and it destroys the merit based system that we need in a lethal and ready fighting force.

In the United States military, we’ve always had and prized a merit based selection and promotion process, and instead the diversity, equity and inclusion agenda effectively destroys that merit.

And so you’re absolutely right. It is debilitating of the morale, the good order and discipline of our troops, and it’s undermining our readiness and lethalities. Of course, well is looking at your subtitle Marxism goal of conquest in the unmaking American military.

That’s the goal, isn’t it to ruin morale and reduce the numbers of people willing to volunteer for an all volunteer military.

Yeah, your listeners are going to be well aware of the fact that for decades now the universities have been plagued with Marxist ideology, Marxist thought. The overarching aim of my book that I had written really at the time immediately following the transition from President Trump to the current administration.

The aim of the book is to clearly show that all of the diversity and inclusion trainings, the vocabulary, and the agenda first and foremost is rooted in Marxist revolutionary thought, and that it’s finally made its way out of the universities and elsewhere into the uniform services.

That it’s dividing our troops, it’s hitting people against one another and therefore crushing morale and readiness, and it’s also having a terrible impact on a recruiting and retention efforts, which is why we’re having abysmal recruiting rates and not meeting our goals.

And ultimately it’s a warning to the American people and to our service members and to senior defense officials that unless we abandon this divisive path that is part of the deliberately a part of the diversity and inclusion agenda, it will unfortunately lead to violence because of the visceral emotional response that people have for one another when they genuinely start to believe in these ideas that they’re not those ideas which include that the like, for example, the police are inherently racist.

That’s a BLM philosophy, and of course the BLM folks were admittedly Marxist. That’s one of the tenets of the legs of Marxist philosophy is to undermine our belief in and our respect for the military and the police.

Those are institutions which are directly connected with the evil need to be overthrown capitalist system. They are a the muscle for the capitalists, and what we need to do is undermine there. Therefore, the capitalist system will fall as the military and the police system falls. I mean, that’s a goal they have.

It is a goal. In fact, I recently went to Minneapolis as a part of a film that I’m shooting that’s going to come out this fall, just prior to the election. I can’t yet say the name, but everyone should end up hearing about it.

And what I saw in Minneapolis that was the result of one terrible leadership for a number of years. But this kind of activism that is fraught with the diversity and inclusion agenda and initiatives and language vocabulary, is that it completely wrecks a city.

And I’ve seen what happened right there on George Floyd Square where there’s a memorial there, and in the city surrounding that area. And I’m telling you that the same thing is happening to the military, and a smaller scale to be sure, But it’s not just a criticism of the police force. And it is exactly that, just like you’ve mentioned.

I heard at my base, and other troops are hearing at their bases a criticism of America’s founders as white supremacists and racists, and a criticism of America’s founding values and principles that actually made us the priest and greatest country in history.

That is so heart wrenching to hear. Let me ask you this. I mean, we’re, as you pointed out, we’re all painfully aware that college education is now replete and filled with DEI and woke Marxist philosophy.

It’s been that way for a long time. We know it’s seeped its way in K through twelve education with the same kind of principles being taught to our young people, and that worked itself into the Department of Education. That is a concerted effort. You can do that when you have this unified, uh just basically one size fits all education system.

Here’s the curriculum. Teach every kid that how in God’s name, did this curriculum, this philosophy make it into America’s military right?

Well, at first it began with activism after the death of George Floyd. We had service members high and low that were activists, just like you saw in the news where cities are burning and police cars are being smashed and windows being smashed.

That same activism and a small scale began to spread its way through the military because the seeds had been planted and they’re in trainings over the number of course of a number of years.

But President Trump in September of twenty twenty attempted to end forever: the diversity and inclusion trainings that we were seeing in the United States military by executive order, and he did just that, and there was a several month reprieve from this kind of training.

But Joe Biden in this administration, on January twentieth of twenty twenty one, reverse President Trump’s executive order by executive fiat and brought back these diversity and inclusion trainings and agenda with a bang.

And of course, he selected a Secretary of Defense in Lloyd Austin that is very much in support of this agenda. He has a very different world view the most Americans, and he believes in the oppressor versus oppressed narrative of human events that was taught by Marx and Engels one hundred and fifty plus years ago in the Communist Manifesto.

And these guys, through policy, expect these trainings and trainings to fill the military workplace. We’ve even had superintendents that are military service academy, such as the Air Force Academy, my own alma mater, say that they’re going to fill the university there, the Military Service Academy with diversity, equity and inclusion, in every nook and cranny of that service academy.

We need to eliminate poor leadership in the next administration. We need to make sure that we completely abolish all of these DEI policies, and we need to get our military back on track, which is my foremost concern, although it’s infecting every other federal agency as well as we’ve recently seen and are seeing in the headlines today as of yesterday and the day before well, and obviously that is a problem that’s not going to go anyway soon given the size, scope and inability to fire anybody in the administrative state.

But and you made a great point in bringing up Donald Trump in his efforts to get rid of this, which you’ve said, we’re successful at least for a short period of time.

As commander in chief, he essentially is the Department of Education when it comes to the curriculum in the military.

Right, can he eliminate this if Donald Trump is elected president again and turn the ship around. Yeah, that’s an important, or I should say critical part of fixing the problem. It’s getting the right commander in chief in and ensuring that we’ve got both corrective policy in place, and also selecting the right leaders the right oversight committees to make sure that and I’m not talking about Congress, I’m talking about they’re actually both congressionally mandated as well as executive a point of positions that provide oversight of our military service academies to ensure these kinds of things go away and go away fast.

But of course, cultural change doesn’t necessarily happen rapidly. It’s going to take time and concerted effort and courage from those that still wear the uniform of their country to speak up respectfully and say, hey, we disagree with what’s being taught. It’s against our values, it’s discriminating and makes it uncomfortable. It’s not inclusive. There’s no real diversity here. My viewpoint is denigrated.

I don’t see the authenticity and this approach, and I think if more and more people speak up about that, we’re far more likely to see the cultural change that we need. But it starts, indeed, with the right commander in chief setting the right policy. And unfortunately, because we’re so divided, that is what it comes down to at the moment.

But it would have been unthinkable two decades ago and three decades ago for any commander in chief to make policies that are deliberately apparently dividing our troops in uniform underscore what you just said, deliberately that’s the most frightening component of everything that we have talked about and everything that you talk about in your book, Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest and the Unmaking of the American Military by retired Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Lohmeier.

I really wish your book was sort of like a warning about what could have happened or could happen, as opposed to the reality of what is currently happening. But you sound like you at least have some measure of optimism.

With a different commander in chief and different policies, we can turn this ship around and head back in the right direction. God bless you, sir for the time you spell my listeners and meet this morning. The book itself, Irresistible Revolution, which my listeners can get at my blog page fifty five KRC dot com. I will strongly encourage them to do that and share it with every single one of their friends.

Thank you very much, been my pleasure.

Thanks again for your time and your service to our country and your continued service.

pent17

Persecuted ex-Space Force commander calls for eliminating woke ideology from U.S. military

By Calvin Freiburger | LifeSite News

A longtime military commander ousted from the U.S. Space Force in 2021 for criticizing the spread of woke ideology in America’s armed forces is speaking out again, sharing the details of his experience with Fox News and calling for new leadership for the nation’s defenders.

Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier, the former commander of the 11th Space Warning Squadron at Buckley Air Force Base, was fired in 2021 after self-publishing a book titled Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military.

In an interview at the time, he discussed the spread of critical race theory (CRT, the “view that the law and legal institutions are inherently racist and that race itself… is used by white people to further their economic and political interests at the expense of people of colour”) within the military through so-called “diversity and inclusion” programs.

In response, Space Operations Command head Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting relieved Lohmeier from his position over an alleged loss of confidence in his leadership ability and opened an investigation into whether Lohmeier’s comments qualified as “prohibited partisan political activity.”

“There was a whole string of events that did lead up to my being relieved of command,” the lieutenant colonel told Fox in a new interview published Friday. “The ultimate reason was because I was willing to be publicly critical of critical race theory, which I understood to be rooted in Marxist ideology… that I saw dividing the troops (…) I wasn’t advocating for Republicans over Democrats, and I’m conservative myself. But it didn’t matter to me. And it’s never mattered to our troops what someone else’s politics were.”

Since his firing, which came with the “gut punch” of losing his pension, Lohmeier has remained committed to exposing and uprooting the ideological priorities that have infected the military.

“You give your life and service to your country and the American people, and you’re not doing it for the pay,” he said. “You’re doing it because you become (convinced) of the greatness of the American ideal. And … senior leaders (then) say, ‘We want you out of the way because your view is not welcome here,’ even as they pretend to care about inclusivity, even as they pretend to care about diversity, (but) not diversity of thought.”

“We need to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion trainings from the military, from the service academies, and strip all vestiges of critical race theory out of the military workplace,” Lohmeier declared.

The steady rise of “woke” ideology within the military, which has persisted and grown since the Clinton years despite the presidencies of Republicans George W. Bush and Donald Trump, has been intensified by current President Joe Biden, who upon taking office quickly moved to open the military to recruits suffering from gender dysphoria in a reversal of Trump administration policy, then had  Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin launch a review of supposed “domestic extremism” within the military that many saw as a pretext to purge conservative views from the ranks.

In March 2023, the Center for Military Readiness (CMR) published an update on the administration’s work to infuse the armed forces with left-wing gender ideology, ranging from enforcement of preferred pronouns to allowing cross-dressing and the use of opposite-sex showers and restrooms on military bases to making it harder to access information on the negative consequences of such policies.

Last November, the Pentagon requested an additional $114.7 million for diversity programs in the upcoming fiscal year, representing a total of $269.2 million in taxpayer dollars just on military diversity since Biden took office.

Such priorities have taken their toll. During a Pentagon press briefing in April 2022 on the Army’s budget for Fiscal Year 2023, Under Secretary of the Army Gabe Camarillo announced the Army had “proactively made a decision to temporarily reduce our end strength from 485,000 Soldiers to 476,000 in FY ’22, and 473,000 in FY ’23.” the Military Times reported at the time that this “could leave the service at its smallest size since 1940, when it had just over 269,000 troops.”

Gallup and Ronald Reagan Institute polls have both shown that the public has lost confidence in the military’s leaders, which presumably also has a significant effect on prospective soldiers’ willingness to sign up.

First published on LifeSite News


Some comments on the article:

“My husband (retired military) and I have read the book and highly recommend it. This is a brave man that put his life and career in jeopardy to speak out about the abuses occurring under this present Administration in our Military. We are a joke to the world and we will pay dearly for what is being allowed under this Administration.”

“A true leader. Reinstate this superb officer now.”

“I applaud this man’s courage. This is not the same country I grew up in. The lunatics are running the asylum. I pray for the young ones coming up behind me who will inherit this mess.”

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Former Space Force Officer Says ‘Separate Chain Of Command’ Enforces ‘Divisive Ideology’ In Military Academy

By Harold Hutchinson   |  The Daily Caller

A former United States Space Force officer said Saturday morning that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is enforced by a “separate chain of command” at the Air Force Academy.

Former Space Force Lieutenant Colonel Matt Lohmeier, who was relieved of command after he spoke out against DEI initiatives in the military in 2021 and says he lost his pension, told guest host Joey Jones on “Fox and Friends Saturday” that the academy “has diversity and inclusion cadet officers” who “report to a separate chain of command.”

Jones had referred to an Arizona State University study that found service academies encourage reporting “private conversations that challenge DEI precepts,” asking Lohmeier if he had similar experiences. (RELATED: ‘Congress Has To Step In’: Judicial Watch Sounds Alarm On CRT At West Point)

“In fact, come to think of it, I did experience that. A fellow commander informed me that they’re aware of my kind of politics and that they’d be happy to turn me into the base commander if I continued to privately criticize our diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives,” he said. “But this problem has grown far beyond what I experienced, personally and professionally in the military workplace.”

“My own alma mater, the U.S. Air Force Academy, has diversity and inclusion cadet officers who wear a special insignia within their cadet squadrons, they wear purple braided rope over the shoulders and they report to a separate chain of command other than their military chain of command, relating to diversity and inclusion issues,” he continued. “It reminds one of Soviet political commissars that have been established both in the Soviet Union and in other Marxist revolutionary efforts throughout the last century.”

Lohmeier called DEI a “very dangerous, very divisive ideology” that is treated “like it is a protected religious worldview” that “others ought to step in line with and support in their words and actions, otherwise face consequences.”

The former commander spoke earlier in the segment about allegedly being fired over his concerns.

“Unfortunately for the American people and for all of the men and women in uniform, it’s been considered for a number of years now to be politically partisan to speak up against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives,” Lohmeier told Jones. “And of course, anyone who looks into this matter knows it shouldn’t necessarily be considered a partisan issue. I wasn’t interested in being politically partisan while I wore the uniform of the country and was in command of a space force unit, but of course, senior military leaders, especially under the current administration, decided that because of the climate of fear that we had created for ourselves they ought to treat my criticism of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives as partisan and, quote unquote, hold me accountable for speaking out against it.”

The Air Force Academy did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.


CADET PROGRAM PROMOTES DIVERSITY, INCLUSION ACROSS ACADEMY CAMPUS (US Air Force Academy)

Cadets pose for a photo after graduating from the Cadet Wing Diversity and Inclusion Program this summer, allowing them to advise students on diversity at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Each cadet wears a purple rope across their left shoulder symbolizing their position as a diversity representative. (U.S. Air Force Academy photo and caption)

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Former Space Force commander Matthew Lohmeier sounds alarm on the ‘very dangerous’ impact of DEI policy

Former Lt. Col. Space Force commander Matthew Lohmeier joins ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ to discuss how DEI in the military is potentially impacting military readiness.


TRANSCRIPT

Fox Host:
In the military has our next guest, a former Space Force commander, lieutenant colonel, up in arms after he says he was fired and lost his pension for speaking out after serving in the military for over a decade. Matt Lohmeier ripped DEI training for dividing troops, decreasing morale, and ultimately affecting military readiness, which prompted action against him. Executive Vice president of STARRS Matt Lohmeier joins us now.

Good morning. Lieutenant Colonel, thank you for joining us. We were just talking in the commercial break there–you weren’t just fired from your position. You were also pushed out of the Space Force altogether. You lost your career over this?

Matt Lohmeier:
Yeah. You know, unfortunately for the American people and for all of the men and women in uniform, it’s been considered for a number of years now to be politically partisan to speak up against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. And of course, anyone who’s looked into this matter knows it shouldn’t necessarily be considered a partisan issue. I wasn’t interested in being politically partisan while I wore the uniform of the country and was in command of a Space Force unit. But of course, senior military leaders, especially under the current administration, decided that because of the climate of fear that we had created for ourselves, they ought to treat my criticism of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives as partisan and, quote unquote, hold me accountable for speaking out against it.

Fox Host:
Now, one thing on my fact sheet here that I found really interesting a study, I believe it was by Arizona State University. And basically they found that part of the policy is that you’re mandated or required or encouraged to tell on others if they have a negative opinion of DEI. Did you experience that?

Matt Lohmeier:
In fact, come to think of it, I did experience that. A fellow commander informed me, that they’re aware of my kind of politics and that they’d be happy to turn me into the base commander if I continued to privately criticize our diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. But this problem has grown far beyond what I experienced personally and professionally in the military workplace.

That report that you’ve just mentioned from Arizona State University’s Center for American Institutions, specifically mentioned some of the things that are happening currently at our military service academies. My own alma mater, the U.S. Air Force Academy, has diversity and inclusion cadet officers who wear a special insignia within their cadet squadrons that were purple braided ropes over the shoulders. And they report to us a separate chain of command other than their military chain of command relating to diversity and inclusion issues. It reminds one of Soviet political commissars that have been established in both in the Soviet Union and other Marxist revolutionary efforts throughout the last century. So this is a very dangerous, very divisive ideology and we treat it any more like it’s a protected religious worldview, but not just protected, but one that others ought to step in line with and support in their words and actions otherwise face consequences.

Fox Host:
Lieutenant Colonel, you show courage by joining the military. You showed even more courage by sticking to your oath and standing up for things you believe are American and honest and true and detrimental to our readiness. I can’t thank you enough for your service. Real quick, want to read this: the U.S. Space Force has not returned our request for comment. So we have your perspective today, and we appreciate it. Lieutenant Colonel Matt Lohmeier, thank you for joining us.

Matt Lohmeier:
Thanks for having me.

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Former Space Force commander speaks out again the CRT/DEI Agenda in the Military

By Hannah Grossman, Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi | Fox News

A former space commander is calling for a change of leadership after he was fired for allegedly criticizing the Marxist DEI complex, which he believes is now being accelerated under the Biden administration.

Former Lieutenant Colonel Matt Lohmeier was in the military for over a decade before he joined the U.S. Space Force in 2020, where he specialized in missile warning systems. But less than a year later, in May 2021, he was “betrayed,” he told Fox News Digital in an interview.

Lohmeier publicly spoke out against DEI training because he believed it was dividing the troops and decreasing morale, which affected military readiness. He believes “the DEI industry… is steeped in critical race theory, is rooted in anti-American, Marxist ideology.”

“The blow was severe,” he said about allegedly being fired for his dissenting views. “It makes you feel like you’ve been betrayed.”

He said it was a real “gut punch” when he lost his pension.

“You give your life and service to your country and the American people, and you’re not doing it for the pay. You’re doing it because you become [convinced] of the greatness of the American ideal. And… senior leaders [then] say, ‘We want you out of the way because your view is not welcome here,’ even as they pretend to care about inclusivity, even as they pretend to care about diversity, [but] not diversity of thought,” he said.

Lohmeier believed he didn’t violate existing policy because the issue he took aim at was anti-Americanism, not politics.

“There was a whole string of events that did lead up to to my being relieved of command,” he said. “The ultimate reason was because I was willing to be publicly critical of critical race theory, which I understood to be rooted in Marxist ideology… that I saw dividing the troops.”

“I wasn’t advocating for Republicans over Democrats, and I’m conservative myself. But it didn’t matter to me. And it’s never mattered to our troops what someone else’s politics were,” he said.

The former commander is now trying to expose what he calls the “Marxist” military complex from the outside.

A new study commissioned by the Arizona State University Center for American Institutions revealed that the Pentagon’s DEI programs encourage reporting private conversations on dissenting views of DEI and has been steadily increasing its resources. DEI engines in the military cost taxpayers $68 million in 2022, $86.5 million in 2023, with a proposed $114.7 million for 2024, according to the ASU report.

The report, compiled by military experts, recommends abolishing the left-wing DEI agenda and replacing it with merit-based selections and American values curricula at the academies.

“We need to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion trainings from the military, from the service academies, and strip all vestiges of critical race theory out of the military workplace,” Lohmeier said.

The Space Force did not respond to a request for comment.

Watch:

First published on Fox News


TRANSCRIPT

Matthew Lohmeier: “I’m willing to die on this hill and speak up about this and say, this is, an extremely dangerous territory that we’ve entered. And I weighed the cost in doing that, knowing that, well, I might get in trouble somehow. I’m Matt Lohmeier. I was formerly a Lt Colonel and commander in the newest branch of the military, the Space Force.

I was fired for publicly criticizing diversity, equity and inclusion trainings and critical race theory. I was in command of our nation’s space based missile warning architecture and mission. While I was in command at Buckley Space Force Base out in Colorado, I was relieved of my command in May 2021 on a Friday. And there was a whole string of events that did lead up to to my being relieved of command.

The ultimate reason was because I was willing to be publicly critical of critical race theory, which I understood to be rooted in Marxist ideology.

I was willing to speak up against, diversity, equity and inclusion policies that I saw dividing the troops.

I was not partisan. I wasn’t advocating for Republicans over Democrat, but it didn’t matter to me.

It’s never mattered to our troops what someone else’s politics were. It still doesn’t matter to most of our troops what someone else’s politics are.

But what does matter is that when ideology—that looks and feels awfully religious in nature—that is pressed upon all of our service members as if they ought to believe it, or else face some kind of retribution or punishment. When that begins to become the policy of the services, and it’s dividing the troops, people have to speak up about it at the risk of looking partisan, because it’s been framed as a partisan issue.

But in fact, this is not a partisan issue. It’s about the American ideas and ideals that shaped our country.

Republicans and Democrats or the apolitical, if they’re American, ought to embrace the values that made our country free, that made, us a just a nation and that made us have a merit-based military that made us the most lethal and ready military on the planet.

You start to see all of that stuff disintegrate when diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, so-called de-emphasize merit and strive by fiat to ensure, equality of outcomes and enforced equality of outcomes.

All of that destroys the morale of the military. It sets people at odds against one another and divides the troops. And it dis-incentivizes service. They hear evil things about their country or about one another.

In an all-volunteer force, you need people to be self-motivated for service, both to retain them and to recruit them.

So what we’re seeing at the moment in our recruiting and retention crisis is immediately the result of the things that we’re talking about, the diversity, equity and inclusion trainings, the social justice activism and the celebration of values that frankly, only resonate with a minority of our service members, regardless of their political views.

So I’m willing to die on this hill and speak up about this and say this is an extremely dangerous territory that we’ve entered. I weighed the cost in doing that, knowing that, well, I might get in trouble somehow. I might get paperwork, I might get a slap on the wrist. I might even be asked to step down from my command.

But the response of senior leaders was so swift, it surprised me, even having considered the potential consequences. They acted out of fear. They acted with haste before I’m sure they read anything I said in that book, which I stated was my own opinion and not the views of the Defense Department. And it wasn’t politically partisan. It’s about Marxist history and ideology.

The blow was severe and the way it makes you feel is like you’ve been betrayed.

I mean, you give your life and service to your country and the American people and and you’re not doing it for the pay. You’re doing it because by and by, you become convicted of the greatness of the American ideal.

And to have senior leaders say, we want you out of the way because your view is not welcome here, even as they pretend to care about inclusive inclusivity, even as they pretend to care about diversity. NOT diversity of thought, that that one thing is clear.

They don’t want a diversity of thought. What they’re interested in accomplishing you recognize at once that speaking up and trying to be courageous makes you incompatible with the current policy aims of the administration of the Defense Department.

I lost my retirement, or that I lost my pension. All of that happened so swiftly that it’s a gut punch for sure.

I’m really hoping—and I can say this now and I couldn’t then, and I’ll say it on behalf of plenty of our our troops: I’m really hoping that come this November, there is a resounding victory for some other candidate than who’s currently in the white House, because we need to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion trainings for the military from the service academies and strip all vestiges of critical race theory out of the military workplace.

We need to focus on our mission. We need to get back to the basics that make a military great and allow our people to be free of that burden culturally, politically, socially. They can then be united. They can then genuinely allow for the differences of viewpoint, the differences of background and so forth.

They really don’t care about someone else’s views about any number of things and don’t want to hear them in the workplace. They just want to focus on the same mission together.

When we can get back to that, that same sucker punch, gut check that I had at the time I was fired, that troops are still feeling day in and day out and reeling from, quite frankly, because of these things that can be eliminated from their work life.

I think we’ll retain a lot more of our service members and we’re going to begin to recruit the right talent into the services once again and meet our recruiting goals.


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New Study Details ‘Vast DEI Bureaucracy’ in Pentagon, Service Academies

Matthew Lohmeier served on the National Commission on Civic Education in the Military. He and his fellow commissioners conducted a year-long evaluation of the history, evolution, and implementation of diversity and equity programs across all branches of the military and military academies. Here are their findings:


(Press Release) A year-long examination of DEI training in the military identifies millions of wasted taxpayer dollars are being spent to create a culture of “race and sex-based scapegoating and stereotyping.”

The report calls for an immediate end to the Pentagon’s multimillion-dollar DEI bureaucracy.

“Our research reviewed DEI policy in the military starting in the nineteen seventies to the modern day and concluded there are far more effective ways to promote unity and respect among military ranks than by spending millions annually to divide servicemembers by their gender or race,” said Prof. Donald Critchlow, Director of the Center for American Institutions at Arizona State University.

“Just as private companies have abandoned the toxic advice of DEI consultants and programs, military leaders should end social engineering based on critical race theory and restore approaches that promote character and merit.”

“It’s no surprise that young people are turning away from military service in record numbers. As this comprehensive report illuminates, DEI indoctrination has become a core component of military training that begins for officers even at the service academies,” said Matt Lohmeier, the former Space Force commander who was fired for his criticism of DEI policies.

“How can we be prepared to confront our adversaries if our warfighters aren’t laser focused on the mission but instead are divided and distracted by ideology?”

Highlights:

• “Eyes and ears” programs that encourage those trained and appointed to report overheard private conversations that challenge DEI precepts are common.

• An Air Force email claiming that personal pronouns are key to retention: “One way to foster a culture of inclusion is to add personal pronouns to email signature blocks. While this may not seem like a big deal, it can influence whether someone will stay in their organization.”

• Spending on DEI programming is increasing. The DOD’s allocation for DEI projects jumped from$68 million in fiscal year 2022 to $86.5 million in fiscal year 2023. The Pentagon is requesting
$114.7 million for fiscal year 2024.

• A 2023 incident at the U.S. Air Force Academy where the former head of the history department implored the academy’s board to return to civic-minded education. His plea was ignored. As the report sums up the episode: “Knowledge of the nation that cadets defend is elective. DEI is the core.”

About the Report

The National Commission on Civic Education in the Military made up of Commissioners Matt Lohmeier, Karrin Taylor Robson, and John Cauthen, worked with a team of ASU researchers to conduct a year-long evaluation of the history, evolution, and implementation of diversity and equity programs across all branches of the military and military academies.

The report is titled Civic Education in the Military: Are Servicemembers More Prepared for Micro-Aggression or Macro-Aggression? It is available here: https://cai.asu.edu/civiceducation

The report makes a series of straightforward recommendations:

• Immediately end the DEI bureaucracy or pursue alternative avenues to affect positive change despite existing policies.

• Return to the military’s outstanding tradition of merit-based selections and promotions and non-discriminatory equal opportunity.

• Make the syllabi for all humanities and social sciences courses taught at our military service academies publicly available.

• Provide educational training materials to enhance personnel understanding of American philosophy, politics, government, and the Constitution.

About The Center for American Institutions
The ASU Center for American Institutions was founded in October 2022 with a single nonpartisan purpose: Preserving and renewing our fundamental American institutions to maintain well-ordered liberty in an exceptional nation through the fostering and renewal of foundational American institutions including civic, religious, legal, financial, political, military and family.


Read the report online: https://issuu.com/rbarwick/docs/civic_education_in_the_military

Download PDF: CAI Civic Education in the Military Report


EXECUTIVE INTRODUCTION

The U.S. Armed Forces Should Not Be a Laboratory for Social Experimentation.

The sole purpose of the U.S. Armed Forces is to defend the nation against its external enemies. The service academies train officers committed to fulfilling this mission.

This mission—defense of the nation—makes the U.S. Armed Forces arguably the most important institution in the United States. Without a nation, other institutions are meaningless because they would not exist.

Given its importance, the U.S. Armed Forces should not be a laboratory for social experimentation, especially one based on Critical Race Theory, a contentious and abstract social theory.

Yet, as this Commission Report on Civic Education in the Military shows in great detail, Critical Race Theory is promoted within Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training throughout the military from the Pentagon through the ranks and in our service academies.

Critical Race Theory is based on an assumption that no matter what progress is made on ensuring equal rights for minorities, “white privilege” and “sub-conscious” racism continues to prevail among whites, no matter their professed support for diversity and inclusion in their workplace, community, or immediate and extended families.

Critical Race Theory assumes that racism is systemic from the very founding of the United States and that the U.S. Constitution was drafted to ensure the white privilege of slaveholders.

Whatever the appearance of progress—constitutional amendments and legislation to protect equal rights for racial minorities—is a façade that still preserves white privilege.

Critical Race Theory is based on assumptions, not empirically derived evidence, and is by nature divisive. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs, which rely on Critical Race Theory, should not be seen as workplace sensitivity training.

The Commission on Civic Education in the Military began as a project to review civic education in the military.

Our research team did not expect to find Critical Race Theory so embedded and pervasive. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs are found throughout the U.S. Armed Forces and our service academies.

This year long study documents just how pervasive these training programs are in our Armed Forces and Service Academies and that DEI extends well beyond just formal training programs in the military and service academies.

The Founders of our nation understood and feared a politicized military. History had shown them that a politicized army easily became the tool of tyranny.

The Armed Forces of the United States has proudly upheld this long tradition of separating mission from politics.

The commissioners for this project believe that military training for service men and women in all ranks needs to inculcate and reinforce pride in our nation, pride in service, and in our country’s motto, E Pluribus Unum (Out of Many One).

Donald T. Critchlow
Director, Center for American Institutions


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The National Commission on Civic Education in the Military finds that cadets and midshipmen at our military service academies are receiving extensive training in so-called civic education about racism, sexism, unconscious bias, and intersectionality that subverts our ideals.

Furthermore, soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen across all branches of the military are occasionally subject to similar trainings across the military at all organizational levels.

These trainings rely heavily on the tenets of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and are provided with the express goals of fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace, and of rooting out alleged white supremacy in the military. Training is implemented by a vast DEI bureaucracy that extends from senior leaders at the Pentagon to the lowest ranks.

This year-long research project examining online and published materials available to the public, yet hidden from the unobservant bystander, is divided into three main parts.

The first section provides the background of DEI training beginning in the 1970s through mandated executive orders in the 2010s and 2020s. This background is important to understand the changing nature of DEI training in the military and the issues raised by today’s training.

The second and third sections—DEI training in the services and at the three major service academies, respectively—reveal how extensive, divisive, and damaging this training is for those serving in our military.

The research reveals serious problems within our military complex. The U.S. military now has a well-developed, taxpayer-funded DEI bureaucracy dedicated to rooting out “white privilege” and white supremacy, and that allows for (and sometimes teaches) the overt criticism of the United States, its founding, its founders, and its founding documents, alleging that they are all rooted in systemic racism.

This bureaucracy, with its accompanying trainings, is supported and implemented by Pentagon leadership. Trainings presented across all branches of the military and at our service academies not only include concepts but also encourage behavior that is prescribed by CRT without presenting alternative perspectives. Military leadership regularly asserts that DEI training is essential to building strong teams; how it does that is left unexplained, and no data are presented corroborating such claims.

Our vibrant religious, economic, and political history, with all its nuance, is simply glossed over or criticized, and little or no training is offered as a means of helping servicemembers, cadets, and midshipmen understand and appreciate America’s founding philosophy or the Constitution servicemembers swear an oath to uphold and defend.

The commission posits the following:

• An effective military and healthy citizenry need to share and understand a common story as to the unique creation of the American Republic. A common story is necessary for unit cohesion, morale, and an effective fighting force. DEI carries inherently negative messages about Western civilization generally, and about the United States and its people specifically.

• As demonstrated in numerous surveys and reports, public K-12 educations fail woefully in teaching even the basics of American politics, government, and the Constitution. We cannot assume that recruits, servicemembers, new cadets, and midshipmen know the basics about the country they will defend. As one leader put it, “We don’t do a good job of teaching civics in school anymore; the military has to make up for that deficiency in its own training.”

• A sole focus on identity-related themes produces divisiveness within our military rather than vital unity. This is not to argue that identity themes should be necessarily excluded in civic education, but those training and providing professional military education to our men and women in uniform should be required to teach American civic values to help them understand the unique nature of our constitutional republic.

• The massive DEI bureaucracy, its training and its pseudo-scientific assessments are at best distractions that absorb valuable time and resources. At worst they communicate the opposite of the military ethos: e.g. that individual demographic differences come before team and mission.

Central Findings:

• DEI themes dominate the training and education that members of the armed forces receive about their country. As “white supremacy” and racism have become a central focus of DEI trainings, white supremacist racism is assumed to be the core problem of the nation and of the military; positive messaging about the country and its values disappears with the shift in focus. Servicemembers are asked to defend a nation that is an alleged cesspit of racism and discrimination.

• The defense of dividing servicemembers into racial, gender, and sexual identities is Orwellian. Rather than emphasizing that the strength of our military is a product of its unity and steadfast dedication to the American ideals of individual liberty and freedom, it is instead asserted that diversity (our differences) is our strength. Emphasizing differences and grievances sows distrust and undermines unit cohesion and teamwork.

• Traditionally, young people enlisted for many reasons, with a major one being patriotism — to protect the family, country, and faith. That patriotism, if held by a white male, now raises suspicions of white supremacy.

• The DEI bureaucracy extending from the Department of Defense (DOD) through the services and in the service academies is extensive and entrenched. Dating from the 1970s, its reach continues to grow and even extends to those leaving the service.

• Efforts to root out white supremacy involve not only training but appointing service members to act as the “eyes and ears” of the bureaucracy to turn in suspects. Suspicion replaces trust, understanding, and teamwork.

• DEI training focuses on rooting out “white supremacy” even though there is little or no evidence that there is a problem of white supremacy in the military. The massive hunt during the stand-down in 2020 located roughly 100 out of a force of 2.1 million. The ongoing search, implemented by Secretary Lloyd Austin in December of 2021, has turned up equally small numbers of extremists of any variety. The most recent study released by the Department of Defense, the “Study on Extremist Activity within the Total Force” offered little new data and could only conclude that “extremism in the military is rare but dangerous.”

Recommendations

Historically, military veterans were held up as ideal democratic citizens. The internalized values of duty, honor, and country that military service imparted along with teamwork, leadership, working with diverse groups, and problem solving made veterans the glue of their communities.

Military veterans, more often than non-veterans, volunteered and engaged in solving community problems. They carried the positive aspects of an inclusive warrior ethos into their communities.

The surest way to eliminate the concerning trends we have identified, and the growth of race- and sex-based scapegoating and stereotyping in the U.S. military, is to altogether end the DEI bureaucracy there.

However, until such a time as the executive or legislative branches of the government choose to end the DEI bureaucracy in our federal agencies and military, we are left to advocate the pursuit of alternative avenues that may affect positive change despite existing policies.

Therefore, to address the shortfalls noted above, the Commission makes several recommendations that are aimed at restoring the warrior ethos in our military, fostering a climate of genuine unity and strength, and helping servicemembers understand and believe in American civic values and the uniqueness of our Constitutional Republic.

• We join the members of Congress, the Heritage Foundation, and other organizations in calling for a return to the military’s outstanding tradition of merit-based selections and promotions, and non-discriminatory equal opportunity.

• We recommend that all syllabi that are taught in the humanities and social sciences at our military service academies be made publicly available. The public has the right to know, and to challenge, the extent to which fashionable or ideologically based academic theories – Critical Race Theory, Gender Studies, Postcolonial Studies, etc. – shape the education of cadets and midshipmen at our military academies. These cadets and midshipmen will be commissioned as officers and are the future leaders of the United States military’s respective service branches.

• We support the inclusion of civic education – America’s commitment to freedom and opportunity – in military training. We recommend that the U.S. military provide educational training materials to its personnel that aim at enhancing servicemembers’ understanding of foundational American philosophy and values, the basics of American politics and government, the Constitution, and their oath to support and defend the Constitution. These formal training materials should be provided to personnel at our military service academies, in officer and noncommissioned officer (NCO) professional military education and training courses, and on a periodic and recurring basis on Department of Defense (DOD) installations, just as DEI trainings are offered at those places on a periodic and recurring basis

Read the report online: https://issuu.com/rbarwick/docs/civic_education_in_the_military

Download PDF: CAI Civic Education in the Military Report

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Lt Col Lohmeier: Speak the Truth, Exhibit Courage

Matthew Lohmeier, former USAF/USSF Lt. Colonel and 2006 USAFA grad, has powerful words about the actions of US leaders have made a statement to the world that we’re not a serious nation, what real freedom-loving leaders would do, and the need for current military service members to speak the truth, stand on principles and values and exhibit courage. Censorship and self-censorship are harbingers of societal failure.

He was interviewed on Fox News by Pete Hegseth. Watch:

updates

Announcement from Matt and Documentary Update

Matthew Lohmeier is pleased to announce that he has accepted the position of Executive Vice President of STARRS, an organization of veterans and patriotic citizens standing against the CRT/DEI/Woke agenda being pushed on service members in the military and academies. Their goal is to eliminate this radical ideology from the military and return to merit and warfighting readiness.

He will begin work with STARRS on 1 July 2024.

With this new position, Matt will continue to speak out and be a cultural thought leader against the proliferation of Marxist-rooted Critical Race Theory in the military and its divisive impact on the force and mission. Venues he will do this will be special events, conferences, meetings, gatherings, rallies, media/podcast appearances and interviews, Congressional hearings and meetings and more.

Matt is a powerful speaker on these issues, and as this is such a critical year, we need to make sure everyone understands what is at stake regarding our nation’s military. If you know of a venue that needs to hear from Matt, let us know.

Also, go to the STARRS.US website and sign up for their mailing list. The website tracks, monitors and exposes the CRT/DEI/Woke agenda in the military.

Matt’s own website will continue as normal.


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Documentary Update

The production company Root/Cause has wrapped up filming for the new documentary (currently titled “Against All Enemies”) that chronicles both Matt’s personal journey and the fight he and STARRS are currently engaged in to counter the forces of a dangerous ideology attacking and undermining our most trusted and important public institution—our military.

It is based on his book, Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military. This much-anticipated documentary is now in the editing phase and will be released this Fall.

You can watch the documentary intro video here:


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The Cultural War Campaign

STARRS has begun a fundraising campaign–which Matt is supporting–with a goal of raising an initial $300K to, among many things, promote the release of the documentary so as many people watch and learn from it; produce additional short-form videos (including powerful full interviews from the documentary) to expose the problems we face and educate Americans on what can be done to save our Republic; and bring STARRS to the next level in their effectiveness towards eliminating the CRT/DEI agenda from the military, returning to merit.

If you are inclined to want to be a part of this effort and help, please go to the Cultural War Campaign page or click on this donate button:

 Make a Donation

Donate button’s on Matt’s website will now go to the STARRS donation form.

You can also mail a check to: STARRS, P.O. Box 468, Monument, CO 80132. STARRS can also provide wire transfer details for bank-to-bank transactions.

STARRS is a 501c3 so your donations are tax-deductible.

If you have questions or would you like STARRS to contact you to talk more about your donation for this campaign, please send an email to [email protected].

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A revolutionary campaign that no longer hides its aims

By Lt Col Matthew Lohmeier, former USSF /USAF, USAFA ’06
via Twitter

THERE IS AN ONGOING WAR being waged by domestic enemies against the United States military that is far more destructive than any threat we are facing from our foreign adversaries!

Military senior leaders are ceaselessly waging a politically and culturally subversive campaign against our men and women in uniform.

There is no doubt that men and women of character will continue to lose their motivation to serve and will leave the service.

And there is no end in sight to our recruiting troubles. Senior leaders and decisionmakers who pretend to care about solving our recruiting and retention problems without first abandoning this activist agenda are only fooling themselves.

The memorandum below, which was just signed on 13 May 2024, admonishes servicemembers to celebrate and honor the lifestyle and contributions of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders and queers.

You may think this is nothing new, but the energy and directness of the agenda is only growing stronger each month, and the activists who wage the campaign are more brazen than ever.

False spirits who thrive on division and destruction seem to animate our every move.

The memorandum honors “the strength” and “progress” that “activists” have brought to the force.

The memorandum “empowers commanders” to “organize” activities for their bases.

It is a revolutionary campaign that no longer needs to hide its aims. It employs all of the right revolutionary language.

It is Marxist-rooted DEI at its best. It is evil.

If you are in uniform, now is the time for you to speak up against this agenda as if the life of your country depends on it, because it does.

If you are a military leader and you understand firsthand the deleterious influence of this leftist activism perpetrated by our Defense Department, then speak up now or accept that you are a damned coward and accomplice.

Feigned kindness in the face of evil is only foolishness.

Tolerance of this revolutionary spirit at this critical hour is little short of treasonous.

Cowardice is the opposite of faith and love.


“While at @7thForces, I had a transgender superior officer (a Green Beret) who was a biological male identifying as a female. To avoid violating my conscience, but to avoid adverse action, I referred to him by rank & last name.

Altho I survived this (tho I would later suffer for refusing the COVID VAX) it is becoming harder & harder for service members to avoid affirming woke ideology without facing punishment, all while these policies are destroying the lethality & readiness of the force.

I urge all service members to follow their consciences, to do the right thing no matter what, & to resist this woke nonsense. We took an oath to support & defend the constitution against all enemies, foreign & domestic, & were prepared to offer our lives to do so.

Make no mistake, this false doctrine is a domestic threat & greater than any external threat we currently face.”

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DEI ideology creating havoc in universities and the military

We are witnessing the divisive effects of the DEI agenda that is creating havoc at universities and colleges as well as in the military, says Matt Lohmeier.

“Securing America” show hosted by Frank Gaffney on Real America’s Voice network interviewed STARRS Chairman Lt. General Rod Bishop (USAF ret), who then introduced Lt Col Matt Lohmeier, formerly with the US Space Force, US Air Force and 2006 Air Force Academy graduate. He is a member of the STARRS Board of Advisors.

Watch:


Transcript

Frank Gaffney

Welcome to Securing America with me, Frank Gaffney. The program is a owners manual for protecting the country we love against all enemies, foreign and domestic, to the glory of God and His Kingdom. We have a very special show. I think if Ed Sullivan were still with us, he would call it a “Really Big Shew”, and it is going to be all of that because we have five extraordinarily impressive people who are going to be contributing to each of our segments.

We have a co-host who is a Lieutenant General, United States Air Force, retired. All of them have served in uniform. All of them are still in the fight, I’m very proud to say, in particular, trying to speak on behalf of men and women they served with and who are still in uniform, whose voices are generally not heard on matters of public policy, even those that are making a horrifically serious, indeed dangerous impact on the readiness the morale, the fighting trim, and the deterrent capability of our military. We actually have a still- serving member of the armed forces. We’ll be introducing her in a moment, but the rest are retired. We’re going to start with my co-host for this program, Lieutenant General Rod Bishop, United States Air Force, retired.

He is a man who, in his day, commanded the Third US Air Force, as well as was the Air Commander for Europe. Got a very formidable pedigree, and I want to thank him, especially for the work that he’s done post his time in uniform. Launching STARRS, which stands for Stand Together Against Racism and Radicalism in the Services. It has helped spawn a new coalition, which he’s going to tell us about. I’m proud to be part of it and delighted to showcase it here on Securing America. General, we’re delighted to have you with us, sir. Over to you.

LTG Rod Bishop

Hey, Frank. Thanks so much for having us on and for hosting this and helping us organize it. I think one of the things I’m most proud of today, you mentioned this coalition. That coalition in less than a week is at 19 organizations from around our country who understand exactly what you just said, the harmful effects that this poisonous ideology that is infecting our military is happening.

I’m happy to have five In fact, all six of us, including you, are members of that coalition. All six, oh, by the way, are either members of our Board of Advisors at STARRS or a Board of Directors, except for Bibi, and I’m on her board. Our first guest, to cut to the chase….

Frank Gaffney

It’s close enough for government work, as they say. Before you do, sir, I do want you to mention the name of the new coalition.

LTG Rod Bishop

The new coalition is the Military Readiness and Merit Coalition. Again, 19 organizations, 10 of us had hoped to be at a meeting today at the DACODAI, the Defense Advisory Committee on Diversity and Inclusion. But the door was shut on us on Monday for attending in person. That meeting is going on right now. We filled up the room electronically. Nobody else can get in. So hopefully, the message is getting through.

So to our first guest, Frank, I’d like to introduce someone most of the audience probably already knows. That’s Matt Lohmeier. His biography–he’s too humble in it–he was the number one of 700 plus majors in US Space Force. That’s the talent that we are losing because Matt was fired from his command when he wrote a book called “Irresistible Revolution: A Marxist Goal of Conquest and the Unmaking of the American Military”. There’s nobody that knows more about this. He studied it for two years back to back at Air and War College and the School of Advanced Air and Space Sciences. Matt, yours is the only book I’ve ever read twice, I think, in my life. So over to you, sir.

LTC Matt Lohmeier

General Bishop, thanks for the introduction. Because it cut out just briefly when I was listening to you, I’m going to restate the title of book, “Irresistible Revolution”.

I want to change gears from my own past career to something I’ve experienced just this week that’s of interest and relevant to the things that we’re talking about today with the destruction, deliberate destruction I think, of merit, meritocracy and its impact on readiness.

Just this week, literally this week, for two different events, I’ve have been either uninvited or the event has been canceled as a consequence of viewpoint discrimination, in my view. One was the before mentioned DACODAI meeting that the Pentagon had invited folks out to attend, and the other was an event at a college campus.

I was invited as a guest speaker at University of San Diego this week. Incidentally, I was supposed to be speaking there right now, and funding was approved to bring me out. A group of College Republicans had invited me out. There’s a very small group of bullies on the campus who get to decide whether or not to trump decisions about what guest speakers come out. I was found in violation of their transgender and queer hate speech policies, which is totally bogus. And of course, they’re not obligated to provide any specific example as to why I’ve been uninvited.

But we’ve seen now as Americans, and the reason I bring it up, we’ve seen now as Americans the failure, collapse that comes as a consequence of ideology permeating the university campuses.

It’s been in the headlines for a week, and now we’re facing and have been, and some of us have been shouting about it for a couple of years now, the same indoctrination and ideology that for decades has infiltrated and subverted the university campuses.

It’s wreaking havoc in the military, whether or not people yet aware of the destructive influence that it is.

What I want to say up front is that this censorship, a deliberate silencing of a large majority of people in this country who love their country, is a harbinger of societal failure. It’s a harbinger of military failure and weakness.

I think that the problem with censorship as a whole in a free society is that it impoverishes the intellect of society and stifles a material substantive view of a large portion of the population so that decision makers, and I’ll speak specifically of the Defense Department now.

Decision-makers are left making foolish errors and foolish decisions based on foolish opinions of a relatively small group, foolish ideas of a relatively small group of people. We see it time and time again. This group is well aware of that, and that’s what we’re trying to wake up Americans to.

Frank Gaffney

Matt, could I just ask you, the question of ideology, you’ve literally written the book on Marxism inside our military. Is there any doubt in your mind that the diversity, equity, inclusion, the critical race theory, the identity, the pronouns, all of this stuff, is in fact part of a cultural Marxist attack on our armed forces?

You mentioned it’s wreaking havoc in the military. Is it diminishing its readiness? Is it endangering its deterrent capabilities as well as warfighting? Should it come to that?

LTC Matt Lohmeier

There is no doubt in my mind that, first off, critical race theory is rooted in Marxism, and therefore, the entirety of the diversity, equity, and inclusion industry and complex has an ideological bent that favors Marxism, that attacks America and its founding, and those with, at the moment, conservative values, regardless of the race, by the way.

I want to share a story with you just briefly. It’s that while I was in command, and this is several years ago, when I had begun to suspect the divisive impact and then began to witness it firsthand of the diversity and inclusion trainings that were being offered to our military service members, I had a married couple in my unit who were black, and the wife was believing the trainings, buying into them, and beginning to have resentment not only for her unit, her fellow unit members, and for the United States, and for the uniform that she wore, but for her own husband, who was skeptical of the trainings, who thought that they ran contrary to everything he had been trained to think and believe in the United States military.

So I saw division within a single home, to say nothing of the impacts on a unit or a broader society.

Frank Gaffney

General Bishop, we got to wrap with Matt Lohmier. Thank you for this incredibly important set of insights about both what you’re seeing in the larger society as well as, of course, inside the military and for identifying the toxic brew that is Marxism. We’ll be right back with more. Stay tuned, folks.

 

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Testimony by Lt Col Matthew Lohmeier

Testimony from member of the Military Readiness and Merit Coalition, former Space Force Lt. Colonel Matthew Lohmeier (USAFA ’06). He had made flight and hotel reservations to travel from a Western state to attend the May 2024 DACODAI meeting in Arlington, VA until DACODAI canceled the public from attending in-person. Watch:


Transcript

General, thanks for the introduction and Frank for hosting this important forum. I thought I’d share just a couple of stories.

I spent over 15 years on active duty and loved my time in uniform. One of the reasons that our service members love serving in uniform is both the ideas and ideals that shaped our country, which they grow to love and believe in and are willing to put their neck on the line to support defend, which is our Constitution, but also because of the men and women they serve with in uniform.

There’s a unity that knits together the hearts of those that serve in uniform. It doesn’t matter their race or their economic background, or perhaps, whether their families had served in generations past or not, or whether they’re the first generation.

That unity, which has been the strength and enjoyment of the United States military, is being eroded rapidly because of diversity and inclusion initiatives.

I was glad to see, by the way, the number of participants currently joining the show which hasn’t been capped at 100 online. Participants like the Defense Department’s current morning meetings has been.

There was a group of us who were supposed to be attending in person, the Defense Advisory Committee on DEI meeting this morning in Washington, DC, that was turned off last minute.

They didn’t want in-person attendance, and I think, frankly, they are interested in censoring the views of those who don’t agree with them.

That’s the second time in one week where I’ve been uninvited to an event that I had previously been invited to because of what I consider to be viewpoint discrimination.

One was at the University of San Diego earlier this week where a group of bullies turned off an event. We’ve seen what’s happening at university campuses around the country, and the other was at the Defense Department.

I’m reflecting on and have often since January, something that was said to me in a congressional hearing earlier this year. In January, the House Oversight Committee had invited me to testify in one of its subcommittees about the influence of woke ideology on our military.

I showed up with a few others and testified on a panel. One of the things that I said in my opening statement in that hearing was that there’s a culture war underway, that it has Marxist roots and that it was destroying the fabric of the United States military.

There was disagreement with that view from certain members of the subcommittee, specifically, it was very partisan room. Of course, the Democrats in the room disagreed with that. But the minority member in the room who sat next to Chairman Grothman up there chairing the committee is Robert Garcia from California.

Robert Garcia told me that it was nonsense. He said it in the hearing, that there was not any such thing as a culture war underway.

The point I want to make about it was that at the very end of that 2 hours when the ranking member, Glenn Grothman, had an opportunity to make his closing remarks, and then the minority leader, Robert Garcia, made his closing remarks.

Rep. Garcia made it a point to inform me in front of the group assembled that I was fighting a vain cause and that we, meaning conservatives, had already lost the war.

So on the one hand, you’ve got members of Congress who assert that there is no culture war and that to assert there’s a Marxist culture war is just a talking point of the alt right, is what Rip Garcia said, which is totally false.

Then at the end to assert that the conservatives have already lost the war, as if he was proud to announce that they’re making great progress legislatively and otherwise in accordance with certain very specific ideological aims.

Censorship that we’re experiencing at the moment is, and I’m going to close with this point here and allow for perhaps a brief moment for a question before moving on to the other panelists.

But as I take years now to reflect on the danger of the censorship that is incident to, or I should say maybe coincident with the diversity and inclusion initiatives of the United States military,

I think it is a harbinger of the military’s failure, it’s a harbinger of societal failure when you’re censoring one point of view and unwilling to hear it and are trying to shut it down.

It’s particularly problematic because it impoverishes the intellect of a society by not allowing all of the material, substantive voices and knowledge to be brought to bear in the decision-making process.

We’ve seen for a couple of years now, several years, our Defense Department struggling and making foolish decisions because they’re only allowing for and entertaining a particular worldview and viewpoint which is rooted in Marxist ideology, whether they do so wittingly or not.

That’s, of course, open for debate for many of them. But for some of them, they’re true believers in a very particular political agenda.

I’m very concerned about it. I’m constantly trying to warn the American people and our service members who are, they’re now, of course, waking up to this, that this is the undoing of the United States military unless we reverse course rapidly.

That’s what people like this on this call and on this panel are trying to do in their various organizations, and of course, all in conjunction with STARRS as well.

We have to reverse course, which is a form of repentance.

We have to turn back to the ideas and ideals that shape this country.

And in the military, that specifically means valuing merit and merit based readiness.

Thanks, Frank. Over to you and General Bishop.