General Milley Sinks His Credibility

What is "woke" anyway?

Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times

In a recent interview with CNN, Fareed Zakaria posed a question to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley: “Is the U.S. military too woke?” Countering claims by Republicans that the military is becoming too “woke,” Milley responded, “No, not at all. I'm not even sure what that word truly means.” 

So, with all the current criticism of woke policies being pushed on the military, the principal military advisor to the President of the United States claims that he does not even know what “woke” means. With that denial, Milley is approaching Joe Biden levels of credibility. Although the friendly Zakara did not push back, no one, not even Milley (as we shall show below) really believes him when he denies that.

Just last month he knew enough about what woke meant to say, "[T]o say that that is, you know, somehow the entire military went woke because a handful of drag queen shows that shouldn't happen to begin with, I think is an overstatement." Apparently drag queen shows were a bridge too far, even for Milley. But he ignored the fact that they were not just isolated but were cropping up on military bases worldwide.  That tells us something about the current command climate. 

Milley knew enough about wokeism in 2021, when he launched his famous “white rage” diatribe in response to forceful questioning by the house Armed Services Committee. Milley testified, “I’ve read Mao Tse-tung. I've read Karl Marx. I've read Lenin. That doesn't make me a communist. . . . I personally find it offensive that we are accusing the United States military, our general officers, our commissioned [and] noncommissioned officers, of being - quote - woke or something else because we're studying some theories that are out there.”

And to be clear, the criticism of wokeness is not because the service academies and others are studying critical race theory and other tenets of the woke religion to better understand our adversaries.  That is what Milley suggested with his reference to studying Mao and Marx. No, the objection is that the military is promoting and proselytizing those subversive, anti-capitalist and anti-American theories today.

Just this past March, one of General Milley’s spokesmen, Colonel David Butler responded to charges of GOP accusations of wokeness in the military.  Discussing “how the military trains and prepares for combat,” he explained that General Milley has “binders and binders of information” but that “wokeness doesn’t fit into that equation.” Unlike his boss’s pretensions, Col. Butler fully understood and did not equivocate or play word games with “wokeness.”

Just those examples show that Milley knows enough about what “woke” means to fully understand Zakaria’s question.

Milley’s clumsy attempt at deflection and deception is further apparent from the internal contradictions in his own answer.  After denying that he even knew what “woke” means, he made clear that he knew it well enough to vehemently deny that the military is woke.  He added to his answer: “This military is a lot of things but woke it’s not. So, I take exception to that. I think that people say those things for reasons that are their own reasons, but it’s not true. It’s not accurate. . . . It’s not a broad-brush description of the U.S. military as it exists today.”

So, we know from both his earlier testimony and his inconsistent answer that Milley’s initial denial was not true.  Nevertheless, since he claims to have some difficulty in grasping the concept of wokeness, this short primer may be of some assistance to him and future chiefs in giving accurate and truthful testimony.

A young child who is asked, “What is a dog?” might have some difficulty in defining “dog” precisely. But if he is introduced to several different sizes and breeds of dogs and perhaps is shown pictures of others, he will quickly know essentially what a dog is and will be able to distinguish it from, say, a cat, a monkey or a whale.  I have equal confidence that General Milley and his successors will be able to understand the concept of wokeness and how it applies to the military with a few examples and just a smidgen of effort on their part.  

With those thoughts, let us consider some relatively recent military policies and developments:

When the Navy of John Paul Jones and Bull Halsey is subordinate to a Chief of Naval operations and a Vice CNO who approve the use of a flamboyant drag queen in recruiting videos, General, that is woke. See it here.

And speaking of word games, you might reflect on some of the woke game-playing to achieve gender neutral language across broad swaths of the military, including when Obama’s Secretary of the Navy tried to deep-six the traditional title of “corpsman” in favor of “medical personnel,” the Navy’s video on proper pronoun usage, and even the change to DOD regulations just last month to require the use of gender-neutral pronouns in recommendations for awards and decorations, instead of such archaic and exclusionary pronouns as “himself” or “herself.”

When the Secretary of the Army announces that she fears that recruiting soldiers from families with a tradition of military service will create a “warrior class” and that this imaginary problem must be corrected via regulations, orders and even legislation, she may be in need to some anti-wokeness counseling.

When a Lieutenant Colonel in the Space Force is relieved of his command because he denounced Marxism and training in critical race theory, that is woke command influence. 

When an Air Force colonel publishes a commentary in The Air Force Times that blames all “white colonels” for being the “biggest barriers” to racial justice, you just might want to check your wokeness meter.  When you see that the author referred to “white colonels” 14 times in a 15-paragraph commentary, and concludes his screed with “Dear white colonel, it is time to give a damn,” you might want to ask, “Just who is the racist here?” When you learn that the Air Force thinks enough of this officer to include him on the list for promotion to brigadier general, you just might want to consider how wokeism is rewarded in handing out promotions and assignments. 

Of course, General, the above “white colonel” is just following the lead of the current Air Force Chief of Staff, who is in line to take over your job upon your retirement.  As you know, he has announced his desire to limit recruiting and promotions to create an artificial and arbitrary cap on the number of white Air Force pilots and officers.  That, General, is woke discrimination at work.     

When the culture in the U.S. Army permits the publication on its official web site of an article lauding the lifestyle and choices of a mentally disturbed officer who is obviously male but “identifies” as female (or something else), you will have to excuse some for thinking that the military is in thrall to a culture of wokeness.

When the military recruits more mentally disturbed people who claim to be transgender, and then spends taxpayer dollars to pay for “gender affirming surgery” for them, that is woke.  Retaining these same people in the military even though they cannot deploy with their units because of their “transition” and surgery, that, General Milley, also is woke.

When the Pentagon cannot distinguish the seriousness of the national security threats posed by China from those supposedly caused by climate change, that is a reflection of a policy of wokeism. 

When the Secretary of Defense announces that it is “essential” for the Department of Defense to “prioritize climate change in all our activities,” that reflects the embrace of wokeism at the highest levels.

When the Chief of Naval Operations adds to his recommended professional reading list for all sailors, a racist book that espouses Marxist critical race theory and is written by an author who, among other things, is overtly racist and anti-American, and who has suggested that Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett is a “white colonizer” because she adopted black children from Haiti, well, that is woke, too. 

General, have you considered the dilution of physical fitness standards for the military?

U.S. Naval Academy Formation

A careful study may give you a hint as to whether the military is in the grip of wokeness.

General, I am sure that you know that Obama’s Secretary of the Navy (him again) had rejected a Marine Corps study that concluded that gender-integrated combat units did not move as quickly or shoot as accurately as men-only units, and that women were twice as likely as men to suffer combat injuries.” Did you come up with any explanation for this rejection of a life-and-death study other than the fact that did not align with the Obama’s political agenda because it was not sufficiently woke?  Did you consider how many Marines could die as a result of this politically driven decision?  If not, then you may be in the grip of wokeness. 

As the principal military advisor to the President, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff must possess a broad range nonpareil talents and attributes.  Among them are candor and credibility.  His word must be as priceless as a diamond.  But, like a diamond, once cracked, it is next to worthless.  By cracking the diamond of his credibility with such casual abandon, Milley has thrown away the last of his credibility.  And by doing it in service of the continued metastasis of the woke religion that is infecting the military, Milley has done a great disservice to the Country.