Pushing the Woke Agenda on the Military

A preview in a 1973 letter from a combat veteran

Composite:Life Magazine/Larry Burroughs, Getty Images/Bettman/Tan Hiep

Race relations in combat

Upon my return from Vietnam in 1971, I was assigned to Fort Lewis, Washington where I was an infantry company commander. 

One of the lifelong friendships that I developed during that time was with Peter Ammon, who was a fellow company commander in 4/39 Infantry. Like many of us, Peter had recently returned from Vietnam where he served with the famed 101^st Airborne Division. However, he made several intermediate stops in various hospitals before arriving at Ft. Lewis, due to the loss of a lower leg in combat.

Peter was among the best officers with whom I have ever served. I never knew any other officer whom I respected more. He was always – and sometimes brutally – honest. Some would say ‘to a fault,’ because his honesty could clash with his own self–interest. Nevertheless, Peter never compromised his principles, even though that would cost him later. 

Although some units in Vietnam were marked by racial strife during the latter years of the war (predominantly rear echelon, not front – line combat units), racial divisions were not among the major problems at Fort Lewis when I arrived. We were more concerned about things such as the overall status of morale given the widespread anti-military sentiment at the time, the resulting comparative lower quality of recruits we were getting after the draft was eliminated, and the lack of funding sufficient to support adequate training. These problems, not racial tensions, occupied our everyday lives.

Nevertheless, in ‘72 or ‘73, a new Army bureaucracy, began to arise. New positions and offices were created to educate us all about racial issues and differences. Every officer and NCO in the division was required to attend classes on race relations. It was my observation at the time that after attending these classes, soldiers returned to their units with increasingly divided and hostile views about race. When I personally complied with the mandatory attendance requirement, my observations of the class confirmed that the approach, intended or not, did nothing to create racial harmony but, in fact, had the opposite effect. The classes affirmatively created divisiveness with units, which was potentially destructive to military readiness and performance.

Within just the last few years, the race relations classes of the 1970’s have morphed into a woke, Marxist agenda that is being force-fed to our military personnel. I have addresses some of this previously in "To Win Our Nation's Wars"? (subtitled, “Lions Led by Donkeys”). For a more recent example, take a look this Space Command Lieutenant Colonel (now promoted to full Colonel, one step below general), who advises his audience to “set out your symbols of pride, share your pronouns in your emails, particularly if you’re a person who doesn’t think need to ….”

Today, shortly after seeing an article that included that video, I happened to run across a copy of a letter that my friend Peter wrote in 1973 to our division commander, Major General Fulton, about the destructive race relations classes we were being required to attend. Although in 1973 no one had heard of “DEI,” race relations classes then foreshadowed what is happening to our military today. Upon reading Peter’s letter, I was immediately struck by how applicable his concerns and recommendations are to today’s military, even though he wrote it over 50 years ago. 

I therefore reproduce Peter’s 50-year-old letter in full so that you may draw your own conclusions.

Draw your own conclusions about the applicability of Peter’s letter to the woke philosophy being pushed on our armed services today. I shall let it speak for itself, without further comment.