Republicans gear up to attack U.S. military leaders over their 'woke' policies

Now that Republicans control the U.S. House, they're gearing up to take on top Pentagon leaders over what they see as the military's leadership weakening the armed forces by imposing “woke” policies, Politico reported.

GOP lawmakers point to the Army’s recruiting campaigns that highlight diversity, along with a 2021 Pentagon directive to address extremism in the ranks. But according to the Pentagon, current recruiting woes are due to the strong civilian job market and other factors, and that diversity and extremism training is only a small portion of the training it gives its troops.

Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are expected to get an earful from Republicans this Thursday when they testify before the House Defense Appropriations panel to make the case for the Pentagon's budget.

Milley's spokesperson, Col. David Butler, said the general “is an information guy, so he has binders and binders full of information about how the military trains and prepares for combat."

“Wokeness doesn’t fit into that equation. Working together as a fighting unit regardless of your race, color or gender does," Butler said.

“Gen. Milley combines the data in the binders with 43 years of experience in the military and several years in combat to be able to answer lawmakers’ questions,” Butler said. “He takes his responsibility to testify to Congress very seriously. He believes and knows that members of Congress are representatives of the American people.”

Another person close to Milley told Politico that he "doesn’t plan to take any grief from anybody."

In a talking points list for a recent media event, the Army stated that its "mission remains to fight and win the nation’s wars. At the end of the day, to accomplish our mission we must build cohesive teams founded on respect and acceptance."

“Nothing in the Army’s personnel policies … are implemented to detract from that mission. Data does not support such claims.”

Read the full report over at Politico.