Diversity Thursday

we're not fooling anyone

Let’s speak candidly: our Navy needs friends. We don’t need to generate enemies nor have those in the middle question if we are on the naughty or nice list.

People matter, and no matter how much someone may try, it is only natural that people will have an affinity for the branch they came from if they served, or even that of a close relative.

In the shadow of the above reality, John Konrad shared on X something that navalists should keep in mind.

• Vice President: Corporal, USMC

• National Security Advisor: Colonel, US Army

• SECDEF: Major, US Army

• Director of National Intelligence: Lieutenant Colonel, US Army

• Veteran Affairs: Colonel, US Air Force

If you’re looking around for a US Navy seat at the table, you will have to dig deep in the C2 diagram.

One of the top priorities of the President and the Secretary of Defense is to excise the cancer that is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’s (DEI) cultural-Marxist, socio-political worldview from our military.

The President’s Executive Order of 20JAN2025 was unambiguous.

The OPM memo of 21JAN2025 was very clear on the subject.

Etc, ect.

On 31JAN2025, DOD decided to kill the almost farsical “Identity Months.”

That language is clear and direct.

On 04FEB2025, the US Army started to make its move.

West Point understood the mission and cut its connections to divisive Affinity Groups.

On 08/9FEB2025, West Point and the Air Force Academy both ended their “Diversity and Inclusion Studies” minors.

On 09FEB2025, SECDEF Hegseth was clear and direct to the heads of our service academies.

The past is the past. There is no reason to lie about it. What matters is what you do now. It is 13FEB2025. Everyone has had enough time.

We all know who is in the diversity commissariat. We all know what offices were involved in sectarianism contrary to good order and disipline. You may fool yourself into thinking you are clever enough to hide what you did and are doing if you live in an intellectual terrarium where everyone you talk to and everything you read is aligned with your leftist world view…but that is not who is running DOD…anymore.

There is no one at the big-kids table to try to buy time for our Navy if we are seen as being an administrative burden. We don’t have to be first to move, but we can’t be the last.

A bit late in the game, the CNO on Monday ended three Memoranda of Understanding with three sectarian Affinity Groups. That is pretty weak cheese, and it isn’t going to cover a larger problem with relationships with Affinity Groups or the diversity nomenklatura woven in the fabric of our manning documents.

It is clear that Big Navy is trying to sealawyer its way into keeping its branch of the Diversity Industry employed and busy. They are not even doing a very good job of it.

Two examples that I first covered in November and that still stand today.

US Naval Academy

As I warned back in October, no one is being fooled by a simple name change.

I’m sorry, this is an outright untruth.

"The U.S. Naval Academy did not have a DEI or DEIA office prior to the President’s executive order that mandated closure of all agency DEIA offices and the end of all DEIA-related contracts," U.S. Navy spokesman Commander Tim Hawkins told Fox News. "The U.S. Naval Academy sent the Jan. 23 email internally to staff simply to inform its personnel that the executive order was issued and USNA would fully comply. The Navy is executing and implementing all directives issued by the President with professionalism, efficiency, and in full alignment with national security objectives."

That quote from the above linked article announcing,

The head of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, says the school is "taking steps to close all agency Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) offices and end all DEIA-related contracts in accordance with President Trump’s executive orders," according to an email obtained by Fox News.

The Naval Academy clarified after publication that it has not had a DEI office since at least the summer of 2024, to align with the Fiscal Year 2024 defense spending bill passed by Congress, and that no office has been closed as a result of the executive order.

…

A human resources official at the school also sent out an email Monday telling staff, "To be in compliance with the recent DOD directive, no USNA email address should include gender-identifying pronouns on any email signature line."

So, do we have no DEI like the Commander said, or do we not like the Admiral said?

I’ll save you the trouble: we have them.

In the summer of 2024, all they did was change the name from “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” to “Engagement, Retention, and Equal Opportunity.”

As of today, they are still there. The office is the same. The staff is the same. The Affinity Groups are the same.

Is COMDTMIDNINST 1601.12F still in effect? Are there still Zampolit down to the company level?

Does USNA want to get some fan room counseling from the civilian leadership once it gets its footing? I’ve been cc’d on a few emails being sent to people who have real power and influence. No one is being fooled. We are not making friends.

CNAF’s L.E.G.A.C.Y. Office

Of course we have another acronym extruded to confuse and conceal. Behold the Leadership-Education-Growth-Advocacy-Culture-Youth-Outreach office. They had their 2024 Summit in November after their name change:

On a cool and brisk November morning, Officers and Sailors from all across the Naval Aviation Enterprise gathered in Pensacola to attend the Chief of Naval Air Forces’ Leadership, Education, Growth, Advocacy, Culture and Youth Outreach (LEGACY) Summit, recognized in previous iterations as the Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity (DEI) Summit.

It isn’t just the summit that changed its name. The whole office used to be the DEI office. It is right there in the article.

Again, just a name change. It is still here. Same programs, same focus, same people.

A lot of effort has been made to scrub the past…but that wasn’t the orders from SECDEF. The orders were to stop doing it.

You can delete posts on X all day long if you want. This link now goes nowhere:

…but when you have such a wide distribution, you won’t get rid of everything. Again, no need to hide the past, you were “just following orders.” However, when you try to hide the past or just plain don’t tell the truth about it, then you bring everything you do under a negative light.

We could spend a lot more space on this draining topic, but I think this is enough.

I’m not sure Big Navy realizes that changing names and other cute things like taking a webpage down one day and then bringing it up the next with simply removing,

The Flight Academy also addresses a secondary national issue of diversity. Aviation is one of the least diverse professions in industry.

…is not the way to increase institutional capital or give civilian leaders confidence in their Admiralty.

Contrary to some opinions, the Navy is/was considered too woke. The Gilday-Kendi Saga should have proved that beyond the shadow of a doubt. There is ground to be made up, not deeper holes to dig.

If, in February 2025, senior Navy leadership is still relying on advice from Millington, OPNAV N17, or any HR-related office that recently rebranded to navigate the anti-DEI directives, they are only further widening the gap between the Navy and its civilian leadership.

Playing sealawyer, being too clever by half, or pretending your self-serving interpretation of an order is more important than the clearly worded letter of the order…well…how would you respond if your Sailors consistently did that against something that was your and your bosses top priority?