Prominent critic in Congress warned about the danger of “wokeism” in the services.
A newly-published study claiming the US Marine Corps would benefit from dropping gendered identifiers like “sir” and “ma’am” for drill instructors was not only “insane” but a waste of the $2 million the USMC paid for it, the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Military Personnel Committee said in a statement on Wednesday.
“I hope the Commandant not only rejects the recommendation but also asks for his money back,” wrote Congressman Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin wrote. He noted that the Marine Corps “may have problems, but the use of gendered terms at boot camp is not one of them.”
The study, commissioned from the University of Pittsburgh in 2020 and completed in 2022, argues that gendered identifiers risk reminding recruits of negative stereotypes, potentially triggering subconscious biases, while forcing recruits to think about the drill instructor’s gender before their rank – “problematic” in a Marine Corps that is still very much male-centric. The possibility of misgendering the instructor is also listed as a reason to abandon the practice, with the study’s authors warning that this could “unintentionally offend or cause discord.”
The proposed solution – teaching recruits to discard “sir” and “ma’am” in favor of the genderless “drill instructor” – would “underscore the importance of respecting authoritative figures regardless of gender,” the study authors claim, pointing out that half the military has already ditched gender identifiers for training staff anyway.
Gallagher, himself a Marine veteran, went on to skewer “our military leaders” for denying that “wokeism exists in the military” despite spending millions of taxpayer dollars on “woke projects.”
Last year, a report commissioned by Gallagher and other Republican Armed Services Committee members found that the US Navy has come to focus on “wokeness” and diversity more than winning wars.
“Playing such dumb games in academia or entertainment is one thing, but now we are meddling with the life-or-death business of war-fighting,” the Wisconsin Republican warned. He predicted that if “we keep integrating such woke nonsense into deterrence, then we will see more deterrence failures.”
While Russia is building a disciplined military force, and in co-operation accords with China another disciplined force, the US is quietly in the process of self-destruction. Russia is in a conflict zone using real soldiers and real weapons as the Americans and the EU fight with dollar bills and Euros. Two years from now, perhaps less, they will be scratching their heads wondering what went wrong.
It is patently obvious the west is out manned and out gunned with only two options on the table, go nuclear or accept peace on Russia’s terms. This has been a long time coming, most observers could see it for miles except for the leaders and politicians of the EU, America and Britain. While they talked up their supremacy and arrogance Russia and China prepared their defences.
As the song goes… It’s all over now, baby blue.
Well said
While the west is eaten with its own moral canker both China and Russia have not only prepared their war machines but have developed economic networks to sustain long term war.
Such is the value of the wests promises (zero) that both China and Russia and their substantial support base understand that the only way to negotiate with the west is with their necks under their boot
So the Marines should not be concerned about what gender to call their instructors by but rather what those terms are in Mandarin and Russian
NZ is about to be taught a lesson it will never forget. By masters that never forgot
i totally agree with both of you. Also western countries have developped after colonisation was finished, another scandalous form of economic colonisation. That is cheap labour in asia or where ever they could . Maintaining those workers in worse than slavery as salaries were so low and work conditions abhorents.
We have known a undeserved luxury of good and freedom unknown to te rest of the world. By taking advantage of other population and not sharing in our wellfare. We are going to get what we deserve
If I dare to disagree, it’s in good faith and only to offer another perspective.
You see, for the ‘people’ who make the decisions at the core. it’s not about peace or to what condition. Not even who might be disadvantaged or defeated. And time definitely doesn’t matter.
Follow the money and one can clearly distinguish at least two inter-connected mafias who do not like peace: one is the managers of the money launderette called Ukraine, and the other is the MICC seeking and actively creating military conflicts since their first money machine (WW2) stopped.
At the very core of the onion are not politicians. The core group rhymes with 300. All wars are banksters’ wars.