(DCNF)—A former United States Space Force officer said Saturday morning that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is enforced by a “separate chain of command” at the Air Force Academy.
Former Space Force Lieutenant Colonel Matt Lohmeier, who was relieved of command after he spoke out against DEI initiatives in the military in 2021 and says he lost his pension, told guest host Joey Jones on “Fox and Friends Saturday” that the academy “has diversity and inclusion cadet officers” who “report to a separate chain of command.” Jones had referred to an Arizona State University study that found service academies encourage reporting “private conversations that challenge DEI precepts,” asking Lohmeier if he had similar experiences.
“In fact, come to think of it, I did experience that. A fellow commander informed me that they’re aware of my kind of politics and that they’d be happy to turn me into the base commander if I continued to privately criticize our diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives,” he said. “But this problem has grown far beyond what I experienced, personally and professionally in the military workplace.”
“My own alma mater, the U.S. Air Force Academy, has diversity and inclusion cadet officers who wear a special insignia within their cadet squadrons, they wear purple braided rope over the shoulders and they report to a separate chain of command other than their military chain of command, relating to diversity and inclusion issues,” he continued. “It reminds one of Soviet political commissars that have been established both in the Soviet Union and in other Marxist revolutionary efforts throughout the last century.”
Lohmeier called DEI a “very dangerous, very divisive ideology” that is treated “like it is a protected religious worldview” that “others ought to step in line with and support in their words and actions, otherwise face consequences.”
The former commander spoke earlier in the segment about allegedly being fired over his concerns.
“Unfortunately for the American people and for all of the men and women in uniform, it’s been considered for a number of years now to be politically partisan to speak up against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives,” Lohmeier told Jones. “And of course, anyone who looks into this matter knows it shouldn’t necessarily be considered a partisan issue. I wasn’t interested in being politically partisan while I wore the uniform of the country and was in command of a space force unit, but of course, senior military leaders, especially under the current administration, decided that because of the climate of fear that we had created for ourselves they ought to treat my criticism of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives as partisan and, quote unquote, hold me accountable for speaking out against it.”
The Air Force Academy did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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]]>Former USSF Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier testified before a panel of the House of Representatives on Jan. 17 about “the ongoing Marxist inspired efforts to subvert and weaken our military and broader American society.” His criticism of these endeavors led to his termination in May 2021.
During his testimony, Lohmeier said he was fired from his command “for writing a book trying to reverse the trend of the overt politicization of the uniformed services.” This book, titled “Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal Of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military,” was eventually published and even became an Amazon best-seller.
“Specifically, I criticize the military’s DEI trainings which, at my own base, were illegally occurring despite an executive order from the commander-in-chief,” he told lawmakers. “The DEI industry is steeped in critical race theory (CRT) and is rooted in anti-American Marxist ideology.”
Lohmeier recounted that prior to promoting his book, he “submitted a formal written complaint” to the USSF’s Office of the Inspector General. He outlined several violations that were occurring because of the DEI training, such as illegal race-based discrimination.
Unfortunately, his complaint was never investigated and was ultimately dismissed by Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting, the head of U.S. Space Command. Lohmeier later “received a written dismissal of [his] complaint from Whiting personally” after just two months.
According to the former USSF officer, top officials at the Department of Defense “requested $140 million to expand work diversity initiatives in fiscal year 2024.” This amount, he continued, is “double what it’s been the previous two years.”
But Lohmeier ultimately warned lawmakers that such initiatives come with dire consequences. “I watched DEI trainings divide our troops ideologically and, in some cases, sow the seeds of animosity toward the very country they had sworn an oath to defend,” he said.
Woke agenda dividing the U.S. military
Last June, Lohmeier spoke with the Epoch Times about the dangers of the woke agenda in the military. He said then that the woke agenda backed by the Biden administration weakens and divides the military – ultimately compromising national security. (Related: Former Space Force officer: WOKE AGENDA weakening, dividing US military.)
“Americans should know that when someone signs up to wear the uniform of their country, they’re trained early on to leave political baggage at the door and to be rather apolitical while acting in an official capacity,” Lohmeier said. “There is something that supersedes those topics for men and women in uniform – and that’s a particular mission in support of national security.”
He pointed out that service members often avoid discussing political topics as they focus on the sole mission of protecting the nation. But nowadays, most service members striving to remain apolitical “are finding themselves in a hyper-politicized and sexualized work environment at the moment.” If they oppose the environment, “they are labeled as politically partisan and simply ‘part of the problem’ and are ostracized for it.”
Lohmeier noted that under the Biden administration, “left-wing activists have essentially been given a bully pulpit” they use to promote ideas such as CRT, DEI standards and the LGBT agenda. “These agendas strike at the values of the military and its role in defending the Constitution,” he said.
Moreover, he continued that such ideas are “divisive in nature because not everyone aligns with or agrees with those agendas” and are viewed by some as a distraction from the military’s proper priorities.
“While the military has always been – by and large – a reflection of broader American society, there is something very different going on right now in this current administration,” Lohmeier said. “At the forefront of the cultural dialogue in the military is what has been driven by policy.”
Visit Wokies.news for more stories about woke DEI initiatives in the U.S. military. Watch this InfoWars segment explaining how a woke military proves America is under attack from within.
This video is from the InfoWars channel on Brighteon.com.
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- Americans shun Biden’s woke military, as all service branches except the USMC see recruiting shortfalls.
- Brannon Howse: US military under Biden is prioritizing WOKENESS over READINESS – Brighteon.TV.
- Woke U.S. military failing to recruit because nobody wants to defend American degeneracy.
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]]>The general warned that China is the “most immediate threat” to U.S. operations in space given its development of technologies such as lasers to disrupt satellite sensors, electronic warfare jammers, and even building crafts that can potentially disrupt rival orbiting platforms.
Saltzman stated that China’s ultimate goal is to become the most dominant space-faring nation by 2045, a part of its plan for a fully modernized, world-class military, the UK’s Daily Mail noted.
“Over the last six months, China conducted 35 launches adding advanced communications and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) satellites to their orbital architecture,” he noted in a written statement to the Senate Armed Service Subcommittee on Strategic Forces earlier this week. “Of China’s over 700 operational satellites in orbit, 347 are People’s Liberation Army ISR platforms providing optical, radar, and radio-frequency capabilities which track the Joint Force worldwide.”
Senior U.S. commanders have issued repeated warnings that China’s advancements in space technology, such as the development of reusable rockets, pose a threat to U.S. dominance in space. Chinese officials have even compared the moon and Mars to the disputed islands in the South China Sea that Beijing is trying to assert its sovereignty over, the report said.
“Both China and Russia continue to develop, field and deploy a range of weapons aimed at U.S. space capabilities,” Saltzman told the Senate panel. “The spectrum of threats to U.S. space capabilities includes cyber warfare activities, electronic attack platforms, directed energy lasers designed to blind or damage satellite sensors, ground-to-orbit missiles to destroy satellites and space-to-space orbital engagement systems that can attack U.S. satellites in space.”
He added that both Russia and China have studied how the U.S. has become reliant on its satellites to conduct warfare.
“Whether it’s our precision navigation and timing, whether it’s satellite communications, the missile warning that we rely on and the intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance persistence that we have with space capabilities… they know we rely on that and so if they can blind us, if they can interfere with those capabilities, or God forbid, destroy them completely, they know that that will diminish our advantages and put the joint force at risk,” said the four-star Space Force commander.
“So I can see interfering with, I can see blinding, I can see some of those grey area kinds of attacks on our capabilities to try and put us behind the eight ball,” he noted further.
China’s rapid economic growth in recent years has allowed them to invest heavily in its space program, leading to significant advancements in its space military capabilities. As China races to the final frontier, its space program has become a point of interest for military analysts and governments around the world.
With the launch of Beijing’s first space station and the successful landing of a rover on the far side of the moon, China has demonstrated its ability to compete with other space-faring nations. However, their military activities in space have raised concerns and sparked debates about their intentions and the potential for an arms race in space.
As for the U.S., Saltzman said the Pentagon will be switching from bigger, more vulnerable geostationary satellites to constellations of smaller satellites that will be deployed in low-to-medium earth orbit.
“With regards to grappling satellites and pulling them out of orbit, much tougher to deal with when you have less than maneuverable older legacy satellites,” he told senators. “So again, shifting to a proliferated [low earth orbit] constellation where you don’t have what Gen. Hyten called a ‘big juicy target’ sitting there in a [geostationary orbit] makes that a much tougher proposition for them to execute against.”
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