Over 200 individuals currently serving in the U.S. military voluntarily participated in an independent survey conducted by the author last fall. Part of the anonymous questionnaire addressed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training in the military.
There were 229 participants in the survey, representing all branches of the military as well as enlisted and officer ranks. Nearly 86 percent of the survey’s participants said they had been required to participate in DEI training.
Emphasizing that their views don’t reflect those of the Department of Defense or their respective military branches, the Epoch Times spoke to two of the survey’s participants on the condition of pseudonymity due to concern about reprisals.
Lt. Col. Philip Maser (a pseudonym) has served as an Army active duty officer as well as a Reserve officer for over 20 years. Although Lt. Col. Maser has not participated in training specifically identified as DEI training, he said he has been part of training that had all the hallmarks of DEI training. He described the training as “the typical barrage of sexual harassment and equal opportunity training,” which has grown increasingly “woke” throughout his career.
“It seems to me that most Americans were blindsided by the ‘woke military’ in 2020,” he said. “I began warning people of this in 2009; the woke military has been brewing and stewing for decades,” he added. “DEI within the military is simply a new, more aggressive approach to indoctrination that has existed for over 30 years.”
The Epoch Times also spoke to Maj. Laura Adams (a pseudonym) who like Lt. Col. Maser has served in the Air Force for over two decades.
According to her, DEI policies have infiltrated many of the meetings she has been required to attend in recent years.
“Some meetings are opening with designating them as a safe space and asking [attendees] to respect other people, advocating for the use of people’s pronouns and more,” she said. “Creating these ‘safe workplaces’ is all about the push to accept the delusions of everyone else around me.”
“There was a big push by the Air Force Reserve to put your pronouns in your signature block. I simply wouldn’t do it,” she said. Twelve percent of survey participants said they have been forced to use pronouns to identify themselves or others.
By J.M. Phelps
