Prattville Dragoons SCV Camp 1524 Commander's Column for August 2023 - An Armed Forces Recruiting Dilemna in the Wake of Woke

  Senator Marsha Blackburn recently Tweeted, “Our nation is facing a serious recruitment challenge.  We need more brave young men and women to serve our country.”   There is apparently a sire shortage of military recruits currently while our nation faces major threats with a growing Sino-Russian cooperation affecting eastern Europe and the Asian-Pacific regions.  The South has throughout the 20th century to the present offered the military service of her young men in disproportionately high numbers.  But today many are choosing not to enter the armed forces as a result of many factors which certainly may include a military establishment’s agenda that is proving to be at odds with the conservative values Southern men hold dear. 

There has been a trend, interestingly since the “Make America Great Again” movement sprang up with the Trump candidacy and presidency with high school boys identifying as conservative twice as much as those identifying as liberal.  (https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/4125661-high-school-boys-are-trending-conservative/#:~:text=Last%20year%2C%2043%20percent%20of,young%20adults%20as%20a%20whole.)  This might place this potential recruiting pool at odds with a liberal POTUS currently residing in the White House.  Certainly, the public’s sense of patriotism and zeal for enlistment wax and wane with the Commander in Chief’s disposition to either refer to the United States as a “shining city upon a hill” as Reagan did or a POTUS say stoking “the blight of racism” and pushing globo-socialist policies in contrast to the message of American exceptionalism and capitalism espoused by most Presidents.    Trust in the military has plummeted under the Biden administration as many perceive the branches to be intent on implementing woke political policies as some cultural experiment laboratory at the expense of force readiness to fight and win.  Comments to Sen. Blackburn’s Tweet included, “Who would want to volunteer to fight to make the world safe for gay marriage and drag queen story hour?”   “Not until we get some America First Leadership and remove the "woke" Leadership that is destroying the Warrior Spirit and Operational Readiness.”  And, “You mean serve the New World Order, the banksters and the defense contractors?”  With billions going to Ukraine every few weeks in military supplies, it begs the question as to whether our support for the Ukrainians to resist the Russian invasion is more so an American support for its military industrial complex, paying billions in taxpayer money to produce more and more guns, bullets, shells, missiles, howitzers and armored vehicles. 

Too, the woke policies shoved down the throats of new recruits might also be a discouraging factor.  As one of his first orders of business upon assuming the Presidency, to celebrate “Pride Month”, Biden signed an order combatting discrimination of LGBQTI+ individuals (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/06/15/fact-sheet-president-biden-to-sign-historic-executive-order-advancing-lgbtqi-equality-during-pride-month/) and subsequently, to celebrate “International Transgender Day of Visibility” overturned thru an executive order previous administrations’ ban on transgenders serving in the military (https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/2557118/dod-revises-transgender-policies-to-align-with-white-house/).  And so we have LGBQT leadership in the chain of command including Rachel Levine serving as a four-star general in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. 

The attacks on Southern history and heritage which began with Nicki Haley lowering the Confederate flag from the South Carolina state house and ramped up to a frenzy following the drug induced death of the George Floyd criminal with Confederate monuments being vandalized and removed, is certainly a slap in the face to the Southern boys who respect and honor their Southern heritage and might even have been named after Confederate generals and Southern heroes.  For 150 years following the War Between the States, the bravery, chivalry, tactical expertise and general command of Confederate officers was appreciated, studied, emulated, and honored throughout our nation and the world.  But, in the face of raging woke anarchists who seek to destroy the very fabric of our nation’s founding principles, the government empowers a “Naming Commission” to remove any remnant or mention of these exemplary Confederate and Americans from military installations like Fort Hood and Fort Bragg and Alabama’s own Fort Rucker (https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3260434/dod-begins-implementing-naming-commission-recommendations/#:~:text=Some%20Army%20bases%2C%20established%20in,local%20populations%20in%20the%20South.)  These military bases were named after Confederate heroes largely to honor them and gain the support of the Southern populace to go fight and win WWI and WWII.  Correspondingly, Twitter noted that the removal of these names quite naturally could be perceived to disrespect the contribution of Southern men and blood to defend our nation throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.  “What sort of Southerner wants to fight for a country that hates them?”  “The United States government and woke anti white military hates you, your history, and your skin color.”  “If the Senator from Tennessee can't stand up for the brave generals who, after Tennessee had voted against secession, fought to repel a federal invasion of the State, don't ask Tennessee's sons to leave their wives and children to fight these frivolous one after another overseas wars for this same globalist homosexual transgender United States army that invaded the State in 1862.” “This country has rejected and insulted the South, the area with the single largest recruiting pool for its military throughout history. Not surprising there's a recruiting crisis.”

Of course, you also had the mandatory vaccinations to combat the Wuhan plandemic and thousands of men who refused to submit to an experimental vaccination rolled out to line the pharmaceutical company’s pockets with billions of dollars were discharged from the service.  Then you have the dilution or elimination of the benefits awarded to those who served in the military including health insurance and pensions disappearing.  Or is it the liberal politicization and blind support for military industrial complex at the sake of any semblance of fiscal responsibility?  Is it the perversion of the LGBQT anti-Christian rainbow flag waving?  Or, is it the disrespect of our Southern heritage in removing all vestiges of Confederate honor and glory by a PC woke administration which is causing enlistment numbers to plummet?  Take your pick.