On 17 February 2025, L Todd Wood rightfully called attention to the SECDEF’s emerging change of heart with firing generals. I share Wood’s concern. I am currently re-reading Pete Hegseth’s book The War on Warriors that makes his views of generals quite clear. The damage done to our military while generals focused on DEI and not on really important issues like readiness, morale, health of the force, etc has caused damage to our military that will take some time to undo. Generals hypocritically fire lesser ranking officers and enlisted for far less offenses routinely. Wood highlights recent quotes from the SECDEF that show his changing views since assuming his post:

"I’m not here to declare anybody woke and they’re out.”

“We’re watching the execution of culture change and willingness to support the president’s policies, lawful orders, and we’ll evaluate from there.”

"I’ve never seen it as my job to walk in on day one and point at somebody and declare them a woke general and fire them. I actually think that would be the wrong way to go about doing it.”¹

The change of heart is concerning, but not necessarily about ‘woke’ generals. On the one hand, as the saying goes ‘there is a new sheriff in town.’ POTUS and SECDEF are rapidly steering the DoD back to an entity founded on honor and winning wars. Anyone who has served in uniform knows you must follow lawful orders (if you wish to stay in uniform) and the last POTUS and SECDEF issued many lawful orders to execute DEI within DoD. Generals should be given a chance to realign their commands with the new 2025 guidance.

On the other hand, Wood also rightfully points out that there were also many illegal orders from the last SECDEF and many illegal and unethical actions and orders by generals during Biden’s administration while carrying out the old DEI paradigm. DEI, in my opinion, was just a flavor of the month in what is truly rotten in our nation’s military leadership. DEI would have never succeeded in the DoD if generals were not already as a class inherently weak, selfish, and dishonorable.

No senior generals ‘put their stars on the table’ in protest of Biden/Austin DEI policies

No senior generals ‘put their stars on the table’ in protest of failing wars

80% of four star generals seek riches in the military industrial complex boardrooms after retiring (problem pre-dating even Pres. Eisenhower)

DoD generals still have taken no responsibility for the 20 years of lying and failed leadership in Afghanistan

These general officer problems existed long before DEI was dreamed up in the left wing halls of legal academia in America’s corrupted university systems. Obama made it worse when his purges taught generals that absolute obedience to political masters is the pathway to promotion and post-military riches in the defense corporate world.

The SECDEF hopefully will take note that the only generals working to improve our nation’s security by upholding standards of performance and honor are the retired ones that dare to stand up and confront the weak, selfish, dishonorable generals still in uniform. I will add dedicated non-generals such as Wood to the list. If current generals are just ‘useful idiots’ and ‘yes men’ that exercise no personal courage or brainpower to think about toxic policy and challenge it when it is destructive to the military and our national security, then why is America paying them hard earned tax dollars to continue to fail?

A culture change is needed, not just for DEI but for everything about the military from losing wars to rampant obesity in the ranks to readiness woes to runaway fraud/waste to an out of control military industrial complex. Sports teams and corporations implement drastic culture change by firing the front office/CEOs and installing better leaders. Until this is done in the military where the stakes are infinitely higher, likely America will see superficial compliance with the new POTUS/SECDEF policy that will tragically be transient and revert to toxic ways under a less ethical future administration that issues less than ethical directives again. Our general officer culture has learned to play the long game, but their intention is not the long game for national security, but the long game for their selfish promotions and post-career riches.

1. https://armedforces.press/hegseth-walks-back-trump-commitment-to-fire-dei-pusher-generals-why/