Ex-Officer: Army I Joined in Obama's 1st Term Was Nothing Like Army I Left at End of His 2nd Term
A former U.S. Army officer believes social engineering undertaken during the Obama administration undermined the nation’s military readiness — and that the American public deserves to know.
“The Army that I joined during Barack Obama’s first term was nothing like the Army that I left at the end of his second,” Afghanistan War veteran James Hasson told Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Monday.
“Social justice warriors imposed a progressive agenda on the military with no regard for the harm they caused to military readiness or national security,” the former Army captain added. “We’re still paying the price and the American people deserve to know.”
Hasson has authored a new book, “Stand Down: How Social Justice Warriors Are Sabotaging America’s Military,” detailing his concerns.
Thanks @TuckerCarlson for having me on to talk about my book, Stand Down. https://t.co/vp0KFYU8np pic.twitter.com/wu8jlBq2wr
— James Hasson (@JamesHasson20) August 27, 2019
During his interview with Carlson, Hasson paraphrased former Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who argued the social justice demands impose harms that will only become evident to our political class after military failure.
He pointed to Obama’s undersecretary of defense Brad Carson’s statements as emblematic of that administration’s attitude toward the military. The top official said his goal was to make the Department of Defense “the nation’s most progressive employer.”
The author cited examples of how that priority was implemented, including at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
“I think most Americans would be appalled to hear that at the Naval Academy, one of our premier institutions, there are safe space signs outside instructors’ doors, military and civilian, saying that the instructors have taken a sensitivity course called ‘Trans 101’ that is taught by contractors for Google,” Hasson told Carson.
“The job of the military isn’t to be more woke than Apple or Google, it’s to defend us all by preparing to fight and win the nation’s wars,” the veteran argued.
In his book, Hasson recounts that at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, officers apologized for “microaggressions” against cadets.
He also chronicles how an Army “gender integration study” urged an end to “hyper-masculinity” in combat-arms units.
Hasson told Carlson that the Obama administration lowered the standards in military schools in order to allow more female soldiers to be eligible.
“After the first female soldiers graduated from Army Ranger school, a significant number of whistleblowers contacted Congressman Steve Russell from the House Armed Services Committee and told him that they had been pressured to pass the first candidates and that standards hadn’t been followed,” Hasson said, “but the Obama DOD stonewalled Russell for months, refused to meet with him, and then told him that the documents that he had been requesting had mostly been shredded.”
Here’s the second half of the segment, about how the Obama DoD told a member of the House Armed Services Committee—a man who commanded a battalion that helped catch Saddam Hussein no less—that records he requested had been shredded. But I obtained them and I’m publishing them. pic.twitter.com/E0xiENa9yh
— James Hasson (@JamesHasson20) August 27, 2019
The former congressman, who represented Oklahoma, is a highly decorated Iraq War veteran who served as an airborne infantry officer. Russell graduated from the Army Ranger school early in his career.
Hasson was able to obtain some of the documents the Obama DOD told the lawmaker had “mostly” been shredded. The documents proved the whistleblowers had been telling the truth about Ranger school standards being lowered.
“The Obama administration didn’t care,” Hasson said. “The Obama DOD wasn’t interested, because it didn’t fit the agenda that they wanted and they were happy to undermine the integrity of one of the military’s premier courses while doing so.”
Perhaps five-star General Douglas MacArthur best described what the singular focus of the military should be in his farewell speech to the West Point Corps of Cadets in 1962.
“Your mission remains fixed, determined, inviolable. It is to win our wars,” the World War II hero told the future Army officers.
“Everything else in your professional career is but corollary to this vital dedication,” MacArthur continued. “All other public purpose, all other public projects, all other public needs, great or small, will find others for their accomplishments; but you are the ones who are trained to fight.”
Under President Donald Trump, the military seems to have moved away from complete surrender to political correctness.
The DOD announced in March it would no longer allow those seeking to transition to the opposite gender (or those who have already done so) to enlist. Additionally, those currently serving in the military will be barred from taking hormones or getting transition surgery, the Military Times reported.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the Pentagon’s policy change to stand in June.
The Trump administration should make it a top priority to remove every politically correct rule adopted under Obama that in any way impedes the military’s ability to wage and win wars.
Thankfully, things already appear to be heading in that direction.
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