Every July, Minot Air Force Base, the only one to contain two ‘legs’ of the nuclear triad, celebrates ‘Diversity Day’. Held at the Jimmy Doolittle Center, named after the hard-charging Air Force pioneer who led the first air raid into Japan after Pearl Harbor, Diversity Day showcases “many different cultures along with other diversities such as religion and disabilities” representing the various cultures at Minot Air Force Base.” Jimmy would not approve.
A culture notably absent from the Diversity Day festivities at Minot is a culture of competence.
Two Air Force commanders have been fired after their units failed nuclear surety inspections. Another four of their subordinates also went out the door. Firings have become common at Minot AFB which maintains a unique status in the nation’s defense and in the botched leadership that focuses on diversity and political correctness over national security.
The chain of disasters was kickstarted in 2014 when the commander of the 741st Missile Squadron at Minot AFB was forced out over allegations that he had discriminated against pregnant women. Afterward, the “ball began rolling on Minot’s diversity program”.
“I believe that President Obama said it best when he stated, ‘our nation derives strength from the diversity of its population,” Senior Master Sgt. Neil Armstrong, the first black man to occupy his position, claimed. He warned that, “implementation of the Air Force diversity policy is the responsibility of everyone. Moreover, diversity is critical for successful operations in the international community.” Apparently you can’t nuke China and any other parts of the international community unless you have diversity at a base in North Dakota.
Press releases were filled with woke buzzwords like “accountable and sustained diversity effort”.
In 2018, Lt. Col. Paul Goossen returned from leading a successful bombing campaign against ISIS and the Taliban only to be forced out from his position because his “air crew members had a habit of drawing crude stick figures with penises” on the bombs they were dropping.
This wasn’t because they were an offense to morals or values, but because they contributed to an “inappropriate work environment”. Goosen was a respected leader whose subordinates believed that he “emphasized taking care of each other” and focusing on the mission.
Instead of battling the cartoons and the “culturally insensitive phrases”, Goosen had “focused on the mission and unspecified new threats” and was “halfway relieved” that the airmen were releasing stress in a harmless way instead of engaging in serious misconduct. None of the women present were actually offended. One had even drawn her own cartoon.
It’s unknown what the “culturally insensitive phrases” involved, but they likely targeted the Muslim terrorists who were being bombed.
Meanwhile, much more seriously, a colonel at Minot who was relieved of command after losing a machine gun and hand grenades, but was moved to a leadership position at Air Force Special Operations Command. At least his men and women hadn’t been culturally insensitive.
Since then, Charles Q. Brown, who claimed to be the victim of racism because someone questioned his parking spot, became the Air Force Chief of Staff. In a speech in which he “seemed to barely contain his rage”, he ranted “that the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution ‘that I’ve sworn my adult life to support and defend’ have not always delivered ‘liberty and equality’ to all.”
In 2021, Brown visited Minot AFB and spent his time reviewing the new female body armor at a base that maintains the missiles and bombers that can destroy portions of the planet.
“I’m grateful for the feedback Airmen have given us on this new Female Body Armor,” Brown recited in sentences composed entirely of meaningless buzzwords. “Being a diverse and inclusive force won’t work if we don’t have meaningful, sustainable and lasting change – that change starts with Airmen sharing their perspectives and leaders who listen.”
Biden nominated Lt. Gen Anthony Cotton to serve as head of United States Strategic Command.
“Here I am as a lieutenant general in the United States Air Force,” Cotton had falsely claimed to Air Force Magazine. “When I see what happened to Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks—and the list goes on and on… That could be me.”
The man in charge of the nation’s nukes didn’t like it very much.
Cotton had formerly been in charge of ICBMs at Malmstrom Air Force Base which has had a string of problems. But he claimed that “diversity, inclusion are tools for national defense” and that diversity is a “warfighting imperative”.
The new commander of the 91st Missile Wing announced that, “we’ve launched the diversity and inclusion task force” to begin “raising awareness”. That’s not what the 91st is actually tasked with launching. Although DEI might be arguably more deadly than the ICBMs.
“Having a Diversity and Inclusion Council to make sure we are addressing the issues with discrimination whether you are talking racial or otherwise,” the Minot Air Force Base commander explained.
The most significant thing about the test launch of a Minuteman III ICBM at Minot was the “diverse team” launching it. The press release included quotes from the female team, one of whom gushed that, “the 10th Missile Squadron is the most diverse organization I’ve ever been a part of, having grown up and attended school in largely homogenous areas. Mere exposure to a diverse group of others has helped me improve my leadership skills and perspective on life.
The press release mentioned diversity 20 times, it never mentioned why there are ICBMs or that in a world war, the team might be expected to take part.in the deaths of millions of people.
There’s no diversity training for that.
Minot AFB went on celebrating black, Hispanic, Asian, Women’s and Indian heritage months while the base had a serious problem. That problem has now resulted in the ouster of six officers. While the details are still vague, it apparently involved a “non-compliant vehicle and equipment safety inspection” where “the non-compliance had been there for a while.”
While Minot AFB’s leaders were focused on complying with diversity and inclusion mandates and making sure that there were no bombs with “culturally insensitive phrases” falling on terrorists, the underlying problems that had been there all along, including in 2013 when the 91st Missile Wing scored a ‘D’ on ICBM launch operations and pulled 17 personnel who were on watch to launch missiles and nuke parts of the planet. All the diversity efforts had fixed nothing.
“Diversity is the one true thing we all have in common,” a Minot AFB slogan reads.
Diversity is the thing we have least in common. Unity is created by serving a common mission. At Minot and across much of the military, that sense of mission has been swamped by the same identity politics that has corrupted civilian life. The solution to Minot AFB’s problems was regaining its sense of purpose. Instead the brass pushed diversity as the answer to everything.
“A diverse and inclusive environment ensures that not only the mission is accomplished, but a high degree of excellence is reached as well,” Minot AFB’s press releases claim. The mission isn’t accomplished and the high degree of excellence is also absent. Diversity killed the mission.
And all of that is in the absence of a world war.
The men who have to be ready and willing to do the unthinkable for their country need to know what they believe in and what they are fighting for. Are they fighting for diversity or for America?
Tragic.
On a lighter note, something similar happened in WW1 with the British Tank Corp. At first there were a lot of problems with the tanks, and the crews painted idiosyncratic names on their tanks, like “AutoGoPhaster” and “One Eyed Jonah”, which upset the higher level muckety mucks (not the officers of the Tank Corps but higher levels who didn’t like tanks in the first place). So the names were corrected, but not the mechanical problems with the machines 🙂
“Being a diverse and inclusive force won’t work if we don’t have meaningful, sustainable and lasting change – that change starts with Airmen sharing their perspectives and leaders who listen.”
The only thing they refuse to listen to is anything about not needing diversity.
Pretty crazy, Stalin lost millions of soldiers because he purged competent leadership. USA may lose war because incompetent military not relieved
The incompetence in this case starts at the top of the chain of command. But don’t look for the democrats to change anything for the better, they don’t have it in themselves to do what’s right.
A similar thing happened during the French revolution, most of the competent navy captions were purged because of Royal connections and it gave Briton command of the oceans which turned the tide of the war.
In today’s ARMY, the “DIVERSITY Bulletin Board,” located in every unit location, is more important than the Operational Readiness of the Aircraft! Commanders, who maintain the worn-out and overage aircraft they are forced to use in conducting whatever mission assigned, is a back burner issue.. What;’s MORE important than being about to FLY,.,,is his sustained “Diversity Program and Policy.” The IG always homes in fort, own the DIVERSITY BULLETIN Board!
A few days ago Sen. Tom Cotton questioned Tony Cotton in a Senate hearing. I was disappointed on how easy Sen. Cotton was on this jerk. Nothing of relevance was asked about dei views. Having an individual like this in such an important position as this is disgusting.
With Biden, Harris, Blinken, Austin and Milley in charge, what’s to worry?
China is upgrading their hypersonic missiles, increasing the military budget,
increasing their global reach almost daily.
We have announced that the first pregnant woman pilot, wearing a
“Pregnancy flight suit,” has flown faster than the speed of sound..
The Chinese, North Koreans, Iranians, etc., are terrified.
Our diversity driven military is now planning to have a pregnant man
do the same.
Diversity based on the competence of getting the best people on the job? Nothing wrong with that. Diversity for the sake of diversity, with little to no regard for incompetence? That could in this case, be fatal, not just for the airmen and women, but for the nation.
I spent 3 of my 7 years in the Navy as a Sensor Operator (SENSO) flying aboard the carrier-based S=3A Viking aircraft. If called upon, my duty was to drop nuclear weapons on Soviet ballistic missile submarines.
Few things could be as devastating to our long-held policy of M.A.D. than to destroy unit cohesion and trust amongst our nuclear deterrent vanguard.
And left un-checked, our enemies could opt for a first strike knowing we’d be too busy being offended and attending mandatory DEI training stand-downs to do their duty..
Wondering how that “put women on submarines” thing is working out that Feinstein, Boxer, Schroeder et.al. screamed to make happen.
I want diversity expunged.
Soldiers should serve with their gender. No more “boys and girls together“. Bring back organic WAC battalions.
Or prepare to lose.
Did you notice that our enemies don’t have any, “gender,” problems?
America not being able to nuke on a dime puts it and its allies at risk of being nuked.
I can see an event happening when “diversity of opinion” interferes with launching our DEFENSIVE WEAPONS and WE are hit by NON-DIVERSELY launched nuclear weapons! It’s ok to have people of different skin color WORKING TOGETHER AS A TEAM, but you can’t have a “team” when there are different opinions of what you are SUPPOSED to be TRAINED TO DO! And as far as women at sea? I think OUR HISTORY shows that did/does not work! Women do have a place in our Military, but not on the front lines! Call me old fashioned, but I’m more of a REALIST in that respect! Think women are happier today than 50 years ago? IF not, burn some more bras – I’ll notice!
By now it should be clear that diversity is just another cover up word to destroy America from within.
It’s actually anti-white racism.
Compromise is one of the words in Satan’s tool box. It causes people to give up doing whats right which ends up in destruction.
that’s for darn sure!
This is pure insanity. The highest value should be competency, not “diversity” (whatever that means). Anything else is a diversion. From the article, it also seems to result in the promotion of grievance collectors instead of the most able. This nonsense is going to hurt us big time.
I’m sincerely hoping citizens of the U.S. realize the goal of the current admin is to destroy our nation. Clear as the snout on a hog. What we do about it isn’t so clear but I’m not sure we will survive long enough to let the political process engage. And once engaged, dems will lie, cheat, murder, or steal to continue their dominance.
I lived through the Cuban missile crisis. What we’re experiencing today is much more serious and hair-trigger.
We need competence not diversity at our nuclear bases
Apparently, it takes white guys to run things.
It takes competence, not racial quotas.
We need warriors running our military not politicians and activists.
When I read the announcement, my money was on more competent officers being canned for running afoul of DEI policies, or not pushing them enough. It’s nice to know they’re maintaining some standards of competence and diligence outside of DEI.
How dare they body shame people with penises (formerly know as “men”), and apparently the ‘problem’ was the phrases on the bombs were culturally sensitive, not that they weren’t. But the left has that term backwards and upside down, like everything else.
Go back an look at the pictures on the WWII tanks and airplanes. Politically correct they were not. Detrimental to the mission? Not in the least.
100% agreement of the commenters that what has overtaken the military is unacceptable. Now that the world is in a danger-close position (possibility of global war and even the unthinkable – nuclear confrontation ) things may change & we will wake up from the (utopians’) lunacy. Only thing that will stop this is combat on the ground. Notice no one in Ukraine is talking too much about LGBQT rights etc. Ukrainian troops are focused on winning. Unit cohesion is the thing. & winning. (If the fat cats of the EU don’t bail on them.) So that may be the answer: an external threat w/people coming to their senses. Like after 911. When firemen and brave people made the ultimate sacrifice for this country. Nobody was concerned about DEI on that fateful day & for a short while afterwards. & then the next generation steamrolled all that with even more DEI. I feel like I”m in a bad dream w/ the people around me in some kind of fantasy world : BLM, transgenders, homeless taking over downtowns: a tidal wave of decadence. The homeland wasn’t perfect but the American century (20th) was because there was respect for the commonweal – & the people who made it were people like Einstein, Wrights, Edison plus the weekend putterers who registered 1000s of patents. So there was a level of mental wherewithal that we’re losing w/the changing demographic. & god forbid you should point this out to some. Canceled. gd work Daniel.
Putin and Zelensky are of the same mind, set, they are both Oligarchs who won’t listen to rationality, and don’t seem to care about the horrible consequences, and the US has no sane leader now either and is funding this nightmare. Talk about a formula for disaster. Look at the amount of innocent people who have died under their dictatorship on both sides.
The democrats are living in their fantasy world while thinking they can rule in the real world. They will never reach adult hood in their present mental state.
Diversity might have nice sounding meaning but it realty its total flop and falling on its face
How times have changed. My fighter squadron during the Vietnam war kept a hard-bound blank page book on the ops desk where anyone could make any entry free of any repercussion. Taunts, ridicules, sarcasms, cartoons—along with serious opinions—filled the volume in the spirit of free expression, a value we were fighting to defend. In a pressure cooker situation it helped let off some steam. The Doofer Book was read by everyone and was considered sacred, just as the First Amendment. You could sign your name or make anonymous entries. On a deeper level, the spirit of the book was a reminder that while common sense stands in the need of strong laws for its support, laws not supported by good common sense are fragile.
Military service is about duty. It’s not about you, it’s about the duty to be ready to fight a war, or actually fight a war. In the case of the people we are talking about, it’s performing inspections to ensure technical readiness, following process and procedures, command control and communication, and being on ready standby for that phone call which we all pray will never come. People have a lot of misconceptions about military service and the military is partly to blame because they blow a lot of smoke up people’s pants about all this social politics and benefits etc. BUT, if SHTF tomorrow and there’s inbounds, these people will be called upon to ensure that the aggressor nation that killed the United States pays dearly for their aggression. And, that duty will remain such until the blessed day when the last nuclear ballistic missile, both foreign and domestic, has been demilitarized and destroyed. Duty first, all other consideration secondary, missile duty is unique and some people probably are not suited for it, given the heaviness of the burden. Commands must needs make personnel selection accordingly. The ‘odd man’ being among them. Russia uses the ‘dead man’.
Everything we know and assume and take for granted and whine and complain about every day, it can all go away permanently in an hour. Remember that next time you have to wait in line. Something to think about.
Their new slogan is “Diversity is the Key to Destruction”. This is as ordered by those who would destroy our nation and our way of life.
Now I understand WHY those reliefs occurred at Minot. Diversity is NOT our strength but unity IS despite the nonsense promulgated by the Kenyan and his mymidons.
You can’t fix stupid, but a nice thermonuclear detonation can clean it up..
You never know. A platoon of effeminate men dolled up as common tarts might dissable PRC forces by causing paralytic laughter syndrome.
We are phucked.
Failing a nuclear surety inspection is a big deal. Nuclear weapons are a zero defects environment and anyone who has been involved with them knows that is a very high standard – difficult to maintain. The article does not directly relate the loss of focus due to woke to the inspection failures, but the relationship is hard to ignore.
Diversity and Inclusion Councils, DEI, and associated concepts are just plain stupid, demoralizing, and an abrogation of command responsibility. If commanders cannot deal with sex and race issues in their commands they should be replaced AND THIS IS ESSENTIAL, backed by their seniors all the way to the top.
On a more practical level these concepts are a waste of time and resources. Back when the Army became a volunteer force the VOLAR task force determined that miscellaneous “training” requirements, e.g., RREO, rap sessions, etc., pushed the number of required training hours beyond the number of hours available in the training year – not to mention the assets devoted to them. It took a huge effort to unscrew that issue, but focusing on the mission and sidelining and eliminating the “advocates” and bureaucrats who were taking up time, space, and resources was key to building the most effective army in the world – a distinction that is being put in danger by reverting to the same kinds of things. The DOD and military services have turned E Pluribus Unum on its head.