The U.S. Military Identity Crisis

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From “two moms” in Army ads to DEI audits at West Point, America’s military is no longer just a fighting force — it’s a cultural battlefield.

In this episode, host Jim Detjen — a veteran with deep family ties to military service — unpacks the gaslighting, poetic truths, and political reshaping of our service academies since the Obama years. Is the military too woke to win wars? Or is that just the story we’re being sold?

If you care about strength, sacrifice, and who’s writing the next chapter of American defense — this one’s for you.

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Read and reflect at Gaslight360.com/clarity

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
I'm Jim Detchen this one's personal.
I spent nearly a decade in theUS military.
My son's now at one of theservice academies, and my
family's served in everygeneration since 1775, from the
Revolution to the present day.
Different names, same bloodline, same sacrifice.
So when I see West Pointdropping duty honor country,

(00:25):
when I see recruiting ads aboutpronouns instead of patriotism,
when I see elite warriorsreplaced with diversity officers
, I don't stay quiet.
I wonder what we're doing tothe institution that's held this
country together wheneverything else was falling
apart, and I wonder who'srewriting the mission and why.

(00:45):
So today we're asking is ourmilitary still built to fight
and win wars, or has it becomeanother casualty of the culture
war?
For most of our history, themilitary was the one place
politics didn't go, at least notloudly.
Then came the shift, firstsubtle, then overt DEI briefings

(01:09):
, pronoun protocols, training,seminars on white privilege and
gender identity, a recruiting adwhere the lead character
proudly shares she was raised bytwo moms, animated, of course.
Meanwhile, china's recruitingwith tanks, russia's with
missiles, and we're leadingwith… feelings.

(01:29):
It wasn't always like this, butit started under Obama, when
the military became a petri dishfor social policy.
Don't Ask, don't Tell wasrepealed, combat roles opened to
women, transgender service wasgreenlit and a quiet reshuffling

(01:50):
of top brass began 197 seniorofficers reassigned or removed
some for misconduct, sure, butmany for simply not getting with
the program.
Critics called it anideological purge, supporters
called it progress.
But either way, the military'sculture shifted, and not from
the bottom up.

(02:10):
Then came the ads, the newslogans, the soft sell Not join
to serve, but join to belong.
The 2021 Army ad was thetipping point Pride parades,
wedding photos, emotionalstorytelling, nothing about
strength, nothing aboutreadiness, nothing about war.
That ad went viral for all thewrong reasons and suddenly the

(02:35):
phrase woke.
Military wasn't a Twitter jokeanymore, it was a recruitment
crisis in motion.
So let's ask the questions.
They won't.
Is it inclusive to teach cadetsthat race and gender shape
truth, or is it divisive, evendangerous, to train future
officers to see the world inidentity hierarchies?
Are these kids warriors orsociology majors with side arms?

(02:59):
And if we can't even agree onphysical standards anymore, how
many push-ups is too many?
What happens when the bulletsare real?
By 2022, recruitment numbershit a wall.
The Army missed its goal by15,000 soldiers.
Surveys showed public trust inthe military was cratering, not

(03:20):
because of war fatigue, butbecause leadership looked too
political, not too liberal, nottoo conservative, too political.
Parents weren't encouragingservice Coaches weren't
recommending it.
Patriotic young men, thebackbone of our fighting force
started asking if the army stillwanted them or if they were

(03:42):
already the enemy.
And here's where it getstwisted.
When Americans voiced concernsabout the military going woke,
they were told it was aconspiracy theory, that they
were imagining things.
Even as West Point offeredseminars on whiteness, even as
the Air Force Academy taughtcadets to avoid gendered
language, even as traditionalclubs, black engineering

(04:04):
students, latino cultural groups, women in STEM were shut down
overnight under new DEI bans,all while generals went on
camera insisting there's noproblem here.
That's not just denial, that'sgaslighting.
Now Trump's back in charge, andso is Pete Hegseth, the

(04:28):
Pentagon's new hammer in a waron wokeness.
Within weeks they dropped a newrecruitment ad no rainbows, no
soft music, just tanks, grit andthe line.
No more gender confusion, nomore climate change worship.
We are laser-focused onwarfighting.
The tone was clear.
We're done playing dress-up and, yes, the numbers are improving

(04:49):
.
But here's the deeper questionDid we fix the military, or did
we finally stop pretendingnothing was broken, because the
greatest damage wasn't done by aseminar or a slogan.
It was done by the whiplash.
One year you're praised forembracing DEI, the next you're
purged for it.

(05:10):
One administration teachescadets to deconstruct power
structures, the next bans thoseclasses as ideological poison.
The mission keeps changing, butthe warfighter stays the same,
stuck in the middle of someoneelse's narrative.
You don't need all the answers,but you should question the

(05:32):
ones you're handed.
Want to go deeper?
Visit gaslight360.com.
Slash clarity to learn how tospot gaslighting and poetic
truth in media, politics andhistory.
Empower yourself to dissectnarratives, uncover hidden
truths and challenge the tacticsthat keep us in the dark.

(05:55):
Thanks for listening, and ifthis helped you think a little
differently today, leave us arating on Apple.

(06:17):
It helps more than you know.