The United States Department of Defense was blasted on social media after posting a tweet touting the need for “diversity” and “inclusion” in the military.
“NEWS: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Are Necessities in U.S. Military,” the Department of Defense posted Wednesday along with an article outlining the many ways the military is pushing for diversity in its ranks and says that the “need for diversity, equity and inclusion to be a consideration or a part of all decisions in the military.”
NEWS: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Are Necessities in U.S. Military. https://t.co/7WEWrveNcc
— Department of Defense 🇺🇸 (@DeptofDefense) February 9, 2022
“I would hope that as many leaders and members of the total force as possible see [diversity, equity and inclusion] efforts as a force multiplier,” Bishop Garrison, the senior advisor to the secretary of defense for human capital and diversity, equity and inclusion, said in the article, which added that the diversity program can be a “way to make the U.S. military more successful in achieving critical missions and in making forces more lethal.”
The tweet immediately drew criticism from conservatives on Twitter who slammed the military for focusing on “woke” politics.
https://twitter.com/Mangold_Lenett/status/1491545285641781250?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1491545285641781250%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fpolitics%2Fdod-blasted-tweet-touting-diversity-inclusion-as-neccessity-military
Our enemies laugh at us.
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) February 9, 2022
You guys going to hand out copies of ‘White Fragility’ to the Russians?
FYI, there are no safe spaces on the Eastern Front. https://t.co/S2Gaji3OBJ
— Libertarian Party NH (@LPNH) February 9, 2022
https://twitter.com/JesseKellyDC/status/1491538775037652998?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1491538775037652998%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fpolitics%2Fdod-blasted-tweet-touting-diversity-inclusion-as-neccessity-military
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News.
Last month, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby downplayed concerns about woke identity politics in the military.
“It depends on what they are, but I think a lot of it, quite frankly, is driving a stake through a straw man, here,” Kirby told Fox News’ Dana Perino. “This argument of ‘wokeness’ in the military. I was in the military for 30 years, and I can tell you, things like diversity and inclusion, that makes us a better military because it brings to the fore in the decisionmaking, operational decisionmaking that we conduct, better ideas, more unique perspectives, somebody else’s lived experiences which might actually make us smarter on the battlefield.”