Wokism and the Military: Pete Hegseth’s The War on Warriors

By Elise Cooper, AM THINKER June 21/24

The War on Warriors. Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free by Pete Hegseth discusses the betrayal of those serving. He uses his own experiences, plus others who served, to show what is happening today. Hegseth is a co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend, an Army veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and was also a guard at Guantanamo Bay. He holds two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman’s Badge for his time in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The book talks about how the military brass are no different than the rest of our country emphasizing cultural chaos and weakness, how a woke socialist influence has removed essential core values. The book delves deeply into the political and cultural forces that have undermined the morale and effectiveness of U.S. armed forces, revealing the shocking truth behind the betrayal of the men and women who risk their lives to protect American freedoms.

The book opens showing how the ‘Ivory Tower Generals’ whom Hegseth refers to as “politicians in camo” believe only in their own careerism. In the chapter “Cowboys Led by Cowards,” he emphasizes what should matter are principles, courageous leadership, and focusing on readiness, not race, sex, or outside activities. When asked about these woke generals, Pete stated, “There is a compromised General class that is obsessed with serving their political masters, preserving their career, and looking at their next career step. As a result, they have been willing to peddle, push, and promote dangerous ideologies. They must know in their heart of hearts these go against what should be a standards and merits-based organization where people should be held accountable. They have become a part of the system that pushes CRT, genderism, DEI, or environmental nonsense that I outline in the book.”

He is hoping that the next President of the U.S. will fire those generals and “install leaders with real fidelity to the Constitution. The problem is these leaders got to where they are at because they are willing to do what their political idealogue handlers asked of them. Now, they are entrenched in their places, which means Trump if elected will have a hard job on his hands.”

One of those generals that seems to have no regard for the Constitution is Mark Milley. In the final days of Trump’s first term, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff admitted that he would give his Chinese counterpart, General Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army, a heads up if the U.S. launched an attack against Beijing. Saying, “hell, I’ll call you. But we’re not going to attack you.”

Hegseth feels Milley’s actions of making very public statements showed “what cards he will play, saying he saw as his job to stop Trump impulses, working through the system to resist him, instead of serving at the pleasure of the President. His job was not to undermine the Commander in Chief. If he did not support the Commander-in-Chief he should have quit, retired, or resigned. Not play defense on the inside.”

The book shows how wokeness within the military is hurting America. Those serving believe that diversity is not what makes the military strong, but “it’s the opposite: our unity is our strength”. Yet, Lloyd Austin, President Biden’s Secretary of Defense, had the DoD officials review and update the definition of extremism.

Although he feels the military is not perfect, Pete stated, “it is as good as it gets when it comes to racial recognition and that we are all in it together. Austin knew it, Milley knew it. Yet they pedaled the narrative that white extremism was a big problem in the ranks. This was because it was fashionable in 2020, after George Floyd and the push of systemic racism. When the military finally did a study on the subject it was found that it was overwhelmingly less racist than the general population. Everybody was treated the same. We all got the same uniform, the same bad haircut, and served under the same flag. This reinforces what we had in common, not what was different. Unity of a military unit is far more important than diversity of its individual members.”

As an example, there is a discussion in the book about the George Floyd riots. “The most blatant racism I ever saw and heard in my life was during the George Floyd riots. Antifa and BLM rioters were screaming the vilest words against the black soldiers in our ranks. The courage of those black soldiers was amazing. We all thought of ourselves as family, with the attitude, ‘I got you. You got me.’ Everyone held the line and were brothers/sisters regardless of skin color. As I talked about in the book, what is ironic is that I was there to protect the White House against domestic extremists and then I got called on by my own Army for a tattoo I had. It feels very upside down. This is why there is such a recruiting crisis. I only saw Army green, but did resign.”

A chapter was devoted on the rules of engagement, a “war on warriors.” Politicians, lawyers, and woke military leaders tied their hands. When asked, why this chapter, he referred to the phrase ‘endless wars.’ “They never end because we are not allowed to fight it properly. We do not bring the enemy to their knees until they will give up. Just look at the pressure on Israel. They need to go into Gaza and kill every member of Hamas. Politicians have their schemes. I make the argument in the book that rules of engagement need to be loosened to kill the bad guys. This is what Trump did against ISIS. We fight an enemy that does not play by the rules. It is like playing a basketball game where I must dribble down the court every time, but the other guy can run down the court. Yes, we understand there are ways we need to conduct ourselves, but we should not knee cap our own guys if we ultimately must eradicate the enemy.”

He goes on to say, “Makes me wonder, in 2024, if you want to win how can anyone write universal rules about killing other people in open conflict? Especially against enemies who fight like savages, disregarding human life in every single instance. We are just fighting with one hand behind our back, and the enemy knows it.”

Mike Pompeo succinctly summed up what is happening: “How can we ask young men and women who have decided to risk their lives for America, even die for America, to affirm that our country is inherently racist? How can we ask them to view their brothers and sisters in arms through the narrow prisms of race or gender? The clear and obvious answer is that we cannot — not without putting their lives at risk on the battlefield. A woke military is a weak military. Unfortunately, woke and weak are exactly what our military is becoming under Biden’s leadership.”

What should readers get out of the book? Pete believes “what matters is how capable we are to achieve our mission and get home. The brothers and sisters I served with will be that for life. They have been from all backgrounds. Now we are designating oppressor groups or taking gender standards. It doesn’t matter what is their racial background or social-economic background. Readers should understand how important this institution is and how much I love it. Ignorance or willingly blind leaders go along to get along. They have sold down the river the most important institution we have. I wrote the book, not how the military went woke, but how it allowed itself to go woke.”

This is a must-read to understand how hypocritical and misguided policies have weakened the military and left warriors feeling undervalued and unsupported. By exploring the impact of political correctness, social engineering, and misguided leadership within the armed forces, Hegsheth is asking Americans to stand up and support those serving, past and present, not to stand by idly and do nothing. Which means that voting on November 5th is something every patriotic American needs to do.