US Defense Secretary Brings Military Discipline Back As Recruitment Surges

One of the enduring embarrassments for the US under Joe Biden was his administration’s handling of the military, from the poorly planned exit from Afghanistan, to forced covid vaccination, to their bizarre recruitment and training policies.  Democrats sought to fundamentally change the fabric of every vital American institution and the Department of Defense was no different.  

Military recruitment imploded and public interest in the services plunged during the rampant degeneracy of progressive rule.  Woke infiltration of the Pentagon and the Department of Defense was rampant.  Top generals were spouting Critical Race Theory propaganda, the US Army was trying to integrate 90 pound women into the Rangers in the name of “equity” and transgender cross-dressers were making TikToks in uniform with the blessing of the Navy while getting sex-change surgeries on the taxpayer’s dime. 

Military recruitment ads went full woke.  An utter humiliation on the world stage that promoted DEI activism over security readiness in the form of childish cartoons.  Noticeably absent from these ads was young white men, the one demographic that traditionally joins in the name of patriotism and is largely responsible for filling recruitment quotas every year.

Is it any wonder that average Americans were less than inspired to volunteer?  Who wants to go to war for a government that wants to destroy western civilization?

Another disturbing trend during Biden’s reign was the general wimpification of troops during basic training due to bans on traditional discipline standards.  This included the removal of harsh drilling methods like the “bay toss” and the “shark attack”.

But the restrictions were not limited to training regiments.  Profanity was also banned in multiple battalions, with threats of a “4 strike” response should anyone, including drill instructors, insult or offend another soldier.  One such ban was initiated at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri after Trump took office and word apparently reached Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has made it his personal mission to eliminate the weakness left behind by Biden.

The order was immediately reversed, and Hegseth is talking about bringing back original discipline methods.  

“It starts at basic training. It starts at our military academies,” Hegseth said during an appearance on “The Will Cain Show.”

“We are going back to basics. Drill sergeants will be drill sergeants with knife hands who ensure, who maintain good order and discipline and train up great recruits who will make great formations. Just like we need military officers with that same rigorous discipline and background. So, we’re going back to the basics, and it’s bearing fruit.”

The explanation for getting rid of these standards was less than logical.  Taking a large group of 18-year-olds, most of them living a first-world life of ease, rarely dealing with any discipline during their childhoods under helicopter parents that protected them from every potential scrape and scratch, and then trying to get them ready for war in 10 weeks?  This is an impossible task without using some extreme training methods.

DoD shills like the Sergeant Major in the interview above seem to miss the entire purpose of building mental toughness.  Enduring combat conditions requires emotional control and the ability to shut off panic reactions at will.  Many young recruits have never in their lives dealt with struggle or crisis, mental or physical.  Recreating these conditions in a safe environment requires that instructors “act mean” so that those same trainees don’t lose their composure and die easily in the field if they are ever deployed. 

Furthermore, most current serving personnel and veterans treat the “shark attacks” of basic training as a right of passage and few if any have anything negative to say about the experience.  The erasure of these long respected standards suggests that the Biden Admin and their lackeys were actively attempting to sabotage the training process. 

With Biden’s exit, recruitment has surged.  The US Army met its quotas 4 months ahead of schedule.  The Navy met its active duty goal and the Air Force increased its quotas as volunteers flooded in.  The media tried to dismiss this trend back in April, claiming that it was Biden’s funding incentives that led to the jump in volunteers and that Trump was trying to take credit. 

This is nonsense.  Biden’s presidency sunk recruitment levels to dangerous lows.  Democrat DEI policies were a cancer; their covid mandates and hostility against conservatives didn’t help.  It’s not hard to figure out why Americans are suddenly lining up to join the military – The cancer is gone.