DEI fallout
As so often happens, good intentions lead to bad results. In this case, the administration’s de-emphasis on DEI is creating ancillary damage. Sort of a diversity version of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, eh?
The Air Force has removed training courses with videos of its storied Tuskegee Airmen and the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs — the female World War II pilots who were vital in ferrying warplanes for the military — to comply with the Trump administration’s crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
The problem may not be with the historical videos themselves, but that they were used in Air Force basic military training DEI coursework. However, the lack of clearer guidance has sent the Air Force and other agencies scrambling to take the broadest approach to what content is removed to make sure they are in compliance.
So which is it? Was the original order so vague that it left the Air Force no choice but to eliminate anything that smacks of DEI whether it is significant history or not? Or is this a deliberate move by some senior AF folks to try and obstruct the administration’s wishes… a uniformed “so you think you’re so smart, see what you think of this” finger to the policy makers? Here is a bit of relevant text from the order:
Sec. 2. Implementation. (a) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), assisted by the Attorney General and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), shall coordinate the termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear. To carry out this directive, the Director of OPM, with the assistance of the Attorney General as requested, shall review and revise, as appropriate, all existing Federal employment practices, union contracts, and training policies or programs to comply with this order. White House.gov
You can read the full text of the executive order at the link provided. Me, I’m reminded of the old military saw about the regimental run at 8AM, and how as the commander’s order filters down through the ranks the time keeps getting earlier and earlier until the first sergeants are dragging the troops out at 4AM. Hope the Air Force realizes there is a difference between proud history and meaningless social ‘equality’ nonsense, and reinstates the history accordingly.
Monday edit: As many know, I tend to write columns in clumps a couple of days in advance – this one was done Sunday. The Monday Jeff LPH sent me this:
The Air Force is reinstating a basic training class Monday that was suspended last week for revisions, with its materials on World War II-era Black and female pilots intact but diversity, equity and inclusion components removed.
Apparently they indeed tossed the infant – they pulled the entire DEI course of instruction and didn’t really mean to delete the historic bits. Yep.
A revised class on “airmindedness” is going into place Monday, Lt. Gen. Brian Robinson, head of Air Education and Training Command, said in a Sunday statement. That class will include material on the Tuskegee and WASP pilots. Air Force Times
Well, it took them a few days and Congressional outcry (see Fox News for more info )to reverse the earlier decision, which doesn’t seem to support the “oh, this was routinely and smoothly handled and nobody need be upset” line the Air Force brass are pedddling. That finger I mentioned earlier – well, let’s just say it may have been erect. Wonder who’s going to wind up in charge of the proverbial rubber dog shit flights?
Category: Air Force
