NEW TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ISSUING SWIFT ORDERS TO END WOKEISM IN OUR MILITARY 

Since January 20, 2025, President, Donald J. Trump, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have released a wave of Executive Orders (EOs), Memoranda, and other directives to strengthen morale and readiness in our military.

The Center for Military Readiness (CMR) is pleased to present this Summary of the most consequential EOs and Memoranda signed since Inauguration Day, 2025, with links for easy reference.

This comprehensive (8 page) article provides more details about directives of interest to CMR:

• CMR: DEI Wall Crumbles Under Pressure from the New Commander in Chief

Taken as a whole, these new orders from the White House and the Pentagon are doing what many people thought could not be done: End Wokeism in the Military. 

It is gratifying to see so many of CMR’s principles and recommendations reflected in these documents, but keep in mind: We have a long way to go.

Unless Trump’s Executive Orders and Directives are codified in law and faithfully implemented in regulations, subsequent administrations could redefine, circumvent, repeal, or replace them.

Our troops shouldn’t have to implement a new set of rules every time the White House changes hands.  This means that the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2026 is more important than ever.

This edition of CMR E-Notes also highlights why there is a need for long-overdue oversight on issues affecting women in combat units that attack the enemy, particularly training standards for combat arms units such as the infantry.

Recruiting numbers have improved and the political winds are behind our backs, but the time for action is short.

CMR is working hard to provide original reporting, analysis, and background information to policy makers and lawmakers who will decide what happens next. 

CMR has been honored to provide leadership in this unique field of public policy since 1993, but our funds are very low, and CMR needs financial support from people like you. 

If you support our work, please consider sending a generous tax-deductible contribution to CMR by clicking on our donation page. 

Thank you for considering this request – I hope you enjoy this encouraging edition of CMR E-Notes!

- Elaine Donnelly
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 A.     Farewell to “Woke Pork”  

 Trump Administration efforts to defund and dismantle “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) programs have sparked both acclaim and controversy, but political support is on the new President’s side. 

 For far too long, a small army of diversity officers, experts, professionals and well-paid DEI consultants have spent untold millions and wasted countless man-hours promoting divisive “critical race theory” (CRT) ideology and DEI mandates that consciously discriminate against individuals based on racial stereotypes and superficial characteristics. 

In this article last March, CMR explained Why Congress Should Codify Meritocracy in the Military and Dismantle the Pentagon’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Complex.

Like the Wizard of Oz, bureaucrats behind the DEI curtain have been using hot air, smoke, and noise to rule the Pentagon and intimidate promotable officers.  The Trump/Hegseth directives are ending persistent DoD subsidies for “woke pork” – divisive DEI and CRT programs that permeate the Pentagon and all branches of the service. 

This featured article on our website summarizes key documents and provides links:

• CMR: DEI Wall Crumbles Under Pressure from New Commander-in-Chief

For more details, see this 8-page CMR Policy Analysis, which provides more details about each White House and Pentagon directive of interest to CMR:

Policy Analysis: DEI Wall Crumbles Under Pressure from New Commander-in-Chief

Congress has yet to confirm many of the high-level Defense Department and military service officials who will be responsible to implement presidential and congressional intent to dismantle the Diversity Industrial Complex.kjlkMany Defense Department offices have moved toward quick compliance, but as the Administration anticipated, some DEI offices and programs have tried to rename and rebrand their mission to retain DoD funding.  However, Trump’s Executive Orders were written with specific definitions to avoid misunderstandings and circumvention of the law.

Constructive cultural changes are happening and CMR looks forward to more good news.

 B.     Policies Affecting Military Women Overdue for Serious Oversight

CMR has prepared updated background information on women in combat – an issue not directly addressed in Executive Orders so far but likely will be addressed in the future:

• CMR Policy Analysis: Contemporary Information About Women in Combat Policies

In 2015, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter denied a request from the Marine Corps that some units remain all-male, based on detailed research and field tests showing significant differences in the physical capabilities of male and female trainees.

Secretary Carter disregarded the facts, opened all positions to women, and repeatedly promised that training standards in units that used to be all-male would be the same for men and women.  On the contrary, years of experiments with the Army’s Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) have shown that Carter’s promises were not credible. 

Direct ground combat (DGC) units such as the infantry and Special Forces go beyond the experience of being “in harm’s way” in a war zone.  Physical requirements are greater in DGC units that attack the enemy with deliberate offensive action.

Multiple tests have shown that women and men cannot be trained with identical standards for direct ground combat units requiring extraordinary physical strength and endurance without experiencing disproportionate injuries for women and lower standards for men.

The issue is long overdue for serious discussions, since the House has not had a full hearing with independent witnesses on women in combat policies since 1979.  The Senate has not done so since 1991, in the aftermath of the Navy’s Tailhook scandal in Las Vegas.

For the sake of both men and women in the military, the Defense Department and Congress should gather objective information on what has happened since 2015.  The ACFT experiment with “sex-neutral standards” for the combat arms requires evaluation in terms of military readiness and lethality, not “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” 

In addition, Congress should reconsider reasonable legislation to ensure sex-neutral (identical) standards and evaluation requirements for trainees headed for direct ground combat arms units such as the infantry and Special Forces.

C.     Recruiting Rebounds

In recent years, most branches of the service have experienced recruiting shortages.  Prior to the confirmation of Pete Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense, some news reports claimed that a “surge” in the recruitment of women in the military was responsible for rebounding numbers in the second half of 2024:

• Military.com: Surge of Female Enlistments Helped Drive Army Success in Reaching 2024 Recruiting Goal

Excerpt: “Nearly 10,000 women signed up for active duty in 2024, an 18% jump from the previous year, while male recruitment increased by just 8%, the data shows.”

The article went on to report, “Since 2013, male enlistments have dropped about 22%, from 58,000 men recruited that year to 45,000 last year.” (2024)  Embedded in the article, however,  was another report on the same subject published last year, June 14, 2024:

• Military.com: The Army's Recruiting Problem Is Male | Military.com

Excerpt: “Since 2013, male enlistments have dropped 35%, going from 58,000 men enlisting in 2013 to 37,000 in 2023, according to service data.  Meanwhile, female recruitment has hovered around 10.000 recruits each year.”

So, if there were 10,000 female recruits in 2023 and 10,000 in 2024, where was the “surge?”  Military.com did not provide any numbers to back up the claim that female recruits have increased by 18%.  Women’s numbers have been “stable,” not surging. 

This may be due to differences in propensity to serve that were reported during a Pentagon briefing presented to the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS) in November 2024:

• Military Times: Most girls do not think they could succeed in the military: DOD data
• DACOWITS2024_Update_FemaleRecruiting_Briefing 

Pentagon officials keep forgetting that women want to serve their country, and they deserve respect and thanks for doing so.  However, numerous surveys have shown that most military women do not want to be treated as if they are interchangeable with men in the combat arms. 

D. Additional Items and Articles of Interest 

• Washington Stand: Trump Pentagon Dumps Taxpayer-Funded Abortion Travel after Tuberville’s Two-Year Fight
• Daily Caller: EXCLUSIVE: Pentagon Schools Encouraged Students To Be Left-Wing Activists, Pushed DEI On Kids And Teachers, Docs Show
• Washington  Reporter: Rep. Michael Cloud and Heritage Action EVP Ryan Walker: We Must Dismantle DEI
• The Free Press, Abigail Schreir: How the Gender Fever Finally Broke
• Washington Stand: Report Shows Pentagon Funding for DEI Content in Classrooms
• Daily Caller: EXCLUSIVE: Pentagon Schools Encouraged Students To Be Left-Wing Activists, Pushed DEI On Kids And Teachers, Docs Show
• American Wire News: Ibram X. Kendi's antiracist research center shutting down as era of CRT grifting nears end
• MSN.com: Army recruiting is up, but data show trend began before the election, current and former Army officials say
• Nate Jackson, Patriot Post: The Trump Effect: Military Recruiting Edition

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The Center for Military Readiness (CMR) is an independent public policy organization, founded in 1993, which reports on and analyzes military/social issues.  More information is on the CMR website, www.cmrlink.org.  To make a tax-deductible contribution to CMR, click here.