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By Patty Nieberg
The new leaders of the Army and Air Force ordered forces worldwide to sweep out offices, programs, committees and even press releases posted on websites that appear to relate to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, widely known as DEI programs.
The memos, signed by the acting Army and Air Force secretaries, echo President Donald Trump’s executive order issued Monday that repealed all ‘DEI’ policies, communications and references across the federal government.
Army officials were instructed to remove all outward-facing media of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, or DEIA, initiatives as of 5 p.m. Jan. 23 and cancel related trainings “immediately.” Officials were also asked to report actions taken to comply with the memo.
On Thursday, the Army’s website for its Equity and Inclusion Agency was taken offline.
Some users on the Army Reddit page took to the social media platform to praise the memo’s intent while others noted that it would have limited actual impacts on troops’ everyday lives and work.
“I wish they took care of soldier issues like mold or shut-down dfacs this fast,” one user wrote, referring to problems that have propped up in recent years over mold in the barracks and dining facility quality and availability issues.
Some Reddit users pointed out the memo’s politicization in an organization with regulations that require its soldiers remain apolitical — like avoiding posting about politics online while on active-duty or at work or engaging in political acts like protests while in uniform.
The Air Force memo instructs that the service’s Barrier Analysis Working Groups be shuttered. Those working groups were tasked with identifying daily and professional barriers faced by Black, LGBTQ+, women, and other groups within the Air and Space Forces. The groups were generally made up of active duty members others who volunteered to join and were first initiated on Air Force bases during Trump’s first term in office.
Among successes widely credited to the groups include a process for Native airmen to fall under female grooming standards in order to wear longer hair; uniform updates to allow pregnant women to wear some commercially-produced cold weather gear; and the option for women to weak slacks instead of skirts with the “mess dress” uniform.
The group also helped enact policy designating on-base childcare facilities as “no hat” and “no-salute” areas — a small change that, an Air Force official told Task & Purpose last year, made life easier for many mothers during morning drop-off: “It’s hard to worry about rendering a salute when you have two kids in your hands.”
The Army memo also directed contracting offices to report DEIA-related contracts to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology.
Republicans and critics of the Biden Administration’s DEI policies have claimed that the policies are part of the military becoming “too woke” and focusing on social justice initiatives over combat readiness and training for potential conflicts. Trump’s order referred to the use of DEI policies in federal agencies as “diminishing the importance of individual merit, aptitude, hard work, and determination.”
An email template distributed across federal agencies by the Office of Personnel Management said the programs led to “shameful discrimination,” a phrase echoed in memos sent to employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs and NASA.
Proponents of DEI have argued that active programs are necessary to build a more diverse military, which has been dealing with a recruiting crisis over the last few years. Military.com reported earlier this month that the Army was able to hit its 2024 recruiting goals because of an increase in young women joining the service.
The Supreme Court echoed that view in a major 2023 case on affirmative action in college admissions. While the court struck down affirmative action admissions standards in nearly all higher education, Chief Justice John Roberts carved out an explicit exception for military service academies. Roberts argued that allowing academy admissions offices to shape a future officer corps that is demographically more similar to the enlisted corps — which has long attracted high rates of non-white servicemembers — was important to national security.
Archive
By Patty Nieberg
The new leaders of the Army and Air Force ordered forces worldwide to sweep out offices, programs, committees and even press releases posted on websites that appear to relate to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, widely known as DEI programs.
The memos, signed by the acting Army and Air Force secretaries, echo President Donald Trump’s executive order issued Monday that repealed all ‘DEI’ policies, communications and references across the federal government.
Army officials were instructed to remove all outward-facing media of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, or DEIA, initiatives as of 5 p.m. Jan. 23 and cancel related trainings “immediately.” Officials were also asked to report actions taken to comply with the memo.
On Thursday, the Army’s website for its Equity and Inclusion Agency was taken offline.
Some users on the Army Reddit page took to the social media platform to praise the memo’s intent while others noted that it would have limited actual impacts on troops’ everyday lives and work.
“I wish they took care of soldier issues like mold or shut-down dfacs this fast,” one user wrote, referring to problems that have propped up in recent years over mold in the barracks and dining facility quality and availability issues.
Some Reddit users pointed out the memo’s politicization in an organization with regulations that require its soldiers remain apolitical — like avoiding posting about politics online while on active-duty or at work or engaging in political acts like protests while in uniform.
The Air Force memo instructs that the service’s Barrier Analysis Working Groups be shuttered. Those working groups were tasked with identifying daily and professional barriers faced by Black, LGBTQ+, women, and other groups within the Air and Space Forces. The groups were generally made up of active duty members others who volunteered to join and were first initiated on Air Force bases during Trump’s first term in office.
Among successes widely credited to the groups include a process for Native airmen to fall under female grooming standards in order to wear longer hair; uniform updates to allow pregnant women to wear some commercially-produced cold weather gear; and the option for women to weak slacks instead of skirts with the “mess dress” uniform.
The group also helped enact policy designating on-base childcare facilities as “no hat” and “no-salute” areas — a small change that, an Air Force official told Task & Purpose last year, made life easier for many mothers during morning drop-off: “It’s hard to worry about rendering a salute when you have two kids in your hands.”
The Army memo also directed contracting offices to report DEIA-related contracts to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology.
Republicans and critics of the Biden Administration’s DEI policies have claimed that the policies are part of the military becoming “too woke” and focusing on social justice initiatives over combat readiness and training for potential conflicts. Trump’s order referred to the use of DEI policies in federal agencies as “diminishing the importance of individual merit, aptitude, hard work, and determination.”
An email template distributed across federal agencies by the Office of Personnel Management said the programs led to “shameful discrimination,” a phrase echoed in memos sent to employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs and NASA.
Proponents of DEI have argued that active programs are necessary to build a more diverse military, which has been dealing with a recruiting crisis over the last few years. Military.com reported earlier this month that the Army was able to hit its 2024 recruiting goals because of an increase in young women joining the service.
The Supreme Court echoed that view in a major 2023 case on affirmative action in college admissions. While the court struck down affirmative action admissions standards in nearly all higher education, Chief Justice John Roberts carved out an explicit exception for military service academies. Roberts argued that allowing academy admissions offices to shape a future officer corps that is demographically more similar to the enlisted corps — which has long attracted high rates of non-white servicemembers — was important to national security.
