On Thursday morning, only hours before the terrorist attack on Kabul Airport was widely reported across the world, the U.S. Army’s top sergeant major, who reportedly is the most senior enlisted member and advises enlistment efforts, tweeted a tribute to Women’s Equality Day and diversity in the army, prompting harsh criticism in the wake of the terrorist attack.
Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Grinston tweeted:
Diversity is a number — do you have people that don’t look or think like you in the room? Inclusion is listening and valuing those people. #Women’s Equality Day reminds us we’re smarter and more lethal when we come together as an inclusive, cohesive team. Our values demand it.
Diversity is a number – do you have people that don’t look or think like you in the room? Inclusion is listening and valuing those people. #WomensEqualityDay reminds us we’re smarter and more lethal when we come together as an inclusive, cohesive team. Our values demand it. pic.twitter.com/b72l2EcIn0
— SMA Michael Grinston (@16thSMA) August 26, 2021
The anger among Grinson’s critics was palpable:
Gunnery Sergeant U.S. Marine Corps Jessica Jane Duff: “This is what matters: 11 Marines and one Navy Corpsman killed. Americans. I’m positive hey didn’t look or hink like you, Sergeant Major. Every flag draped coffin looks the same. We have an @AfghanistanCrisis and this is your tweet. Shameful.”
This is what matters: 11 Marines and one Navy Corpsman killed. Americans.
I'm positive they didn't look or think like you, Sergeant Major. Every flag drapped coffin looks the same.
We have an #AfghanistanCrisis and this is your tweet. Shameful. https://t.co/tVYbi8ROlM
— Jessie Jane Duff (@JessieJaneDuff) August 26, 2021
Radio host Jason Rantz: “13 is a number… of the service members who were killed today in Afghanistan. The attack was the deadliest day for the U.S. military in more than 10 years. Those are numbers that matter more than your performative twitter nonsense.”
13 is a number… of the service members who were killed today in Afghanistan. The attack was the deadliest day for the U.S. military in more than 10 years. Those are numbers that matter more than your performative twitter nonsense. https://t.co/Iq3kkxZ3g0
— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) August 27, 2021
Radio host Derek Hunter: “‘How could an attack like this happen?’ Idiots like this are in charge.”
"How could an attack like this happen?"
Idiots like this are in charge. https://t.co/aKOSI1zxSA— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) August 26, 2021
The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh: “This is what our military’s leadership was worried about this morning, hours before 12 Marines were killed.”
This is what our military's leadership was worried about this morning, hours before 12 Marines were killed https://t.co/H8njYINNQS
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) August 26, 2021
In mid-June, Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who along with Texas GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw had offered an avenue for members of the military to send whistleblower complaints about “woke” efforts to transform the U.S. military, revealed some blistering complaints he had received as he questioned Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
After citing numerous examples of service members disconsolate from the “woke” incidents they cited, Cotton fired off a series of questions to Austin, including, “Should a member of the organization you lead be treated differently in violation of the Constitution, I would add, based on their sex or the color of their skin?”
Austin answered, “No, I do not believe that,” but then added, “And that is why we have diversity, equity and inclusion focus in the military,” later insisting, “I would also say that diversity, equity and inclusion is important to this military now, and it will be important in the future.”
Cotton started by saying, “Mr. Secretary, I have received, along with Congressman Crenshaw, several hundred whistleblower complaints about Pentagon extremist and diversity training. I just want to share a small selection of what your troops are saying.”
He followed by citing reports of a military history training session being replaced with mandatory training on police brutality, white privilege, and systemic racism; instructions to a member of Special Operations that “The U.S. Special Operations community is racist” ; a general officer telling an Army officer that “the entire U.S. Army is racist” ; a midshipman at the Naval Academy attesting that classmates were calling America a “fundamentally racist place” and were not challenged by school administrators; an airman saying their unit was forced into a racist exercise called a “privilege walk”; a Space Force officer saying an African-American servicemember said after the training that she would never have joined the military had she known that it was such a hotbed of racism; and a white airman who said he didn’t sign up to be indoctrinated, then filed separation paperwork.