An active-duty Army general is blasting Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for the crackdown on DEI initiatives.
“For the Army now, it’s ‘blacks need not apply’ and it breaks my heart,” an anonymous general told Military.com. The solider has taken particular issue with Hegseth’s decision to scrap a prestigious hiring event for black engineers, calling the move “f***ing racist.”
The Black Engineer of the Year Awards, held in Baltimore, was used by the Pentagon for recruiting and to award scholarships, the Daily Mail reported.
The decision by the Army Recruiting Command to abandon the event was in response to President Donald Trump’s purge of DEI policies within the military and beyond.
Katherine Kuzminski, a military expert at the Center for a New American Security think tank in Washington, D.C., told Military.com that she can see how the public might view the event through the lens of DEI’s role in the private sector, but argues its different in the military.
“The military has been selecting on merit the whole time,” Kuzminski said. “Some people might be seeing how the civilian world has handled DEI issues and applying that view to the military, but it has frameworks in law and policy, all these interwoven standards that are rigorous and always have been rigorous.”
A top Army recruiter also echoed the general’s sentiment saying: “This is one of the most talent-dense events we do. Our footprint there has always been significant. We need the talent.”
Recruitment as a whole, however, has skyrocketed after President Trump resumed office in January so it’s unlikely that recruitment concerns would sway Hegseth who says he’s focused on “unity.”
Army recruitment is BOOMING in the first month of Trump’s term. Listen to a four-star general talk about just how thrilled he is with January’s recruiting numbers for the Army: #Military #army #recruitment pic.twitter.com/SJtjUn16gY
— Coalition for Military Excellence (CME) (@Mil_Excellence) February 3, 2025
“The single dumbest phrase in military history is our diversity is our strength,” Hegseth said at a recent town hall in response to criticism about changes in DEI policy.
“I think our strength is our unity,” he said.
“Our strength is our shared purpose, regardless of our background, regardless of how we grew up, regardless of our gender, regardless of our race.
“In this department, we will treat everyone equally. We will treat everyone with fairness. We will treat everyone with respect. And we will judge you as an individual by your merit and by your commitment to the team and the mission.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth just NAILED IT in his address to DOD personnel.
“I think the single dumbest phrase in military history is our diversity is our strength. I think our strength is our unity. Our strength is our shared purpose.”
“Regardless of our background,… pic.twitter.com/WIS1gAgl41
— George (@BehizyTweets) February 7, 2025
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