The U.S. Navy relieved an officer who was once photographed firing a weapon with an attached scope facing the wrong direction from the command of a missile destroyer ship on Friday.
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Diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory topics now pervade U.S. Armed Forces educational trainings and programs, according to newly published research.
The recent report out of Arizona State University’s Center for American Institutions detailed the extensiveness of DEI training throughout the branches of the military and military academies, as well as highlighted an increasing budget for DEI training.
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At least two Chinese surveillance ships kept a close eye on U.S. Navy ships conducting military drills just outside of Philippine territorial waters in the South China Sea, according to media reports Monday.
U.S., Philippine and French warships initially set off from Puerto Princesa, the Philippines, on Thursday to complete the maritime component of the Balikatan 2024 military exercises, U.S. Naval Institute News reported. Once they entered international waters of the South China Sea to which Beijing has laid claim on Saturday, two People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) warships were spotted stalking the multilateral formation within a few nautical miles, multiple outlets reported.
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U.S. Navy recruited more sailors through the first quarter of fiscal year 2024, which ended in December, than in the same period for five years prior, Navy Vice Adm. Richard Cheeseman, the chief of naval personnel, said Wednesday, according to USNI News.
The Navy brought in 11,282 future sailors through December of 2023, Cheeseman said, compared to just 4,882 active duty sailors in 2022 and 7,233 the year before, according to public data from the Department of Defense (DOD). Cheeseman predicted the Navy once again would miss its recruiting goal by the end of this fiscal year but noted that the service performed better than expected in 2023, hoping 2024 would bring a similar surprise, according to USNI News.
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Several 2024 Republican primary candidates laid out their plans to strengthen and increase the size of the U.S. Navy if president in statements to the Daily Caller News Foundation after the third GOP debate moderators pressed contenders on the topic.
Some Republican candidates have criticized President Joe Biden for allowing the Navy to atrophy in recent years as China’s military threat to the U.S. grows, pledging to strengthen the fleet should they become president in comments to the DCNF. The 2024 hopefuls explained how they would overcome weaknesses in the industrial base, recruiting and overall strategy to reverse the Navy’s decline.
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The Navy and Marine Corps are bumping up enlistment bonuses for people looking to fill highly technical occupations as the military battles to find sufficient numbers of new recruits.
The Marine Corps announced recruits joining the cyber and crypto operations enlistment field would get up to an extra $15,000 for the remainder of fiscal year 2023, the largest enlistment bonus currently being offered, according to a memo posted Monday. Service officials have attributed recent recruiting struggles to a historically low number of Americans who are both eligible to serve and express an interest, as well as intense competition and often better-paying, less demanding offers from the private sector.
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In a strong rebuke Thursday to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the president of the nation’s prominent Catholic civil rights organization charged that the U.S. Navy is continuing to use “the policies of the far-left, the woke brand of politics,” in its recent drag queen digital campaign supposedly intended as a recruitment strategy.
Bill Donohue of the Catholic League wrote to General Mark Milley, condemning the scandal of the Navy’s acknowledgment the service branch has recruited Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley, a sailor who “misidentifies,” as Donohue states, as “non-binary,” and who performs as a drag queen, to serve as a “digital ambassador” in a pilot program geared toward attracting young recruits.
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China on Sunday threatened to respond after the United States shot down a suspected spy balloon that flew over sensitive military sites while U.S. armed forces are currently recovering the aircraft.
“China will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the company concerned, and reserves the right to make further responses if necessary,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has insisted the balloon was a civilian research airship that went off course, said.
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After the 2020 summer of riots, the U.S. Navy’s Chief of Naval Operations stood up Task Force One Navy (TF1N) on July 1, 2020. After a six-month effort, the final 142-page report was submitted on January 28, 2021 Its two operating assumptions are, first, that the Navy, as an institution, is systemically racist, and, second, that “Mission readiness is stronger when diverse strengths are used and differing perspectives are applied.” Notwithstanding several key military principles—such as unit cohesion, strict discipline across the chain of command, and, well, uniforms—the Navy is now ideologically committed to the mantra that “diversity is strength.”
Not surprisingly, considering the key entering assumptions, the task force report identified problems with Navy systems, climate, and culture; and submitted almost 60 recommendations aligned with four lines of inquiry: Recruiting, Talent Management/Retention, Professional Development, and Innovation and STEM (as well as a fifth line for miscellaneous recommendations).
One should be skeptical, however, about the entire exercise and the recommendations that flow from it. It inaccurately depicts the proud institution of the United States Navy as systemically racist—a slander that has more potential to undermine morale, good order, discipline, and military effectiveness than any geostrategic adversary.
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On Thursday, the United States Navy announced its intentions to discharge any and all sailors who have not yet taken the coronavirus vaccine, according to Fox News.
The Navy’s press release on the matter declares that November 14th is the final deadline for sailors to receive the vaccine, while the deadline for reservists is December 14th. In addition to being discharged, sailors who refuse to get the vaccine may also lose some of their veterans’ benefits.
“Those separated only for vaccine removal,” the statement reads, “will receive no lower than a general discharge under honorable conditions. This type of discharge could result in the loss of some veterans’ benefits.” In addition, the statement said that the Navy “may also seek recoupment of applicable bonuses, special and incentive pays, and the cost of training and education for service members refusing the vaccine.”
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