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Nuclear Base Focuses on Diversity, Fails Nuclear Inspections

Nuclear Base Focuses on Diversity, Fails Nuclear Inspections
You can’t nuke China unless you have diversity at a base in North Dakota.
By Daniel Greenfield

Every July, Minot Air Force Base, the only one to contain two ‘legs’ of the nuclear triad, celebrates ‘Diversity Day’. Held at the Jimmy Doolittle Center, named after the hard-charging Air Force pioneer who led the first air raid into Japan after Pearl Harbor, Diversity Day showcases “many different cultures along with other diversities such as religion and disabilities” representing the various cultures at Minot Air Force Base.” Jimmy would not approve.

A culture notably absent from the Diversity Day festivities at Minot is a culture of competence.

Two Air Force commanders have been fired after their units failed nuclear surety inspections. Another four of their subordinates also went out the door. Firings have become common at Minot AFB which maintains a unique status in the nation’s defense and in the botched leadership that focuses on diversity and political correctness over national security.

The chain of disasters was kickstarted in 2014 when the commander of the 741st Missile Squadron at Minot AFB was forced out over allegations that he had discriminated against pregnant women. Afterward, the “ball began rolling on Minot’s diversity program”.

“I believe that President Obama said it best when he stated, ‘our nation derives strength from the diversity of its population,” Senior Master Sgt. Neil Armstrong, the first black man to occupy his position, claimed. He warned that, “implementation of the Air Force diversity policy is the responsibility of everyone. Moreover, diversity is critical for successful operations in the international community.” Apparently you can’t nuke China and any other parts of the international community unless you have diversity at a base in North Dakota.

Press releases were filled with woke buzzwords like “accountable and sustained diversity effort”.

In 2018, Lt. Col. Paul Goossen returned from leading a successful bombing campaign against ISIS and the Taliban only to be forced out from his position because his “air crew members had a habit of drawing crude stick figures with penises” on the bombs they were dropping.

This wasn’t because they were an offense to morals or values, but because they contributed to an “inappropriate work environment”. Goosen was a respected leader whose subordinates believed that he “emphasized taking care of each other” and focusing on the mission.

Instead of battling the cartoons and the “culturally insensitive phrases”, Goosen had “focused on the mission and unspecified new threats” and was “halfway relieved” that the airmen were releasing stress in a harmless way instead of engaging in serious misconduct. None of the women present were actually offended. One had even drawn her own cartoon.

It’s unknown what the “culturally insensitive phrases” involved, but they likely targeted the Muslim terrorists who were being bombed.

Meanwhile, much more seriously, a colonel at Minot who was relieved of command after losing a machine gun and hand grenades, but was moved to a leadership position at Air Force Special Operations Command. At least his men and women hadn’t been culturally insensitive.

Since then, Charles Q. Brown, who claimed to be the victim of racism because someone questioned his parking spot, became the Air Force Chief of Staff. In a speech in which he “seemed to barely contain his rage”, he ranted “that the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution ‘that I’ve sworn my adult life to support and defend’ have not always delivered ‘liberty and equality’ to all.”

In 2021, Brown visited Minot AFB and spent his time reviewing the new female body armor at a base that maintains the missiles and bombers that can destroy portions of the planet.

“I’m grateful for the feedback Airmen have given us on this new Female Body Armor,” Brown recited in sentences composed entirely of meaningless buzzwords. “Being a diverse and inclusive force won’t work if we don’t have meaningful, sustainable and lasting change – that change starts with Airmen sharing their perspectives and leaders who listen.”

Biden nominated Lt. Gen Anthony Cotton to serve as head of United States Strategic Command.

“Here I am as a lieutenant general in the United States Air Force,” Cotton had falsely claimed to Air Force Magazine. “When I see what happened to Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks—and the list goes on and on… That could be me.”

The man in charge of the nation’s nukes didn’t like it very much.

Cotton had formerly been in charge of ICBMs at Malmstrom Air Force Base which has had a string of problems. But he claimed that “diversity, inclusion are tools for national defense” and that diversity is a “warfighting imperative”.

The new commander of the 91st Missile Wing announced that, “we’ve launched the diversity and inclusion task force” to begin “raising awareness”. That’s not what the 91st is actually tasked with launching. Although DEI might be arguably more deadly than the ICBMs.

“Having a Diversity and Inclusion Council to make sure we are addressing the issues with discrimination whether you are talking racial or otherwise,” the Minot Air Force Base commander explained.

The most significant thing about the test launch of a Minuteman III ICBM at Minot was the “diverse team” launching it. The press release included quotes from the female team, one of whom gushed that, “the 10th Missile Squadron is the most diverse organization I’ve ever been a part of, having grown up and attended school in largely homogenous areas. Mere exposure to a diverse group of others has helped me improve my leadership skills and perspective on life.

The press release mentioned diversity 20 times, it never mentioned why there are ICBMs or that in a world war, the team might be expected to take part in the deaths of millions of people.

There’s no diversity training for that.

Minot AFB went on celebrating black, Hispanic, Asian, Women’s and Indian heritage months while the base had a serious problem. That problem has now resulted in the ouster of six officers. While the details are still vague, it apparently involved a “non-compliant vehicle and equipment safety inspection” where “the non-compliance had been there for a while.”

While Minot AFB’s leaders were focused on complying with diversity and inclusion mandates and making sure that there were no bombs with “culturally insensitive phrases” falling on terrorists, the underlying problems that had been there all along, including in 2013 when the 91st Missile Wing scored a ‘D’ on ICBM launch operations and pulled 17 personnel who were on watch to launch missiles and nuke parts of the planet. All the diversity efforts had fixed nothing.

“Diversity is the one true thing we all have in common,” a Minot AFB slogan reads.

Diversity is the thing we have least in common. Unity is created by serving a common mission. At Minot and across much of the military, that sense of mission has been swamped by the same identity politics that has corrupted civilian life. The solution to Minot AFB’s problems was regaining its sense of purpose. Instead the brass pushed diversity as the answer to everything.

“A diverse and inclusive environment ensures that not only the mission is accomplished, but a high degree of excellence is reached as well,” Minot AFB’s press releases claim. The mission isn’t accomplished and the high degree of excellence is also absent. Diversity killed the mission.

And all of that is in the absence of a world war.

The men who have to be ready and willing to do the unthinkable for their country need to know what they believe in and what they are fighting for. Are they fighting for diversity or for America?

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