The Air Force Academy in Colorado rolled out a diversity curriculum in 2021 instructing cadets to avoid gendered language, including words like “mom” and “dad,” according to a slide presentation obtained by Fox News.
Cadets should use “person-centered” words that “include all genders,” slides for the curriculum, entitled “Diversity & Inclusion: What it is, why we care, & what we can do,” says, Fox News reported Thursday. The training program purports to emphasize the power of applying diverse perspectives toward solving problems in Air Force operations. (RELATED: ‘I Want To Understand White Rage’: Joint Chiefs Chairman Defends Teaching CRT, Rips ‘Offensive’ Criticisms Of ‘Woke’ US Military)
“Some families are headed by single parents, grandparents, foster parents, two moms, two dads, etc.: consider ‘parent or caregiver’ instead of ‘mom and dad,'” the presentation states. “Use words that include all genders … ‘partner’ vs. ‘boyfriend or girlfriend.’”
It also advises cadets to refrain from the idea of “colorblindness,” embracing “color consiousness” instead. “We see Color/Patterns AND VALUE people for their uniqueness,” it states.
One exercise involves having cadets divide into small groups and write down as many animals beginning with G as they can think of in 60 seconds, emphasizing the value of multiple inputs on a single problem.
The slides state that Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) training is a critical factor in “developing warfighters” who are “prepared to lead the USAF … with character,” Fox News reported. “Our leaders have deemed D&I a warfighting imperative,” the slides stated.
Cadets are instructed at the onset of the training to keep conversations confidential and not to “share people’s stories with their name/identifiers.”
.@GenCQBrownJr provided insight at #ASC22 during the Families in the Fight panel on how focusing on families will improve our mission readiness. pic.twitter.com/t2IbhWdNgH
— U.S. Air Force (@usairforce) September 21, 2022
“I think the Air Force should be worried about the macro-aggressions against America that are happening all over the world,” Republican Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida, a former Green Beret, told Fox News.
An August 2021 memo obtained by Fox News contained a proposal to implement the program, saying it would create “champions of dignity and respect to foster an inclusive climate in the Cadet Wing.”
Air Force and cadet leaders developed the “conversation” in the service’s Diversity & Inclusion Cadet Leadership Program to “introduce all cadets to Department of the Air Force definitions of diversity and inclusion, as well as how these concepts enhance our warfighting effectiveness,” a spokesperson for the academy told Fox News.
The memo appears to outline a parallel staff structure organized in a similar manner to the Air Force chain of command, Waltz told Fox News. He added that the separate insignia worn by D&I staff hearkened to the political commissars in Soviet and Chinese communist militaries.
“To those of us who are a little bit older, it reminds us of what the Soviets used to do or what the Chinese do today, where they literally have political commissars inserted at every level end of the chain of command, but they have a separate reporting chain to ensure that the military is abiding by their ideology and their political doctrine,” Waltz said.
“There is one chain of command in the military,” the spokesperson told Fox News.
The Air Force Academy did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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