Each time my son deployed, I worried. I worried about external factors – things out of his control. An IED. A bullet from an enemy fighter. Equipment failure. Bad luck.

I never worried about who he was with. He was a SEAL. A member of an elite team. He was always with the best men the Navy could offer and they were well trained. Guys he could count on to carry their weight both physically and mentally. I knew that had he been injured, a teammate could carry him. The same applied to his ability to carry a teammate. He’s retired now, so my worry for his safety is over.

But things have changed. Our military is more concerned with hurt feelings than hurting the enemy. With complaints from grievance groups, the Army could allow women applying for combat rolls, to pick an exercise if they fail. For example, if you fail one repetition of a leg truck, you can try 2 minutes of a plank exercise.

The Air Force PT will allow for you to pick WALKING as your PT exercise.

The current Administration has made it known that diversity in arms is at the top of the priority list. We now have an Office of Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity. Organic diversity is great. Equal opportunity is a must. But meritocracy should be the only standard. Building a military based on box-checking is going to get people killed.

A recent report shows that the Navy is laden with ladder-climbers rather than war-fighters.

Said one retired senior enlisted leader:

“I guarantee you every unit in the Navy is up to speed on their diversity training. I’m sorry that I can’t say the same of their ship handling training.”

A current officer, who is a black woman gets it, and she’s worried:

“Sometimes I think we care more about whether we have enough diversity officers than if we’ll survive a fight with the Chinese navy. It’s criminal”

Most of the officers my son served with were good men. War-fighters. But he also witnessed more and more officers who were concerned with making a mistake rather than making the right choice.

Are we that far from missions being scrubbed because diversity boxes weren’t all checked?