Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is promising “big changes” in the military if he’s elected president. In response, a retired rear admiral and the leader of a veterans organization share their thoughts on which GOP candidate is best qualified to accomplish those changes.
At a campaign event in Columbia, South Carolina, on July 18, Mr. DeSantis revealed his “Mission First” proposal, vowing to eliminate harmful social policies from the U.S. military and to “take very swift action to right the ship.”
Mr. DeSantis is among the 10 challengers facing off against former president and Republican front runner Donald Trump to become the GOP’s nominee for president. The other candidates are former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, political commentator Larry Elder, businessman Perry Johnson, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
“They’re putting political fads over military readiness,” Mr. DeSantis said, vowing to “rip the woke out on Day One,” and to bring “major changes in all the armed services” if he becomes president.
DeSantis and the Military
Unlike Mr. Trump, Mr. DeSantis has a military background.In 2004, Mr. DeSantis, a Yale graduate, joined the U.S. Navy where he earned the rank of lieutenant and became an officer in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. He received his law degree at Harvard University in 2005.
As governor, Mr. DeSantis has done much for the military in Florida.
On June 9, 2022, he signed six bills in support of Florida’s veterans, military members, and family members in finding jobs and securing educational opportunities.
On May 26 of this year, Mr. DeSantis signed an additional 10 measures.
“I see a lot of emphasis now on political ideologies, things like gender pronouns,” he said, attributing the plummeting recruitment numbers and low morale to the introduction of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.
‘Meritocracy’ Versus ‘Quota System’
Retired Rear Adm. Charles R. Kubic agrees that the “wokeism” in the military has to go.
“It’s the whole DEI program and the whole issue of CRT and other things that are finding their way into military training,” Mr. Kubic told The Epoch Times, noting how the new system of selection and promotion within the military structure is “moving away from meritocracy towards more of a quota system.”
Critical race theory (CRT) is a quasi-Marxist framework that views the United States as systemically racist and divides people into the role of oppressed and oppressor.
Mr. Kubic once served as one of Mr. Trump’s top foreign policy advisers.
The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2024 narrowly passed in Congress on July 14 by a vote margin of 219–210.
Legacy Military Service Discouraged
Mr. Kubic noted how Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth, a civilian official within the Department of Defense, “has come out with a policy that is not in the best interest of the Army.”
She fears that such recruits will create a “warrior caste.”
All branches of the military are failing in their recruitment goals.
Mr. Kubic said there’s a systemic “lack of confidence in command at the operational and tactical level within the military” because of what they see as “a cultural war against the ethos of the war-fighting military.”
“How many people are just tired of all the political pressure that’s coming on them to live within this new woke culture?” he asked, insisting that the whole premise of woke ideology “just doesn’t mesh with the ethos we need to have war-fighting units within our military.”
‘We Will Have to Reinstitute a Draft’
Mr. Kubic agrees with Mr. DeSantis that the morale issue in the military is “a big problem right now.”“In fact, it’s such a problem that I think at some point and time someone is going to have to come out and point out that if the Army can’t meet its recruiting totals, we will have to reinstitute a draft.”
He also suggests that “a draft will require both men and women to serve.”
If the United States suffers a national emergency or enters a war that can’t be supported by the current all-volunteer military, the president and Congress have the authority to reinstate the draft and to force citizens to serve in the military.
“That’s a pretty drastic step,” Mr. Kubic conceded.
Another challenge the United States is facing is “the declining population of Americans who are physically, mentally, and emotionally fit to serve in the military.”
On Dec. 18, 2020, then-acting Secretary of Defense Christopher C. Miller announced the “Recommendations to Improve Racial and Ethnic Diversity and Inclusion in the U.S. Military” by the Department of Defense Board on Diversity and Inclusion.
Among the 15 recommendations was the suggestion to “remove aptitude test barriers that adversely impact diversity.”
DeSantis as ‘Establishment’
Over 230 retired senior military officials have endorsed Mr. Trump in his reelection campaign in a joint letter.Stan Fitzgerald, a retired police detective and president of Veterans for America First/Veterans for Trump, acknowledges that Mr. DeSantis “is a good governor” and has done a lot for the military in the state of Florida. However, he says Mr. Trump “has an established track record for running the country and he has always been good to veterans and first responders on a national level.”
Mr. Fitzgerald also told The Epoch Times that feedback from the millions of veterans and first responders who visit his organization’s website says “they are supporting President Trump” because they see Mr. DeSantis as part of the “establishment.”
While Mr. Fitzgerald conceded it “may sound slanted” that the veterans group would back the former president as their candidate of choice, he said he’s “not sure DeSantis has that kind of national support.”
Trump or DeSantis?
While commending the accomplishments of Mr. DeSantis as governor in support of Florida’s active military, veterans, and their families, Mr. Fitzgerald believes Mr. Trump will have more success in bringing necessary changes to the military because of his track record in fulfilling his promises on a national level.He noted how the accomplishments of Mr. DeSantis have come in a deep red state with super-majorities in both the state House and Senate and not a single Democrat in any state-level office. As president, Mr. DeSantis would have only a slim majority in the U.S. House and a Senate controlled by Democrats.
“Trump is the originator of the America First movement and it’s ‘Promises Made, Promises Kept,’” Mr. Fitzgerald said.
The Military Times praised Mr. Trump for following through “on his promises to America’s veterans,” particularly the Mission Act of 2018, described as “the biggest and most comprehensive VA health care reform in decades.”
“Trump keeps his word. Everything he said he was going to do he did, if it was within his power,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. “I’m not sure you will get that from Ron DeSantis.”
Mr. Kubic concurs.
“Trump would handle this in the first week,” he said bluntly.
“It would be a done deal,” he asserted, explaining that Mr. DeSantis could do it, “but it wouldn’t be done as quickly.”
“He would have a settling-in period,” in which he could “listen to opposing points of view and try to understand or figure out what to do,” Mr. Kubic explained.
The other candidates, he said, “would have a hard time figuring out how to handle this in this immense bureaucracy in the Department of Defense, particularly if they’ve never had any prior military service.”
“Trump would get it done right away. DeSantis would get it done in time. The others would struggle to get it done,” he said.
