Over the past few years, while China has been building up the world’s largest Navy, the U.S. military across all branches have been focusing on ensuring that our nation’s defense is the right shade of woke. From taxpayers supplementing service-members’ gender reassignment surgery; to the Pentagon’s Diversity and Inclusion Board, ensuring the race of the military is the right shade of brown, and representing that shade; to the Army’s “Operation Inclusion,” where graphics and fliers were sent to service-members about a variety of meetings that were taking place last summer, 2020, including one section where there was a list of “overt/covert forms of white supremacy”; to the Army’s Equity and Inclusion agency; to tweets by one Chief MSG of the Air Force on his greatest fear for other service-members being killed by white cops— fear, not of the Chinese military, but of American racism; to Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Gilday’s Navy reading list that includes debunked, anti-American books such as “How to be an Anti-Racist;” to a Space Force Commander relieved of duty after criticizing Marxism; and much more.

It comes as no surprise then that the newest Army ad, entitled “The Calling,” features the story of a girl who grew up with two moms. This comes after the CIA has been called out for its series of “woke” recruitment ads.

While some have praised this ad, as American Military News documents, other pundits haven’t been so friendly.

“We are the laughing stock of the world” is echoed throughout, not only the U.S., but the world as well. Here’s a breakdown of what some major world leaders really think of the U.S.

Here’s another tweet that applauded the ad.

It might be inconvenient to remind the country and the soldiers that defend it that, while every soldier is a vital member of the team with his/her own reasons for enlisting, the military’s first and foremost job is to defend and uphold the U.S. Constitution. The Oath of Enlistment that all incoming members are required to recite and swear upon are as follows:

I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

The purpose of this ad, of all woke ads that have found commonplace in institutions that are required to remain apolitical, is lost amongst their politically charged nature. What makes the military inclusive is that all members, regardless of their race or creed, are unified and adopted under their respective branch and military as a whole, to serve and defend the values they swore to uphold— namely, the U.S. Constitution and the freedom of America’s citizens.

Every soldier, every marine, every airmen and sailor must go through the same rigorous training, no exceptions. That it treats every trainee and member the same, and expects the same conduct and standard to be upheld, is the military’s greatest strength.  Or, at least, it used to be.

An ad like this, amongst the many other steps the military has taken to become more ‘inclusive and diverse’— terms that are never what they seem to denote— has already divided members within the ranks. The ads feel similar to the “propaganda” we receive from “woke” corporate commercials that come across as pandering to a political aisle, rather than remaining impartial in the country’s cultural dispute.

On the one hand, the effectiveness of targeting a sub-group, whose personal lifestyle and beliefs should have no influence in their ability to be a soldier, no more or less than anyone else, is unclear; on the other, it risks alienating the service-members who feel that this is a political ploy.

The U.S. military is composed of people who come from all backgrounds and life experiences; what unites them is their shared struggle and mission, and the fraternity offered by being part of something larger than themselves. While their individualities should never be the subject of discrimination, the standard they are expected, time and time again, to uphold, is a constant reminder of mutual respect, integrity, and dignity offered to their brothers and sisters in arms.

The U.S. military isn’t about being gay, straight, white or black or any other group these ads like to target. It’s about loving and serving your country. That’s what makes the military unique. Or, at least, that’s what used to make us unique.

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