Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert said that the U.S. military is focused on pronouns and privilege as the military of China and Russia collaborate, mirroring criticism of too much emphasis on “woke” priorities.
“China is doing joint military exercises with Russia and we’re giving our armed forces classes on pronouns and white privilege,” Boebert said in a Tweet. “No punchline. Just pointing out some facts.”
Russia will host troops from China, India, Belarus, Mongolia, and Tajikistan for military exercises from Aug. 30 through Sept. 5, Reuters reported. China’s defense ministry said the participating countries plan to enhance strategic collaboration and increase their ability to respond to security threats. Russia and China conducted joint military exercises in China and joint naval drills in the Sea of Japan in 2021.
China and Russia have been conducting an increasing number of bilateral and multilateral military exercises since the mid-2000s, according to a 2021 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). These joint military exercises serve to enhance the capabilities of both sides and improve mutual reassurance. Troops from Shanghai Cooperation Organization members such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have participated.
The military exercises are a key tool for establishing bilateral defense ties between China and Russia without an official military alliance, the report said. The Chinese military, which has not engaged in a major combat operation since its involvement in Vietnam in 1979, benefits more. The report urges U.S. lawmakers to prepare for scenarios involving Sino-Russian interoperability.
Critics shared a recent U.S. Navy training video focused on pronouns as an example of the military going woke, ABC 15 News reported. The video encourages Navy members to use gender-neutral terms and explains how to respond if someone is “misgendered.”
In April, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin defended military leadership at a congressional hearing, CBS News reported.
“This is the most capable, most combat credible force in the world — it has been and it will be so going forward, [U.S. service members] are smart,” Austin said, according to the CBS article. “They are focused and they spend 99% of their time focused on defending this country and developing additional capabilities that they will need to be successful on the battlefield. So any notion that they’re woke or that our military is woke, you know, I take issue with that because it’s just not true.”
“Our military is under attack – from within,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a release. “These documents show racist, anti-American CRT propaganda is being used to try to radicalize our rising generation of Army leadership at West Point."
The U.S. military needs more than 150,000 recruits each year to account for attrition and retirement. A decreasing number of Americans are willing and able to serve, Bloomberg reported. Around 75% of Americans between the ages of 17 and 24 are ineligible because of obesity, prior drug use, mental health problems, criminal records, or the absence of a high school diploma. Only 2% of Americans between 17 and 21 meet the eligibility criteria and express an interest, the Department of Defense estimated.
