Defiant Gen. Milley insists claims of wokeness in U.S. military 'grossly overexaggerated'

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley claimed accusations that the U.S. military has become woke are "grossly overexaggerated" during a recent CNN interview.

The military leader, who once famously claimed he had been studying critical race theory and concepts of "white rage," stressed to the news network that the U.S. armed forces have continued to be focused on "readiness," especially in light of Russia’s war in Ukraine, and potential conflict with China. 

He insisted that the military has not been preoccupied with instilling progressive values in its personnel.

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Milley provided his comments to CNN Pentagon Correspondent Oren Liebermann in an interview aired Monday evening, during which he mentioned the threats of Russia and China and downplayed the idea that the U.S. armed forces have become woke under his watch.

Milley, whose term as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff is ending soon, began by mentioning his belief that Ukrainian forces "are very well prepared" for a counteroffensive against Russia that is imminent. 

The general noted that the country is dealing with an "existential" threat in its war with Russia and touted the training and resources the U.S. and the rest of the world have supplied to the eastern European nation. 

He also talked about the growing tensions between the U.S. and China, claiming he believes that though the U.S. is "arguably in a confrontation" with China, it’s not inevitable that there will be a conflict between the two superpowers. 

"I personally don’t think that war between China and the United States is inevitable, I don’t think it’s imminent, but it needs to stay in a status of competition," he said, adding, "in order to do that, countries have to talk to each other."

In the end, he stressed that the U.S. was prioritizing "readiness" against these threats and not prioritizing "woke" indoctrination of its soldiers as many critics have suggested. 

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He told Liebermann, "We’re about fighting and winning on battlefields, and we’re all about readiness. We’re all about readiness now and readiness in the future, modernization. I think the accusations of woke are grossly overexaggerated."

Milley prompted concerns that the military may be promoting woke curriculum to its personnel back in 2021, when he claimed that he himself was learning about "White rage," in order to have "situational understanding" of factors that may have led to the January 6 Capitol riot.

However, at the time, he slammed critics for pointing to his statements as evidence of wokeness in the military, saying, "I personally find it offensive that we are accusing the United States military, our general officers, our commissioned, non-commissioned officers of being, quote, ‘woke’ or something else, because we're studying some theories that are out there."

More recently, the U.S. Navy using drag queens as official recruiting tools prompted new fears among conservatives that wokeness has propagated within the military. 

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Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., spearheaded criticism of the Navy’s drag queen recruitment in May, saying, "My concern is that our new national obsession with sexuality, race and gender is focused on self rather than on purpose, ability or service. I spent 40 years recruiting young men to play football. What the Navy is doing isn't a good recruiting strategy."