Rep. Mike Gallagher Blasts ‘Insane’ DOD Gender-Neutral Policy: Wasting Time on ‘Wokeness Instead of Warfighting’

Wisconsin Republican Mike Gallagher blasted an “insane” gender-neutral policy adopted recently by the Defense Department, describing it as a choice to “waste time and resources on wokeness instead of warfighting,” while calling upon the Pentagon to be “laser-focused on lethality, not pronouns.”

On Friday, Gallagher released a statement in response to a recently enacted DOD policy stripping gendered pronouns from awards honoring the men and women who serve in our Armed Forces and replacing them with gender-neutral language.

“The Secretary of the Air Force stated that our military is ‘not as ready as we need to be’ to face the challenge posed by the Chinese Communist Party. Yet, amid this challenge and compounding military recruiting and budget crises, the Pentagon has once again chosen to waste time and resources on wokeness instead of warfighting,” he stated. 

Gallagher, who serves as the Republican chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, continued by denouncing the “insane” decision of the Department to strip gendered pronouns (‘he’ and ‘she’) from “awards honoring the brave men and women who dedicate their lives to this country.” 

“Instead they require all awardees, regardless of preference, to be reduced to a gender-less, collective ‘themselves’ — substituting grammatical error for honor,” he stated.   

Noting that House Republicans have “raised serious concerns on the Pentagon’s growing DEI bureaucracy and its impact on recruiting,” the congressman decried the efforts of top defense officials to “repeatedly downplay these concerns and double down on these kinds of crazy policies.” 

Acknowledging that this year’s National Defense Authorization Act took steps to stop the “woke” behavior in the military — including banning critical race theory (CRT), prohibiting drag shows, protecting parents’ rights, and preventing a military ‘Green New Deal,’ Rep. Gallagher called for more to be done “to ensure the Pentagon is laser-focused on lethality, not pronouns.”  

His remarks followed the Office of the Secretary of Defense returning the draft citation for the end-of-tour award last week for the nation’s top military officer, Gen. Mark Milley, which — due to Change 5 of the revised Department of Defense Manual — must use the pronoun “themself” instead of “him” for U.S. general’s citation.

Gallagher has long warned of the damaging effects of wokeism in the Armed Forces, describing it as a distraction from warfighting and a vital factor in driving servicemembers out of active duty “in droves.”

In December, he slammed a report recommending the Marine Corps drop gender-specific salutations for drill instructors, calling the study “insane” and warning that the continued denial by military leaders of the existence of wokeism in the Armed Forces is a matter of “life-or-death.”

Previously, he called out the military’s woke “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) agenda, criticizing military leaders for “asking us to embrace a brand of identity politics that is fashionable on the left right now, one which judges people explicitly by the color of their skin rather than on their merits as individuals.”

He also joined other Republicans in ordering a report that concluded the Navy’s top brass is more focused on wokeness and diversity training than on winning wars.

As a result, the report revealed, sailors have been left feeling unprepared to face a 21st century conflict with China.

Last year, the Navy released a training video teaching sailors to use the “right” pronouns, “show that we’re allies,” and create “a safe space for everybody,” while instructing servicemembers on how to proceed after having “misgendered” someone.

Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.