Veterans say Pentagon’s anti-DEI overhaul could hurt recruitment efforts with minority groups

By Nicquel Terry Ellis, CNN

(CNN) — US Navy veteran Bobby Jones comes from a family of military service members, including his grandfather, who served in the Korean War.

The military, he said, has traditionally been a path to economic prosperity and a source of patriotism within the Black community. Jones, who served from 2001 to 2023, said his wife is also a Navy veteran.

But due to the Trump administration’s recent actions against diversity programs, the dismissal of high-ranking minorities in the military, and the removal of web pages celebrating the historic achievements of people of color, Jones said he is advising his two daughters not to enlist.

“I think the message that the current administration is sending to Black and brown people is, ‘You need not apply,’” said Jones, who is also the president of the nonpartisan Veterans for Responsible Leadership. “But what they don’t understand is that you cannot have a military today numbers-wise without minorities and women.”

Jones isn’t alone in those sentiments.

Veteran advocates, historians and families across the country say Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s efforts to end diversity, equity and inclusion in the armed forces will hurt recruitment efforts in Black and brown communities, as well as among women.

Black Americans make up 19% of active-duty military enlistments, and women make up roughly 17%. Critics argue that Hegseth’s anti-DEI stance in the military is creating an environment that is unwelcoming and discouraging for anyone who isn’t a straight White male.

‘People don’t want to join a military that erases their ancestors’

The Trump administration has recently faced backlash for purging Pentagon website pages that featured thousands of photos and articles about contributions made to the military by women, LGBTQ+ individuals, people of color and historical figures. Notably, the stories of Jackie Robinson, who served in World War II, and the Navajo Code Talkers were removed but later restored following public outcry.

Gregory Daddis, a historian and trustee for the Society for Military History, said the removal of historical pages on the Pentagon website is “unprecedented” and has been handled in a “haphazard manner.” Daddis said it’s unclear how this action adds value to the military.

“I think what this larger effort is failing to ask is, how is this process that we are seeing unfold really increasing the war fighting capabilities and lethality of our armed forces?” he said. “I’m not seeing the connection here.”

Daddis said he understands why some Black and brown families don’t want their sons or daughters to enlist in the military when the contributions of people who look like them are being erased and diversity-focused programs are being eliminated.

He also noted that the US Military Academy at West Point has recently banned affinity clubs, including the National Society of Black Engineers and the Society of Women Engineers Club.

“These decisions are steeped far more into our current culture wars than military effectiveness or a vision for the future,” Daddis said.

Lindsay Church, executive director of Minority Veterans of America, agreed that the Trump administration’s attack on diversity will affect recruitment and demoralize minorities already serving.

The administration, Church said, is making it harder for women, LGBTQ+ people and Black Americans to have any sense of belonging in the armed forces.

“People don’t want to join a military that is hateful,” Church said. “People don’t want to join a military that erases their ancestors. I’m third-generation Navy … and hell will freeze over before I let my child join the military at this point.”

A ‘culture of callousness’

The Trump administration recently fired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Q. Brown, the second Black man to serve as America’s most senior general, and Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the chief of the Navy and the first woman to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Additionally, President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning transgender service members, a move that a federal judge blocked last week. Hegseth also claimed that standards have previously been lowered for women in the military.

Jones said Trump has fostered a “culture of callousness” in the military, prompting some potential recruits and their families to reconsider their plans to enlist.

He worries that if young minorities join under the current administration, they won’t be valued and will lack a path to advancement within the ranks.

“If they do a great job where they should get promoted, they could literally be limited in those opportunities based on that culture and the bias that has been injected into the military,” he said.

Richard Brookshire, CEO and co-founder of the Black Veterans Project, said many of the systems being dismantled in the military were created to improve the racial climate.

He noted that the US armed forces have a deep history of racism. Brookshire believes the aggressive mandate to dismantle DEI is a backlash against Black Americans who have risen to leadership positions in the military.

“The Department of Defense is still very much a White boys’ club,” he said. “Especially when you get into some of the more elite branches of the military and Black folks are locked out of those opportunities. Now it’s only going to get worse.”

Still, Brookshire said he doesn’t anticipate a mass exodus of Black people from the military.

“History has shown — especially when there’s economic decline, which we are very much experiencing — that people will look to the military as a means of escaping the environment they are in,” he said. “It’s a means of economic mobility for folks who don’t have any other real choice in front of them.”

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