In addition to the weekly research I do finding news and articles for the STARRS website, I also conducted deep research for the “What Happened to Our Military” video, and do research dives for STARRS leadership when needed. I analyze and provide reports to leadership on website, mailing list and other statistics for their quarterly board meetings.

Another issued I researched stemmed from seeing comments on news articles, videos and social media from military-related people talking about how the CRT/DEI/Woke agenda in the military is affecting them. It was surprising at first and in January 2023 I began to collect some of the comments for the website because it was an insight into what military people are thinking and experiencing. I began seeing more and more of these types of comments in so many different places and continued to collect them. I keep a Word document with the comments up-to-date on this page: Evidence that the DEI/CRT agenda in the military DOES hurt recruiting and retention.

In December 2023, the DEI advisory committee to the Secretary of Defense was having a public meeting and solicited statements from the public. I formatted a document with all theses comments to submit to them–it turned out to be around 1,000 comments and 100 pages. I deliberately made it without branding or graphics to make it neutral and give full focus to the comments. The “Listen to the People” is a phrase the STARRS Chairman often uses when telling senior military leaders about the issue. Here is the document:

What Military People Are Saying (PDF)

The next month my client Matthew Lohmeier submitted this same document to Congress during his testimony at a Capitol Hill hearing. He stated, 

“I’d like to briefly draw attention to two of a handful of exhibits I have submitted for the committee’s review and for entry into the official record of today’s hearing.

THE FIRST of the exhibits is a 100-page document (see Exhibit 1) which includes real-world unsolicited feedback from military servicemembers, veterans, and parents about the consequences of this administration’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives.

It is, I imagine, merely a small part of the overall discontent and disappointment experienced by those who presently serve.

I submit it for the record because to spend even a few minutes with the document is to get a sense for the ways in which the innocuously labeled “DEI trainings” are hurting morale, dividing and distracting troops, disincentivizing Americans from service, and thereby destroying our recruiting and retention efforts.”