Respect Service Women's Accomplishments

“Look, part of the whole technique of disempowering people is to make sure that the real agents of change fall out of history, and are never recognized in the culture for what they are. So it's necessary to distort history and make it look as if Great Men did everything - that's part of how you teach people they can't do anything, they're helpless, they just have to wait for some Great Man to come along and do it for them.”

​

Noam Chomsky, Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky

1. Since January 20, 2025, five of our nation’s top female military generals and admirals have been unceremoniously fired. 

a. These women are decorated leaders with decades of service: 

• Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti

• Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Linda Fagan

• Senior Military Assistant to the Secretary of Defense Air Force Lieutenant General Jennifer Short

• Defense Health Agency Director Army Lieutenant General Telita Crosland

• U.S. Military Representative to NATO Navy Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield

• Chief of the Naval Reserve Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore

​

They are joined by former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force General C.Q. Brown, who was fired with Admiral Franchetti. Firings of senior officers who fail to comply with the new political ideology are continuing. Collectively, these leaders represent centuries of military experience. With these political firings, that experience is gone. 

b. These firings trade merit and talent for a political ideology that women are presumed unqualified, and that actual skill and experience - if displayed by a woman in uniform - do not matter. This tells all women leaders that they are not wanted, and that no matter how hard they work and how skilled they are, their qualifications and leadership do not matter.

c. Finally, stripping the top ranks of the military of women makes service leadership less representative of those they lead. Including skilled, experienced leaders of different backgrounds ensures broader experiences and perspectives are represented. Good leaders understand the obstacles their people face and the expertise those they lead bring to the team. A more homogeneous cadre will be less capable of leading.

2. Since January 2025, the Trump Administration has been engaged in a systematic erasure campaign, issuing Executive Orders (EOs) directing the removal of the history, progress, and achievements of women in the military - and research regarding women in war and security operations - from websites, records, and archives. 

a. This includes the erasure of stories of the first women who attended the Academies; received the Silver Star; earned the Ranger tab; flew combat aircraft and drove combat ships; died in combat; and more. 

b. These actions rewrite history, erasing the hard work and achievements of underrepresented personnel, including women, by removing the stories of obstacles faced and overcome, historical mistakes and discriminatory practices, and hard-fought achievements that were gained through blood, sweat, tears. These actions presume that the “first” women faced no greater obstacles than the man beside them – a man whose merit and qualifications were never questioned, whose training and gear was built for him, whose superiors and mentors looked like him, and supported his success.

c. Erasing research on unit cohesion and combat leadership that includes women reduces team effectiveness. Erasing research that shows women can fight effectively on the battlefield with fitting body armor and uniforms degrades mission readiness.

d. Finally, this erasure targets recruitment and retention by depriving service women of the role models that inspire Americans of all backgrounds to join the military and fight for our nation – and telling women they are not welcome in our Armed Forces.

3. The administration has further targeted and begun to systematically dismantle clubs, activities, symposia, and conferences specifically designed for women service members. 

a. The organizations being targeted are not social clubs - they are professional development networks where female service members can be mentored and mentor others, identify and mitigate challenges, and grow professionally.

b. Organizations such as the Services’ Women’s Initiative Teams addressed the specific and different needs of female service members, identifying challenges and developing solutions such as better-fitting body armor, updated parental leave, new uniforms, and readiness-increasing pregnancy policies. 

c. For years, women in the military have fought for gear and policies that do not leave them vulnerable in combat zones - such as helmets that fit and body armor that enables women to move faster and shoot more accurately. These changes have come through the organizations targeted by this administration. Removing these organizations decreases readiness and lethality rather than increasing it.

4. These actions are not about lethality, readiness, or effectiveness - it’s about imposing a political ideology of strict gender roles that rejects women in combat despite the evidence.

​​

In our adversaries’ militaries, cultural biases and a level of homogeneity contribute to rigid thinking, corruption, and the failure to innovate. This decreases readiness and lethality and increases vulnerability in war and security.

Including women, and people of many backgrounds, at every rank ensures, not only that we can recruit and retain from across the breadth of American talent and creativity, but that our decisions are fully informed by a more comprehensive understanding of the security environment and the world within which we operate.

​

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT info@wiscimil.org