[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 575 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 575
Urging the House of Representatives to restore the Department of
Defense's superior warfighting principles of recruiting, assigning,
training, promoting, and retaining personnel solely based on merit and
ensuring such personnel maintain and display a warrior ethos and
crediting Florida legislature for passing the Florida Senate Memorial
SM 1382.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 3, 2023
Mr. Steube submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on Armed Services
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Urging the House of Representatives to restore the Department of
Defense's superior warfighting principles of recruiting, assigning,
training, promoting, and retaining personnel solely based on merit and
ensuring such personnel maintain and display a warrior ethos and
crediting Florida legislature for passing the Florida Senate Memorial
SM 1382.
Whereas the House of Representatives credits Florida legislature for passing the
Florida Senate Memorial SM 1382;
Whereas the United States became the world's greatest warfighting nation shortly
after its founding, a fact clearly demonstrated in the 1900s and early
2000s through its engagement in two World Wars and several other
military campaigns throughout the globe, establishing a deterrent effect
that has prevented another World War for almost 80 years;
Whereas the United States military dominance in warfighting came about through
reliance on the concept of meritocracy, in which personnel are
recruited, assigned to specialties, assigned to positions within a unit,
retained, and promoted based on their demonstrated aptitude and
performance in the roles they are assigned to perform, regardless of
their race, gender, sexual preference, or other person-centric
identifiers;
Whereas the United States military dominance in warfighting also came about
through the ability of personnel to have and maintain a warrior ethos,
one in which they are able to transition from being a kind,
compassionate individual in peacetime to one who is willing and able to
engage an enemy in battle with violence and lethality, and this includes
support personnel who may not typically be called upon to engage the
enemy face-to-face but nonetheless may find themselves in situations
that require them to do so;
Whereas, over the past several years, the Department of Defense and its military
services have engaged in various practices eroding these warfighting
principles to the point at which United States military dominance has
been called into serious question, which practices include, but are not
limited to--
(1) overemphasizing and relying on diversity and inclusion in all its
forms, including gender, gender identity, race, and sexual preference, as a
primary determinant in how military forces should be comprised without
providing credible and verifiable evidence that such a prescribed
composition results in higher job performance, unit effectiveness, and
mission accomplishment, as opposed to a model in which a meritocracy-based
force composition is used;
(2) making nonsensical ``unconscious bias'' training mandatory for all
military and civilian personnel;
(3) instituting mandatory ``emergency use only'' COVID-19 vaccines with
little regard to individual medical concerns in light of the anthrax
vaccine mandate problems of the late 1990s and denying almost all requests
for exemptions based on religious grounds, which is particularly troubling
given the recent decision by the Department of Defense to rescind the
COVID-19 vaccine mandate; and
(4) requiring mandatory training at the United States Air Force Academy
to incorporate ``person-centered'' and gender-neutral language when
describing individuals and to request cadets to consider using the term
``parent'' or ``caregiver'' rather than ``mother'' or ``father'' as to not
offend those that may come from a different parenting background;
Whereas such practices are having a detrimental effect on recruitment, as the
United States Army was 15,000 soldiers short of its 2022 recruiting
goals, the worst on record since the Armed Forces switched to an all-
volunteer force nearly 50 years ago, and the remaining branches of the
Armed Forces are well behind their historic goal rates as they enter
into the 2023 recruiting season;
Whereas recent studies have found that most young Americans are not fit for
military service, with the Department of Defense estimating that just 2
percent of 17- to 21-year-olds have the desired combination of strong
academic credentials, adequate physical fitness, and an interest in
serving;
Whereas the combination of an incapable and uninterested recruiting age group
and nonmerit-based practices calls into serious question whether the
United States military currently has a sufficient number of members who
hold a warrior ethos needed to effectively engage an enemy; and
Whereas those with the necessary warrior ethos currently serving in the United
States military are more likely to leave service, and those with the
necessary warrior ethos before entering into service are more likely to
refrain from enlisting as they discover the composition and practices of
the armed services as outlined herein: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) prohibits the use of such ``woke'' social engineering
and experimentation practices, which are eroding military
effectiveness, and to mandate a return to a merit-based system
for military force development and composition; and
(2) credits Florida legislature for passing the Florida
Senate Memorial SM 1382.
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