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This evening this ole jarhead learned it’s even worse than I thought. Arguably the most iconic photograph of WWII, the raising of the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi early in the epic battle for Iwo Jima has been removed by Hegseth’s anti-DEI order. Because a Native American is one of those raising that flag! PFC Ira Hayes might have had an “Americanized” name but he was of Pima Indian heritage. So for Hegseth and his ilk that photo simply cannot be displayed. What’s next? Ordering the removal of the Marine Corps War Memorial just outside Arlington National Cemetery? Technically “Iwo Jima” (as we called it – I ran past/around it countless times back in my active duty days) is under the control of the National Park Service but Pissant Pete can make a phone call. He just might! ANY member of Congress who isn’t on the floor of the House and Senate decrying this in the strongest terms allowed should be voted out!
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Not only NO, but HELL NO! In fact F**K NO!!!! I saw an article this weekend about Arlington National Cemetery scrubbing mention of women and minorities buried at Arlington. I was appalled. So much so I couldn’t be even close to coherent. But Trump hates DEI and Hegseth hates it just as much. Only WHITE MALES are deserving of honor and recognition at Arlington and nothing that smacks of DEI is allowed. I remember thinking how much was made of JFK being the first Roman Catholic President and wondering if he too will be erased from mention at Arlington or on its website. Today my outrage is raised anew with news that in the name of ‘wiping out DEI’ mention of Code Talkers is now forbidden!
For those who don’t know Code Talkers were invaluable during WWII. In fact they’d been used in prior wars, people (mostly Native Americans) speaking in their native language to transmit crucial radio messages including during battle. I didn’t learn about them until I became a Marine – my Senior Drill Instructor was part Native American and was related to one of the Marines’ Navajo Code Talkers from WWII. Eventually their role would become better known and even set to film. Windtalkers took some historical license to be sure but “Ben” Yazzee was an actual person named William (Bill) Dean Yazzee and was only 15 when the Corps recruited him to be part of the first (test) Platoon. And yes, if you scroll down the Wikipedia link to read about the Marines Code Talkers you’ll learn they were so valuable each had a bodyguard to help look after them. Even to kill them rather than let one fall into enemy hands although in real life things never came to that.
What made Code Talkers so effective and valuable was the speed with which they could transmit vital information during battle. In thirty seconds or less vital information could be sent and decoded that would take as much as 30 minutes via machines and regular coding. As a grunt I can assure you that when calling in and/or adjusting air strikes, Naval gunfire, artillery and such the urgency with speed and accuracy is literally life and death!
But the Navajo in particular were exceptional and saved countless American lives. All in code. One thing the movie got right that while the messages were sent back and forth in the obscure (At the outset of the war there was no written version and it was estimated fewer than 30 non-Navajo could understand it – it’s complex and filled with nuance) Navajo Language. But still in code! Navajo Marines not trained in the code who heard Code Talkers might recognize a handful of unrelated words or phrases but even THEY couldn’t make any sense of it. It’s why the code was never broken. And units had these guys with them right up on the front lines.
Who the F**K are Trump and Hegseth to erase these people’s service? Hegseth (Trump too) wouldn’t have been fit to lick sh*t off the boots of one of the Code Talkers! Yet in the name of wiping out DEI that’s exactly what’s going on according to Axios. Yep, can’t be having anyone other than WHITE MALES being recognized for contributing to this country including fighting in wars! Nope. In THIS administration if you ain’t white (and male) then by god you have no right to be credited with serving, fighting and even dying in defense of this country:
Driving the news: Axios identified at least 10 articles mentioning the Code Talkers that had disappeared from the U.S. Army and Department of Defense websites as of Monday.
How it works: The Defense department’s URLs were amended with the letters DEI, suggesting they were removed following President Trump’s executive order ending federal diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
- The Internet Archive shows the deleted Army pages were live as recently as November, with many visible until February or March. None are shown with error messages until Trump took office.
The other side: Asked about the missing pages, Pentagon Press Secretary John Ullyot replied in a statement: “As Secretary [Pete] Hegseth has said, DEI is dead at the Defense Department. … We are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the directive removing DEI content from all platforms.”
As of the time I started writing this my Marine Corps still has stuff about the Code Talkers you can read. If Hegseth wants to call out the Commandant I hope General Smith tells him to f**k off. I recall General Al Grey taking over for the hapless P.X. Kelly back in the 1980s and I KNOW that’s what he would say. Then beat the living sh*t of of the punk Hegseth which is exactly what should happen. Hell, it should have happened already!
I am so sick and tired of this conservative faux outrage over “Woke” and “DEI.” If there is a hell can we PLEASE find some way to convince God and Satan to consign every one of these assholes to the very worst part of hell? Like right effing now?
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Code Talkers was in one of the books we have read recently and it was FASCINATING. I agree with you that DEI has gone WAY too far. My brother was a Marine but I expect it was after your time. He did all sorts of things.
Oh the irony about D.E.I..
When we have the most D.E.I. president possible.
An intellectually handicapped one.
Nowhere else in the world would someone with his mental disabilities have been given a chance.
Go USA!