When I began basic training in the USAF back in the early 1970s, just like every young man or woman in every military branch, I was taught our military was controlled by the President of the United States. It was a brief lesson. He is the Commander-in-Chief.  He outranks the highest-ranking general who ever lived. Civilian control of the military is unquestionable, there is no debate, no argument. Repeat it back. Don’t ever forget it. Moving on…

Imagine my surprise, all these years later, when I saw this:

Graphic: X Screenshot

OK, you got me. Considering the current state of our military, and the arguably treasonous antics of the Former Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, I wasn’t in the least surprised. Disgusted, alarmed, ticked off, sure. But wow! When you’ve lost Vindman…

Graphic: Twitter Screenshot

Let’s give it the kindest possible interpretation and assume—I know; I know—the current Chairman really means he’s prepared to take Donald Trump’s orders and faithfully carry them out, and if he can’t, immediately resign which is the only course an honorable officer has when he can’t carry out the orders of his superiors. Considering the current Chairman is General Charles Q Brown, the kindest interpretation is surely wrong.

I last wrote about Brown in June of 2023 in Charles Brown: More Woke Than Milley?  The answer is “yes,” more woke than one can easily imagine. Brown is arguable a racist, and has played a significant role in hastening the woke deterioration of our military.

During the Black Lives Matter riots, inspired by the death of George Floyd, Brown posted a You Tube video where he first identified himself by rank and position, and then, in uniform, angrily discoursed on race, offering diversity and inclusion as a goal. One other thing everyone in uniform is taught early and often is you never, ever, and particularly never in uniform or identifying yourself as a military member, engage in politics. For a general officer to do this is among the most grievous offenses one can make, but he did it during the Harris/Biden Administration, so Biden made him the Chairman.

Graphic: YouTube Video Screenshots

Brown has always been ready to see racial slights where they don’t exist:

What horrible acts of oppression did one of the most powerful men in the military experience that made him turn on America? In his own words to People Magazine, ‘When you get to senior levels, you have reserved parking spots around the base. I was in civilian clothes, I parked in a spot and someone came out and said, ‘That slot is reserved for the Pacific Air Force’s Commander.’ And I go, ‘Yeah, I know, because I am the Pacific Air Force’s Commander.’

In that incident, Brown was apparently in civilian clothing and new to the assignment. One would think he would appreciate his airmen looking out for the perks of the new Pacific Air Force Commander, but instead, he reflexively saw racism.

Brown also presided, as Chief of Staff of the Air Force, over the publishing of ‘one of the most shocking and destructive racist documents ever produced by the modern military.’

…that document, available here, establishes ‘officer quotas set by race and gender’:

Similar quotas had been issued by political appointees in a politically correct military, but they had focused on slowly boosting minority officers rather than calling for a purge of white men.

The 2014 quotas had looked for an 80 percent white, 10 percent black and 8 percent Asian officer corps. While choosing officers by any racial category rather than merit is racist, wrong and illegal under civil rights legislation, this fell short of Brown’s proposed racist purge.

Brown’s quotas limit the number of white officers to 67% and cut white men down to 43%.

Racial quotas are blatantly unconstitutional. The law is absolutely clear on that point, yet Brown’s actions suggest he thinks himself above the law and the Constitution. Brown’s Air Force tenure also directly affected readiness:

The F-35A rate fell from 76% to 68% from 2020: the year that the Air Force went woke, endorsed Black Lives Matter and forced racial struggle sessions on its officers.

In 2022, the rates fell to an outrageous 54%. That’s barely 1 in 2 available planes. In a major war, rates like these mean we would lose and hundreds of thousands of our people could die.

Politico is worried about Brown:  

Defense officials are getting anxious about the possibility of the incoming Trump administration firing Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. C.Q. Brown, due to perceptions that he is out of step with the president-elect on the Pentagon’s diversity and inclusion programs.

They ought to be, because Trump, and his Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth have made clear there aren’t going to be any “diversity and inclusion programs” in the military, and Brown is used to illegally spouting off in public about such things. Hopefully Trump will soon make clear the proper place and deportment for generals in the US Military.                                                  

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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.