U.S. Air Force Academy diversity training instructs cadets to stop using gendered terms like 'mom' and 'dad'

U.S. Air Force Academy

The United States Air Force Academy in Colorado has been instructed to use “inclusive” language in a new diversity and inclusion training, asking servicemembers to refrain from using words like “mom” and “dad.”

Details obtained by Fox News include a slide presentation from the training titled, “Diversity & Inclusion: What it is, why we care, & what we can do.” This slide presentation advises cadets to use gender-neutral language when describing individuals.

“Some families are headed by single parents, grandparents, foster parents, two moms, two dads, etc.: consider ‘parent or caregiver’ instead of ‘mom and dad,’” the presentation states. “Use words that include all genders​: ‘Folks’ or ‘Y’all’ instead of ‘guys’; ‘partner’ vs. ‘boyfriend or girlfriend.’”

“Not ‘Colorblind’ or ‘I don’t see color,’ but Color Conscious,” it adds. “We see Color/Patterns AND VALUE people for their uniqueness.”

Speaking with Fox News, Rep. Mike Waltz, a Green Beret and Afghanistan War veteran, scorned the move to alter language in the name of woke-ness. 

“It's been a tradition in the military to get letters from mom and dad or your boyfriend and girlfriend for as long as there's been a military,” Waltz said. 

“Now we're instructing every cadet entering the Air Force to not say ‘mom’ and ‘dad,’ to not say ‘boyfriend’ or ‘girlfriend,’ and this kind of drive towards gender neutrality,” he stated. “I think the Air Force should be worried about the macro aggressions against America that are happening all over the world.”

In one slide, the presentation asserts that diversity and inclusion training is critical for “developing warfighters" to be "prepared to lead the USAF/USSF with character.”

The training stated:

How can we Lift Others (motivate our teams) if we don’t know our people? How can we Elevate Performance if we don’t include people during planning and execution?​

Today we are preparing to face challenges that may not exist today. For example, Information Warfare only became a career field 7 years ago, and we stood up the Space Force in 2019. This makes our need to innovate critical. Thus, our leaders have deemed D&I a warfighting imperative.

The promotion of woke education to air force cadets is nothing new for the U.S. military and remains perfectly in line with the Biden administration’s goals for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). 

In a previous report by Rebel News,  the U.S. Army has been pushing mandatory gender pronoun training as part of changes to the Department of Defense and Army transgender service policy. The U.S. Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), tasked with confronting the Chinese military, has also instituted a gender neutral language policy to promote “diversity.” 

In June, the U.S. Navy released a “preferred pronouns” video that was widely met with derision online.