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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 575 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

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.
                                 <all>
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