War heroes and military firsts are among 26,000 images flagged for removal in Pentagon’s DEI purge
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
WASHINGTON (AP) — References to a World War II Medal of Honor recipient, the Enola Gay aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan and the first women to pass Marine infantry training are among the tens of thousands of photos and online posts marked for deletion as the Defense Department works to purge diversity, equity and inclusion content , according to a database obtained by The Associated Press.
The database, which was confirmed by U.S. officials and published by AP, includes more than 26,000 images that have been flagged for removal across every military branch. But the eventual total could be much higher.
One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details that have not been made public, said the purge could delete as many as 100,000 images or posts in total, when considering social media pages and other websites that are also being culled for DEI content. The official said it’s not clear if the database has been finalized.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had given the military until Wednesday to remove content that highlights diversity efforts in its ranks following President Donald Trump’s executive order ending those programs across the federal government.
The vast majority of the Pentagon purge targets women and minorities, including notable milestones made in the military. And it also removes a large number of posts that mention various commemorative months — such as those for Black and Hispanic people and women.
But a review of the database also underscores the confusion that has swirled among agencies about what to remove following Trump’s order.
Aircraft and fish projects are flagged
In some cases, photos seemed to be flagged for removal simply because their file included the word ”gay,” including service members with that last name and an image of the B-29 aircraft Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II.
Several photos of an Army Corps of Engineers dredging project in California were marked for deletion, apparently because a local engineer in the photo had the last name Gay. And a photo of Army Corps biologists was on the list, seemingly because it mentioned they were recording data about fish — including their weight, size, hatchery and gender.
In addition, some photos of the Tuskegee Airmen, the nation’s first Black military pilots who served in a segregated WWII unit, were listed on the database, but those may likely be protected due to historical content.
The Air Force briefly removed new recruit training courses that included videos of the Tuskegee Airmen soon after Trump’s order . That drew the White House’s ire over “malicious compliance,” and the Air Force quickly reversed the removal.
Many of the images listed in the database already have been removed. Others were still visible Thursday, and it’s not clear if they will be taken down at some point or be allowed to stay, including images with historical significance such as those of the Tuskegee Airmen .
Asked about the database, Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot said in a statement, “We are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the directive removing DEI content from all platforms. In the rare cases that content is removed that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct components accordingly.”
He noted that Hegseth has declared that “DEI is dead” and that efforts to put one group ahead of another through DEI programs erodes camaraderie and threatens mission execution.
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I wonder if Ira Hayes is safe.
Sadly, I doubt if he is.
I suppose that while they're at it they'll try to wipe out all memory of the Codetalkers and the Tuskagee Airmen.
Pete Hegseth’s Department of Defense has marked an image of the USAAF B29 bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima for deletion—and the reason why,may be the perfect illustration of why right now really isn’t a good time to be closing the Department of Education.
That historical image was among 26,000 others that were marked for deletion as part of the DOD’s rushed efforts to weed out any traces of so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion by Wednesday, according to the Associated Press . The photograph was marked for removal because it prominently features the name of the aircraft: Enola Gay, for the pilot Colonel Paul Tibbetts’s mother.
The Associated Press published a database Thursday of thousands of images marked for deletion. While some of the photographs were still visible Thursday, it’s not clear if they will remain so. One official told the Associated Press that close to 100,000 files could be deleted as part of the Pentagon’s latest purge.
It’s not surprising that the sweep for DEI has consequently targeted the records and achievements of women and minorities in the military, removing mentions of Women’s History Month and Black History Month. One collection of images titled “Women’s History Month: All-female crew supports warfighters” saw its main page removed, though one photograph of an all-female C-17 crew remained. Another photograph titled “Engineering pioneer remembered during Black History Month” was deleted, as well.
Other photographs swept up in the purge included other service members with the last name Gay, war heroes such as Marine Corps World War II Medal of Honor recipient Private First Class Harold Gonsalves, and a photograph of a group of Army Corps biologists, who appeared to have earned their spot on the chopping block because they were collecting data about fish including, among other things, their gender.
Online, people weren’t at all impressed by the Pentagon’s thoughtless CTRL-F style of searching for woke.
Former Pentagon spokesperson Chris Meagher called the report “bonkers” in a post on X Thursday.
Rick Pearson, a political reporter for the Chicago Tribune, called the Pentagon’s purge “complete lunacy and literally an attempt to whitewash history” in a post on X.
“Republicans spent years complaining about cancel culture and then took office and banned photos of the Enola Gay because it has the word gay in it,” posted Skyler Johnson, a candidate for New York State Senate.
“These fuckers are bigots and fucking idiots too,” wrote Army veteran Fred Wellman, who hosts the podcast On Democracy .
“What a piece of shit you are @SecDef,” he added in a second post.
Emphatically. Call them what the are! Fed up to my eyeballs with bigots and effing idiots too!
Simmer down nah! They ain’t gone yet.
Hateful racial and ethnic bigots and homophobes are dividers, and have been and continue to be a bane on the unity of this country.
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Seems to me that this problem stems from a 'hater' on the right: Hegseth.
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I dont know how MAGA can rationalize or excuse this, but they are trying.
You do not see the posts, but there are precious few comments containing what might be called an argument. Mostly just taunting.
I'm shocked.
They are set in their ways.
As I have noted before, if one is dead set on defending Trump, one is at a severe disadvantage. Facts and logic fail in this endeavor so many seem to think that dishonesty and taunting is the way to go. Pretty much following Trump's modus operandi. It seems to work for him ... so I guess there is some method to this madness.
The points made in comments 1 & 2 are ludicrous and unsubstantiated.
You know it takes no effort to simply post 'nuh-uh'.
Let's see you make an argument supporting your allegation.
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So much room for interpretation here. I highly doubt pictures and references to things like the Enola Gay will really get removed. That’s not to say that some dimbulb has tagged them for removal.
Hell, if you asked most folks under the age of say 30 what Enola Gay was they probably wouldn’t know since our fine educational institutions have likely stopped teaching about it long ago.
This very likely nothing more than just triggered, wailing and gnashing teeth….
Im wondering how they are doing the searches for flagging , could it be AI or poor word search choices with little or no human supervision ?
All very likely
Would not surprise me at all. I can remember many years ago when I was working for the State Department of Health Services, we were looking for people who could program in the Paradox Application Language (PAL) as we were using Paradox as a database at the time. We received many resumes from members in law enforcement who had been active in the Police Athletics League (PAL).
I remember all the reports and outrage when some virtual signaling douchebag tried to remove all reference to the Tuskegee Airmen from the Airforce training to make some ignorant point, and when it was pointed out to them that this was obviously a Jussie Smollett they just continued on foaming at the mouth. So we now have another Jussie Smollett moment to outrage the easily duped.
A Smollett? I like that. I’ll file that right next to the “trust my bro” gambit.
Seems like they used a key word to do a search and the Enola Gay came up. More than likely each flag will get scrutinized and those that do not meet the criteria for removal will be maintained.
Much ado about nothing except to our perpetual offended "friends" on the left.
What a bunch of bigots, homophobic, clowns. Using phrases to excise real people (past and present) from the society they live in and the history they made. Bigots are sick people. . .why the hell are bigots allowed to head up the country of millions. Get a clue U.S. or you are going down. The world is getting sick of your infectious bull crap.
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Let's talk turkey (as the saying goes): Is this country made up of diverse people?
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You agree the country is diverse. Clarity "more diversity." Please elaborate.
What issue or set of issues do you find with people inclusion?
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We have an idiot for a PotUS who nominated an extremist to run the DoD.
This is productive? This is what the DoD considers important now?
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What exactly is your expertise in Military operations and planning? where did you serve and how many men did you command?
If you are going to engage in this juvenile tactic then you must refrain from commenting on anything political unless you served as a politician who could claim expertise in the subject matter.
Another stupid tactic in lieu of an argument.
One need not be a former Secretary of Defense to properly opine on how wasteful and stupid it is to try to eradicate images of minorities who are being honored in the military.
I read Hegseth hired one of his own lawyers to a top legal post in the DoD. He wants to be able to cover up any potential war crimes by his "warfighters".
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No one is doing that. Someone just got triggered by some obscure unsubstantiated article and proclaiming it to be true.
Flagged keywords
In an internal memo sent last week, the Army's Office of the Chief of Public Affairs listed nearly 60 keywords for officers to use to target online material for removal, Military.com reported.
The memo included terms like "culture," "diversity," "racism," and "sexuality." "Respect," one of the Army's core values, was also among the list of search terms for removable content.
"This directive is antithetical to everything public affairs is supposed to be about," an Army public affairs official told Military.com . "The Army has ethically compromised everyone. "
Errant erasure
With vague and confusing guidance on removable content, some online material that was flagged didn't even relate to the military's recent DEI efforts.
It appeared that some historical photos were marked for deletion for just having the word "gay," the AP reported. They included photos of the B-29 named the Enola Gay, which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945, as well as imagery of a dredging project by the Army Corps of Engineers because one of the engineers had the last name, Gay.
The list of marked content also includes the Tuskegee Airmen, the first Black military pilots in the US. In an earlier review after a Trump executive order in January, the Air Force initially took down training courses that included videos mentioning the famed aviators but were later restored after the White House deemed it "malicious compliance," per the AP.
It seems like we have another Smollett that has hooked the low functioning into faux outrage..........If these idiots would learn from their mistakes we wouldn't laugh at them as much.......Tuskegee airman ring a bell?
The reinstatement of Fort Bragg and other forts in the future is also in process
Fort Liberty is renamed Fort Bragg, effective immediately | Article | The United States Army
Fort Liberty is renamed Fort Bragg, effective immediately.
This renaming honors the legacy of World War II hero, Pvt. First Class Roland L. Bragg and all Soldiers and families who have called Fort Bragg home.
It really is fucking hilarious the lengths slimy pissant confederate loving rightwing conservatives will go to hide their seething hatred and bigotry. To intentionally skim through all the WWII heroes to find one named Bragg that was awarded some medals then went on to own an autobody shop and later a mobile sawmill operation, all so they could surreptitiously continue honoring the confederate war hero and slave owner Braxton Bragg. Do they really think everyone else is stupid or something? This will eventually be changed again because no one is buying this bullshit end run to stuff more of their fucking white supremacist agenda down Americas throat.
WTF is wrong with these asswipes? They are going to change FT Moore back to FT Benning.
a real American hero and his wife who did more for service people than that group of traitors ever would or could do.
A graduate of basic, AIT, Jump school at Fort Moore and proud of it, so fuck off Trump and your MAGA followers.
Trump thinks veterans are suckers and losers, Musk is from another country and the DOGE boys never bothered to learn history.
They just feed keywords and AI and algorithms expecting a pat on the back for destroying our history and just don't care.
Who's going to stop them? Trump doesn't care.