Episode 6: The Military Goes Woke

Published May 28, 2021, 9:00 AM

For this podcast, Anna tells her story of serving six years in the US Air Force — what she saw, what she learned, and how military service changed her life. But she also details how the military she loves is now under threat as Marxism — yes, Marxism! — has become prevalent in the armed forces, encouraged by some in military leadership. As America's enemies are preparing for war, the US military has gone woke.

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Up next, Luna Talks with Anna Paulina. Luna part of the gang which when I joined the military, I signed up to defend my country, not to learn how to be woke. Because Russia, the Chinese, the Iranians, they don't care about what your pronouns are. They just want to hurt America. But while they're preparing for war, our military has gone woke. This is Luna Talks with Anna Paulina. Thank you for turning back into this week's episode of Luna Talks with myself on a Paulina. The one thing I wanted to take the time, especially in dedicated episode two, is this ongoing snowball effect of what we're seeing with woke ism in the military. And this is something that I never actually thought, especially being a service member and having gone through boot camp and my enlistments actually both enlistments, and realizing how much of a core machine the military is. I never thought that we would be talking about some of the stuff that I'm about to address in this episode. So, first and foremost, yes, I'm an Air Force veteran. A lot of people, I think when they see me, they're like, there's no way that that chick actually served I did indeed serve. I served six years. I had an enlistment, meaning that I was not a commissioned officer. I was enlisted, and actually during my time, I did five years active duty and then I did one year at the Guard. So I was literally stationed all around the country. And it was actually in the military that I first discovered the state of Florida. So I'm forever grateful to the military for that. I can say that California is a beautiful place and there's some great people there, but unfortunately, due to their politics, I will never move back there. I am definitely someone who is happiest south of the Mason Dixon line, and that is honesty. But also the cool thing about the military is I made friends from all walks of life, and that's one thing that what's interesting now as you see this very divisive nature that's being pushed within the military. When I served, and I did serve under both Obama and then under President Trump, when I served, it wasn't about any of that stuff. It was definitely camaraderie. Your uniform basically makes at a level playing field. Everyone has the rights to compete for higher rank, and it's based on your performance, which is how it should be done. Are you qualified to have the position that you hold. That's not just a military tactic. I think that that's something that should be promoted across all application processes. Right, Like you don't hire someone because specifically they are a woman, you should not hire someone specifically because they are a minority. You should hire them based on their qualifications. So why did I join? And this is something that a lot of people ask me. You know, you didn't have to join the military. You could have done anything that you wanted to do, which is true. But I joined not only because I wanted to serve my country, but I found out that the military would also pay for schooling for free, and I didn't want to accumulate student loan debt. And also to mind you, you know, no one in my immediate family had served. And of course you guys probably heard in previous episodes that when my mom found out that I joined, she freaked out. Obviously we were in the middle um of you know, now this year marking the twenty year war in afghan to stand, but for us at the time, it was a scary thing for her. And I'm so glad though that I did it. My job in the military was airfield management. So in the military you have something called an a F s C, which is your air Force specialty code and identify her. So mine was one Charlie. What that means is I did airfield management. I helped basically run the flight line. I worked with pilots. I did something called flight plans and yes I can do flight tracking. I did all of that. And then also too, I would do the inspections. So there's an aspect of it that was techi. There was an aspect of it that and did somewhat involve construction, right because we're overseeing that. Definitely high coordination. And then my favorite aspect of the job was that I was in charge of making sure that aircraft were secure. So I would actually work a lot with wildlife. And when I was stationed in Missouri, this was one of the coolest things that I actually got to do was I actually worked to relocate redtail hawks, which are the coolest birds of prey out there. And I can tell you that actually have a really cool photo of that floating around on the internet that I'll probably post for you guys one of these days on social media. And then obviously in my military service, not only was I able to meet Andy, my husband, but I really was set up, I think, for my career as an adult. Right, So like I went from an environment that had a lot of instability to an environment that was completely structured to where I was completely taken care of. I went to work, I knew that I had a safe house. I knew that I was on base, and essentially when you're that young, I remember walking in at some point to the chow hall, which is where we go to get our food, especially when you're living on base as a younger airman E four and below. Typically you live in the in the dorms or you know, other branches will call it in the barracks, but you go to the chow hall or the mess hall and you were able to eat. And I remember walking in and I was looking around. I was like, oh, this isn't too bad. It looked like a high school cafeteria. You know, you can actually join the military at seventeen with parental permission, so there were people that were there that were in the Army and the Air Force, in the Marine Corps, in the Navy even and you know you're interacting with all these people and essentially they're your peers. And so for someone like myself, I just remember I have that image still like burned into my head, and I was just so incredibly happy to be able to not just be able to serve, but also to be in an environment where I knew I was accepted and then also to where I felt that I could help my family. And so for me, the military, whenever I'm asked about it, I tell people it's one of the best things that you can do with your life, even if you're just thinking about it, you can always do. The Army does to your contracts, the Air Force does for your contracts, the Navy is the same, and now we have something called Space Force. So no, this is not a sponsored ad by the dm D. This is my honest opinion. I love that I served. It set me up for success, and it's such an incredible I think brotherhood and sisterhood to be a part of and to be able to actually say, yes, I serve my country and then you know I missed it every single day. They're not gonna lie. There's a sense of pride that you get about being a part of that bigger mission. And really I think putting mission first, where you realize that you are, even though you might not be able to see those results right away, that you are contributing to a greater cause, and that's you know, ultimately to defend this country. But sometimes during my time and service especially, I think from other women in the military that you know, weren't always positive. I think sometimes, especially when you are in such a high percentage of a male dominated career field, that I would expect, you know, women to stick together, but that's not always the case. So, you know, I definitely feel like sometimes, you know, because I was a woman, I was a younger woman at that sometimes people saw me as a threat, when in actuality I wasn't. I was just there to do my job and go home and and really focus on how to help my family and serve my country. And so I would say that that's probably one of the bigger things that I probably dealt with when I was in But ultimately, at the end of the day, the reason why I excelled so quickly, I mean I became the president of the Airman's Council, which is what helps organize and really activate the younger airman, especially when it comes to making rank. I actually did make rank early. I put on Senior Airman actually I think six months earlier than most people did because I was put up for early promotion. And then my first couple of years that I was in after I left Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, I actually was awarded the Air Force Achievement Metal. So I definitely in regards to, you know, being able to excel again with that rank structure and really once you are qualified, being recognized for that. That's something that I absolutely loved. And then also too, of course there's benefits, right, So you have your education benefits. You have the fact that at twenty years old, if you're working hard enough and you have the ability to do it, that you can essentially buy a home with your via home loan. You have your health insurance, so that's something that we all buy into, but that strike care. And then you have your discounts, which I know it sounds kind of funny you guys are like, oh my gosh, the military discount, but that does add up, especially when you were young. Let me tell you, any military town you're gonna ask do you have a military discount? You kind of like look at them. You remember it under the breath, but everyone knows that's just kind of something that rolls with it. So does high risk obviously, but very high reward. And then also to you know, your rank structure. You have someone in charge and I think I addressed it to this earlier, but you have your sergeants and your chain of command that really becomes your parent and so you will have a lot of younger you know, they call them the E for mafia. So that's your senior room and that's your E four and you know, rank structure period there, but the form below typically are supervised. And you realize, especially outside of work, it's like, you know, everyone's kind of just going in your kids, but you don't realize, Hey, you know, at the end of the day, you are working for the Department of Defense and having that experience early on, it's kind of like your young puppy. But as you progress farther in your career and then you eventually become those sergeants that are then looking over the younger armand coming in. What that shows you what I'm trying to, I guess show some perspective on is that you are essentially family. There are so many holidays that I think at first I would get really homesick, and I really really looked to, I think the camaraderie within my coworkers to really provide me with that element that I was missing of not being able to go home. But because you go through those experiences together, you essentially end up having a stronger bond and it just changes the work environment completely. So when I see what's happening now, especially with this aspect of WOKESM and I think even cancel culture within the military to the point of people aren't even comfortable about talking, I think at a work level about their political ideologies and beliefs. To me, it's a really sad thing to see because I remember, actually one of my best friends, Carson, is someone that I would sit on shift with. We would work probably six days a week, sometimes twelve hours a day, and that is no joke, like that was our work schedule. Of course, when you're no eighteen nine years old that you can do whatever. You don't even get tired doing that. Now though you're going to be exhausted, especially for me right like age and your body eventually catches up to unfortunately. But you know, with Carson, I remember talking to him about what it was like growing up in Detroit. I remember asking him just very honest questions, and I feel like the type of environment that's been created, especially now, prevents those conversations from happening. And with really what we saw after January six, the Obama era holdover that is our currents um Secretary of Defense put it together commission to actually investigate military members to see if there was extremism and you know this quote unquote white nationalism that existed within the military, which in my opinion is one and ten percent political targeting. Right, Like, we have the army that has known instances of gang activity, Why are they not focusing on that all of a sudden there's this, you know, white nationalist problem that we have in our military. I can tell you that I was stationed around the country and I was in for you know, six years. I saw family members serving and also too, I still have friends that are active duty, and that's never been an issue. That's not, at least that I haven't seen. So to say that that's blanketly a problem that exists in the military, for me, I don't necessarily believe that. So the Air Force instruction and why this plays an important role in all of this is when you are in the military, a lot of people think that you have constitutional rights just like everyone else, and the fact is is that you don't. You have this aspect of the u c MJ your Uniform Code of Military Justice, so it's different guidelines and standards that you are held to. And in the Air Force in particular, you have something called a f I, which is your Air Force Instruction, so that lays out your guidance for all military members. And I'm talking it covers everything. It covers your uniform, it covers regulations on your nail polish, on your hairstyles, even on makeup. There's literally no excuse for not knowing the rules right. So I actually would constantly go back to the a FI because at times, yes, I was picked on by other women and I would pull out the a f I and I would say, please show me right here where it says I'm supposed to do this or that I'm out of uniform. And obviously they can never do that because I knew the a f I through and through. But one of the guidances that I was very spun up on and still am is not only the public affairs guidance, but also to act and engage in politics in and out of uniform. Right, So there is guidance. And if you guys remember, I think it was a few years ago, the mainstream media that was leftist control actually made this huge deal about service members supporting President Trump when he came to see them in deployment locations. Well, Obama did it too, And actually it's in our guidance, in our instruction across entire d D that we are and we can show support for our commander in chief, and our commander in chief and ultimate chairman of command at the very top of the totem pole is the president of the United States. Okay, so you are allowed in uniform to express support for your commander in chief. Now, what you cannot do in uniform is you cannot show up to these political events, you cannot do political demonstrations, and you cannot use your military title and position to engage in politics. Right. But if you are outside of the military installation, and you are outside of your working hours in civilian clothes and your personal capacity, you're fine. You can actually engage in politics. You can also actually run for political office as long as you give your chain of commander heads up and they're okay with that. And that is something I think a lot of people don't know. That is some thing that you also have to look into and have to read the regulations in order to act to actually fully understand. But that is a hundred percent okay. But what I found, and especially with running for office and especially with being in the political arena now, is that there are so many people, especially people in Washington, d c. That are a hundred percent disconnected from the military. And I say that I actually spoke with a congressman and he said, you know, when I first came into office, he said, a lot of people were still around from the World War Two era they had served. You saw that our entire House Caucus was actually extremely conservative because of it. Even Democrats on the other side were extremely conservative because of it. Because I think, and I still hold true to this belief that when you experience certain life and death incidences, that it actually puts things in perspective as to what's important, what really matters. And at the end of the day, when you are faced with that type of environment, I think that it makes you want to just see your country succeed. But again that aspect of service is completely lacking in our current status up in Washington, d C. In the House, in the Senate, and definitely in the executive branch. And so when people are disconnected from the military, how are they supposed to legislate? How are they supposed to understand, you know, the camaraderie that exists a family aspect, and then also to how military members communicate with each other, and it is a unique bond. Like I can tell you that wherever I go in the country, if I know that I'm with another VET, it's it's this instant just you hit it off. I mean, obviously it's all for everyone, but you hit it off and you have this understanding and this respect for one another. So what did I do. I did what most people do, and that's total sarcasm. I wrote a book, and I wrote the book an effort to help people, especially families, especially what I was seeing with military spouses, young military spouses. You have instances of such young marriages that take place in the military because people are deploying and people are getting stationed other places. And I realized that these young spouses, it's not like they can just talk to some of their civilian friends, right, Like, how are you supposed to get good advice when your husband's deploying to a war zone and you have friends that aren't dating other military members, or you have friends that aren't married to other military members. How are you supposed to talk to people about post traumatic stress disorder that have had a military spouse that suffered from that, whether it's a man or a woman. How are you supposed to really get good advice and guidance from a chain of command that might not necessarily want to address that because it's still considered very taboo within the military. We'll get back to my book right after this short break. We'll be right back. So my book is titled Bringing Them Home, The Untold Cost of Putting Mission First. And the reason again that I wrote this book is because I realized there are such a strong disconnection between what I was seeing with military spouses, leadership, and then also to I think people legislating. Ultimately, I wrote this book, and yes, it is based on true stories, not just my story, but stories of people that I knew, people that I unfortunately lost both physically and mentally because of war situations. And it has a strong aspect of this focus on PTSD, And I find it very interesting that, you know, with all this talk of VOKESM and wanting to quote unquote help the nation and do all this stuff, that these people, these like extreme leftist progressives, aren't focused on actually helping the military community. They're focused on signaling social justice. Okay, if they really wanted to help the military, why are they not addressing military suicide rates? Why are they not addressing the high divorce rates? Why are they not addressing the fact that we've been in a war in the Middle East for over twenty years now or this year will mark the twenty year anniversary, and there's nothing to show for it except a massive, massive deficit. And also to essentially broken lives, whether it's through marriages, whether it's through people, whether it's physically or mentally. I mean, it's awful these people don't address that. That would be you know, if you really want to signal social justice, why are they not addressing that? Why are they addressing you know, these anime weird leftist like hyper sexualization and focus of what the military is. That's how the military is. But military members and families are treated like their expendable ponds to some of these elected officials. And it pains me to say that, but it's true. These people that have no idea, no actual skin in the game, with their family members, with their loved ones, their legislating, and we're doing all of this work for them, literally like paying the price of freedom in lead, and they are completely focused on the wrong things. And that is that whole aspect of mission first. What does mission first mean? It means that at all costs, regardless of your personal sacrifice to yourself, that you will accomplish the mission for the better good. And if we could just I think bring some of that, I think to the national discussion, I think that you would see such an incredible change in this country. And that is why, hands down, in general, we need to actually get as many people into office as we can that our veterans because you have that type of camaraderie. But wokeism, the impact that it's had on our military is not only damaging, but it's dangerous. And you know with space the Space Force commander that was relieved a duty due to his book, I mean this man, if you actually hear his side of the story, he put disclaimers right. So remember what I told you right before the commercial break, I was talking about what you're allowed to do inside and outside of military. This man was was doing everything by the books, per his guidance, per or the u c MJ. He didn't violate anything. He literally only said, you know that there is an agenda that's being pushed within the military that is aligning with these Marxist values. And you can actually still buy his book on Amazon, which I think everyone should do because honestly, it's something that this is definitely part of the nineteen sixty three congressional archives that were had, you know, the communist objectives that were submitted. I mean, you don't ever want to see Marxism in military or U S military in the same sentence. That's extremely, extremely disturbing. But because of the fact that he called it out and again, our secretary of Defense is an Obama era hold over, he's completely shilling for these left wing progressive agendas. And mind you, I remember serving under both Obama and under Trump, and with you Obama era, I remember hearing murmurs about the fact that you know, you could have men using the women's locker room, which guys, you know, when you're in the military, when you're showering. Um, when you're even going through basic training, you literally have to get naked in front of other women you're showering. I mean, it's not a big deal to me, but I don't feel comfortable getting naked and showering in front of someone that says that they're a woman because there are certain things that I have that they don't. And that doesn't make me a bigot. That doesn't mean that like I'm anti trans. It just means that I'm not comfortable with that. So why are they pushing this massive, like pro trans progressive thing in the military when that's not even what you're focused on when you join the military. You're not focused on that. The focus of the military is the defense of the nation. It is to stay alive. It is to learn your job and perform it to the best of your capability so that your mission can succeed. It is not about cosmetic alterations. That should not even be a point of why people are joining. Secondly, I don't even think taxpayer dollars should be going to that. But when you have that becoming the focus and the talking point of what the DoD is doing, of what your Marine Corps space Force, Army, Navy, all of that in addition to them pushing this Marxist agenda. And I'll get into some of their training here in a second, because I want you all to know what they are actively subjecting our military members too. But when you have that being the focus and talking point, now we're talking about this on national media outlets just out of curiosity, what do you think our enemies are doing? Do you think that they're looking at us and that they are intimidated? Because I'm telling you right now, China is not our friend. They are number one enemy. China does not want the United States to succeed. They do not want Western culture to even come near them. They are communism right same with Russia. Russia is not our friend either. And yet we're out here and and we're joke. We're a joke on the national stage and it's infuriating. And then you see this shortly thereafter this, you know, Secretary of Defense agenda here now, who are starting to see these woke commercials come out where you literally have these videos you can compare the viral Russia and Army ad actually came out this past week, and you see, of course Russia's ad which looks battle hardened and honestly intimidating. And then ours, which is some weird anime talking about a girl with two moms. I mean, I get it, people are raised differently, but you know what, I don't remember one conversation being in the military with someone where they're asking me, excuse me, how many mothers do you have? I mean, that's again not the focus. That should not be the focus, and that definitely shouldn't be the recruiting ad of the army. Okay, period, I don't think and I don't make that apology. I think that that's something that's completely outrageous. And then, of course, prior to this, I get some d m s from some people which is a direct message talking about the cultural sensitivity training that they had to face in the military. And yes, cultural sensitivity training sounds nice, right, but when you look at actually what they were made to do. As someone who is considered bicultural, bi racial, I find this incredibly alarming. So you have to sit through these power points and then you're given a list to do your to list your top five closest associates their name, their gender, and their race, all in the name of diversity, right, and if you do not associate with people of a different race enough, you are quote unquote less diverse and or might be someone who is someone who might be associated to white nationalism. Do you see how extremely divisive this would be, especially in a military setting. I mean, think about it. You have military members, like, for example, let's talk about my husband for a second. He's been to combat zones, he's actively worked in war environments where he's been shot at. He's worked as a cultural liaison basically with people in the Middle East. I mean, he's been everywhere. And you're going to say that because maybe possibly his five closest associates are not different races, that apparently he's you know, not diverse enough. I mean, we're talking about people that are not even focused on this or focused on staying alive. They're focused on the mission. And then it actually went even farther to say that, well, maybe we should start selecting people within the military based on their race, right, No, you want people doing jobs in the military not because of their race, but because they're qualified for those jobs. Okay, we're talking about life and death situations here. We're talking about people sometimes that might be working on nukes we're talking about people that are controlling aircraft. What does race have to do with the price of tea in China? It has nothing to do with that. But this is again the disconnect that we're facing with people who are very leftist, very far leaning, that think that you can just read it in books and all of a sudden, these blanket statements applied something like the Department of Defense and a war, and that's not the case. Do these people even know what happens in war? I guarantee not that you know. Something the media and Hollywood won't show you is what these people actually experienced, what they go through. And I want to tell you about a friend of mine and what happened to him. He's just one of thousands, but I think that his story would resonate with all of you, and for his privacy reasons for the calm, Sam, And we'll be right back with his story after the short break. So Sam was someone that was actually extremely close to both my husband and myself and actually did write about this in my book. But the reason I want to tell you about Sam is because I think that he is reminiscent of one of the many people that will join the military and again you have people that serve from all walks of life. But Sam in particular was someone who I saw many many times was your average military member. So he joined very early on. I think he joined when he was eighteen, with permission from one of his family members that was not his parents, It was, you know, someone that was in charge of him, or at least given custody of him. He joined the military so that he could do something with his life. He didn't really have a good home life, and ultimately he went out and became one of, you know, the premier special tactics operators in the country. You know, you're talking about combat control, which is what my husband did and still does. And it is a lot of people don't realize that Air Force has a special operations community and they pride themselves on being the quiet professionals. But he was a combat controller and you guys will maybe know that. You know, you have those stories about the Horse Soldiers, but on every single special operations team, whether it's a Navy Seal, whether it's the Green Berets, or whether it's the Navy Seals or Green Berets, you have a special tactics or you have a special operator known as a combat controller, and what they do is they really kind of link up the team with air superiority, so they control the aircraft overhead and provide a new level of I think the warfare fighting machine. But you know you had Sam, who again with what we're seeing with this you know, military industrial complex and these endless wars, is that Sam was deployed six months on, meaning you deployed for six months and then you come back for maybe eight months to ten months, You do your training, and then you deploy all over again. And it's not like you're deploying to a location that has infrastructure, has a gym, all of that. They're deploying in very kinetic situations where you're getting in gunfights, you're getting shot at, and you know, you can always tell. And I remember I started noticing this, especially when the guys would leave for their deployments, after you know, graduating from their training. They would get their braves and they would leave to go to their first deployments, and they would always come back different. And I've yet to meet someone who actually didn't have that look that they get after after they deploy. And that might sound easy, but if you've gone to war zone, or if you've been married to someone or have had a family member or a friend that's done that, you know what I'm talking about. And I remember after the first couple of deployments, like it wasn't too bad. He would come back, you know, everyone would go out have fun they of course at the bars whatever. But one deployment that Sam came back from, he had actually witnessed his entire I guess his team sargeant had been killed in front of them, and some members of his team had been killed in front of them. They hadn't if they were ambushed or what it was, but he witnessed that firsthand, and he had been blown up a few times. And he came back and I remember us being at dinner and I remember specifically the night that he kind of snapped and that I realized, wow, like he's completely changed. And then it it kind of just snowballed from there. Obviously the units didn't fully know what was going on, because you know, it's one of those things that the guys, I think, if they talk about what's happening, ultimately they end up being treated differently. And if you have the only thing going you know, for you and your soul focus and you know you're the top to your operators in the country. You know, if that's your soul job, you don't want to risk that by saying that. You know you might be gone through something on the back end because your deployments and ultimately what ended up happening is Sam ended up, you know, really spiraling down. He ended up drinking a lot, maybe like even using substances. Whatever it was, and it was bad, and it wasn't something that I think a lot of people realized unless you were within that community. And the reason I bring that up though, is because you have again people in d C who think that the focus of what the d O d S is to put out anime commercials and talk about how accepting the army is and how to answer a call, and that that's the war that we're fighting, when an actuality, we're fighting a ward to even just keep our friends alive, and we are essentially absorbing the impact and cost of what twenty years in Afghanistan has done and we have nothing to show for it, and our families are being destroyed and our relationships were losing I mean losing someone physically. I feel like you have that morning period, right, But when you lose someone, especially a close friend, I mean like this is my husband's best friend, you lose someone emotionally, it's always going to be at that struggle because you remember who they were, but they've been forever changed. And that's something that I think military members understand. I think even first responders especially might understand that, because there is this aspect of PTSD that people go through. But to have the audacity, okay, of removing a commander from his post because he is signaling that the U. S. Military has an issue with a Marxist agenda, and then to have us presented on the national stage as a joke to Russia and China with anime commercials for recruiting ads, that to me, it makes me sick. It makes me angry. And the only way we can fix it, guys, is by getting these people out of office. There's a saying, and I want to close with this, that hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times, good times create week men, and weak men create hard times. And where we're at currently in our country is we're at that last phase. These weak men are going to create weak and hard times for us all and because of that use your voice, become an activist, run for office, do what you can, but do not let these people destroy our country. Before we go, I want to thank you guys so much for listening. If you've enjoyed today's show, please leave us a review and rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts. You can also find me on Parlor, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at real Anna Paulina. And a special thank you to our producer Drew Steele, writer Aaron Kleigman, and researcher Stanton Bryson, as well as executive producers Debbie Meyers and speaker New Gingridge, part of the Gingridge through sixty network. H

Luna Talks with Anna Paulina

Let’s face it: You’re tired of the same old political podcasts. Liberal, conservative, Democrat, Rep 
Social links
Follow podcast
Recent clips
Browse 48 clip(s)