Recently, the Pentagon removed thousands of online posts that celebrated the achievements of women and minorities in the military. This included content on websites and social media. The removals have caused anger among lawmakers, veterans, and citizens.
A Scramble to Fix Mistakes
After receiving complaints, the Pentagon has tried to restore some of the deleted pages. Important figures like Jackie Robinson and the Navajo Code Talkers now have their pages back online. But officials warn that many other posts may never return.
Confusion About What to Remove
The order to delete diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) content has confused many. Military officials are unsure if stories about the “first” female or minority achievements should be counted as history or DEI. Examples include the first female fighter pilot, Major General Jeannie Leavitt, whose story was removed.
Deciding What Counts as History
One Army team is carefully reviewing deleted content. They are planning to move important stories to a new website that honors Army heroes. But this process could take months to finish.
How the Removal Happened
The Pentagon used artificial intelligence (AI) to search for keywords like “gay,” “female,” and “bias.” If these words appeared in a post, the content was flagged and removed. This method caused many historic stories to disappear by mistake.
Social Media Cleanup Is Even Harder
Deleting posts from platforms like Facebook and X (Twitter) is more difficult. AI does not work as well on these sites. Soldiers and workers had to manually search through years of posts, often working late nights and weekends.
Mistakes Are Being Corrected — Slowly
The Pentagon says it is working to restore content that was wrongly deleted. For example, pages about the Navajo Code Talkers and Black Medal of Honor winners have been put back online after public outcry.
Not Everyone Believes the Pentagon
Some military members and veterans say the removal of stories has been massive and harmful. Carey Lohrenz, one of the first female Navy fighter pilots, shared on X that stories about female aviators are disappearing from archives.
A Shifting Explanation
At first, the Pentagon denied the deletions. Later, they admitted that AI tools had mistakenly removed important content. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a video, “History is not DEI,” and promised to correct mistakes.
The Debate Over Diversity and Unity
The Pentagon continues to defend its actions. Parnell stated that diversity is not the military’s strength — shared purpose and unity are. Still, many people believe that removing these stories erases valuable history.
