Last week, I did something that I haven't done in years. I suggested to a friend that his son and daughter consider military service rather than immediately go to graduate school after getting their undergraduate degrees. I would not have done this before the outcome of the November election became known, but I am betting on the come that the new administration — particularly Secretary of Defense Hegseth — will put the military back on the right track.

The Air Force has been the most aggressive service in shutting down DEI in promotions and education.
My friend is an Army Vietnam veteran. His son is a senior honor student in Systems Engineering at Cornell, and a club hockey player. His daughter is a sophomore at Boston University, She is also an honor student and an accomplished ballerina; both speak fluent Russian. They are the kind of potential officer candidates that the services have been struggling to recruit for at least the last five years.
Both are considering graduate school, but the cost is daunting. The young man is a perfect candidate for the Navy's nuclear reactor program. The daughter is considering law school, and would be a fine addition to the Navy JAG corps. Like me, he had not considered recommending that the kids look into military service due to the wretched state of morale to which the services had sunk in the Obama/Biden years.
Even though the new administration is only a few weeks old, my uniformed sources at the Pentagon are delighted. Although the worst of the "woke" generals and admirals have not yet been purged, the winds of change are blowing in a way reminiscent of the early weeks and months of the Reagan administration. Why? To paraphrase Bill Clinton; it's the leadership stupid. During the Biden administration, trust in the military sank to its lowest point since the end of the Vietnam War. The reason is not the troops, but in the senior leadership — military and civilian.
Secretary Hegseth set the new tone when he pointed out that Bi...