Republican presidential hopeful Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida said the US needed to “rejuvenate” morale in its armed forces in a Memorial Day interview.

DeSantis, 44, told Fox News Monday morning that there would be “very big changes in the services” on “day one” if he were elected to the top job.

“I think the military that I see is different from the military I served in,” the Navy veteran said.

“I see a lot of emphasis now on political ideologies, things like gender pronouns. I see a lot about things like DEI [Diversity Equity and Inclusion programs], and I think that that’s caused recruiting to, to plummet. I think it’s driven off a lot of warriors and I think morale is low.

“So all those issues are important and we’ll be rolling out a really strong program to counter China because I think it is our number one threat,” DeSantis said.

“But I think you’ve got to get things reward to focusing on the core mission of why people want to join. Why would you have wanted to join the Marine Corps back in the day?,” he rhetorically asked.

DeSantis also said the attacks of 9/11 inspired him to join the Navy, where he served for 15 years as a lieutenant, SEAL legal advisor and reservist.

“I mean, I’m a Florida guy. I didn’t have any connection in New York City, but it inspired me to join the Navy it almost 20 years ago, and so it had a profound effect on our country,” DeSantis said.

“I remember being in Iraq, and we were in Fallujah and it was not going well. And yet people were still willing to sign up knowing they get sent to Iraq because they believe that this was something special and I think we’ve lost that a little bit.”

Later in the morning, the Republican commemorated Memorial Day with hundreds of veterans at a ceremony in Jacksonville, Florida.

DeSantis formally announced his candidacy last week and is polling more than 30 points behind perpetual candidate and GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, who is vying for two non-consecutive presidential terms amid a swirl of criminal investigations and charges.