LB250 would direct the current Adjutant General of Nebraska, along with each successor, to conduct a “command climate survey” of the Nebraska Army National Guard, performed by “an external team” and “pursuant to applicable United States Department of the Army” regulations.
The Senate advanced LB250 on February 16, 2023, by a vote of 37 to 0. We have assigned minuses to the ayes because the “command climate survey,” as designed under the guidance of the U.S. Defense Department’s Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI), collects information from National Guard members to assess “unit risk factors” on ‘woke’ topics, such as “sexist behaviors,” “racially harassing behaviors,” “toxic leadership,” “fairness,” and “inclusion.” Given that the mission of the Nebraska Army National Guard is to provide well-trained and equipped soldiers ready to fight to protect the rights, liberty, and property of their fellow citizens, the Legislature has absolutely no business mandating this disgraceful effort to socially engineer an effeminate, egalitarian, or insubordinate culture within the ranks of our armed forces, which is subversive of all order, discipline, and the very existence of the military itself. Nebraska lawmakers should, in a manner more worthy of self-government, be expected to “bear true faith and allegiance” to the same constitutional principles that National Guard members also must take an oath to “support and defend.”