Three retired military officers signed a letter to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, protesting vaccination requirements, the alleged teaching of critical race theory, perceived far-left bias on campus, and other “woke” actions at one of the nation’s oldest military colleges.
The letter was signed by Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney of the U.S. Air Force, Major General Paul Vallely of the U.S. Army, and Colonel Andrew O’Meara Jr. of the U.S. Army, who referred to themselves as “Concerned Graduates of West Point and The Long Gray Line.”
“We wanted to challenge the leadership of the Academy and the Defense Dept. on their WOKE actions, CRT, Diversity training, and the other discrepancies in the Academy,” Vallely told The Epoch Times. “We found it pervasive at the Naval and Air Force Academies, so we knew it was directed from the highest levels of our Military Leadership.”
In the letter, which was titled “Declaration of Betrayal of West Point And the Long Gray Line,” the retired officers accused the Biden administration of seeking to “divorce military service from defense of the Constitution by replacing allegiance to the Constitution with Critical Race Theory.”
It further alleged “corruption of cadet instruction with socialist doctrine,” accusing leadership at West Point of allowing left-wing political indoctrination and claiming that the college had not hosted any conservative guest speakers in recent years.
General Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave the commencement address for 2022, preceded by United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III in 2021 and former President Donald Trump in 2020.
The letter also took issue with COVID-19 vaccine mandates in the military, stating they require “cadets to violate their religious beliefs” and “the precedent set by the Nuremburg (sic) War Crimes Tribunal that established the involuntary use of experimental drugs is a crime against humanity.”
The retired officers suspect that the military academy’s original mission is in danger because of a rejection of the academy’s guiding principles, according to The Epoch Times.
West Point is “conducting business in a manner that ignores time-honored principles of the Academy, Constitutional Law, and our sworn oath of office,” according to the letter.
The letter was sent to West Point’s superintendent and the president and directors of the academy’s Association of Graduates. The academy has yet to respond to the allegations.
The school’s website states that its mission is “to educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the Nation as an officer in the United States Army.”
