President Donald Trump has announced the dismissal of military academies’ boards of visitors and that he will be selecting a new slate of individuals to compose each advisory body.
President Trump made the announcement via Truth Social, where he claimed military academies have been corrupted by “Woke Leftist Ideologues.”
“Our Service Academies have been infiltrated by Woke Leftist Ideologues over the last four years,” claimed Trump, subsequently explaining he was “dismissing” the boards of visitors of each military academy.
Boards of visitors are advisory bodies at each military academy that provide counsel and make recommendations to each respective academy on issues ranging from morale, discipline, curriculum, instruction, physical equipment, fiscal affairs, and academic methods.
Each board’s composition has often been a source of political controversy as Presidents can select six members of the board, which can lead to tensions when one President removes the selection of an antecedent one.
Former President Joe Biden, for example, replaced Kellyanne Conway – one of Trump’s selections on the Air Force Academy board – after she refused to step down at his urging.
“We will have the strongest Military in History, and that begins by appointing new individuals to these Boards,” continued Trump. “We must make the Military Academies GREAT AGAIN.”
Trump has acted on claims that he seeks to ‘depoliticize’ the military and focus on optimizing its efficiency and lethality via measures such as replacing the academies’ boards of directors or terminating military Diverse, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs.
Regardless of Trump’s actions’ effectiveness, the truth is that military recruitment, a sign of the public’s opinion of the military, has reached record highs in recent days.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced last Tuesday that the U.S. Army had its best recruiting numbers in 15 years in January.
"In January 2025, the Army hit its best recruiting number in 15 YEARS. America’s youth want to serve under the bold & strong “America First” leadership of President Donald Trump," Hegseth said.
According to the U.S. Army Recruiting Command, the Army met its recruiting goal of 55,000 for Fiscal Year 2024. The Army did not meet its recruiting goal of 65,000 in Fiscal Year 2023 or 60,000 in Fiscal Year 2022.
