Getting serious: Ron DeSantis' Mission First plan for the military

Bit-by-bit, Gov. Ron DeSantis is laying out a serious policy agenda. Bit-by-bit, he's sitting down for tough-but-fair interviews, too. This week, Gov. DeSantis sat down with CNN's Jake Tapper for a tough-but-fair interview. During that interview, Gov. DeSantis laid out his 'Mission First' military plan. While visiting South Carolina, Gov. DeSantis said "We need a military that is focused on being lethal, being ready and being capable."

The DeSantis Plan "features four pillars: 'Ripping Political Agendas Out of Our Military;' 'Restoring Military Standards;' 'Breaking the Swamp and Promoting Accountability;' and 'Turning the Tide Against Biden’s Military Recruitment Crisis.'" Gov. DeSantis' Mission First Plan "takes aim at diversity, equity and inclusion administrators, as well as policies impacting transgender servicemembers."

Gov. DeSantis said "it’s a military that has been ordered by civilian officials to pursue political ideology, to pursue social experimentation, to be yet another institution in American life that gets infected with the woke mind virus." Gov. DeSantis continued, saying this:

This is changing the character of the military, it’s changing the culture of our services, and it’s creating a situation in which great warriors have been driven away and recruiting is at an all time low.

This must change immediately. In the words of the late, great Rush Limbaugh, militaries have 2 purposes -- "to kill people and break things." At this press conference, Gov. DeSantis said that he'd reinstate those who'd been forced out of the military because they wouldn't take the COVID vaccine:

Further, Gov. DeSantis said that those returning to service will receive back pay. That's likely to be controversial but it's the right thing to do. After all, the Biden administration shouldn't have pushed them out of service. Further, reinstating these soldiers is like an instant jump-start to meeting military recruitment goals.

Here's more good ideas from the DeSantis Mission First plan:

One good priority is reviving American military education. Gov. DeSantis is right that the service academies ought to be "narrowly focused" on disciplines such as engineering or military history and leadership. Civilian academics have taken over most military educational institutions such as war colleges, and the instruction is often, as Gov. DeSantis says, "substandard."

The Governor, a Navy veteran, also says he would review the performance of every four-star flag officer and remove those who aren’t focused on lethality. There is reason to wonder if the services are producing the war fighting talent the country needs by picking leaders on the merits. More aggressive civilian oversight would help.

These are the right things to do. We can't afford to have a military that's more worried about systemic racism or a person's pronouns than worrying about killing bad guys. To utilize the phrase from the movie Patton, you aren't a hero dying for your country. You're a hero when you make the other son of a bitch die for his country.