Space force commander who says he lost pension for criticizing DEI in military opens up on being 'betrayed'
A former space commander is calling for a change of leadership after he was fired for allegedly criticizing the "Marxist" DEI complex, which he believes is now being accelerated under the Biden administration.
Former Lieutenant Colonel Matt Lohmeier was in the military for over a decade before he joined the U.S. Space Force in 2020, where he specialized in missile warning systems. But less than a year later, in May 2021, he was "betrayed," he told Fox News Digital in an interview.
Lohmeier publicly spoke out against DEI training because he believed it was dividing the troops and decreasing morale, which affected military readiness. He believes "the DEI industry… is steeped in critical race theory, is rooted in anti-American, Marxist ideology."
"The blow was severe," he said about allegedly being fired for his dissenting views. "It makes you feel like you've been betrayed."
He said it was a real "gut punch" when he lost his pension.
"You give your life and service to your country and the American people, and you're not doing it for the pay. You're doing it because you become [convinced] of the greatness of the American ideal. And… senior leaders [then] say, ‘We want you out of the way because your view is not welcome here,’ even as they pretend to care about inclusivity, even as they pretend to care about diversity, [but] not diversity of thought," he said.
Lohmeier believed he didn't violate existing policy because the issue he took aim at was anti-Americanism, not politics.
"There was a whole string of events that did lead up to to my being relieved of command," he said. "The ultimate reason was because I was willing to be publicly critical of critical race theory, which I understood to be rooted in Marxist ideology… that I saw dividing the troops."
"I wasn't advocating for Republicans over Democrats, and I'm conservative myself. But it didn't matter to me. And it's never mattered to our troops what someone else's politics were," he said.
The former commander is now trying to expose what he calls the "Marxist" military complex from the outside.
A new study commissioned by the Arizona State University Center for American Institutions revealed that the Pentagon’s DEI programs encourage reporting private conversations on dissenting views of DEI and has been steadily increasing its resources. DEI engines in the military cost taxpayers $68 million in 2022, $86.5 million in 2023, with a proposed $114.7 million for 2024, according to the ASU report.
The report, compiled by military experts, recommends abolishing the left-wing DEI agenda and replacing it with merit-based selections and American values curricula at the academies.
"We need to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion trainings from the military, from the service academies, and strip all vestiges of critical race theory out of the military workplace," Lohmeier said.
The Space Force did not respond to a request for comment.