Dr Michael John Schmidt: Martial application.

I began writing an article on Christopher Luxon’s failures: specifically, his inability to gauge the public sentiment that brought the coalition to power and to implement the urgent political and economic changes New Zealand needs. He has failed to address the independent, ‘woke’ and arrogant actions of NZ’s ‘managerial class’, which operates contrary to coalition policies and lacks accountability. Examples are everywhere: from the unchecked replacement of New Zealand with Aotearoa, despite no public vote, to the creation of worthless DEI departments in institutions like the Reserve Bank.

I pivoted when the Trump administration fired several senior American military leaders:

* Gen CQ Brown Jr – chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

* Adm Lisa Franchetti – chief of Naval Operations.

* Gen Jim Slife – vice chief of Staff of the Air Force.

* Adm Linda Fagan – Coast Guard commandant.

The MSM act both surprised and appalled – I was neither. Of course, the MSM focused on identity politics, for example Gen CQ Brown Jr was fired allegedly in part because he was black. Also, in part because he was a staunch ally of Gen Milley, who is now both retired and ‘pardon protected’.1

But the MSM tiptoed around the most obvious and valid reasons why he was fired: they don’t want to touch those.

I knew these firings were coming – that they were inevitable and justified. Due to space constraints, we’ll use Gen CQ Brown Jr as a singular example, but that should be sufficient.

CQ Brown Jr was an accomplished military personnel member but, in the leadership roles, not so much. Significantly, Brown was directly involved in the disastrous abandonment of Afghanistan. During the debacle in 2021, Gen CQ Brown Jr was serving as the Chief of Staff of the US Air Force. He oversaw the air force’s operations, ostensibly to ensure the safe evacuation of US personnel and Afghan allies.2 Here is a photo to remind you of how that went:

The withdrawal was widely reported as ‘chaotic’ or even ‘disastrous’ by various media outlets and military officials.3,4

During the Afghanistan withdrawal the US Air Force (CQ Brown Jr) left behind assets. This included approximately 80 aircraft; helicopters and fixed-wing planes. The approximate value of these aircraft was $923.3 million. Additionally, over 9,500 air-to-ground munitions were left behind, valued at around $6.54 million. These were US Air Force assets for which Brown was directly responsible.5

Also, under his watch, several tragic incidents occurred at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.6,7

• Suicide bombing: On August 26, 2021, a suicide bombing resulted in the deaths of at least 182 people, including 169 Afghan civilians and 13 US service members.
• Crowd crushes: At least 11 Afghan civilians were killed in crushes at the airport.
• Stowaways: Six Afghan civilians who attempted to cling to departing aircraft fell to their deaths.

When one ‘loses’ a billion dollars’ worth of military assets to the enemy and a military airlift goes so spectacularly wrong, it is bizarre to be in line for promotion to Chief of Staff? Ask the Biden administration why? Probably DEI.

*   I suggest that rather than “black” being a factor for his firing, the consequences of the withdrawal from Afghanistan weighed heavily against him.

Of course, the MSM wants to ignore this stain on Biden’s presidency and so avoids presenting the situation accurately.

*   Trump and Hegseth promised accountability for the disaster and they have partially delivered (Milley is now untouchable).

The MSM has also asserted that Gen CQ Brown Jr has been fired for being too “woke”.8 Maybe they mean ‘political’.

During the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, there was property damage, looting, clashes with law enforcement and estimated financial losses of around two billion dollars.9 Approximately 30 fatalities occurred. Civil disobedience was rife. Thousands of individuals were arrested for various offenses, such as looting and vandalism. However, Gen CQ Brown Jr publicly and radically expressed his support for the Black Lives Matter movement10 – despite BLM being a corrupt and Marxist organisation.11 The US military is expected to remain APOLITICAL12 and Brown’s position clearly is not.

Further, Brown’s support for DEI directly opposes the stance of the new Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth.

*   And Brown’s DEI policies have been disastrous for the US military.

This I documented in an October 23, 2024, article published in The Good Oil, titled Military Unpreparedness, in which I outlined how DEI has harmed military effectiveness. Its failures are evident, particularly in recruitment: despite hundreds of millions spent, these programmes have led to severe shortfalls in personnel, standards, readiness and war effectiveness across many Western nations. New Zealand is heading the same way, with similar results (21 per cent down on recruitment with shortages in all essential specialities), plus one sunken ship (11 per cent of our navy at the time).

The US military failures under Brown’s leadership include a 24 per cent shortfall on recruitment, lowered standards and a vast range of other implementations that were ridiculous, e.g., before Trump’s Executive Order, the US Army would pay for gender transition-related medical procedures for service members.13

*   What happens when you remove this Gen Brown Jr-promoted DEI strategy and policies?

Since the inauguration of the Trump Administration with their promise to remove DEI policies, military recruitment has soared in the US. As an example, the US Army has seen a significant surge in recruitment levels:

• 2025 recruitment goals: Rather than a 24 per cent shortfall, the army is now on track to meet its enlistment goals for 2025, aiming to bring in 61,000 new recruits by the end of the fiscal year.
• Delayed entry programme: More than 20,000 additional young people have signed up in the delayed entry programme for 2026.
• Monthly recruitment: In January 2025, the army achieved its best recruiting numbers in 15 years, enlisting nearly 350 soldiers per day.
• Early momentum: By January 2025, the army had already recruited 30,000 new soldiers, nearly halfway to its annual goal.

Gen CQ Brown Jr is being removed due to ineffectiveness both as a general and chief of staff, not because he is black. Further, his attempt to modernise the military through DEI has failed, yielding no ‘diversity dividend’. Instead, DEI has proved disastrous as both a strategy and a policy.

This brings us back to Christopher Luxon. Many voted for him expecting the removal of Labour’s terrible DEI policies but he has abjectly failed to deliver. His approach has been slow, weak and overly cautious, seemingly intimidated by the entrenched managerial class.

It is now ‘late in the game’, but if Luxon wants to make an impact, he could start by overhauling the NZ military, which is clearly in need of adult attention, by firing a few of our generals, admirals and marshals and getting rid of their DEI dysfunctional policies that are not working for us either.

References
1. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/trump-fires-top-us-military-officers-including-america-s-most-senior-commander/ar-AA1zyWGz
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Q._Brown_Jr.
3. https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-kabul-milley-taliban-biden-620fd2ca8187389da38ddcf3f9466fbd
4. https://foreignaffairs.house.gov/in-the-media-getting-answers-on-the-disastrous-afghanistan-withdrawal/
5. https://americanmilitarynews.com/2022/04/biden-admin-left-7-billion-in-military-equipment-in-afghanistan-report
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Kabul_airport_attack
7. https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-isk-kabul-airport-withdrawal/33090223.html
8. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/2/22/trump-fires-top-us-general-cq-brown-in-major-pentagon-shake-up
9. https://fee.org/articles/george-floyd-riots-caused-record-setting-2-billion-in-damage-new-report-says-here-s-why-the-true-cost-is-even-higher/
10. https://www.stripes.com/branches/air_force/air-force-s-top-black-general-offers-emotional-take-on-racial-unrest-over-floyd-killing-1.632658
11. https://nypost.com/2020/06/25/blm-co-founder-describes-herself-as-trained-marxist/
12. https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/541019p.pdf
13. https://www.gistmania.com/talk/topic,615077.0.html

Dr Michael John Schmidt left NZ after completing postgraduate studies at Otago University (BSc, MSc) in molecular biology, virology, and immunology to work in research on human genetics in Australia. Returning to NZ has worked in business development for biotech and pharmacy retail companies and became a member of the NZ Institute of Directors. This article was first published HERE