One of the underappreciated negative consequences of the Obama presidency has been a complete ideological change within America’s armed forces.

The U.S. military of old exists in name only. Today, the name of the game is not to kill people and break things, if called upon to do so by the commander-in-chief. No, the road to success in today’s armed forces is to push the politically and culturally correct mandates of the left. Adhering to those mandates is how one gets promoted in the Department of Defense today.

It’s a reality that, if not reversed, could very well mean the U.S. will lose the next large conventional conflict against a near-peer adversary or alliance of hostile powers.

You don’t have to look very far to see evidence of this phenomenon — the push to feminize the military is obvious to anyone who seeks the truth.

There is a Defense Department-wide agenda to increase the percentage of female military members and commanders. This push results in good performance reviews, which lead to promotions, which in turn lead to power and influence. No one is stepping back and asking the question: Does this produce a more lethal, more efficient, more fearful fighting force? I think not. This process of turning our military into a societal experiment to right supposed wrongs of the past will have unintended, unpleasant consequences.

Recently, the military announced with much fanfare that the number of “sexual harassment” claims had gone up dramatically in recent years. Could this simply be because there are more women put in close contact, in tense situations, with 18-year-old men who are being trained to be hyperaggressive?

I can already hear all the wailing and gnashing of teeth over my comments, but if you are intellectually honest, you will admit the issue needs to be raised. When the country’s ability to defend itself is on the line, “men should control themselves” is not an honest solution to the problem.

When the push to overhaul the nation’s military culture began, we were told that none of these problems were going to happen. Now we are told that they are the result of “toxic masculinity.” Excuse me, but isn’t that a quality any country would want in its armed forces?

The last administration did a masterful job of culling proven war fighters from the leadership ranks of our armed forces, replacing them with generals and admirals who amounted to social justice warriors — the dreaded SJWs — on steroids. There isn’t the space here to detail the obvious reduction of standards in the armed forces when the priority becomes finding ways to allow women to “fit in.”

And you can be sure that as China, Iran, Russia, North Korea and other potential adversaries are surveying the American military and consider tactics to use against it in any future conflict, they have taken note of these changes and are readying asymmetrical tactics to take advantage of our self-inflicted wounds.

There are very few instances where the armed forces of the developed world place women in direct combat environments. Even the vaunted Israeli Defense Forces only deploys women in supporting roles.

Men and women are different. Our adversaries know this. If we don’t accept this truth, our adversaries will use this fact against us.

• L. Todd Wood is a former special operations helicopter pilot and Wall Street debt trader, and has contributed to Fox Business, The Moscow Times, National Review, The New York Post and many other publications. He can be reached at LToddWood.com.

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