WASHINGTON, D.C., October 2, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – President Donald Trump vowed to overturn what he called “ridiculous” gender-neutral changes to the U.S. Navy SEALs ethos, a statement of identity for members of the most famous special operations force in the nation.

“I will be overturning this ridiculous order immediately!” Trump tweeted yesterday.

The new ethos speaks of “(c)ommon citizens with uncommon desire to succeed,” instead of a “common man with uncommon desire to succeed.” The word “he” is replaced with “they,” and instead of “man,” the new ethos mentions “warrior.”

In the last paragraph, the ethos now refers to brave “SEALs,” no longer brave “men.”

No woman has ever become a SEAL, although women are allowed to do the training and become a member of this particular special operations force. In 2017, a woman “aiming to become the first female Navy SEAL officer quit about a week into the initial training,” the Washington Examiner reported.

The creed Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen (SWCC) was changed, as well.

While an archived version of the original creed is not available, American Military News reported that the term “Brotherhood” in the first paragraph was changed to “group of maritime warriors.” Similarly, the sentence “I challenge my brothers to perform, as I expect them to challenge me” was changed to “I challenge them to perform, as I expect them to challenge me.”

At the same time, the members of the SWCC are all men, and the term “Crewman” wasn’t adjusted.

Naval Special Warfare spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Stroup told American Military News that “Naval Special Warfare continues to deliberately develop a culture of tactical and ethical excellence that reflects the nation we represent, and that draws upon the talents of the all-volunteer force who meet the standards of qualification as a SEAL or SWCC.”

Stroup added that the changes to the ethos and creed statements were made to comply with changes in law opening the potential for women to join the elite military units.

“The previous versions of the SEAL Ethos and SWCC Creed were written prior to the law allowing women to serve as operators in Naval Special Warfare,” he said. “The changes do not in any way reflect lowering standards of entry, rather they ensure that all those who meet the requirements to train to become a SEAL or SWCC are represented in the ethos or creed they live out. This improves the posture of the NSW force by ensuring we draw from the greatest pool of talent available.”

Democrat President Barack Obama had opened up various military jobs to women that were previously closed to them. “As a consequence of women serving in our military and opening up what used to be closed situations to them, we've gained a lot of talent,” Obama argued in 2016.

At the same time, he acknowledged that women could be excluded from some missions without this being discrimation. “There are going to be other situations in which the commanders in the field have to make decisions about what's going to be best in order for us to accomplish the mission,” he said.

“There may be situations in which they could do the best job,” Obama said. “It may not involve physical strength or how many pull-ups you can do. It may involve the precision with which you can operate and you being able to keep your cool and you being able to carry out a task with a low error rate. And it may be that in those situations a woman can perform better than a man.”

Robert J. O’Neill, the Navy SEAL who killed terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden, noted the change to the ethos and the creed, and tweeted sarcastically, “Long Live the Non-Binaryhood.”

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/trump-vows-to-overturn-ridiculous-gender-neutral-changes-to-navy-seals-ethos