The US Navy made a stunningly tone-deaf decision to attract new recruits after a report determined it is not expected to meet recruiting goals this year.
In an attempt to reach recruits from demographics outside its norms, the military branch launched its Navy Digital Ambassadors pilot program.
It was “designed to explore the digital environment to reach a wide range of potential candidates” as recruitment has significantly fallen off with younger generations, according to a Navy spokesperson.
The first of five digital spokespersons was Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley, who identifies as non-binary and performs as a drag queen.
Kelley, who goes by the stage name Harpy Daniels, shared posts to TikTok and Instagram about his service and how he started performing onboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan.
“From joining to 2016 and being able to share my drag experience on my off time with my fellow sailors has been a blessing,” Kelley wrote on Instagram. “This experience has brought me so much strength, courage and ambition to continue being an advocate and representation of queer sailors!”
In a post spattered with emojis throughout, he finished, “Thank you to the Navy for giving me this opportunity! I don’t speak for the Navy but simply sharing my experience in the Navy! Hooyah, and let’s go Slay!”
Program Revealed Amid Bud Light Controversy
The program, which recently came to light after running from October to March of this year, was met with immediate backlash.
Some compared it to Bud Light’s disastrous partnership with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney, which led to a successful boycott that significantly damaged the company’s sales and led to corporate level ousters of those responsible for the partnership.
Former Navy SEAL Robert J. O’Neill, who was part of the team that killed Osama bin Laden, tweeted: “Alright, the U.S. Navy is now using an enlisted sailor Drag Queen as a recruiter. Im done. China is going to destroy us. YOU GOT THIS NAVY. I cant believe I fought for this bullshit.”
What a sad day for America. The takedown of our military by mentally ill generals and socialist president, biden. All china needs to do us walk right in.
This started under Obama. Biden is not smart enough to come up with it himself. The whole Biden administration is a freak show. What a waste of the defense budget. What we need is people who worry about running out of ammunition, not lipstick.
It’s not “courage” when you get special protections NOT afforded others; it’s more akin to hubris, rubbing your mental and spiritual sickness in the faces of the real sailors aboard ship & daring them to complain about it! They signed a black check, without those special protections & privileges attached, to the Constitution & American citizens. The Navy once used my Mom & me for recruiting nurses, being as sh was a WW II vet, and I was following in her footsteps. So being a recruiting tool is no big deal, when you just do your job!
Why in hell would any sane person enlist in the navy when their priority is promoting deviancy.
I’m disgusted with the Navy Service, that I gave 9 years of my life, plus my grandfathers and uncles service to the US Navy. These pukes that OK’ed this whack job, as a recruitment tool are truly out of touch with the majority of sailors. I think this may have just the opposite effect, it can cause active duty sailors to refuse to reenlist. I know I wouldn’t re-up with this embarrassment hanging over my head. Sailors and all military members want to be proud of their respective services. The Navy just slapped the majority of sailors in the face and publicly made sailors a laughing stock. I’m removing my Navy emblem from my car, as it’s a joke! Sad day in our US Navy history.
This is Joe Biden s America. Those who appoint people such as this to be “Ambassadors,” are acting on the orders of the C-in-C to emphasize diversity, equity, and inclusion. Meanwhile, the enemy is emphasizing military strength, lethality, and the ability to destroy the US. That may not be as difficult as they think. We’re actually doing it for them.