President Joe Biden was sharply criticized ahead of Veterans Day over his leadership and policy goals' negative impact on the U.S. military over the past couple of years.

Robert Wilkie, who served as the Veterans Affairs secretary under former President Donald Trump, accused Biden of having failed veterans by "wrecking the moral foundation of the armed forces," according to Newsweek.

The former secretary specifically cited political "witch hunts," a reduction of standards, and the infusion of progressive "grievance" issues into the military as being some of the causes of recruiting shortfalls and lowered morale among those who currently serve in uniform.

Politicized military with lower standards

The comments from former Sec. Wilkie came during an interview in the United Kingdom with GB News in which he spoke broadly about the "cultural suicide" of Western nations like the U.S. and U.K.

Asked directly how he believed that President Biden had let down U.S. military veterans, Wilkie replied, "Well, he's let them down in the sense that he has wrecked the moral foundation of the armed forces of the United States with his witch hunts, with the diminution of physical and mental standards, dividing the armed forces into what I would call grievance categories."

It is true that, at least for the U.S. Army, physical fitness standards have been reduced in order to help more females and older members pass the tests and remain qualified for service.

Forced diversity and progressive ideals

Former Sec. Wilkie also took aim at President Biden's new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. Charles Brown, and said, "We have a new chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who says that his goal is to reduce the number of white pilots in the Air Force to 43 percent."

That was in reference to a 2022 memo signed by Brown and other top USAF officials that set "aspirational" racial diversity goals for officer applicants that align with a USAF plan formulated under the general's leadership to better diversify the branch's pilot corps with more women and minority aviators.

"I am an Air Force Colonel in the reserves," Wilkie said. "I only want people who know how to fly aero-planes. I don't care what they look like, what color they are."

Speaking more broadly about the politicians and political appointees who govern the U.S. military, particularly those on the left with a dim view of America and other Western nations, former Sec. Wilkie said, "People don't want to serve in a military where the civilian leadership says that the nation is an irredeemable country, that we are the oppressors."

"You know, people join the armed forces traditionally in this country because there was an acceptance, as there was in Great Britain, that 'we're the good guys', we are the people who stand up and fight for not only liberty and freedom and the right to be left alone, but we have saved the planet on numerous occasions," he added.

Recruiting shortfalls and low morale

Though difficult to quantify, there is little doubt that President Biden's leadership and the progressive policy goals of his "woke" administration have had a negative impact on the U.S. military as a whole.

Recruiting has fallen short of stated goals for most military service branches over the past couple of years and the morale of officers and troops has been low ever since the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, with little signs of any major improvement on the horizon.

What does appear frighteningly imminent, however, and is also at least partially attributable to Biden's failed presidency, is the prospect of yet another massive multi-front global conflict pitting the U.S. and its allies against the likes of communist China, a resurgent Russia, Islamist Iran, and nuclear North Korea, among other enemies and rivals and opportunists who will seek to take advantage of any disruptions to normal order to benefit themselves or settle old scores.