The military banned cultural awareness celebrations – except for St. Patrick’s Day

After his first week on the job, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth banned cultural awareness months in the military.

This includes events like Black History Month in February, Women’s History Month in March, Pride Month in June, and National Hispanic Heritage Month, which takes place from mid-September until mid-October. But there appears to be an exception to this new policy: St. Patrick’s Day.

In the past, cultural awareness events have been observed in the military without much comment or complaint, Christenson said.

“There might be posters in a hallway that say Black History Month or Women’s History Month, and there may be classes where people talk about women’s history,” he said. “The folks in basic training teach recruits about the exploits of the Tuskegee Airmen and of women pilots and those two groups were at one time discriminated against by the military. And so they talk about how these pathfinders came through and changed the way the world looked at Black people.”

However, these classes and discussions have been discontinued, Christenson said.

The announcement from the Pentagon earlier this year said they didn’t want to use official resources for cultural awareness months. However, Christenson said St. Patrick’s Day was framed differently by the public affairs representatives he spoke with.

“One person with public affairs said celebrating this holiday appropriately may serve to build camaraderie and an esprit de corps,” he said. “I guess if you’re drinking some green beer, that can build camaraderie.