In the wake of President Donald Trump issuing executive orders about diversity, equity, and inclusion programming in the military, news reports started blaring that videos about the Tuskegee Airmen and other historical figures had been banished from Air Force Basic Military Training—with some reports suggesting that pulling the videos was an act of “malicious compliance” with the order.
Here’s what’s really going on, according to Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin: The service is “faithfully executing” the president’s orders and will continue to teach new trainees about the Tuskegee Airmen and the Women Air Force Service Pilots, or WASPs, whose contributions to the war effort helped win World War II.
“While we are currently reviewing all training courses to ensure compliance with the executive orders, no curriculum or content highlighting the honor and valor of the Tuskegee Airmen or Women Air Force Service Pilots has been removed from Basic Military Training,” Allvin said in a Jan. 27 statement.
Air Education and Training Command boss Lt. Gen. Brian S. Robinson said in a separate statement: “The Air Force has not removed these Airmen’s incredible heritage from any training. Their personal examples of service, sacrifice and combat effectiveness are illustrative of the core values, character and warrior ethos necessary to be an Airman and Guardian.”
The controversy began Jan. 23, when the Air Force started shutting down DEI offices and identifying which parts of its training curriculum needed revisions to comply with the executive orders. AETC identified the “Airmindedness” unit at Basic Military Training as having “included DEI material.” Also in those units, however, were videos about the Tuskegee Airmen and WASPs, trailblazing units of Black and female Airmen, respectively. These were “interwoven” into the programming, said an Air Force official who spoke on background to Air & Space Forces Magazine. The videos were “not the direct focus of course removal actions.”
While the Air Force worked on revisions, Robinson said, “one group of trainees had the training delayed.”
Word of the changes leaked when a memo was posted on the popular and unofficial Air Force Amn/NCO/SNCO Facebook page.
That’s when the blowback started. The Tuskegee Airmen Inc., a nonprofit devoted to preserving the Tuskegee Airmen’s history, issued a statement criticizing the move, and Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) took to social media to charge the Air Force with “malicious compliance,” suggesting someone obeyed the directive in a way intended to undermine the order’s intent.
Newly installed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth thanked Britt on social media, saying the change had been “immediately reversed.” At least one online news outlet has published criticism suggesting Air Force units and bases are using “malicious compliance” while following Trump’s DEIA order.
But Allvin disputed the charge. “Despite some inaccurate opinions expressed in reporting recently, our Air Force is faithfully executing all the President’s executive orders,” Allvin said. “Adhering to policy includes fully aligning our force with the direction given in the DEI executive order. Disguising and renaming are not compliance, and I’ve made this clear. If there are instances of less-than-full compliance, we will hold those responsible accountable.”
While the video presentations on the Tuskegee Airmen and WASPs were delayed for one group of Airmen, both Allvin and Robinson said no videos were ever removed from the curriculum.
On Jan. 27, the revised training unit was re-introduced, Robinson said, with a focus “on the documented historic legacy and decorated valor with which these units and Airmen fought for our Nation in World War II and beyond.”
Allvin said he has “directed our Air Force to implement all directives outlined in the executive orders issued by the President swiftly and professionally—no equivocation, no slow-rolling, no foot-dragging,” according to his statement. “When policies change, it is everyone’s responsibility to be diligent and ensure all remnants of the outdated policies are appropriately removed, and the new ones are clearly put in place.”
Air Force officials did not immediately respond to queries from Air & Space Forces Magazine seeking details on what “DEI material” was removed from the boot camp training unit, how much material was removed, and what, if anything, has replaced it in the curriculum.
A 2019 revision to Air Force Instruction 36-7001 established three hours of diversity training in boot camp as the “optimal instruction time” over seven and a half weeks. It’s unclear if the videos on the Tuskegee Airmen and WASPs were introduced to help fulfill that requirement or if they predate the instruction, but celebration of both groups as part of the Air Force’s heritage is not new.
During President Trump’s first term in office, the Air Force designated the new T-7 jet trainer as the “Red Tail,” in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen, whose planes had distinctive red tails, and he also celebrated famed Tuskegee Airman Charles McGee at his final State of the Union address, announcing his honorary promotion to brigadier general at the age of 100. McGee died in 2022, aged 102.
During World War II, the U.S. Army Air Corps trained its first Black pilots at Tuskegee, Ala., even as the Armed Forces remained largely segregated. Between aviators, ground crews, and support personnel, nearly 14,000 individuals became “Tuskegee Airmen.” They distinguished themselves in combat over hundreds of missions, earned scores of decorations, and are credited with helping pave the way for integration in the military. In 2007, they were recognized with the Congressional Gold Medal.
At the same time, more than 1,000 women flew as WASPs—they freed up male pilots for combat missions by ferrying aircraft, working as test pilots, towing targets for gunners, pulling weather reconnaissance missions, flying student navigators and bombardiers, and instructing male pilots. Technically civilians, they were granted honorable discharges and veteran status in 1977 and were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2010.
Pentagon Editor Chris Gordon and Senior Editor David Roza contributed to this report.