Since returning to office, President Trump has taken significant action to dramatically overhaul America’s broken education system for the better. Whether it’s been his ongoing mission to shutter the Department of Education or prohibit “radical, anti-American ideologies” in K-12 schools, the president has demonstrated a clear commitment to ensuring quality educational opportunities for the country’s youth.

But amid the backdrop of these efforts to reform traditional academic institutions are documented problems with a different kind of school: America’s military academies.

Intended to educate and train the next generation of warfighters, these once-premiere military schools have been caught up in some of the biggest cultural battles of the modern era. Much like the U.S. armed forces under former President Joe Biden, producing capable future service members took a backseat to unhealthy fixations with leftist ideologies and upholding the academies’ “image” among the American public.

Speaking with The Federalist, former West Point and Naval Academy officials explained how the DEI “decay” at these institutions runs deep. They also described how Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth can restore these previously coveted schools to their former glory, bringing meritocracy and lethality back to America’s military.