The Air Force has removed articles highlighting the first female Thunderbolt pilot in compliance with the Trump administration and its efforts to rid the military of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, 9News in Colorado first reported.
Retired Col. Nicole Malachowski, the first female pilot to fly with the Thunderbolts demonstration team, confirmed that the articles and websites highlighting her achievements have been deleted.
“When you click on that link, it’ll literally say ‘404 page not found,'” she said.
“You’re good enough to serve but not good enough to be remembered. I can’t believe that something like this is happening in the country whose uniform I wore,” Malachowski told the outlet.
While Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has stressed the importance of a merit-based military, his Feb. 27 order of a “Digital Content Refresh” has frustrated and angered some former service members.
The order stated that “Components must remove and archive DoD news articles, photos, and videos promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), including content related to critical race theory, gender ideology, and identity-based programs.”
Malachowski, who served for 21 years flying F-15E Strike Eagles and commanded a fighter squadron in her career, said the removal of her articles is not unique among female pilots and the military is not better off for it.
“There was indeed a time when women and minorities could not serve in our military,” Malachowski said. “There was indeed a time when women and minorities could not fly aircraft in defense of their country. For us to act like those barriers never happened or those barriers were never broken, is to completely ignore our history.”
“It’s been really just shocking to me to see that we would censor the historical fact, the historical stories, the historical contributions of service members and veterans,” Malachowski added.
In remains to be seen if the Defense Department will reassess its deletion of Malachowski’s achievement as it did for some Black service member articles. In March, the Department of Defense was forced to scramble and restore the more high-profile posts that were removed, including those of baseball and civil rights legend Jackie Robinson.
Earlier in the month, the Pentagon announced efforts to reassess Hegseth’s order with the creation of a nine-member task force headed by Jules W. Hurst III, an Army veteran and current undersecretary of defense of personal and readiness.
The task force will evaluate the implementation of Hegseth’s order and seeks “frank feedback, honesty and candor from the people they interact with during the upcoming visits, as such feedback is necessary to ensure consistency across the force.”
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