Florida Governor and GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis released his second major policy plan of his campaign on Tuesday, which targets any "woke" practices within the military.
The plan, titled "Mission First," follows DeSantis' pledge to "rip woke" out of the federal government if elected. Among his proposed policies include ending all diversity, equity and inclusion hirings, banning drag shows from performing on military bases and undoing the policy that allows transgender service members to enlist as the gender with which they identify.
But according to retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, "wokeness" is a useful tool for military members, and the former commander of the U.S. Army Europe told CNN's Jake Tapper on Wednesday that he considers himself "woke."
"I will honestly say that, not only as a soldier, but as a now citizen of Florida," Hertling said, "I'm woke, and I still live in Florida."
Hertling specifically took issue with DeSantis' plans regarding transgender service members and diversity policies, telling Tapper that he believes the governor is "disconnected from what the military actually does, and what they're made up of."
"[Woke] is someone that looks outside their normal field of view," said Hertling, who was asked by Tapper to give his definition of the term. "It's someone that opens their aperture to different viewpoints to try and analyze things in maybe a unique way."
"That's what the military does," he continued. "We're not taught what to think, we are taught how to think, because that's a very valuable attribute when you're talking about dealing with not only our allies, but with our enemies."
Hertling later reposted a tweet about his CNN appearance, adding a more direct message to DeSantis.
"Yup, I said this," Hertling wrote. "And, [DeSantis], I haven't found Florida to be where 'woke goes to die.' In fact, we're thriving there."
Newsweek reached out to DeSantis via his campaign site on Wednesday for comment on Hertling's statements.
DeSantis himself has yet to provide a definition for one of his most used campaign terms, but complained during an interview with Tapper on Tuesday that most people who "rail against wokeness can't even define it."
According to Florida Politics reporter Gray Rohrer, the governor's Communications Director Taryn Fenske describes it as a "slang term for activism ... progressive activism."
DeSantis' General Counsel Ryan Newman added that, to him, "woke" is "the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them."
