Elon Musk’s DOGE has canceled a virtual reality project worth millions that aimed to educate soldiers on how to navigate ‘challenging discussions,’ as disclosed exclusively to DailyMail.com.
Instead of focusing on enhancing soldiers’ combat skills, the Air Force and Space Force allocated substantial funds to a training initiative geared towards fostering ‘inclusive leadership.’
This initiative was deemed crucial by military authorities during the tenure of former President Joe Biden in order to tackle ‘unconscious biases’ within military ranks and cultivate a more ‘inclusive’ military branch, as highlighted in a White House communication.
The Air Force’s Air Education and Training Command handed out a staggering $2.3 million contract to create a virtual reality experience where soldiers would deal with an avatar that would help them speak and act in a DEI-friendly way.
‘This program allows the participants to have a conversation that are both realistic and difficult,’ an Air Force soldier wrote alongside a video testimonial. ‘It uses a virtual avatar that are controlled by trained actors.’
It ‘is just another way that the Air and Space Force are innovating and staying one step ahead of a time when we have difficult conversations!’ the soldier continued.
But that project cut directly against Donald Trump’s executive order to eliminate DEI programs, so Musk’s DOGE canceled the initiative.
‘DOGE has canceled a $2.3mm contract with the Air Force’s University for the ‘profession of arms center of excellence unconscious bias mixed reality service,” a senior White House official revealed to DailyMail.com.
According to a press release on the program, the ‘Leading Inclusively Virtual Experience’ program used virtual reality ‘to challenge individuals to engage in difficult diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) conversations.’
As soldiers interacted with this DEI avatar a room full of their colleagues would watch as the participant navigated ‘difficult conversations.’
The avatar was controlled by an actor who would challenge the participant with tough topics, presumably relating to race, gender, age and sexual orientation.
Literature produced by the Air Force to tout the program noted how soldiers who participated in the LIVE program were venturing into a ‘brave space.’
‘When you participate in a L.I.V.E. session, you immerse yourself in a safe, but brave space to practice addressing exclusion using realistic scenarios based on Airmen and Guardian experiences,’ a brochure on the initiative states.
‘When entering a brave space Airmen and Guardians accept a level of discomfort when discussing personal perspectives and experiences, but know they are safe to share because the respect and dignity given by their fellow Airmen and Guardians,’ the pamphlet added.
If selected, soldiers would attend a three-day course funded by the Secretary of the Air Force’s Diversity and Inclusion office at Air University’s Eaker Center at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama.
The program grew year-over-year to include more participants.
In 2022 there were three LIVE courses that instructed 52 participants in the Air Force.
The next year in 2023 the program held eight courses that trained 160 participants.
A Pentagon spokesman suggested DailyMail.com reach out to the Air Force and Space Force for comment.
However, the Air and Space Force did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
The LIVE program’s cancellation comes weeks after Trump ordered all federal employees in DEI roles get placed on paid leave.
Trump’s executive order, titled ‘Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing and Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions’, reversed a DEI executive order enacted by President Biden on his first day in office four years ago.
‘President Biden believes that gender identity should not be a bar to military service, and that America’s strength is found in its diversity,’ a 2021 release from the White House said.
‘America is stronger, at home and around the world, when it is inclusive,’ it continued.
The cancellation of the LIVE program’s $2.3 million contract was discussed on DailyMail.com’s Magaland podcast.
