Shindigs on base. The US Army’s first women to become Rangers. Pride celebrations. A tribute to a fallen warrior.

These are among the years of celebrations and recognition of the US military’s diversity being expunged from websites on the Trump administration’s orders.

The time-consuming effort extends the administration’s DEI crackdown, which includes canceling Black History Month for its workforce of 3 million and erasing all evidence that military commands had ever recognized them. An exclusive by the Associated Press reported that 26,000 images had been flagged for deletion.

The online content purge is the latest in a series of policy changes President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have ordered at the Pentagon, including regulations targeting transgender troops.

A US Air Force colonel greets an indigenous dancer at a National American Indian Heritage Month event at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada. US Air Force photo by Senior Airman Victoria Nuzzi

Over the past month, Hegseth has criticized the Pentagon’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives as divisive, saying he thinks “the single dumbest phrase in military history is, ‘Our Diversity is Our Strength.'”

“I think our strength is our unity, our strength is our shared purpose; regardless of our background, regardless of how we grew up, regardless of our gender, regardless of our race, in this department we will treat everyone equally,” the defense secretary said in February during a town hall at the Pentagon.

“We will treat everyone with fairness. We will treat everyone with respect,” Hegseth added. “And we will judge you as an individual by your merit and by your commitment to the team and the mission.”

The Trump administration made the unprecedented move to ax top military leaders within the US military as part of its DEI pushback, including Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., who served as the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the first Black officer to lead a military branch, and Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the Navy’s first female service chief.

US Air Force airmen play drums with performers during a diversity event at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia. US Air Force photo by Airman Cade Ellis

As one of the largest employers in the US, the Department of Defense oversees a geographically and racially diverse workforce and has for decades recognized traditions like Black History Month.

The US military’s active-duty force of 1.3 million is predominantly male, with white as the largest self-identifying race, at 68% in 2023, according to the Pentagon’s demographic report that year. The enlisted ranks were more diverse than the officer corps, with Black troops accounting for 19.5% and Latinos 21.7%.

Of the more than 400,000 racial minority troops, only about 15% were officers, and the lowest percentage of racial diversity was among the highest-ranking officers across all service branches.

An Asian American and Pacific Islander booth during the 2021 diversity celebration event at Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas. US Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Mariam K. Springs

In addition to halting DEI efforts at the Pentagon, Hegseth also mandated a “digital content refresh across all DoD public platforms,” ordering the removal of diversity-related content by Wednesday.

A memorandum of the February 27 mandate broadly described relevant content as “information that promotes programs, concepts, or materials about critical race theory, gender ideology, and preferential treatment or quotas based upon sex, race or ethnicity, or other DEI-related matters with respect to promotion and selection reform, advisory boards, councils, and working groups.”

A pair of military boots commemorated Army 2nd Lt. Emily J.T. Perez, who died in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, during a remembrance event in 2018. US Navy photo by Kristen Wong, Oahu Publications

On social media, people have shared the stories of diversity that have gone dark on the Pentagon’s official digital platforms.

A transgender US soldier noticed the official Facebook account of the US Army’s I Corps had taken down her 2021 Army Heritage Month video, so the soldier reshared the video on social media.

Similarly, an article published in May 2023 about the legacy and achievements of West Point female graduates was taken down. The article mentioned trailblazing women like Maj. Kristen Griest, one of the first two women to graduate from the US Army Ranger School, and 2nd Lt. Emily J.T. Perez, who was a high-ranking cadet leader at West Point.

Perez was also the first Black female officer in US military history to die in combat after she was killed in action while leading a convoy in Iraq in 2006. Some videos about Perez’s service were erased on the Army’s public platforms.

“I also talked about how my dad served for 24 years and the impact of 9/11. Now it’s just gone,” a user who identified herself as a former soldier said on social media after noticing a video she said profiled her was deleted. “Not going to lie it stings knowing my dad’s service didn’t matter, Emily’s service didn’t matter to them, and mine doesn’t either.”

A Pride celebration at the Pentagon in 2022. US Air Force photo by Eric Dietrich

In an internal memo sent last week, the Army’s Office of the Chief of Public Affairs listed nearly 60 keywords for officers to use to target online material for removal, Military.com reported.

The memo included terms like “culture,” “diversity,” “racism,” and “sexuality.” “Respect,” one of the Army’s core values, was also among the list of search terms for removable content.

“This directive is antithetical to everything public affairs is supposed to be about,” an Army public affairs official told Military.com. “The Army has ethically compromised everyone.”

Col. Paul Tibbetts waved from the pilot’s seat of Enola Gay moments before takeoff on WWII air raid mission to drop 1st atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Richard Cannon/Us Air Force/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images/Getty Images

With vague and confusing guidance on removable content, some online material that was flagged didn’t even relate to the military’s recent DEI efforts.

It appeared that some historical photos were marked for deletion for just having the word “gay,” the AP reported. They included photos of the B-29 named the Enola Gay, which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945, as well as imagery of a dredging project by the Army Corps of Engineers because one of the engineers had the last name, Gay.

The list of marked content also includes the Tuskegee Airmen, the first Black military pilots in the US. In an earlier review after a Trump executive order in January, the Air Force initially took down training courses that included videos mentioning the famed aviators but were later restored after the White House deemed it “malicious compliance,” per the AP.