San Antonio Express-News - (archived: https://archive.ph/UI0sT ) After uproar, Air Force says recruits will again be taught about Tuskegee Airmen

The head of the service's San Antonio-based training command said a video about the famed Black aviators would remain in the Air Force basic training curriculum. The course had been shut down in response to President Trump's DEI ban.

By Sig Christenson,
Staff writer
Jan 26, 2025

The Air Force said Sunday that videos about the famed Tuskegee Airmen and a unit of pioneering female aviators would be restored to the basic training curriculum for new recruits beginning Monday.

A course that included the videos was shut down last week so officials could review it to make sure it complied with President Trump's executive order ending federal diversity, equity and inclusion programs, an Air Force official said. "DEI material" not permitted under Trump's order was removed from the course, but the historical videos will remain, the official said.

"The documented historic legacy and decorated valor with which these units and Airmen fought for our nation in World War II and beyond will continue on 27 January," Lt. Gen. Brian S. Robinson, head of the San Antonio-based Air Education and Training Command, said in a statement.

"Their personal examples of service, sacrifice and combat effectiveness are illustrative of the core values, character and warrior ethos necessary to be an Airman and Guardian," Robinson said.

The announcement came two days after the San Antonio Express-News reported that videos on the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of pathbreaking African American combat pilots, and the Women Airforce Service Pilots had been removed from basic training courses in response to Trump's DEI order, which the newly inaugurated president signed on Monday, Jan. 20.

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