President Donald Trump’s January 2025 Executive Order 14190, Ending Radical Indoctrination in K–12 Schooling, directed a sweeping rollback of “woke ideology” in federal educational settings. The order included Department of Defense Education Activity schools. And it was explicit: Federal entities were to remove or cease publication of materials that promote gender ideology, radical social justice narratives, or racially divisive content.

Despite the federal mandate, however, parents stationed at U.S. military bases around the globe are still finding books that contradict the spirit and letter of the executive order. This is especially true in library areas for the youngest readers outside of on-base schools. Libraries at Air Force, Army, and Navy installations continue to offer children’s books that push messages many parents find inappropriate and, in some cases, disturbing.