Conservative politicians and critics of the Biden administration have released a report that offers a solution to the recruiting issues facing the military: Ditch efforts to add diversity, fight extremism, or combat climate change.

"What we're trying to do is save the military from a pernicious ideology that can have a very negative effect on warfighting capability," Rebeccah Heinrichs, a member of the Heritage Foundation panel that wrote the newly released report, said during a public rollout at the conservative think tank in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.

The Heritage report underscores many of the same warnings issued for years by Republicans -- though especially in recent months as politicians have escalated allegations of a "woke" force. Many say the left-leaning policies embraced by the Biden administration lead to a loss of confidence among service members, weaken the military and, in turn, hurt recruitment.

The report, authored by a panel handpicked by Heritage, includes a poll of troops and civilians, and a bevy of citations to news coverage and editorials meant to bolster the claims.

Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., who chaired the panel, told the same auditorium that "these initiatives have taken a real toll on our military and its perception amongst the public."

The Heritage panel's top concern is the Pentagon's "sweeping embrace of diversity, equity, and inclusion" policies.

It specifically names critical race theory, known as CRT, as a key example, and cites the choice by the Navy's top officer to include Dr. Ibram X. Kendi's book "How To Be An Antiracist" among other titles on a reading list in 2021. Kendi argues that there is no such thing as "non-racist," and his book has become a flashpoint in the ongoing U.S culture wars.

CRT is an academic theory, developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s, that is found mostly on college campuses. It argues that racism has been embedded in systems and policies throughout the United States over long periods of time.

Waltz said that "we should prohibit the instruction and propagation of these divisive teachings such as CRT" but also acknowledged "often they're not labeled that way" by the military.

The report also notes that "there are no such explicitly labeled programs or policies" but asserts that CRT's principles are being taught and implemented through policy actions."

Pentagon officials say there is no evidence such programs are distracting from preparing to fight wars or are scaring off potential recruits. On the contrary, they argue, such programs strengthen the military.

"There's been no detraction from the primary mission of both the Navy and Marine Corps to defend our nation and do so in a forward-deployed manner," Navy Under Secretary Erik Raven told the Senate Armed Services Committee at a recent hearing on recruiting challenges.

The military has maintained that the COVID-19 pandemic, a lack of qualified young people, a strong job market and a misunderstanding of the military are main causes of recruitment troubles.

After gaining 30 pounds during the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Daniel Murillo is finally getting back into fighting shape.

Early pandemic lockdowns, endless hours on his laptop and heightened stress led Murillo, 27, to reach for cookies and chips in the barracks at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Gyms were closed, organized exercise was out and Murillo's motivation to work out on his own was low.

“I could notice it,” said Murillo, who is 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighed as much as 192 pounds. “The uniform was tighter.”

Murillo wasn't the only service member dealing with extra weight. New research found that obesity in the U.S. military surged during the pandemic. In the Army alone, nearly 10,000 active duty soldiers developed obesity between February 2019 and June 2021, pushing the rate to nearly a quarter of the troops studied. Increases were seen in the U.S. Navy and the Marines, too.

“The Army and the other services need to focus on how to bring the forces back to fitness,” said Tracey Perez Koehlmoos, director of the Center for Health Services Research at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland, who led the research.

Overweight and obese troops are more likely to be injured and less likely to endure the physical demands of their profession. The military loses more than 650,000 workdays each year because of extra weight and obesity-related health costs exceed $1.5 billion annually for current and former service members and their families, federal research shows.

More recent data won’t be available until later this year, said Koehlmoos. But there’s no sign that the trend is ending, underscoring longstanding concerns about the readiness of America’s fighting forces.

Military leaders have been warning about the impact of obesity on the U.S. military for more than a decade, but the lingering pandemic effects highlight the need for urgent action, said retired Marine Corps Brigadier General Stephen Cheney, who co-authored a recent report on the problem.

“The numbers have not gotten better,” Cheney said in a November webinar held by the American Security Project, a nonprofit think tank. “They are just getting worse and worse and worse.”