The U.S. Navy ended a recruiting campaign featuring an active-duty sailor who is also a drag queen. The sailor was part of a Digital Ambassador Pilot Program which tried to attract new recruits via social media platforms. The program is now history but as drag queens represent a crisis of identity, Navy leadership should do some soul-searching as to its core values and what kind of recruits contribute to its mission. The Navy’s use of drag queens to recruit was destined to fail because the drag culture of radical self-expression contradicts the Navy’s culture of sacrifice, discipline, and service. If the Navy is able to recruit a new generation of worthy sailors, they’ll need to promote virtue and self sacrifice, not drag queens, to meet their goals.