Its premise and primary conflicts remain traditional military action and leadership themes without identity politics as drivers. Casting features organic diversity with Black actors Charles Parnell as Russ Jeter, Jocko Sims as Carlton Burk, Christina Elmore as Alisha Granderson, and Jodie Turner-Smith as Kenyan liaison Azima Kandie, plus female leads like Bridget Regan as intelligence officer Sasha Cooper, justified by naval and special ops roles rather than mandates.

Alisha Granderson, the show's first lesbian character introduced in season 1, receives a minor subplot in season 5 where her girlfriend Kelsi Baker is revealed as a Gran Colombian spy who stabs her to death. Isolated viewer complaints on Metacritic reference 'SJW messaging' and 'empowering all the unpowered chicks' in season 5, but these do not reflect widespread reception or creator statements emphasizing activism. No race- or gender-swaps of established characters, no critiques of traditional norms or systemic oppression as core conflicts, and no evidence of DEI-driven changes altering the military premise.