The “Woke” Pentagon
What does it take to become a flag officer (general or admiral) in the US military? For at least twenty years, you and your family will be uprooted every two years or so to such garden spots as Iraq, Afghanistan and even Niger with the strong possibility of getting shot at.
What can prevent you from achieving flag rank if you survive all that? A pipsqueak Senator trying to make a name for himself on Fox News.
Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama (Can you take an adult who goes by Tommy seriously? Apparently you can in Alabama.) took advantage of an arcane rule that allows any Senator to require individual votes of each of several hundred military officers going for flag rank. Every year, generals and admirals retire and must be replaced. For the past nine months, Senator Tommy threw a monkey wrench in that process.
Senator Tommy explained, “The Pentagon’s woke leaders are injecting left-wing politics into our most sacred institution and driving away a generation of patriots from recruitment.”
That “left wing policy” allows for time off and travel expenses for reproductive health care, including abortion, for troops and their dependents in states where it is not available. The Pentagon pays for abortion only when the mother’s life is in danger or when pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.
Forcing a soldier or sailor to carry their rapist’s baby to term is “left wing policy”? A “generation of patriots” will flock to enlist in the military knowing that they or their dependents might face that possibility?
It all worked out for Senator Tommy. As a first term officeholder not running for reelection until 2026, his campaign coffers were empty. The poor man was surviving on his Senate salary and free dinners with lobbyists.
Once Fox News put him on TV to rail against the “woke” Pentagon, those “campaign contributions” (for a campaign three years away) flooded in. Senator Tommy now has about $500 K to play with.
There are two vacancies on the five member Joint Chiefs of Staff right now, but that’s OK. It’s not like Gaza and Ukraine are in flames. Senator Tommy got his notoriety and his money.
By Ed Dufton
