Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville Reminds the Defense Department That One Determined Man Is a Majority

The problem with wokeness and political correctness in the US military is well-established. In the cause of equity, young women are allowed entry into occupations that place them and their comrades at heightened risk while adding nothing at all to combat performance. Even when the military hierarchy is shown empirical data proving that in some military occupational specialties, all-male units perform at a much higher level than co-ed units, the three-headed demon called Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity demanded that lives be potentially sacrificed to make people feel good about themselves.

Military Services Mired in Wokeness

Readiness labors under the same obeisance to wokeness. While a young man or woman with braces can’t enlist because the military can’t guarantee access to orthodontic care, a mentally disturbed person with body-altering surgery and hopped up on a variety of drugs is allowed access to weapons and welcomed as a member of the team. Men and women who refused to accept the politically driven and medically ineffective COVID vaccine were forced out of the service. Even when courts forced the reversal of this policy, they were not readmitted.

Lying By Senior Officers Promoted

The services used to pride themselves on integrity, but the DIE demon has declared that lying is not just acceptable; it is commendable so long as it supports one of the woke virtues. For instance, the Army’s first “openly gay” general officer, Tammy Smith, served most of her career illegally. Nevertheless, she’s been honored by a display at the National Museum US Army at Fort Belvoir.

A few years ago, Brigadier General Randy Taylor came out as gay and introduced his “husband” at a Pentagon “gay pride” event. Like Smith, he was commissioned and served much of his career, living an illegal life under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. And who can forget the pup fetish colonel? (READ: Army Starts Sham Investigation Into Bondage Fetish Colonel and His Friends Because They Think You’re Stupid.) I have more to say here The US Army: an institution corrupted to its very core and The Official Outrage Over Tucker Carlson’s Critique of Joe Biden’s Military Shows Just How Lost Our Military Is, but I’ll leave it right there for now.

Contempt of the Law By Secretary Austin

Untrammeled wokeness inevitably leads to hubris and open revolt. The Department of Defense is barred from allowing abortions in military medical facilities. Shortly after the Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturning the legal and moral travesty that was Roe vs. Wade was handed down in June 2022, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced that the military would pay for the travel of pregnant soldiers AND their family members to states that were abortion-friendly as well as providing three weeks of free time off. The policy became final in February.

Austin was correct in guessing that a Democrat-led Senate would prevent any action from being taken. What he was wrong about was the ability of one determined senator to upend the abortion applecart. In December, Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville told Austin that if he persisted in doing this end run around the law, he would prevent all promotions of general officers and their civilian equivalents.

U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) today announced his intent to place a hold on all future U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) civilian and general flag officer nominees should the department choose to move forward with a planned policy change to fund travel and paid time off for service members and their dependents seeking an abortion. The announcement from Senator Tuberville comes in response to his office being briefed by Department of Defense officials on the policy change earlier in the week. By covering travel expenses and paid time off, Senator Tuberville believes the DoD is blatantly flouting the law.

Tuberville’s “hold” on senior Defense appointments leaves limited options. The easiest one is for Austin to recognize that his action is illegal and rescind it. That doesn’t seem to be in the works. As all senior Defense nominees require the Senate to “advise and consent,” Tuberville’s lone objection can only be bypassed by Chuck Schumer, allowing debate and a vote on each nominee. This would require an investment of time that he just can’t afford.

Secretary Austin has now descended to accusing Senator Tuberville of damaging military readiness by requiring Austin to follow the law.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday said there will be “powerful effects” on military readiness if Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) continues to hold up more than 150 Pentagon nominees over an abortion policy in the Defense Department.

Austin told the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) the U.S. is facing “one of the most complex times” with foreign adversaries and approving the Pentagon’s nominees is “absolutely critical in terms of the impact on the force.”

“Not approving the recommendations for promotions actually creates a ripple effect in the force that makes us far less ready than we need to be,” the defense secretary said. “The effects are cumulative and it will affect families, it will affect kids going to schools … it’s a powerful effect and it will impact our readiness.”

Right on cue, Democrat media have launched an attack on Tuberville.

Truth be told, nothing Tuberville is doing has any effect on national defense. All he is doing is inconveniencing a handful of senior officers. This is only happening because Austin is a DIE warrior with an entitlement mentality that says he’s above the law. We owe Senator Tuberville a debt of gratitude for reining in the arrogance of Secretary Austin and reminding him that no matter how big his ego is, he’s not above the law.