Some top military leaders are firing back at Fox News host Tucker Carlson for comments he made on his show about women in the military.
To mark International Women’s Day, President Biden touted his recent promotion of two women to lead combatant commands and pointed out measures taken to attract more women to the military.
The next day, Carlson, blasted those efforts saying: “So we’ve got new hairstyles and maternity flight suits. Pregnant women are going to fight our wars. It’s a mockery of the U.S. military. While China’s military becomes more masculine as it has assembled the world’s largest navy, our military needs to become as Joe Biden says more feminine, whatever feminine means anymore.”
Of note, the changes Carlson focused on were initiated during the Trump administration.
Some military leaders shot back, calling Carson’s comments “divisive” and “don’t reflect our values”.
“Women lead our most lethal units with character,” Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Grinston tweeted. “They will dominate ANY future battlefield we’re called to fight on. @TuckerCarlson’s words are divisive, don’t reflect our values. We have THE MOST professional, educated, agile, and strongest [noncommissioned officer] Corps in the world.”
U.S. Space Command Senior Enlisted Leader, Sgt. Scott H. Stalker, pointed out that Carlson’s opinion “is based off of exactly zero days of service in the Armed Forces.”
Stalker said Carson’s comments about pregnant women in the military were “wrong”.
“Those decisions were made by medical professionals and commanders and our civilian leadership that allows women to have more time with their children, to recuperate, to get fit and ready, to take that time that is necessary that our medical professionals know that is needed, which actually makes us a more lethal, and ready, and fit force,” Stalker said.
“What we absolutely won’t do is take personnel advice from a talk show host, or the Chinese military, and maybe those folks feel like they have something to prove, that’s on them,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters on Thursday.
But, despite Carlson’s comments disparaging women in the military, Kirby said American Forces Network (AFN), which broadcasts to troops deployed overseas, would continue to carry Carlson’s show, according to The Hill.
“By instruction we are required to broadcast and make available for men and women and their families overseas the same type of content, news, information and sports content that their fellow citizens can get, so his show is aired on AFN,” Kirby said.
“I would hope that in the reaction he’s seeing, and hopefully in our reaction here today, that he’ll realize the mistake he made and express some regret about the manner in which he essentially demeaned the entire U.S. military, and how we defend and how we serve this country,” he added.
