Defense Department officials, military leaders and veterans criticized Fox News host Tucker Carlson this week after he mocked women in uniform on air.
"So we've got new hairstyles and maternity flight suits," Carlson said in a sexist rant on his show Tuesday, showing images of uniforms meant to accommodate pregnant troops and new grooming standards. "Pregnant women are going to fight our wars. It's a mockery of the US military."
There are more than 200,000 women serving in the U.S. military. Carlson has never served.
Days after the segment aired, military leaders began to decry Carlson's comments, but largely only after women service members and veterans called on them to speak out on behalf of women in uniform.
"My uterus has more combat time than you, Tucker," Marine Maggie Seymour tweeted.
"Women lead our most lethal units with character. They will dominate ANY future battlefield we're called to fight on," Sgt. Maj.of the Army, Michael Grinston tweeted. "@TuckerCarlson's words are divisive, don't reflect our values. We have THE MOST professional, educated, agile, and strongest NCO Corps in the world."
On CNN Thursday, Grinston said there are "185,000 women in our Army today ... we have the most lethal Army in the world and that is because of our people."
"His opinion ... is based on zero days in the Armed Forces," Marine Corps Master Gunnery Sgt. Scott H. Stalker, the senior enlisted leader of U.S. Space Command, said in a video on social media Thursday. "The bottom line is that we value women in our armed forces. We value those who have served in the past and we value those who have served today. We value our families in the military."
"Thousands of women serve honorably every day around the globe," Gen. Paul Funk, of Army Training and Doctrine Command, tweeted Thursday, "They are beacons of freedom and they prove Carlson wrong through determination and dedication. We are fortunate they serve with us."
"Just a reminder that @TuckerCarlson couldn't be more wrong," Maj. Gen. Patrick Donahue tweeted. "Mothers in uniform fight & win our nation's wars. Fathers in uniform fight & win our nation's wars. Soldier is not a gendered noun."
Retired four-star general Mike Holmes said he flew combat missions with women during his years at Bagram AIr Force Base and rose with women leading combat missions on the ground.
"I watched the amazing women of SWORD ATHENA develop solid, well-staffed initiatives that make us more combat ready," Holmes tweeted. "I like serving with women. #ImWithHer."
CSM PJ Ellis said Carlson was the mockery, not women in the military.
"I will take a pregnant female to go 'WIN' the Nation’s war over you," he tweeted. "Furthermore, what do you know about winning wars much less winning. Let’s be clear, 'Women' serving in the military pregnant or not will outwork you PERIOD!!!"
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby addressed the controversy during a press briefing earlier today.
"What we absolutely won't do is take personnel advice from a talk show host, or the Chinese military,” Kirby said. “Maybe those folks feel like they have something to prove. That's on them.”
434th Field Artillery Brigade Commander Col. Daniel Blackmon said a quarter of the troops in his formation, if not more, are women.
"They are badass!" he tweeted. "Anyone worried about 'feminization' of the military needs to come take a walk around here for a day or two and see exactly what that means. I'm not worried about it. Tucker Carlson wishes he was that good."
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.
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