Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro accused Sen. Tommy Tuberville of helping the nation's enemies.

The leaders of three branches of the U.S. military slammed Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) over his monthslong blockade of senior military promotions Tuesday, with one accusing the Republican senator of “aiding and abetting communists.”

“For someone who was born in a communist country, I would have never imagined that actually one of our own senators would actually be aiding and abetting communists and other autocratic regimes around the world,” Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro — a Cuban-born Navy veteran — said Tuesday during an interview on CNN alongside Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall and Army Secretary Christine Wormuth.

“This is having a real negative impact and will continue to have a real negative impact on our combat readiness,” Del Toro added.

  • Doug Holland@lemmy.world
    216·
    1 year ago

        OK, so there’s this wingnut Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Football) who’s angry that the military reimburses officers for travel expenses when they need to go out-of-state for an abortion. Until that rule’s changed, Tuberville has vowed to block all military promotions (who knew Senators had that power?) and now the Army, Navy and Marine Corps have no Senate-approved commanders in place.

        Other than how it screws over low-ranking officers, I really give no shits at all about Tuberville’s blockade. It makes him look like an idiot, and he is an idiot, and I’m pretty sure the Army, Navy and Marine Corps can do all their armying, navying, and marine corpsing without Senate-approved leadership.

        But man, I got a laugh out of that “aiding and abetting the Communists” crack.

    • SCB@lemmy.world
      192·
      1 year ago

      Other than how it screws over low-ranking officers,

      The military has vacancies in senior leadership positions that cannot be filled, which is obviously a big fucking deal.

      In addition to hundreds of one-, two- and three- star generals and admirals, the holds delay the confirmation of the Pentagon’s top leaders — who make up the Joint Chiefs of Staff, including the chairman. Already, the U.S. Marine Corps is without a confirmed leader for the first time in a century. And by law, the current Joint Chiefs chairman, Army Gen. Mark Milley, will step down at the end of September, and the current Army chief will leave his post in early August. The nominees to succeed them have had hearings, but no votes

      https://apnews.com/article/tuberville-military-holds-senate-officers-45c4230a8aee5222bf32b43823e29acc

      • zaph@sh.itjust.works
        9·
        1 year ago

        And by not promoting a general that backs up hundreds of promotions down the officer ranks. Can’t promote any LT’s because a few caps can’t get promoted because a couple of majs can’t get promoted because some ltcol’s can’t get promoted because a col can’t get promoted because tubby blocked a general.

    • dhork@lemmy.worldEnglish
      10·
      1 year ago

      Hey, how can you be so rude? The man has excelled in a key leadership position in the country, one that a privileged few hold. Why are you ignoring all that and referring to him with his minor title of “Senator”?

      Please refer to him as “Coach” from now on, as that’s the title he really values.