Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the Navyā€™s No. 2 officer, has been leading the service on an acting basis because of the impasse.

President Joe Bidenā€™s nominee to be the Navyā€™s top officer, Adm. Lisa Franchetti, said it could take the service years to recover from the impacts of Sen. Tommy Tubervilleā€˜s blockade of hundreds of senior military promotions.

Franchetti told the Senate Armed Services Committee during her confirmation hearing Thursday that the impasse has created ā€œa lot of uncertaintyā€ for Navy families.

ā€œJust at the three-star level, it would take about three to four months just to move all the people around,ā€ Franchetti said. ā€œBut it will take years to recover ā€¦ from the promotion delays that we would see.ā€

More than 300 general and flag officer nominees have no clear path to confirmation over Tubervilleā€™s objections, which he put in place over his opposition to the Pentagonā€™s policy that reimburses troops who need to travel to seek abortions and other reproductive care. The Pentagon is standing by the policy and Tuberville has vowed to continue his procedural hold, so thereā€™s no end in sight to the standoff.

As the Navyā€™s current No. 2, Franchetti has been doing the top job on a temporary basis since Adm. Mike Gilday retired in August. The Army and Marine Corps are also being led by interim chiefs who are waiting to be confirmed.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who quizzed Franchetti about the impact of the blockade, said the long-lasting effects create a ā€œpropaganda win for our enemies.ā€

ā€œOur military experts project China wants to be able to take Taiwan by 2027, and weā€™ll still be trying to repair the damage inflicted by these holds,ā€ Warren said.

ā€œThe Republicansā€™ failure to end this blockade makes it clear: they donā€™t care about our leaders,ā€ she added. ā€œThey donā€™t care about the families who have served their country honorably for decades.ā€

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) shot back at Warrenā€™s comments, noting that the blockade would end if Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin simply repealed the abortion travel policy.

ā€œOne person. Secretary Austin, come on, do the right thing,ā€ Cramer said.

Democrats, whoā€™ve urged GOP leaders to talk Tuberville down from his tactics, estimate that nearly 90 percent of general and flag officers will be impacted by the hold between the over 600 officers requiring confirmation this year and other officers who will have to temporarily cover vacant jobs.

Confirming all the delayed promotions individually isnā€™t practical and would take hundreds of hours. But Republicans contend Majority Leader Chuck Schumer should at least hold one-off votes on members of the Joint Chiefs. The problem worsens at the beginning of next month, when Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley retires with no Senate-confirmed officer to take his place.

Franchetti also underscored the ā€œuncertaintyā€ the blockade had created for Navy families, who face delayed moves, issues with school enrollments and other problems.

ā€œOur Navy families are dealing with a lot of uncertainty,ā€ she said. ā€œI have heard a lot of concerns from our families that they are having difficulty navigating that space right now.ā€

  • raz0rf0x@pawb.social
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    1 year ago

    I enlisted in 1998 while things were quiet. Clinton got us a nice raise back then. Then 9/11 happened and the military was inundated with right wing ā€œpatriotsā€ reacting to events and looking to kill uppity brown people. I saw the quality of recruits diminish as the military lowered standards to surge troop strengths to engage in an illegal war. I recently met someone who was in my old unit only a few years ago and I didnā€™t recognize the Marine Corps he described.

    Personally, being ordered to partake in an illegal war in Iraq after having just left Afghanistan in an unresolved state only strengthened my liberal beliefs. Going to other parts of the world and seeing what politicians and superpower governments do to people, and the amount unnecessary pain and suffering that takes place at the hands of ideologues and dogma, should radicalize anybody against fascists and right wing ideology. People who see and experience all that and return even more hateful and bigoted are psychopaths.

    I am proud of my service and my conduct in it, even if I donā€™t agree with the missions I was on. I would do it all again. I loved being a Marine. The only people youā€™ll find me hating are fascists and religious radicals. THATā€™S who I learned to hate in the military because that is where most human suffering came from.

    It surprises some people that Iā€™m a liberal veteran. I tell them that you canā€™t go through that and see all that and not be a liberal, not if you have a heart and brain.

    And to anyone I piss off with this opinion: Youā€™re just telling on yourself.

    • cobysev@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Then 9/11 happened and the military was inundated with right wing ā€œpatriotsā€ reacting to events and looking to kill uppity brown people.

      I signed up for the US Air Force literally a month before 9/11 happened, and I had to seriously reconsider what I was getting myself into when the Twin Towers fell. What was supposed to be a chill peacetime enlistment ended up being a potential start to WWIII (at least, thatā€™s what we thought when it happened).

      I still went through with my enlistment, but I remember going to the MEPS that December and having one guy in my processing group who was joining the US Army. All he would talk about was how he couldnā€™t wait to be issued his weapon and how many ā€œtowelheadsā€ he was going to take down. He kept harassing the Marine in charge of our group, asking questions like how soon heā€™d get his weapon (before weā€™re sent to Basic Training?) and how they tracked confirmed kills (has anyone gotten one before they finished Basic? Do we get to shoot terrorists as part of our training?)

      No idea what happened to that dude, but Iā€™m hoping he didnā€™t make it far in his career.

      • raz0rf0x@pawb.social
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        1 year ago

        I donā€™t know about Army because Iā€™ve always hated how shitty soldiers tended to be. Mouthing off to Sargents and being generally undisciplined pigs. Couldnā€™t even follow a joint battle plan for a joint patrol and nearly got my convoy wasted by friendly fire. But PRIOR to 9/11 people like you describe wouldnā€™t have made it through Marine boot camp if they didnā€™t stop acting like that. I doubt they would have made it through USAF or USN basic/boot either. But armyā€¦ yeah, probably went in and got his ass shot off.