At that event, Biden said the military was doing “relatively straightforward work” to better reflect the gender diversity in its ranks and retain female recruits, including “designing armor that fits women properly, making combat uniforms for women and creation of maternity flight coveralls [and] update requirements for your hairstyles. “
Carlson scoffed at Biden’s comments the following night on his show. “So, we have new hair styles and maternity flight coveralls. Pregnant women will fight our wars. It is a mockery of the US military, ”he said.
Carlson’s comments provoked so much criticism among military leaders that Pentagon spokesman John Kirby took time out at the beginning of his press conference on Thursday “to briefly address some recent comments made by the host of a popular program cable “.
Speaking to reporters, Kirby described “the diversity of our military” as “one of our greatest strengths” and acknowledged that “we still have a lot of work to do to make our military more inclusive, more respectful of everyone, especially women”.
“But what we are absolutely not going to do is take personal advice from a talk show host or the Chinese military,” said Kirby. “Now, maybe these people feel they have something to prove. This is up to them. We know that we are the greatest military in the world today and, even for all the things that we need to improve, we know exactly why that happens ”.
He added that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “shares the disgust” of other leaders who have criticized Carlson’s comments.
Army General Paul Funk, head of the Doctrine and Training Command, tweeted on Wednesday that military women are “beacons of freedom” that “prove that Carlson is wrong by determination and dedication. We are lucky that they serve with us. “
Sgt. Army Major Michael Grinston also tweeted on Wednesday that women “lead our most lethal units with character. They will dominate ANY future battlefield on which we are called to fight. @TuckerCarlson’s words are divisive, they don’t reflect our values. “
Master Gunnery Sgt. Scott Stalker, the top enlisted leader in the U.S. Space Command, released a video message on Thursday denouncing the “TV drama”. He urged soldiers to “get back to work” and “remember that these opinions were made by an individual who has never served a day in his life”.
And in an implicit rebuke to Carlson, the Army’s official Twitter account posted a series of images throughout the day on Thursday showing female soldiers fulfilling their obligations – all with the caption: “I’m an American soldier.”