'Dangerous hold': Military secretaries urge Tuberville to stop 'politicizing' senior officers

In a Monday, September 4 op-ed published by The Washington Post, three service secretaries call on United States Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) to end the "dangerous hold" on the confirmation of senior military leaders.

Due to "his personal opposition to the Pentagon's healthcare policies on abortion," the GOP leader is currently holding up hundreds of military promotions.

"We believe that the vast majority of senators and of Americans across the political spectrum recognize the stakes of this moment and the dangers of politicizing our military leaders," Navy secretary Carlos Del Toro, Air Force secretary Frank Kendall, and Army secretary Christine Wormuth write. "It is time to lift this dangerous hold and confirm our senior military leaders."

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Furthermore, "Rather than seeking a resolution to this impasse in that spirit," the service members write, "Tuberville has suggested he is going to further escalate this confrontation by launching baseless political attacks against these men and women."

Mentioning that the Army, Navy and Marine Corps are all without a leader due to Tuberville's hold, the three secretaries note that the senator has no plans of letting up.

Pointing to the various negative effects of the hold — the secretaries emphasize:

We know officers who have incurred significant unforeseen expenses and are facing genuine financial stress because they have had to relocate their families or unexpectedly maintain two residences.

Military spouses who have worked to build careers of their own are unable to look for jobs because they don't know when or if they will move. Children haven’t known where they will go to school, which is particularly hard given how frequently military children change schools already.

These military leaders are being forced to endure costly separations from their families — a painful experience they have come to know from nearly 20 years of deployments to places such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

All because of the actions of a single senator.

READ MORE: No': Pentagon rejects Sinema’s 'middle ground' proposal to end Tuberville’s military blockade

Del Toro, Kendall and Wormuth's full op-ed is available at this link (subscription required).