On Thursday, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) challenged Admiral Lisa Franchetti to keep politics out of the military “as much as you can,” and to instead focus on winning wars.
“As we discussed, I’m continuously talking to our Joint Chiefs and our leadership about politics,” Sen. Tuberville said. “We talk about politics. And I would hope that when you take over your new role, and I’m excited for you, that you keep politics out as much as you can. I know you’ll have to deal with it some, but [keep it] out of the military as much as we possibly can – leave it to us politicians.”
Tuberville said the “military is a team, and we’ve got to win.”
“I coached football for a long time,” Tuberville said. “I coached teams, put them together. And I had football players. I did have different races or wealth or religions, and I would never try to divide that group and put them in certain categories to where other groups say, “What are we doing? Why are we separating this?” Because our military is a team. We’ve got to win. There’s no second place in war. There’s a first place.”
Tuberville expressed misgivings about a Vice Admiral who held a party just for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender sailors on a ship.
“We got one [Vice] Admiral that recently had a party on a ship for the lesbian, gay, and transgender group,” said Tuberville. “Now, listen, I’ve got gay friends – I have no problem. But we are building a team here, a team of people that’s got to fight together, do things together. They had a party, cut a cake, all these things. And to me, again, we’re going to need everybody. Men, women, everybody of every association because we’re a volunteer force. We want people who love this country, that’ll fight together when things get tough. And I would just hope that you would spread that around in the Navy. Once you get in, go, “Hey, let’s build a team – don’t build individual groups.” What’s your thoughts on that?”
“Senator, I enjoyed our meeting the other day, so thank you again for your time,” Admiral Franchetti answered. “Sir, I’ll say for the last thirty-eight years, I’ve been focused on building teams that can fight and win our nation’s wars. I’m focused on warfighting, warfighters, and winning. And that’s what our military needs to be focused on. And if confirmed, that is the focus I will bring to our Navy every day.”
“Yep. What I’m saying is, you’re the head coach now,” Tuberville said. “There ain’t nobody to look to after you now. You’re the person who’s going to get the credit and blame. And I know you can do the job. I’m looking forward to it. But I would just… the experiences I’ve had over the years if we ever start trying to divide into groups within a team atmosphere, which our military is a team, we’re going to have huge problems down the way. And we have problems in our country right now. And I would hope that we don’t continue to divide.”
Admiral Franchetti is currently the Vice Chief of Naval Operations. She is awaiting confirmation to serve as Chief of Naval Operations. Adm. Franchetti is one of the nominees affected by Sen. Tuberville’s hold on promotions in response to President Joe Biden’s controversial taxpayer-funded abortion policy. Sen. Tuberville has repeatedly urged Sen. Chuck Schumer to either bring promotions, like Adm. Franchetti’s, to the floor or to get DoD to drop the policy.
Tuberville’s critics claim that the military holds are creating chaos in the military and hurting readiness. A charge that Tuberville denies.
Tommy Tuberville is a career teacher, football coach, and sports broadcaster who, in 2020, unseated incumbent U.S. Sen. Doug Jones (D-Alabama) in a landslide election.
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