Brunswick Beacon, 03.13.25
Congratulations to South Brunswick High School Junior Riley Paglione, NC American Legion Department’s selection as Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Cadet of the Year. Paglione was chosen among cadets from over 200 other NC American Legion Posts because she demonstrated outstanding leadership, academic excellence, and commitment to community service. The American Legion praised Cadet 2nd Lieutenant Paglione for demonstrating “strong leadership skills and outstanding military acumen.”
You probably think America could use young women with “strong leadership skills and outstanding military acumen” in the military. Trump and his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth don’t.
Hours after being sworn in, Trump fired U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Linda Lee Fagan, the first female uniformed leader of an armed forces branch, because, said a senior Department of Homeland Security official, she supported diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the military. The week Paglione was recognized, Hegseth fired Air Force Lt. Gen. Jennifer Short, his senior military assistant, who he mocked as a “DEI hire,” and Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to hold the Navy’s top job of Chief of Naval Operations and first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Franchetti spent half her 40-year career at sea, commanding a destroyer, two carrier strike groups and the U.S. Sixth Fleet.
In response to Trump's executive order, Hegseth had the Army and Navy remove their web pages describing the many contributions of female soldiers and sailors. Hegseth wrote, “Dads push us to take risks. Moms put the training wheels on our bikes. We need moms. But not in the military.”
Israel disagrees. All Israeli women must serve in the Israeli Defense Force, considered among the finest in the world. Women comprise 33% of its soldiers and 51% of its officers.
Trump’s war on women deprives America of half its talent and destroys women’s dreams of serving their country. Call Sen. Tillis (202-224-6342) and tell him to do something.
Eileen Farrell
Sunset Beach
Comentários