On International Women’s Day, Biden nominates 2 female generals to receive 4-star commands
ACCORDING TO THE NEW YORK TIMES, PENTAGON LEADERS HELD BACK THE NOMINATIONS UNTIL AFTER THE NOVEMBER PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION FOR FEAR THAT THEN-PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP WOULD REJECT THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE WOMEN.
President Joe Biden on Monday announced the nominations of two female generals for promotion to four-star commands, hailing the nominees as “two outstanding and eminently qualified warriors and patriots.”
The president nominated Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost of the Air Force to be commander of the United States Transportation Command, and Lt. Gen. Laura Richardson of the Army to be commander of the United States Southern Command, which is based in Doral. The nominations came on International Women’s Day, Biden noted in remarks at the White House.
“Once confirmed, they will become the second and third women in the history of the United
States armed forces to lead combatant commands,” Biden said at the event, joined by Richardson, Van Ovost, Vice President Kamala Harris and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
“Each of these women
have led careers demonstrating incomparable skill, integrity and duty to country, and at every step, they’ve also helped push open the doors of opportunity to women in our military, blazing the trail a little wider, a little brighter for all proud women following in their path and looking to their example,” Biden added.
According to The New York Times, Pentagon leaders held back the nominations of Van Ovost and Richardson until after the November presidential
election for fear that thenPresident Donald Trump would reject them because they are women.
“They were chosen because they were the best officers for the jobs, and I didn’t want their promotions derailed because someone in the Trump White House saw that I recommended them or thought DOD was playing politics,” former Defense Secretary Mark Esper told The New York Times last month. “This was not the case. They were the best qualified. We were doing
the right thing.”
Van Ovost is the commander of Air Mobility Command, and Richardson is commanding general of U.S. Army North. If the Senate confirms their nominations, Van Ovost and Richardson will follow retired Air Force Gen. Lori Robinson, the former commander of U.S. Northern Command from 2016 to 2018. Robinson was the first woman to serve as a combatant commander since the posts’ establishment in 1986.
Proposed state Senate Bill 86 would grant Bright Futures Scholarships only to recipients studying subjects determined by the government to “lead directly to employment.” This reminds me of my studies in communist East Germany in the 1980s.
Students there were not free to pursue the degree they wanted; instead, the government dictated what they could learn, based on the needs of the communist-planned economy. In 1989, however, the Berlin Wall fell, the East German economy collapsed. East Germany merged with capitalist West Germany, adopting a free market where students could select courses of study based on their interests and talents. Today, united Germany is one of the world’s strongest economies.
How would Florida benefit from adopting a model of governmentdictated study that has already proven to fail?
– Louise K. DavidsonSchmich, South Miami
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