Army Suspends Ex-General's Contract After Tweet Appears to Mock Jill Biden
newsweek.comfirst lady Dr. Jill Biden.Lieutenant General Gary Volesky previously served as a prominent spokesman for the Army and received a Silver Star for his service in Iraq.
Prior to his suspension, he had a $92-an-hour consulting contract with the Army, serving as a "senior mentor" to various officers and students.The general's troubles emerged due to a tweet from June 24, according to USA Today.
The first lady had tweeted a message about the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, lamenting that the right of women to choose had been "stolen" after "nearly 50 years." Volesky then tweeted in response, "Glad to see you finally know what a woman is."Volesky's response, USA Today reported, was a breach of traditional military decorum, which calls for retired officers on the Pentagon payroll to avoid speaking out on partisan political matters.
He was suspended by Lieutenant General Theodore Martin, commander of the Combined Arms Center, and will remain suspended pending the results of an investigation into his conduct, an Army spokeswoman confirmed to the news outlet.Volesky's tweet has since been deleted.However, his tweet echoed a common anti-transgender sentiment among the American right-wing, which questions the validity of the identity of trans-women.
