Retired General Fired for Mocking ‘Doctor’ Jill Biden
Gary Volesky said what had to be said, and he paid the price for it.
Gary Volesky clearly didn’t need the money. Otherwise he wouldn’t have mocked the first lady.
But Volesky, a retired Army lieutenant general who until a few days ago had a nice consulting gig with the Department of Defense, did mock Herr Doctor Jill Biden, Ed.D., and he paid the predictable price for it: He lost his job.
As The Washington Times reports, “An Army spokesperson on Saturday said Lt. Gen. Theodore Martin, commanding general of the Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, suspended Mr. Volesky from his consulting job that reportedly paid him $92 per hour.”
How did all this happen?
“For nearly 50 years,” Doctor Biden tweeted on Friday, June 24, shortly after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, “women have had the right to make our own decisions about our bodies. Today, that right was stolen from us. And while we may be devastated by this injustice, we will not be silent. We will not sit back as the progress we have already won slips away. Tomorrow, we will continue to fight — for our daughters and granddaughters, and for ourselves — until all women can decide our own futures once again.”
To which General Volesky replied with a tweet that has since been deleted, “Glad to see you finally know what a woman is.”
And that was that. What’s the world coming to when a guy can’t poke a little fun at a too-big-for-her-britches first lady with a garbage degree who nonetheless insists on being call “Doctor”?
The answer is that Volesky isn’t just any guy. From his earliest days in the military, Volesky had been schooled not to criticize those above him in his chain of command. Even the dimmest, dullest boot-camper knows this. Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, also known as Contempt Toward Officials, is clear: “Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Transportation, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Territory, Commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.”
Clearly missing from that list is the first lady, who doesn’t fall within an officer’s chain of command. But the intent is still clear. In terms of decorum, that sort of mockery is even worse for an American military officer than criticizing the president himself. But even if it weren’t, the UCMJ thinks of everything. Article 134, also known as the General Article, is a catch-all for offenses not specifically spelled out in any other article but which includes “all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces, [and] all conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces.”
And while it’s true that Volesky is no longer a member of the armed forces and thus no longer under the jurisdiction of the UCMJ, he did mock a Democrat first lady, and that sort of thing is simply unforgivable. As the leftists at USA Today huffed, “His response represents a breach of decorum for a retired military officer and a foray into partisan politics by an official on the payroll of the Pentagon, which is supposed to steer clear of such matters.”
“Partisan politics”? Spare us. Today’s senior military brass from Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley on down are entirely political, thoroughly woke, and altogether willing to wade into politics — and to wreck the careers of their brothers in arms who demonstrate the temerity to disagree and speak the truth. The case of Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Stu Scheller, whose case our Mark Alexander covered last year, comes immediately to mind.
Do we agree with General Volesky’s sentiment? Absolutely. Do we think his brief barb was uttered more in fun than in malice? Yep. Are we grateful to Volesky for his decades of service to our country, which includes tours in the Gulf War, the Iraq War, the war in Afghanistan, and actions that merited the awarding of our nation’s third-highest combat award for valor, the Silver Star? You betcha. Do we believe Jill Biden asked for it by wading so forcefully into such a sensitive political issue? No doubt. But none of that matters.
We thank the general for his service. He decided it was worth the price to speak up, say what needed to be said, and take a bullet he knew was coming.
