Retired Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin now is serving as the executive vice president for the Family Research Council, waging war on those who would undermine the family, the institution on which civilization has been based for millennia.
But he knows the military, having served as the commander of Delta Force, running a task force that hunted down drug lord Pablo Escobar, helping capture Manuel Noriega and turning in similar exploits from Vietnam to Iran to Mogadishu.
Now he wants to know the inside story about President Obama’s damage to the U.S. military.
From the man who was there at the table, former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, fired (or resigned) just this week.
“Public statements made today by President Obama and Secretary Hagel regarding the state of our military do not reflect reality,” Boykin said in a statement released through the FRC. “Once Secretary Hagel leaves his position, he should speak out about the impact of the president’s policies on military readiness as well as his feckless foreign policy.
“It would be wrong to wait, like his predecessors, until a book deal comes out.”
Hagel and Obama announced Hagel’s departure from the president’s cabinet this week.
A report in USA Today said Hagel’s move “added fuel to the debate among lawmakers and insiders about what many see as a White House – and a president – that lacks trust in the national security apparatus.”
The report said while Hagel had “schooled then-Sen. Obama on national security and foreign policy matters during a 2008 trip to war-torn Iraq,” he ultimately was unable to become a member of Obama’s inner circle, which “micromanages the national security agencies.”
Leaked information has revealed that Hagel disagreed with Obama on several key points, including on how to fight the Islamic State, the Muslim jihadists who have assembled an army and have proclaimed themselves a nation, or caliphate, in the Middle East.
Boykin earlier had called on senior military leaders to resign in protest of Obama’s policies regarding the military.
Now he’s saying that he’d like Hagel to be up-front with America about the military.
“The American people deserve and have a right to hear the truth about the damage the president’s policies have inflicted on the military. We can’t wait any longer to restore the readiness of our military. Our national security depends upon it,” he said.
“The reluctance of the current Joint Chiefs of Staff to resist damaging policies is having a devastating impact on military readiness and consequently national security. Programmed cuts in the military budget as well as cuts resulting from sequestration are reducing America’s readiness to a dangerously low level,” he continued.
“From personnel to major weapons systems, military leaders and defense analysts alike agree we are placing our national security on a dangerous footing. It’s time for senior military leaders to go public with their objections even if it results in their resignation or termination,” he said.
“Consider that America has been at war for 13 years and our military has an all-time high suicide rate, out-of-control PTSD, and family disintegration at unprecedented levels. The Obama administration has not announced a serious and coherent strategy to destroy ISIS. Now we are sending our young men and women – who are not adequately trained to fight Ebola – on something that is NOT a military mission in the first place.”
He said, “One of the most serious and demoralizing actions of this administration is its attack on religious liberty, as the First Amendment rights of service members’ faith are being infringed on constantly. By embracing the foolish and destructive decisions of the Obama administration, the military leadership is contributing to and overseeing the downfall of our most important national security asset, the U.S. armed forces.”
Boykin commanded the Army’s Green Berets as well as the Special Warfare Center and School, spending 36 years in the army.
He also served four years as the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense and Intelligence.
