A retired three-star Army general was suspended over his response to a Twitter post from First Lady Jill Biden denouncing the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Retired Lieutenant General Gary Volesky had been serving as a contractor for the Pentagon, where he advised active-duty officers in his official capacity as a senior mentor.
In a post on Twitter, the First Lady said that women’s right “to make our own decisions about our bodies” had been “stolen from us” following the court’s June 24 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health.
“While we may be devastated by this injustice, we will not be silent,” Biden wrote. “We will not sit back as the progress we have already won slips away.”
She added, “We will continue to fight…until all women can decide our own futures once again.”
For nearly 50 years, 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.
— Jill Biden (@FLOTUS) June 24, 2022
“Glad to see you finally know what a woman is,” Volesky responded to Biden in a post that has since been removed from his account.
Volesky spent 36 years in the Army before retiring in 2020. He has served as the branch’s public affairs chief, led the 101st Airborne Division and oversaw U.S. ground forces in Iraq.
According to his alma mater Eastern Washington University, Volesky has a Master’s Degree in Strategic Studies from the Air War College as well as a Master’s Degree in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University. Volesky is highly decorated and received The Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Purple Heart, and the Defense Meritorious Service Medal among other military honors.
“He earned the silver star – the US military’s third-highest honor for valor – for his actions in 2004 after his battalion came under attack in an area of greater Baghdad,” reports The Guardian. “The ensuing 80-day battle left eight soldiers killed and 50 others wounded.”
National Geographic documented Volensky’s unit’s deployment to Iraq during a mini-series titled “The Long Road Home.”
Lieutenant General Theodore Martin, the commander of the Combined Arms Center, told USA Today on July 10 that Volesky has been suspended pending an official investigation.
Volesky has previously criticized Republican Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming on Twitter after Cheney announced she would a part of the House select committee investigating Jan. 6.
“This is all about partisan politics,” Volesky tweeted, per Axios.
