Former Navy SEAL Team Six member Robert O’Neill joined a chorus of veterans expressing disgust
© AFP / Walter Hinick
Former US Navy SEAL Robert O’Neill, a member of the legendary SEAL Team Six credited with taking out al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden, ripped into his former employer for “using an enlisted sailor Drag Queen as a recruiter” on Wednesday.
“I’m done. China is going to destroy us. YOU GOT THIS NAVY,” O’Neill tweeted, concluding, “I can’t believe I fought for this bulls***.”
O’Neill was referring to the Navy’s selection of Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley – or rather, Kelley’s drag persona ‘Harpy Daniels’ – as one of the Pentagon’s inaugural class of “Digital Ambassadors.” Kelley, who identifies as non-binary, performs for service members in full makeup, women’s dress and a bouffant blonde wig.
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The former SEAL, who claims to have personally delivered the fatal blow to bin Laden during the May 2011 raid on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, was far from the only veteran to publicly call out the Pentagon’s platforming of the flamboyant sailor.
“This is not the same military I served under,” US Army veteran Graham Allen tweeted, lamenting “our enemies LAUGH at us.”
Mike Marugg, whose Twitter profile describes him as a veteran of 21 years, called the program “an insult to every veteran,” while another Twitter user going by ‘Johnny Fuzeball’ claimed “the writing was on the wall” when he left the military in 2010, pointing to the repeal of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ ban on open homosexuality in the service and the decision to allow women into the infantry as the start of its downfall.
Former Space Force Lt.Col. Matthew Lohmeier, who was relieved of his command in 2021 for criticizing the military’s embrace of critical race theory as “Marxist” and “un-American,” told Fox News’ Jesse Watters that while the military’s embrace of the drag performer was no longer surprising, “what’s surprising is that senior military leaders continue to push an agenda like this despite the fact that it’s hurting our recruiting efforts and it’s hurting our retention and frankly it can’t help our lethality and our readiness.”
Kelley took to Instagram to post a “rebuddle” [sic], proclaiming the sailor “DGAF” – “doesn’t give a f***” – while flouncing and twirling in and out of drag. Accusing detractors of “only want[ing] to support the military when it benefits you and doesn’t involve queer people,” the performer claimed the “haters” were only piling on for clout.
