Controversial Candidate Tapped for Army Secretary
By Debbie Gregory.
The White House announced that President Donald Trump has nominated Dr. Mark E. Green to be the 23rd Secretary of the Army, Green, an Army Veteran who is a decorated West Point graduate is also a medical doctor and a Tennessee State Senator.
Green has had quite a noteworthy Army career. He served as a special operations flight surgeon. He was the emergency physician during the operation that captured Saddam Hussein in 2003. Green was also the first person to interrogate Hussein following his capture.
During his service, Green earned the Combat Medical Badge, the Bronze Star, and the Air Medal. He was also recognized as Army Aviation Association Flight Surgeon of the Year.
Following his time in the military, Green served as president of the Emergency Services Network and then founded Align MD Foundation, a Clarksville, Tennessee, non-profit that offers free health care to the needy around the world, with a free clinic in Panama City, Florida, and international medical mission trips. He also serves as CEO of emergency department staffing company Align MD.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis praised Trump’s nomination of Green, saying, “Mark will provide strong civilian leadership, improve military readiness and support our service members, civilians, and their families.”
Advocacy groups are adamantly opposed to Green, saying his record of antagonism and hostility to the LGBT community is unacceptable.
Green has suggested that being transgender is a disease. He has also sponsored legislation in Tennessee that allows discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslims’ civil rights and advocacy organization, announced its opposition to Green because of his past Islamophobia statements.
Trump “couldn’t have picked a worse nominee to pick a fight with Congress,” said David Stacy, government affairs director at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). Officials with the HRC and the American Military Partners Association said in a joint statement that Green’s views are radical and outdated, and that they are rallying support against him.
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