After nearly four decades of military service, it was one small assignment that put Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pennsylvania) in a bind, bringing a long and successful career to an abrupt end.
“I expected it to be gradual,” the Pennsylvania Republican said in an interview with Fox News Digital, speaking of a trend toward progressivism he sees as at odds with a military that aims to strip soldiers of their individual wants and needs and remake them as one fighting unit.
“The pinnacle for me was when my boss came to me and said, 'I'm going to give you the responsibility of implementing gender reassignment policies within the command,'” he said.
“The military is an organization that follows orders,” Perry said, “so I decided that I wasn't going to accept those orders, so I told my boss I was quitting.”
“At that point, sadly the military no longer reflected my values and I didn't want to be in the military… It was a low point for me in terms of what I was doing there and why I was there.”
In another example, Perry, a member of the Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committee, said he was given a sheet to evaluate the performance of fellow officers.
“I expected it to be gradual,” Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) told Fox News Digital about progressive policies in the military.
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“During my tenure, we got to a point where there was only room left for about a sentence to talk about an officer's warfighting functions, because all the remaining space was filled with things like 'don't ask, don't tell,' sexual harassment, equal opportunity and so on,” he explained.
“The military is designed to be lethal, and lethality and readiness are key, and it was clear to me that we had lost that focus a long time ago.”
Perry, 62, retired from the Army National Guard as a brigadier general in 2019 after 39 years of service. A former fighter pilot who led troops through deployments in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iraq, he was elected to the House of Representatives in 2013.
Perry said he doesn't think he's alone in leaving the military because of the politically charged environment. “I think a lot of our best members left the military because they felt like the military no longer reflected their values,” he said.
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“They act like they don't know what the problem is, but to me it's obvious,” he said. “For a lot of people, the military was a great equalizer.”
This week was a “week of awakening” for the House, with Republicans passing a message bill along party lines to root out such ideology within corporations and industry, after a continuing resolution was defeated that left no clear path for government funding beyond September 30.
Perry said he retired because of an “awakening” within the U.S. military. (AP Photo/Sidiqullah Alizai)
Military leaders have opposed a CR, or extension of government funding at current levels, that would delay next year's military budget increase, warning that a government shutdown would be “devastating” to readiness and that Congress must quickly pass legislation to boost spending power.
“Military leaders who act as if a temporary gridlock in Congress means we can't maintain some operations are the same leaders who insist we continue to spend exorbitant amounts of money on a system that doesn't deliver,” Perry complained.
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Congress regularly provides the Pentagon with more funding than it requests, and in June the House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), clearing the way for the Pentagon to increase its budget request from $849.8 billion to $851 billion for fiscal year 2025.
A U.S. Air Force F-35 Lightning II aircraft assigned to the 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath, England, lands on a highway runway during an exercise in Ranua, Finland, on September 4. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Silas Corregidor)
“Anyone who has served in uniform has seen the horrific practices that are committed. I have been to places where vast amounts of brand new equipment are being disposed of. American taxpayers want to support those who wear the uniform and potentially sacrifice their lives, but I believe the military is an institution that is willing to abuse that privilege,” Perry said.
The Pentagon's top testing agency, the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, released a report earlier this year saying that fewer than a third of the nation's F-35 fighter jets are combat-ready at any given time.
“What's the cost? Hopefully military leaders will address those issues,” Perry said.
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“These are the same people who say our national debt is one of our biggest national security issues. They say you're dealing with it but it can't affect us.”
“You know we have guys in flip flops, in motorboats, kicking our asses in the Gulf of Aden,” Perry said. “With all due respect, it doesn't make sense to me that you can buy a $10,000 drone and then have to repair it with a $25,000 missile.”
