Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt and retired Army Lt. Col. Darin Gaub told Newsmax Wednesday that "politicians wearing uniforms" in Washington, D.C., "better have the backs" of American boots on the ground if U.S. military forces are deployed to Israel.
"Let me tell you something: Your monologue put me right in a place where I want to be back on active duty tonight flying a C-17 in there and dropping you [those] guys," Holt said during an appearance on Newsmax's "Carl Higbie FRONTLINE." "The most important thing that I heard you say is the politicians — and I mean politicians wearing uniforms as well — had better have the backs of our folks who have to go break stuff and do bad things to get our people home.
"Right now, the terrorists — they should fear the United States military, because we've had enough."
Gaub agreed, saying that ultimately leadership in Washington needs to stay the course and support any military personnel who might be dispatched to rescue American hostages being held in the Gaza Strip.
"When the politicians and the D.C. establishment says, Step back; something bad happened and it doesn't look good to us, that's when it starts to go bad," he said. "That's, I think, everybody's primary concern right now."
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby gave an update on the American hostages being held in Gaza earlier on Wednesday, saying that there is a "very distinct possibility that these numbers will keep increasing."
Holt said Kirby was "being honest, but it's also being a little bit deflating."
"I think that when you have the microphone for the nation, you need to take every second of that time and think about your words and think about the myriad of audiences that you're talking to," he said. "We need to have steel eyes; we need to have steel jaws and resolve in everything we say and do right now.
"This weakness that we've had for 2 1/2 years must stop, and we better be leaving forces behind here in our own nation with a pointy tip of the spear ready for anybody who is in our nation that we don't even know they're here, but they're ready to go."
Gaub said that the situation unfolding in the Middle East, and the U.S. military's response to it, could potentially increase military recruiting numbers, which have been significantly down in recent months.
"The military is one of those things we like to consider ourselves an elite force, almost like a professional sports team," he said. "You want to be part of that team, and you want to get involved and do the best you possibly can, given whatever mission you're assigned. All that stuff in D.C. and the Beltway and the swamp is left behind when you're out there in the front and you're leading the way.
"That's what we need to lead from. We've got two plus years of families and military members watching weakness and wokeness, and this is a moment of inflection, where we can show a difference or we can show the same thing."
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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