Chicago City Wire

Lt. Col. James Carafano doesn't want to see the U.S. military get blindsided in the brewing debate over recent comments made by Fox News host Tucker Carlson about women in uniform.

"Our military fights wars, not culture wars," Carafano said during a recent March appearance on Chicago's Morning Answer. "I see this as [a] huge distraction. All the things the president has mentioned are things [the] military have been going through for decades."

Some senior military officials were quick to condemn Carlson after he accused President Joe Biden of making a "mockery" of the armed forces through efforts to recruit and keep women in the service.

The controversial host added that "while China's military becomes more masculine … our military needs to become, as Joe Biden says, more feminine."

Military leaders did receive backlash from political leaders for objecting to Carlson's comments.

"I think there are legitimate issues to discuss putting aside Biden and Tucker's dustup," Carafano said. "When we constantly talk about our military isn't politically correct enough, we should be focusing on what the military's job is, which is to protect our vital interests around world from some very, very serious threats."

Carafano is just hoping everyone can keep the focus.

"When you have Pentagon leadership focusing on these culture war issues and not focusing on the day job that is not healthy for the service, and it's not healthy for the men and women we put in uniform," he said.