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Former Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter, died of a “sudden cardiac event” at age 68 yesterday in Boston.<\/p>\n
Carter oversaw the initial Pentagon effort to attack the Islamic State militants who had seized huge chunks of Iraq and Syria in 2014 and had established a caliphate. In an earlier Pentagon post, Carter took the lead on the military’s efforts to protect troops from roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since 2017, Carter led the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard\u2019s Kennedy School.<\/p>\n
A Rhodes Scholar and theoretical physicist, Carter had served in several senior posts at the Pentagon, including overseeing weapons acquisition and as deputy secretary before Obama nominated him for the top job. Unlike many of his predecessors, including Obama’s previous three defense chiefs, Carter had not served in the military.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
USA Today via Yahoo<\/a><\/p>\n
Think of him as the fella who opened the military to such things as women in combat and
the mentally ill getting free gender reassignment surgery at our expense<\/del> transgenders serving.<\/p>\nCarter\u2019s tenure as defense secretary is perhaps most remembered for his order to open to women all military jobs, including combat assignments. The decision came after years of study by military leaders and strong opposition from conservative groups.<\/p>\n
Months later, Carter also announced the military would end its ban on transgender troops serving in the ranks. That order was later overturned by President Donald Trump when he took office, and subsequently reversed again after President Joe Biden was elected.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n