#SenatorMarkKelly: “Over 25 years in the #USNavy, 39 combat missions, and 4 missions to space, I risked my life for this country and to defend our #Constitution - including the #FirstAmendment rights of every American to speak out.

I never expected that the #President of the #UnitedStates and the #SecretaryOfDefense would attack me for doing exactly that.

My rank and retirement are things that I earned through my #service and #sacrifice for this country. got shot at. I missed holidays and birthdays. commanded a space shuttle mission while my wife Gabby recovered from a gunshot wound to the head-all while proudly wearing the American flag on my shoulder.

Generations of servicemembers have made these same patriotic sacrifices for this country, earning the respect, appreciation, and rank they deserve.

#PeteHegseth wants to send the message to every single retired servicemember that if they say something he or #Trump doesn't like, they will come after them the same way. It's #outrageous and it is #wrong.

There is nothing more un-American than that.

If Pete Hegseth, the most #unqualified Secretary of Defense in our country's history, thinks he can #intimidate me with a censure or #threats to demote me or prosecute me, he still doesn't get it.

I will fight this with everything I've got — not for myself, but to send a message back that Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump don't get to decide what #Americans in this country get to say about their government. #uspol #auspol #TrumpRegime #MilitaryVeterans #MilitaryVeteran