ICYMI: Veterans, Military Families Call Out Senator Tuberville's Blockade of Military Appointments

As Senator Tommy Tuberville continues to jeopardize our nation's military readiness, pressure is building among veterans and those connected to our military community to end his dangerous games. Senator Tuberville has held up the confirmation of more than 250 military nominees – using our servicemembers as political pawns by leaving key positions vacant, undermining our national security, and disrupting the lives of those who serve our country.

Here's a look at what they're saying:

NBC: But some veterans and members of military families who spoke with NBC News did express frustration when told what Tuberville was doing.

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"I'm a military family too, so it'd be crazy if my dad couldn't get to where he needed to be and we didn't even know where he was going to be next," Dennis added.

Tony, an Alabama resident and active service member for 20 years, said he felt like a political pawn and has had friends and colleagues affected by the blockade. He asked that only his first name be used for privacy reasons.

"When you come home, the idea is for your life to not be as complicated as when you were overseas serving your country in harm's way. The simpler you can make a service member's life, especially when it comes to finances, rank, structure and family life, the better off it is," he said.

Washington Post: Tuberville should immediately stop holding the military chain of command hostage. That was also the message delivered by retired U.S. Adm. James Stavridis in a radio interview with me on Monday. Stavridis noted that Tuberville is famed in Alabama for running the Auburn University football program, adding, "but this is not a game."

Tuberville's tactic is "immensely distracting to national security," he said. "I hope it would appeal to a former superb football coach: Organizations need stable leadership. They need to know who's in charge."

Putting a military organization in the position of filling senior positions with "acting" officers is "extremely deleterious," Stavridis said. "Would he want a football team with an acting coach, always wondering when the real coach is going to show up?"

Financial Times: "With China's threats to destabilise the Indo-Pacific, Russia's aggression in eastern Europe, and Iran's race to a nuclear bomb, it is clear that Senator Tuberville's hold on hundreds of senior military nominations undermines US national security," said Luke Coffey, a retired Army veteran and a senior fellow at the conservative Hudson Institute think-tank.

CNN: "When you start politicizing how to promote, I think we're stepping into the wrong territory," said Greg Black, who served in the Air Force for 25 years.

Black voted for Tuberville in 2020, but says he can't back him again if he keeps it up.

"I have to say no," Black said.

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"I am pro-life and I'm a conservative, but I really don't believe he should hold up military promotions," said Bobby Sparks.

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Gary Counts, another former service member who considers himself a Republican, argued, "I just don't think that you would hold the national security hostage over an abortion issue."

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Redstone Arsenal, an army base in Huntsville, is awaiting the confirmation of a leader to head the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command, but the confirmation of the nominee is among those being slow walked.

"Someone has given him bad advice. It affects everyone. It affects the nation, it affects every community like this," said retired Military General Jim Rogers, who served as Redstone's Senior Commander overseeing installation issues and coordinating with tenant organizations. "I am very concerned our senator is getting led down a path that he does not understand the full impact for the military, and I just recommend that he reconsider that."

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Rogers also said the ricochet goes far beyond just the officers who are awaiting confirmation. Without promotions in the higher ranks, lower ranking officials are also caught up in the fray.

"He needs to step back now and say 'I understand the implications,' and we need to go forward," Rogers said. "And we need to get these people in the right positions, because it's a huge domino all the way down."

Quan, who grew up in a military family, told CNN that her own brother is affected now because of the holds. She declined to give her full name out of concern that doing so could have an impact on her brother's military career, but she said the uncertainty is daunting for men and women who are already sacrificing a lot to be in the military.

"He is very proud of his career in the military. But he was telling me that he's still in limbo. He doesn't know where he is going next. And so I can kind of hear in his voice that he would like to know more about where he is going," she said. "Nobody wants that stress and that pressure of not knowing if you're going to within the next couple of months."

Kerry and Alex Anton moved more than a dozen times over the course of Kerry's two decades in the army. They recently moved back to Alabama and while they don't consider themselves Republicans, they argue Tuberville just doesn't understand the nuanced experience of service men and women.

"I can't figure out what his reasoning would be to essentially punish people that have no dog in the fight for his own agenda," Kerry said. "I just retired from the army in March. I served 20 years so, yeah, it kind of rings close to home for me."

The Hill: Seven former Pentagon chiefs sent a letter to the Senate Thursday urging lawmakers to end one GOP senator's hold on 184 general and flag officer nominations and approve the promotions, warning the block is "harming military readiness and risks damaging U.S. national security."

"The current hold that has been in place now for several weeks is preventing key leaders from assuming important, senior command and staff positions around the world," the letter reads.

"Some are unable to take important command positions, such as leading the 5th Fleet in Bahrain and the 7th Fleet in the Pacific, which are critical to checking Iranian and Chinese aggression," the former Pentagon chiefs said. "Leaving these and many other senior positions in doubt at a time of enormous geopolitical uncertainty sends the wrong message to our adversaries and could weaken our deterrence."