Gen. James E. Livingston: We need Nancy Mace in Congress to protect Parris Island

My friends, our nation is drifting away from our Lowcountry values. Support for our active-duty service members and our veterans alike was our North Star. Mindful leadership, support for our troops and an eye on the needs of our nation’s strongest fighting force to date — the Marines.

We need Nancy in Washington fighting for us, perhaps now more than ever. Part of that battle includes protecting Parris Island, which reportedly is on the chopping block. I have served at Parris Island. What that facility has meant to the military community and the economic impact it has had on the surrounding area for decades has been integral to our state. Beaufort has given its strong support to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot since it was established in 1915.

Nancy also knows, like Gen. Patton and me, that the focus of our armed forces, especially the Marines, should be winning battles and not drifting into social experiments. Close combat is not a computer game. Taxpayers pay their hard-earned money for a well-trained fighting machine. There is absolutely no good reason to close Parris Island and move its function to another location.

Congressman Joe Cunningham wants to deflect the blame. That’s not courage. It’s not leadership. And it’s not reality.

The reality is the Pelosi-led House inserted the Parris Island mandates into the bill, not the Senate. Cunningham is the 1st District representative and should have raised the red flag the second he learned of or read the amendment. He should have notified the governor and the S.C. congressional delegation to let them know what the House was proposing — the possible closing of Parris Island.

READ Gen. Livingston’s Piece on Protecting Parris Island HERE

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About Nancy Mace:  State Representative Nancy Mace grew up in Goose Creek, S.C. and eventually graduated from Stratford High School, but not before working at the Waffle House on College Park Road in Ladson. She graduated magna cum laude from The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, where she was the school’s first female to graduate from its Corps of Cadets in 1999. She later earned a masters degree in Mass Communication from The University of Georgia. She is the author of In The Company of Men: A Woman at The Citadel (Simon & Schuster, 2001). Her business experience stems from corporate technology consulting to starting her own company as well as commercial real estate. Mace also served as a Coalitions Director and Field Director for Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.; she worked in seven different states during the 2016 presidential primaries and played a pivotal role in the Lowcountry’s First Congressional District during the South Carolina primary. She is the mom of two children aged 11 and 13.