A retired U.S Navy commander who serves on the Naval Academy’s Alumni Association Board of Trustees defended the Navy enlisting a drag queen influencer to appeal to recruits.

According to a report by Fox News Digital, Commander (Ret.) Julianna Vida said the Navy using Yeoman 2^nd Class Joshua Kelley as a Navy Digital Ambassadors (NDAs) is a “critical” method of welcoming “traditionally excluded segments of our population.”

Kelley is an active-duty enlisted sailor and a drag queen who goes by the stage name “Harpy Daniels,” and says he has performed on ships during deployments for fellow sailors.

Visa said using Kelley to recruit sailors should be “applauded and supported,” and slammed Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) for criticizing the move.

Tuberville recently wrote in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that China is focusing on building its military, while the Pentagon is focused on “woke identity politics.”

Vida called Tuberville’s criticism a “trope” and “destructive” to the Navy’s ability to recruit.

She also claimed that the criticism of excessive wokeness come from “people with either little to no active duty military experience of their own, military experience from decades past when the world was quite different, and politicians or bureaucrats with agendas to pursue that likely do not align directly with the missions of the US military.”

However, several prominent military veterans have also criticized the Navy for using Kelley to recruit.

Rob O’Neill, the Navy SEAL credited with killing Osama bin Laden, blasted the Navy, tweeting, “I can’t believe I found for this bullshit.

He said in a recent interview on Varney & Co, “They’re wasting money and people aren’t joining the military for this.”

Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL), who is also a veteran, recently said in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News: “The wokeness shows weakness and it puts us in a bad spot and it honestly hurts our recruiting.”

“There are a lot of young men who have no dream or idea right now of serving under this [defense secretary] because, or this commander in chief, because they feel he puts their lives in danger so we cannot hit our recruiting goals,” he said.

WATCH: “Who Funded These?” Gaetz Grills Pentagon Chief on Drag Queen Story Hours, Shows at Military Bases

“I was a veteran, my brother’s a veteran, and my dad was a veteran, we’ve all served our country, and it’s just frustrating to see them weaken what was so well-respected around the world,” he added.

Follow Breitbart News’s Kristina Wong on Twitter, Truth Social, or on Facebook.