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Must restrain fist of death
Liberal views force soldier out of military
I would like to take this opportunity to let Mr. Simpson know that I am who I say I am and I was in the job I said I was in. I honorably served my country for eight years in the United States Marine Corps; providing honest intelligence analysis and collecting countless awards and promotions throughout my career. I was also a leader and mentor to scores of young men and women. In those eight years, I sacrificed more of myself for this country than most men and women ever will in their lifetime. But, thanks to the zeal and quick judgment of this individual, I am no longer serving our beloved country. His forecast was correct. Following his letter to DoD, I was brought up on charges of "Disloyal Statements" under Article 134 of the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice). Not because anything I wrote was disloyal, but because of my political views and how they differ from Mr. Simpson and others like him. The unfortunate aspect of this is not my demise, but their inability to understand or accept the opinions of others as different from their own. Nonetheless, I was forced to retain an attorney and undergo weeks of scrutiny before being cleared of the charges. I was, however, never allowed to work in Intelligence again; forced to separate the Marine Corps over threats that I would not be allowed to reenlist. Never mind the fact that there is not one single negative mark on my entire eight years of service (the letter incident was considered "hush-hush" so not even that made it on my record), or the fact that every one of my superiors stood up for me during this time, praising my abilities and loyalty to this country. None of that mattered; only my "liberal beliefs."
Getting rid of more qualified people for no good reason.
Folks, I'm a liberal, for the most part. I am probably the only member of the United States Army who voted for Walter Mondale in 1984. Compared to my fellow soldiers, I was a screaming Beserkleyite. Nobody cared. I did my job, they did theirs, and we all got along pretty well. We even discussed politics, and while we disagreed, it never affected my standing as a soldier. Now the military, already short-handed, is throwing out people for being liberal in their views! This Marine had an exemplarily service record, and just because he expressed an opinion, was hounded from the service.
This is wrong. And we are going to pay.
Rummy's DOD is insane. The professional, well-tuned military we had in the eighties is slipping into a morass of insane policies and a lack of leadership at all levels.
I would like to take this opportunity to let Mr. Simpson know that I am who I say I am and I was in the job I said I was in. I honorably served my country for eight years in the United States Marine Corps; providing honest intelligence analysis and collecting countless awards and promotions throughout my career. I was also a leader and mentor to scores of young men and women. In those eight years, I sacrificed more of myself for this country than most men and women ever will in their lifetime. But, thanks to the zeal and quick judgment of this individual, I am no longer serving our beloved country. His forecast was correct. Following his letter to DoD, I was brought up on charges of "Disloyal Statements" under Article 134 of the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice). Not because anything I wrote was disloyal, but because of my political views and how they differ from Mr. Simpson and others like him. The unfortunate aspect of this is not my demise, but their inability to understand or accept the opinions of others as different from their own. Nonetheless, I was forced to retain an attorney and undergo weeks of scrutiny before being cleared of the charges. I was, however, never allowed to work in Intelligence again; forced to separate the Marine Corps over threats that I would not be allowed to reenlist. Never mind the fact that there is not one single negative mark on my entire eight years of service (the letter incident was considered "hush-hush" so not even that made it on my record), or the fact that every one of my superiors stood up for me during this time, praising my abilities and loyalty to this country. None of that mattered; only my "liberal beliefs."
Getting rid of more qualified people for no good reason.
Folks, I'm a liberal, for the most part. I am probably the only member of the United States Army who voted for Walter Mondale in 1984. Compared to my fellow soldiers, I was a screaming Beserkleyite. Nobody cared. I did my job, they did theirs, and we all got along pretty well. We even discussed politics, and while we disagreed, it never affected my standing as a soldier. Now the military, already short-handed, is throwing out people for being liberal in their views! This Marine had an exemplarily service record, and just because he expressed an opinion, was hounded from the service.
This is wrong. And we are going to pay.
Rummy's DOD is insane. The professional, well-tuned military we had in the eighties is slipping into a morass of insane policies and a lack of leadership at all levels.
no subject
By the way, have you ever heard of or read a book called "Dispatces" by Micheal Herr? I highly recommend it. His descriptions of the craziness are amazing.
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Also, I am skeptical of the claim that, despite having been cleared of any charges, this Marine was forced out of the service. It would be interesting to take a look at this Marine's DD-214 to check the reenlistment code.
no subject