The soldier, 28-year-old Spc. Jesse Thorsen, is a 10-year veteran who has served two tours in Afghanistan.Read the rest here.
At the nationally-televised Iowa caucus-night rally, Paul invited Thorsen to make remarks onstage. Thorsen, who was in uniform, said that meeting Paul was like meeting “a rock star” and told the crowd, “We are going to make sure this man is the next president of the United States.”
An Army spokesman later said that Thorsen’s action was “not in keeping with the spirit or the letter” of a Defense Department directive that calls on active duty soldiers to “avoid inferences that their political activities imply or appear to imply official sponsorship, approval, or endorsement.”
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Good. My brother, a police officer, was told he was not allowed to appear in uniform in a photo with a local politician for the same reasons mentioned here. I think this policy a sound one. I hope Thorsen loses a stripe over this. He should know his uniform regulations well enough to know what he did was against regs. Our country doesn't need political ads filled with uniformed military endorsing politicians. In this age of perpetual war, the military plays too great a role in our political life as it is.
ReplyDeleteOwen,
ReplyDeleteAs a veteran I agree with you. I think it was a bad judgment call more than any malice. But it sounds like he got chewed out pretty good and that letter of reprimand will stay in his service record. It's worth noting that Ron Paul has seems to have more support in the armed forces than anyone else, and he is a staunch non-interventionist in his foreign policy views.
This, on the other hand, is copacetic.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I would call that copacetic. I'd be more inclined to file it under the heading "none of my business."
ReplyDeleteIf you're a taxpayer it is. Flabby sodomites aren't a good investment.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with the flabby part. The military has standards for physical fitness. The other definitely falls under the heading of none of my business.
ReplyDelete