Troops March on White House for Ron Paul!

Originally posted by TDawgRex
reply to post by clarkness

 

Yep, I served. 31 years. As I read your post, I realized that I could have wrote it in a darker time in my life. But I also realized that while those times in my life sucked, they also made me smarter. And devious.

Often I found other ways of dealing with a problem that had been previously overlooked. Heck, it took two and a half years to get my retirement approved. And in the process, ruined a few careers, due to their negligence in processing my request. But I finally was able to retire. But that’s another long story.

I’ve always been there for my Soldiers, and sometimes I would tell them to suck it up. But those were usually in the “Don’t sweat the small stuff” category.

Financial and Marital problems though can ruin a person if not addressed quickly. I’ve seen it. I’m not a big fan of the WTU system either having been a part of it. They over-medicate way too much and then bust the Troop for not waking up on time for formation. What the hell?

But in the long run, whether a person seeks help or not, it is up to them on how life’s dramas affect them.

Unfortunately these days, there is no communication in the military, at least not in the Navy, although my friends in other branches don't paint a better picture. There are very few real leaders and too many managers. I have always done what I can to help people out, not because I like them or because their performance affects me, but because its the right thing to do. One of the worst stories that I know happened when I was instructor. A student was in a bad place due to many reasons of family, finances, and just general stress. One of the instructors handed him a box cutter. The kid blew his brains out two days later. Then the SEL of that division got up in front of the division and lambasted the crew not on the handling of the situation, but how he thought it was a "pussy" way out of things. I fully admit, I was one of those work through it, never show emotion, mentally tough people, but I soon realized when I had problems with my wife, their answer was to just the get the divorce over quickly.

Fortunately, I chose the path that kept my family intact, though it ruined my career in the Navy. In fact, my situation got me to take a step back and realize who I really want to be, what's important to me, and regain much of the wisdom that I somehow forgot while I was in the military. Do I regret my service? No, if it wasn't for the Navy, I wouldn't have met my wife and had a beautiful daughter. I wouldn't have necessarily come to the place I am now mentally and intellectually if it were not for my experiences. Am I angry? Yes, partly because I fell for the BS for awhile and partly for the fact that every day the military likes to rub in our faces about Honor, Courage and Commitment and how we should have integrity, yet they enable and almost push the opposite to happen. Its one big joke. Honestly, I wish I could bury my head in the sand again, but unfortunately I can't unlearn what I know now and I can't exactly sit back and say nothing.

To the people who think this wasn't a big deal:

IT WAS.

Yeah, the numbers were small. Yet, the momentum behind the movement was strong enough to warrant an email from the DOD warning active duty, reservists and retiree's not to attend.
Technically, only Active Duty servicemembers are prohibted from attending, but the message read like it was applicable to all three. Reservists and Retiree's could attend, but not in uniform.

—–Original Message—–
From: Weger, Joel A CIV OGC, Ethics [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2012 8:17
To: [email protected]
Subject: [ETHICS] Partisan Political March

Importance: High

It has come to our attention that a partisan political march targeting military personnel is being organized for February 20, 2012. See link below:

www.facebook.com...

As a reminder, active duty personnel are prohibited by DoD Directive 1344.10 paragraph 4.1.2.10 from marching in a partisan political parade regardless of whether they are in uniform or civilian clothes. Reservists not on active duty and retirees may not march in uniform pursuant to paragraph 4.1.4. Reservists not on active duty and retirees may march in civilian clothes provided that they do not otherwise act in a manner that could reasonably give rise to the inference or appearance of official sponsorship, approval, or endorsement.

The directive is a lawful general regulation. Violations of paragraphs 4.1.
through 4.5. of the Directive by persons subject to the Uniform Code of
Military Justice are punishable under Article 92, “Failure to Obey Order or
Regulation.”

In addition, DODI 1334.01, paragraph 3.1.2 prohibits the wearing of the uniform by members of the armed forces (including retired members and members of reserve components) during or in connection with political activities.

You may wish to advise your command regarding this particular event because of the apparent solicitation of active duty personnel.

Joel A. Weger
Senior Attorney
Department of the Navy
Office of the Assistant General Counsel (Ethics)
703.614.XXXX

Source

I think this pretty much shows that even the DoD was concerned enough to take some sort of action.
Even acknowledgment of the event is noteworthy imho.

Furthermore, lot's of veterans are disabled, couldn't come, are active duty and prohibited even from attending (at ALL, even in civilian attire). 900 veterans I think is a pretty damn good turn out for a pretty damn good event for a DAMN GOOD Presidential candidate.

I heard almost nothing about it in from the MSM.

reply to post by zeeon

Is it standard procedure for the US DOD to contact even retired servicemen about such events?
If this is out of the ordinary then it definitely struck a nerve.

Originally posted by zeeon
Reservists and Retiree's could attend, but not in uniform.

I believe this regulation is quite normal. Same would apply for (ex)military personnel in my country if it's a political demonstration.

Good for Ronny! They want him to be president and he should be.

Like other posters have said, pretty sad we get this news from a Russian news source...But none the less it is good news to hear.

Ron Paul 2012!

-SAP-

I've been in for 7 years and have always been told you can go to political events as long as you are not in uniform. I wasn't aware that when you get out you are still under crazy rules when it comes to this sort of thing. It just seems wrong that 'troops' would have to keep their political views to themselves instead of enjoying the freedom that we are told we fight for...

Before I get people bashing about how we don't fight for freedom anymore and blah blah, i know i agree so just leave it...

reply to post by NeoVain


NeoVain,
This is an awesome thread thank you so much for sharing this. I do second everyone that it is sad we have to get news about our own country from another countries news..hmm..But besides that this is great! I am so happy they are making a statement! This makes my day..My brother is voting for his first time just to vote for Ron Paul.
Thank for you sharing this with us NeoVain!

Great HD video summary from beginning to end.

Originally posted by ColCurious
reply to post by zeeon

 

Is it standard procedure for the US DOD to contact even retired servicemen about such events?
If this is out of the ordinary then it definitely struck a nerve.

Originally posted by zeeon
Reservists and Retiree's could attend, but not in uniform.

I believe this regulation is quite normal. Same would apply for (ex)military personnel in my country if it's a political demonstration.

edit on 21-2-2012 by ColCurious because: (no reason given)

I've been active duty for 13 years and I've never seen this type of communication from the DoD regarding a specific event (or candidate).

While I can't say for sure that this is the first time the DoD has done this, I can say that it was the first time in 13 years I've seen it happen - for a specific event and/or candidate. Sometimes they put out general info as a "reminder" to us servicemen that about what we can, and can't do. For example, communication came out about the Occupy protests when they had momentum.

I guess the key word here is specific event and/or candidate.

reply to post by SGTSECRET


Technically, you are very limited in what you can do as active duty regarding partisan political activities.
The DoD directive mentioned in my previous post extensively details what we can and can't do.

Also, contrary to what you've been told - the directive explicity forbids any Active Duty servicemember in any branch from attending any partisan political event at all - in uniform or not.

Now, does this mean if you violate said directive you're going to automatically get caught and get in trouble for violating the UCMJ?

.....

Not if you don't get caught.

Watching the nightly news....

What a surprise!

No mention of this march.

*sigh*

Basically, I just watch the news so I can laugh.

It's great to be in a place where you watch the news to see what they are NOT saying.

Guess all those paycuts werent such a good idea.

Originally posted by NeoVain

Originally posted by MrSpad

Originally posted by Corruptedstructure

I haven't seen any troops marching for any of the other contestants

I am sure it could be arranged although then it would be called staged and desperate and we would have post after post claiming they were paided to be there etc etc.

I agree, and i am sure it would be. I haven´t seen anyone claiming this to be staged and desperate though, this seems like a genuine march from truly dedicated people that believe in something. Something the other candidates clearly lack.

He's not saying the video here is staged. He's saying that if troops marched for another candidate, that in that case people would say that that video is staged.

reply to post by NeoVain

I'd like to see the cops get all aggressive with a bunch of young vets..... Something tells me they might think twice about attacking people who know superior tactics...