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This is much ado about nothing and as silly as my sorority telling me that if I were to go anywhere alcohol was served I should remove the pin.
When on any job, you are your employer's representative. I know guys who were told to never wear their uniforms off the base. DH told guys at his office they could not have sexists calendars and mugs. Just plain ol common sense to not be reading for pleasure on the job.
UPDATE: After this story was published, the Military District of Washington issued the following statement:
A public affairs spokesperson said Sommers did have the right to display a political sticker on his private vehicle.
“Accordingly, the Soldier was not prohibited from displaying a political bumper sticker. Instead, the Soldier’s supervisor discussed the appropriateness of the bumper stickers with him and potential perceptions of others in light of the regulatory guidance.”
“The Soldier is not, and never has been, “facing retribution and punishment from the military for having anti-Obama bumper stickers on his car, reading books written by conservative authors like Mark Levin and David Limbaugh, and serving Chick-fil-A sandwiches at his promotion party,” the spokesperson added.
So basically, this thread is a waste. Not surprising.
UPDATE: After this story was published, the Military District of Washington issued the following statement:
A public affairs spokesperson said Sommers did have the right to display a political sticker on his private vehicle.
“Accordingly, the Soldier was not prohibited from displaying a political bumper sticker. Instead, the Soldier’s supervisor discussed the appropriateness of the bumper stickers with him and potential perceptions of others in light of the regulatory guidance.”
“The Soldier is not, and never has been, “facing retribution and punishment from the military for having anti-Obama bumper stickers on his car, reading books written by conservative authors like Mark Levin and David Limbaugh, and serving Chick-fil-A sandwiches at his promotion party,” the spokesperson added.
So basically, this thread is a waste. Not surprising.
An epic fail thread from the mask? really???? nahhhhh...
If I knew you personally I would bet a substantial amount of money with you that the only thing that will happen to this guy is a possible transfer to another unit for morale reasons and intense encouragement to drop his retirement papers. If everything I have read is true, other than the twitter, and that is weak, they have nothing on him and, as a matter of fact, his command has overreacted in their dealings with him. Even in the military, people have rights. Does he have a really bad attitude and deserve a really bad efficiency report to match? Absolutely. But that just means he won't get promoted again, not that he is subjected to judicial punishment. The punishment of soldiers is regulated by the UCMJ and commanders, no matter how high, can not just ignore it willy-nilly.
This person did a couple of things that will NOT sit well for any future (which is slim and none) that he might have with the Army. First, he went public. And second, he lawyered up to confront his base commander. You just DON'T do those things in the military. The man is totally lacking in common sense. As an E8 he should have known better. Very likely he will be transferred and certainly his reputation will precede him to where ever that might be. He will have a miserable life from here on out until he calls it quits.
As far as retirement goes, he really should. In essence, the Army no longer has a place for him and that will be made very clear to him sooner than later.
UPDATE: After this story was published, the Military District of Washington issued the following statement:
A public affairs spokesperson said Sommers did have the right to display a political sticker on his private vehicle.
“Accordingly, the Soldier was not prohibited from displaying a political bumper sticker. Instead, the Soldier’s supervisor discussed the appropriateness of the bumper stickers with him and potential perceptions of others in light of the regulatory guidance.”
“The Soldier is not, and never has been, “facing retribution and punishment from the military for having anti-Obama bumper stickers on his car, reading books written by conservative authors like Mark Levin and David Limbaugh, and serving Chick-fil-A sandwiches at his promotion party,” the spokesperson added.
So basically, this thread is a waste. Not surprising.
Ugh, I'm scratching my head on this one. I read that page several times and it's been open in a tab for two days. The update was (according to Google's cache) made on the same day as the article was published. Some other message boards quote it too as a victory caused by FOX posting the article and the groundswell of support. But just as I and others missed the update altogether, it would appear that FOX either didn't wait long enough to hear back from the Army, or knew about the fact and decided to post without the update at first or FOX can cause a groundswell that causes the military to react with a press release (I don't see it as a press release online) and have the ground swell be effective all in a couple of hours.
Google crawled the page at: Jun 7, 2013 22:45:51 GMT
Here's how I think it went:
1:00pm FOX makes phone call to Army asking for confirmation of story.
1:15pm Army replies "we'll have to get back to you about this specific case but in general here's how it works"
2:00pm FOX publishes article.
4:00pm Army calls back with the info in the update.
I have no idea if that's how it went but I think it all happened within a few hours. For sure we know the article was published and updated on the same day.
The top post on the Google version of the article states that someone in the military owes no allegiance to the president. I'm not going to take the words apart but everyone in the military swears to follow the president's orders. I'd say you need allegiance for that but you might not agree. Everyone of course has a right to not like the president.
"Master Sgt. Nathan Sommers, a 25-year Army veteran and conservative Christian based at Fort Myer in Washington, believes his outspoken opposition to gay marriage prompted higher-ups to take a closer look at his beliefs. The recipient of an Army Commendation Medal and a soloist at the funeral of former First Lady Betty Ford, Sommers said his core beliefs are enough to mark a soldier for persecution in today’s military."
See bold. /snicker.
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