Should US commisioned officers be apolitical ?

[ovcatto]

Originally Posted by nzrugby

Should all officers follow General Marshal's lead in having nothing to do with politics, not even voting for that would show a bias towards a party when one is meant to be a neutral servant of the constitution ?

I think that officers and enlisted should take part in the political process by voting or even contributing to the candidate of their choice, that is the democratic right and privilege.

However, politics end when the last vote is counted and with few exceptions this has been the very proud and glorious history of the U.S. military.

Of all the things that comprise American history, the thing that I find to be the most awe inspiring is that at no time in our history has the U.S. military and its officer corps chosen to end its subservience to civilian authority. And while one could arguably make the point that many betrayed their duty to the Constitution during the Civil War, they all resigned their commissions as U.S. officers and soldiers prior to defecting to the Confederacy and even in that capacity, they never wavered from their obedience to civil authority.

[roysoldboy]

Originally Posted by nzrugby

My dear boy, the Queen's English is not my native tongue, but I do speak and write it better than it better than Americans.
I'm one of those elitists who speak more than one language .
Oh, English is capitalised, and yes the S in capatilised is correct.

May I ask if you meant this thread for the first officer who sued because he didn't think that President Obama is a natural born citizen or the two that came to court in support of him yesterday? People have been writing like it is only the reservist that is involved although one made a comment that sounded like he was talking about the retired Maj. General. I want to comment on this whole thing but it is hard not knowing what you intended. Please, help.

[mwruckman]

Originally Posted by nzrugby

It is surprising to see a reserve officer taking a court case against President Obama, are some officers confused into believing that they have sworn their loyalty to the Republican party ?

Should all officers follow General Marshal's lead in having nothing to do with politics, not even voting for that would show a bias towards a party when one is meant to be a neutral servant of the constitution ?

Or should they be encouraged to take a full part in politics to the extreme of going to a church in uniform and suggesting that the US military was fighting a godly war lead by the Republican party ?

Easy for us of course, both officers and other ranks loyalty is to the crown, politicians are just the help.

Miltary Officers have a political role and shouldn't be apolitical robots. Some of our better Presidents were commanding Generals in our Army (George Washington, James Madison, Andrew Jackson, U.S. Grant, Dwight David Eisenhower). All these men have one thing in common, they knew that the Army should be apolitical and when they went in to politics they took the uniform off. George Washington thank god set this important precident. If he hadn't done so America might have gone down the road taken by Gen.Simon Bolivar who set the mold of rule by Caudillo (Strongman) backed by his army that his part of the Americas still follows today. Hugo Chavez is the lineal heir to the style of rule set by Bolivar.
We are lucky we had in Washington a Cincinnatus and not Sula or Caesar.