When Palin was introduced as McCain's running mate, she stated that her oldest son enlisted in the Army on 9/11 of last year, and is deploying on 9/11 of this year. Not only is this an uncanny coincidence, I think there is a high probability that Palin is either lying or compromising the safety and security of that entire unit by publicizing their deployment date.
EDITED TO ADD LINK: Sarah Palin announcing her son's deployment date (4:43 to 5:32)
I have not heard anyone talking about this, but I think this needs to be investigated . . . .
When Palin was introduced as McCain's running mate, she stated that her oldest son enlisted in the Army on 9/11 of last year, and is deploying on 9/11 of this year.
As a military spouse whose husband is deployed in Iraq, I know how deployments work.
First of all, we didn't get my husband's departure date until about a week before he deployed. We were given a date range, but no specific date until it was almost time for him to leave. This is normal -- firm dates aren't made until it is absolutely necessary to create one.
Second, once a unit has a deployment date, it is NOT to be revealed. In fact, it is classified information. It is considered a breach of operational security to reveal a deployment date prior to the deployment, as this would potentially put that unit in danger.
EDITED TO ADD LINK:
How the Army defines "operational security"
I can only conclude that Palin either:
- lied (because she wouldn't have had her son's deployment date yet); OR
- committed a breach of operational security (which would compromise the safety and security of her son's entire unit).
I would like to see someone do some digging about this. Something isn't right here -- I strongly suspect that Palin is either politicizing her son's deployment for the emotional pull of 9/11, or she is absolutely clueless about how serious "opsec" is to the Army. I highly doubt that the Army would approve of her publicizing her son's deployment date in front of a national audience.