To my fellow Kossacks:
About a week ago, a Soldier outed himself after controversy was brewed over his anonymous writings to The National Review about his story of things that were going on in Iraq. The right was quick to respond, with Michelle Malkin even going so far as to publish his myspace page so that their wingnut counterparts could bash him via email and call him a bad Soldier. We were pissed about the right’s lack of support for the troops. And we were correct for being angry.
As we all know by now, a Soldier in uniform attended YearlyKos and wanted to have a debate with Jon Soltz. Jon Soltz rightly told him that he cannot be attending or speaking at political functions while in military uniform. This goes against Military Regulation FM 27-14, which says that Soldiers can only attend political functions if they are in civilian clothes and off duty.
While most of the comments on here were respectful to the Soldier, SGT Aguina, there were some that were simply out of line.
Let's hope Gen. Clark makes a few calls and gets this wingnut a dishonorable discharge.
Thrown out for what? Asking some pointed questions? Was the Soldier violating UCMJ for asking the questions in uniform? Yes. But throwing the man’s future away is a little harsh, dontcha think?
Another comment called him a "misguided putz". Another one a "useful idiot."
One attacked his service in Iraq by saying:
He's probably never seen the outside of a military base during deployment.
Funny. I had wingnuts accuse me of the same thing. I’ve also had them accuse me of never serving in the military, of never having been to Iraq, and being a poor Soldier. All accusations that this Soldier has taken from a small amount of comments on this blog.
With the number of hash marks on his sleeve and only being an E-5, he probably got ETS'ed for not making E-6 - he's either a retrard or a fuck up (technical military terms, there.)
Were the panelists absolutely sure.... (8+ / 0-)
that this guy was really in the military?
Judging by appearances only, he appears very similar to the pasty little twits who populate the college republicans. And we all know they don't have the guts to actually join the military.
There was even one that attacked his sexual orientation. I won‘t repeat that because the person that joked about the Soldier being gay apologized. But for the love of Pete, people! We’re fighting so that gays can SERVE OPENLY in the military!
Now some of you already know I’m in the Army Reserves myself, and that I’ve done time in Iraq. On our drill weekends (or "battle assemblies" as they changed the name of what we do during our one weekend a month) we have Soldiers from all across the political spectrum. Some of them think Bush is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Others think he should be impeached. But the one thing we all agree on is that your politics have absolutely NOTHING to do with your abilities as a Soldier. My First Sergeant doesn’t care that I’m a Democrat and that I think progressive taxation and universal healthcare are two of the most important things our country needs. He only cares that I do my job well. And while I debate my fellow Soldiers on politics, we never accuse each other of being poor Soldiers or unpatriotic. I have to wait until I get home to hear it from civilians who worship the President.
The same things goes for SGT. Aguina. Was he wrong for being in uniform as a political event? Absolutely. Should he be disciplined? I’ll leave that decision to his chain of command and keep that opinion to myself (at least for now).
But to accuse him of having never worn the uniform, of not serving in Iraq, questioning how "bravely" he served in Iraq, and to accuse of being a poor Soldier is what the right does to us vets on the left who feel free to express their political views when we’re on our own time and in civilian dress. Let’s be better than the Michelle Malkins and Bill O’Reilly’s of this world, and not attack SGT Aguinas’ military service. We’re better than them.