As mentioned in some detail at talking points memo
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/
And illustrated by a local Story in Larimer Country, CO
http://www.coloradoan.com/...
Rep Marilyn Musgrave http://musgrave.house.gov/ held a GOP dinner featuring two marines in uniform. Nice theater, but it's Illegal (DOD directive 1344.10, August 2, 2004, Signed by Paul Wolfowitz (!) http://www.dtic.mil/...
I think I saw a piece recently that indicated the White House is encouraging this, but I don't have a link to that story....
The Issue here is not that the service members showed up - they're allowed to have their own point of view. But when they show up in uniform, than they represent their service and that's what's illegal.
Just think what would happen if the Marines were persuaded to come out for the GOP, but the Air Force supported democrats, and the Coast Guard went for the greens. This kind of politicization would destroy the integrity of the command and control structure and pit one service against another.
I was a detachment commander during Vietnam, and while I was anti-war, I would have court-martialed anyone under my command who did anything like this even, or especially, at an anti-war rally, because my oath to the service and the country comes first, and personal political issues are secondary, and because from the military standpoint we all have to be on the same page from the command and control standpoint.
This is a very serious camel's nose under the tent. I've already sent an LTE to the Rocky Mountain News, and emails to Marilyn Musgrave's office.
An other organization which should be outraged that this is not only allowed to happen but may be encouraged by the White House is the American Legion. Here's a link to the Ft. Collins post of the American Legion http://www.co.larimer.co.us/... .
The link to the National Organization of the American legion is http://www.legion.org/
They need to be on the point for this as a representative of ex-military throughout the country, I think. Maybe if the got a few emails they might wake up....