Posted on 04/12/2010 4:50:37 PM PDT by jamese777
An Army flight surgeon apparently is sticking to his vow not to deploy until he is satisfied that President Barack Obama is a "natural born" citizen.
Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin did not report for duty at Fort Campbell, Ky. as ordered today, and a spokesman for the post said it's not likely he will.
Lakin's failure to report essentially dares the Army to bring charges against him for being an unauthorized absence.
Margaret Hemenway, a spokeswoman for a group called the Patriotic American Foundation, which is supporting the 18-year officer, said the Army should not expect Lakin to report unless he sees an original birth certificate showing that Obama was born in Hawaii.
The Army has not said yet what it intends to do about Lakin. Calls to his unit -- Headquarters Company, Medical Brigade, Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington -- were not returned by post time.
To this point the Army has ducked taking serious action against the decorated flight surgeon, claiming his public statements and threat to disobey orders did not constitute any punishable offense. On March 31 -- the day after the video was released -- he was given a letter of counseling. In the letter, his commander at Walter Reed warned him against not reporting for duty as ordered.
The orders, Lakin was told, "are presumed to be valid and lawful orders issued by competent military authority." The letter warned Lakin that not showing up at Campbell could result in his facing AWOL charges, as well as missing movement, willfully disobeying a lawful order and showing contempt toward officials. A conviction on any of the charges could mean a dishonorable discharge, imprisonment and loss of all pay and allowances.
(Excerpt) Read more at military.com ...
It is sad.
You don’t have to agree with the President (I enlisted when Clinton was in office and I didn’t agree with anything he said/did) but you can’t ignore your oath to support and defend the Constitution just so you can maintain a comfortable lifestyle.
“If Secretary of Defense Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mullen or Commander of Central Command General Petraeus didn’t adhere to an Obama order, we’d have something to talk about but not a Lieutenant Colonel.”
Careful, your elitist freak flag is showing. Some are more equal than others.
“have something to talk about but not a Lieutenant Colonel.”
Oh heavens, God forbid.
Not quite. And, yes, there is a bit of a gray area when it comes to active duty posting on forums, message boards, social networking sites, etc. The military is still adapting to these new technologies and ironing out policies to guide service members without infringing too much on our rights to express our opinions.
Am I violating military policy by posting my opinions on Free Republic? I don't think I'd get in much trouble as long as I'm not making threats or posting illegal content. Am I making official statements? That's where there might be something of a gray area. I try and mitigate this by maintaining my anonymity as best I can. No first names. No last names. No photos. If I said, "I'm Petty Officer So-and-So from Such-and-Such Command and I think President Obama is a %*&#!*@ Kenyan usurper!" I could be putting my career in jeopardy. Or not. I'm not really sure, to be honest, but I do wish to keep my job so I'll err on the side of caution. There are a lot of active duty military on this foum, some less anonymous than others. Heck, I have Senior Chiefs on my Facebook account who bash the snot out of Obama using their real names with their faces attached to the posts!
Now as to why I haven't made any negative comments towards Obama? Well, I don't think Obama-bashing is pertinent to this subject. I didn't vote for Obama but I believe he's constitutionally eligible. I accept that sometimes the guy I vote for loses. That's American democracy in action. I'll save my criticism towards the President for those subjects in which it is warranted and if you peruse my lengthy posting history, you'll find comments critical of my current Commander in Chief (and of my last one as well).
If you are posting anonymously on the Internet, no one will come looking for you. I posted tons on Clintoon while in the military, and it didn’t matter - IF it was anonymous.
Had I published a letter in the newspaper using my name and rank, it would have been different.
BTW - Larkin DOES have a pair. Unfortunately, it is a pair of brain cells. Your Commanding Officer doesn’t have to prove squat for an order to be valid. If you want to claim it is otherwise, the burden of proof is on you when you refuse.
Unless Larkin has some PROOF that Obama was born in Kenya, he has no defense. His suspicions don’t count for squat, and his CO doesn’t need to defend himself or Obama.
“I didn’t vote for Obama but I believe he’s constitutionally eligible.”
BELIEVE, BELIEVE, BELIEVE, BELIEVE, BELIEVE.
God forbid someone actually want proof. God forbid someone actually ask a reasonable question. Let’s all just BELIEVE and mock Lt. Col. Lakin for actually wanting PROOF.
No. You’ve spent too much time here smearing and mocking anyone who wanted the truth and the Constitution upheld. Troll you are.
You are a troll too.
Did I witness with my own eyes Obama being born in Hawaii? No. Am I satisfied with the comments from Hawaiian officials that Obama was born there? Yes.
No. You’ve spent too much time here smearing and mocking anyone who wanted the truth and the Constitution upheld.
I have nothing but contempt for service members who try and squirm out of their deployments. Has it occured to you that If Lakin doesn't deploy with his command, someone else will be ordered to take his place? Some other flight surgeon who probably just returned from Afghanistan or who has his bags packed and is ready to leave will be ordered to stick around awhile.
When I posted three examples of patriotism in post #93 I should've included a fourth; whoever has to step up and take Lakin's spot.
I don't care what his convictions are. Refusing to go to a war zone to care for the injured and dying isn't courageous. It's cowardly.
His convictions are also conveniently selective. If, as Hemenway says, "he has been refusing to obey not just orders to deploy but all military orders," why did he show up at his Pentagon duty station today? He's there under orders.
You’ve got to be extremely slow which makes sense since you are an Obama suck up.
“I have nothing but contempt for service members who try and squirm out of their deployments.”
LIAR. You don’t give a rat’s ass about that. You know damn well what Lt. Col. Lakin is trying to do... GET CONFIRMATION THAT HE IS FOLLOWING LEGAL ORDERS ACCORDING TO THE CONSTITUTION.
I have nothing but contempt for those who would torture and mangle the concept of upholding the Constitution.
“You are a troll too.”
I see you put a lot of thought and research into that post...
“I don’t care what his convictions are. Refusing to go to a war zone to care for the injured and dying isn’t courageous. It’s cowardly.”
No what is cowardly is being a paid Obama troll who stomps all over the Constitution.
“I see you put a lot of thought and research into that post...”
I borrowed your pea brain for that post. Hope you don’t mind.
Still working on name-calling instead of reason, eh?
The LTC is as stupid as you are. The military isn’t going to be concerned with Obama’s eligibility, and no civilian court is going to do squat about any punishment Larkin gets.
And Larkin will deserve punishment. He is weaseling out of a deployment, and better men than he will need to take his place.
If you take the Queen’s shilling, you do her bidding. Larkin had time to resign after Obama’s election, but he has followed orders and collected his pay - until deployment time.
Meanwhile, folks here are waiting for a Court-Martial to overturn a national election. They will have a VERY long wait...
“Still working on name-calling instead of reason, eh?”
Hey lame-ass, his name is Lakin not Larkin. I guess I’m still working on the “name-calling” part.
U.S. Armed Forces Oaths don’t mean squat to some of these guys.
Regardless of the spelling - and I don’t care enough about folk like him to worry about how his name is spelled - he’s going to lose.
Obama was put on the ballot in 50 states. He won the popular vote and the Electoral College. His election was certified in Congress and the Chief Justice swore him in...and you think this LTC is going to overturn that based on...Internet rumors.
“U.S. Armed Forces Oaths don’t mean squat to some of these guy”
I don’t BELIEVE, BELIEVE, BELIEVE they are part of the Armed Forces. : )
So, since his pay master is Obama, why is accepting pay?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.