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Posted on 04/14/2010 8:41:47 AM PDT by cycle of discernment
Edited on 04/14/2010 9:00:52 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
So he has been disobeying all his orders for the last 15 months or so, and receiving pay and bennies from a CIC he believes is illegal?
Good news that Drudge is headlining this story, since otherwise few people would hear about it.
I honestly don’t know how this will turn out. He is risking a great deal. I believe he’s just short of 20 years, so among other things he’s probably risking his retirement, after a lifetime of service.
It could go either way. On the one hand, people in the military usually like to keep their heads down when something as politically explosive as this arises. On the other hand, a LOT of people in the military hate Obama for putting their fellow troops in harm’s way with ROEs that do not permit them to defend themselves or to win. Much like LBJ did to our troops in Vietnam.
It would REALLY be great if some military court said, in effect, “Well, he’s guilty of refusing to deploy, but maybe he has an excuse. Surely it won’t be any trouble for the Commander in Chief to show us his birth certificate!”
How will it come out? Who knows? Sometimes justice is done, and sometimes it isn’t.
Do we want a LCOL that naive? Why hasn’t he been brought up on charges for disobeying all other orders. Just sounds fishy that he chose to disobey the order that sent him to a combat zone. I wonder if he refused orders to report to any other posts?
Because an illegal order to fight a war (participate in the killing of others) carries far more punitive legal consequences than other orders. Thus the risk to the officer is far greater.
Where did you read that he was highly decorated?
If this was G.W. Bush, the State Run Media would be airing this story every hour on the hour for weeks/months until Bush either resigned or demonstrated that he was a NBC.
He’s a doctor, not a combat infantryman.
this depends on when he became aware of the eligibility issue of course. but technically you are correct.
“What makes this one different and interesting is that it’s an active duty officer, not a reservist whose orders can easily be revoked.”
Exactly.
Become aware of the eligibility issue? Has he been living under a rock for the last 18 months or something?
Good! I’m glad he is headed to court. The service could have swept it under the carpet. This means he gets his hearing.
Get it on!
I’m thinking that maybe we want a LtCol that PRINCIPLED to face his commanders and tell them that he believes their orders are illegal. After all, that is what we teach every soldier in basic training to do when they receive an illegal order.
Everything depends on something.
As a prior Infantry I am well aware of the distinction. We YOU aware that combat support personnel can also be prosecuted for war crimes? In the eyes of the law, supporting by providing aid to a criminal act is often just as liable as the perpetrators of the act.
I was under the impression that we wanted troops that obey orders, and then pursue the illegality of it. What happens to those troops that are over there, and need a doctor...now there will be one less.
That's the problem. If you follow his reasoning out to its conclusion, every soldier gets to decide which orders to obey and which not to obey so long as he's in the White House and no court has resolved the birth issue. That can't be the law and it isn't the law.
This guy seems to have had a good record, but I have to wonder why he could follow orders so long as he had a cush assignment in the Pentagon but had a conscience attack when he got deployment orders to the Middle East??
Sorry, but this Officer had several options, and he chose poorly.
I have a hard time feeling sorry for him if he thought that he could press his personal agenda in the Military.
Give my regards to Leavenworth!!
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