The Marine Corps Times is reporting that the ranks are getting restless.
Gina Harkins of the MCT wrote that anti-Obama talk is rife in the ranks, and one of the most vocal, SGT Gary Stein — the marine that founded the Armed Forces Tea Party group on Facebook — is the first to suffer the wrath of the brass. The reason for this is his admission that he would not follow “certain orders” from the president. To be clear, most of the soldiers I know have the same worry — that as the Constitution is being shredded by both parties, the military could get called on to act as police, judge, and jury on the people they are supposed to be protecting. They took an oath to protest and defend the Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic” [emphasis mine] and several have admitted they’re seeing a lot of “enemies domestic” in the actions of Congress and the President.
The Military Times has done a poll showing that only 25% of servicepeople approve of the president’s job, according to the article, which was retyped by this blogger.
There are sharp proscriptions on political activity by military personnel for good reason — to maintain good order and a respect for the chain of command. That said, social media is giving servicepeople a venue to vent and come together; this isn’t going to change, so the brass better be ready for more of the same — especially as after 10 years of unremitting combat, politicians like John McCain seem determined to expand conflict to new theaters, and expand the violence to our shores with breeches of faith with the 4th, 5th, and 6th amendments of the Constitution through the National Defense Authorization Act of 2011.
The brass have every reason to be worried about insurrection in the ranks, as do the politicians: they’ve broken faith with the People and the Constitution, and the leadership with the troops they command by twisting the facts on the ground to support extending conflict in Afghanistan (they do love their budgets.) Worse, there’s scads of former military now that take that oath seriously and do not like what they are seeing.
