Being a member of our armed forces deserves a certain amount of respect. Making the choice to lay down your life for your country and all the innocent civilians that you will never know is an honorable thing. But joining the military has a lot of consequences, not just the potential for death. A man named Gary Stein is feeling some of those consequences as noted in this article by MSNBC.
I will keep this short.
Freedom of speech is one of the most valued principles in our country and yet our government would restrict this freedom from our service men and women. This man was not advocating rebellion or sedition. He was not rioting or protesting or refusing to serve despite his enlistment. He was not directly challenging a superior officer (the president may be the Commander in Chief but his comments were made on a moderately public forum presumably to be viewed by friends and relatives). Gary Stein honorably served his country for 9 years and he does not deserve this treatment for expressing his opinion on facebook.
I only hope that this is overturned on review because it sets a bad precedent if it's not.
I hope he gets to stay in. I think it's wrong that he may end up being kicked out.
ReplyDeleteSgt. Stein should have freedom of speach. He was as you said "he was not rioting or protesting or refusing to serve despite his enlistment. He was not directly challenging a superior officer" nor was he as you said "was not advocating rebellion or sedition".
There are obviously some limits, since he is in the military, but baring what you mentioned he should be allowed to speak.
-Ler