Military Intelligence

An open letter to a person I know....

During the Iraq War, there were a few US soldiers, among them Gens Eric Shinseki and Ricardo Sanchez, as well as more than a few enlisted men, who criticized the effort in Iraq.

The thing is, they did it AFTER leaving the service.  This isn't a coincidence.

When I was in college, I was in Naval ROTC.  I eventually had to leave NROTC for a physical issue, but I was able to join the National Guard and then the US Army Reserve. I was standing around one day in college listening to a speaker rail against abortion.  While doing so I was wearing my dress whites.  I was a freshman, and really didn't know better than to not stand and listent to a politcal speech in a way that might convey support or dissention from a political opinion.

Suddently, I was grabbed from behind and pulled away.  Our adjutent NROTC officer, Major Von Wald (USMC), simply said, "When you're in uniform, you don't have a political opinion."

It was a lesson I've never forgotten, it was a sentiment I've passed along to more than a few members of the military, and a concept I've explained to more than a handful of civilians.

A legal point for the neophytes out there.  When you are in the military you are governed not by the Constitution, but intead by the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).  While in uniform you can have your equipment randomly searched, and most important to this point, you have NO right of freedom of speech, especially not against or about the orders you've been given.    One other thing - the President is the "Commander in Chief", meaning, he is the highest ranking member of the military.  You swear an oath to obey the orders of the office of the President, everyone does, every enlisted man/woman, every officer.  No exceptions, ever.  Refuse the oath, you can't join or stay. Ever.

So the deeper lesson that I have taught goes like this; When you're in uniform, the orders of the President (e.g. the policy of the President), like the orders of your officers, aren't open for public rebuke or review.  You are an instrument of policy, you are expected to support any President, any time, whether you like him or not IF you chose to remain in the military.  You are expected to do so quite simply because failing to do so tells your subordinate staff that THEY get to pick and chose the orders THEY want to obey.  In short, if a President orders you into combat in a war you don't like, then, IF you want to continue to wear the uniform, you go to war, and you keep your mouth shut.  What would happen to our military structure if the military got to vote about the wars they wanted to fight?  What would have happened to morale if General Tommy Franks had said, "This war in Iraq is crap!"  You keep your mouth shut because failing to do so is insubordinate (as an NCO) and "Conduct Unbecoming" for an officer.  It also violates a primary military edict to ensure your actions always support "the good order and discipline" of the troops.  George Patton was nearly casheired in WWII for making an obliquely critical reference of US policy.  He was out of line for saying anything and he knew it.


Consequently, for those of you who may think that the right-wing, vocal critics of the President who wear the uniform are within their rights to criticize the President, you are wrong.  You aren't slightly wrong, you are dead wrong, wrong in every facet of every way.  Openly questioning the policies/orders/conduct of the President is a direct violation of your oath.  It undermines discipline.  Those of you on the right who balley-hooed about US Congressmen criticizing the war effort while Bush was President as "undermining morale" need to check yourself - you need to consider what the impact would be if a few sergeants said "F-it, I am not dying for this chuckle-head."   Acting in such a manner is grossly unprofessional, doing so is profoundly insubordinate, it is conduct unbecoming an officer.  THAT's why Ricardo Sanchez left the service THEN criticized the war, that's why William McCrystal was sacked for doing so while in uniform.  You are an instrument of policy, and you keep your damned mouth shut while you wear it.  You obey your orders, you do your duty, you don't pick and chose the orders you'll obey.  Picking and chosing orders, in the guise of creating a lack of respect for the officers above you (in this case the President) is the height of unprofessionalism for a soldier.  Doing so means you don't deserve your stripes, you should be cashiered, you're a pig, you're less than a civilian, you have no honor.  You've failed to keep faith with the millions of soldiers before you who may not have liked their orders, but they SOLDIERED on.

Nuff said? 

If not, then your political blinders have allowed you to be blind to one of the most profoundly well understood axioms of service among professional armies and professional soldiers.  If not, you don't know jack about the military, If not, your "intelligence" is at best, ignorant.  Put another way, every member of the military WORKS for the President, since when do you get to criticize, publicly, the CEO of the company you work for?  It's worse than that in the military though.  Your open questioning of orders may in fact cause someone to fail to obey an order because they don't like the President and think they're within their rights to not support him and so they fail to act when they should, costing someone their life.  Those of you who believe this kind of conduct is "ok" are  advocating for insubordination.  You are, quite simply, supporting the most grossly unprofessional thing a soldier can do.  IF you advocate for that, you don't understand anything about the military.  John Kerry was deeply criticized for criticizing the Vietnam War - John Kerry left the active duty militry before doing so.  Kerry was wrong to have done so while in the naval reserve, and doubly wrong to have testified before Congress and tossed his ribbons away while in uniform.  You didn't like it when he did, if you didn't like it then, why not?  When you anwer that question, you'll begin, maybe, to understand why it's NEVER ok to do while in uniform.  No exceptions, ever.

Nuff said.