Last I checked, we didn’t give up our First Amendment rights when we enlist. The timing of this Article 15, in light of the accusations of “offending” people because of his religious beliefs, is mighty suspect.
From Todd Starnes at Fox News.
A member of the U.S. Army Band who said he was reprimanded for having anti-Obama bumper stickers on his personal car, serving Chick-fil-A sandwiches at a party and reading books written by conservative authors like Sean Hannity was found guilty of three Article 15 charges.
Master Sgt. Nathan Sommers, a decorated soloist with the Army Band, was found guilty Thursday of failing to go to an appointed place of duty, disobedience of an order and making a false official statement, his attorney said.The charges were handed down June 9, one day after Sommers told Fox News that he was facing discrimination and persecution because of his conservative political and religious beliefs.
Retired Navy Commander John Bennett Wells told Fox News the charges were stemmed from giving a superior officer the wrong date for a doctor’s appointment. He’s also accused of failing to carry out an order. In order to comply with that order, Sommers would have had to disclose private information about his autistic son’s medical records.
“The timing does seem strange,” Wells told Fox News. “It’s suspicious. It looks like a graduated attempt to build a case against him on some really ridiculous charges.
Sommers, a 25-year military veteran, received an oral reprimand and will not be reduced in rank.
Wells said he plans on appealing the non-judicial punishment and is considering a lawsuit under the Administrative Procedures Act and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
……Retired Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin told Fox News it appears the Army is trying to send a message to not only Sommers but others in his unit.
“Over my 36 years in the US Army I saw numerous situations like this where a Soldier is singled out by the chain of command for punishment,” Boykin said. “The Article 15 proceeding may be technically legitimate, but one must recognize that an Army Master Sergeant with 25 years does not normally do stupid things that are easily avoidable unless there is some mitigating circumstance.”
……Sommers’ troubles started last year when he was confronted about having pro-Republican and anti-Obama bumper stickers on his personal vehicle.
The stickers read: “Political Dissent is NOT Racism,” “NOBAMA,” NOPE2012” and “The Road to Bankruptcy is Paved with Ass-Fault.” That sticker included the image of a donkey.
His superior officer told the Soldier that the bumper stickers were creating “unnecessary workplace tension.”
Sommers also came under fire for reading the works of Mark Levin, Sean Hannity and David Limbaugh. Last summer he was reading Limbaugh’s “The Great Destroyer” backstage at a concert when a superior officer told him that he was causing “unit disruption” and was offending other Soldiers.
“I wasn’t reading aloud,” Sommers told Fox News. “I was just reading privately to myself. I was told they were frowning on that and they warned me that I should not be reading literature like that backstage because it was offensive.”
……But the incident that led to an official investigation of Sommers came late last summer when he served Chick-fil-A sandwiches at his promotion party.
“My family likes Chick-fil-A and we like what they stand for,” he said. “I can make a statement and at least express a religious point of view at my promotion party – theoretically without any fear of reprisal.”
The Soldier also tweeted about the party: “In honor of DADT repeal, and Obama/Holder’s refusal to enforce DOMA act, I’m serving Chick-fil-A at my MSG promo reception for Army today.”
Too bad there wasn’t a lot of indignation about Nidal Hasan’s incessant rhetoric before he screamed “Allah u Akbar” and mowed down 13 Soldiers at Ft. Hood.
The Army’s double standards for freedom of speech have really reached sickening levels. Everyone except Christians are allowed to voice their opinions and political views with little retribution.
When it comes to certain forms of free speech, the military tends to pick and choose what it tolerates. The in-your-face gay rights faction finally got DADT eliminated and can now serve openly in the military. Radical muslims in the ranks bad-mouth the United States and other religious denominations on MEMRI and Al Jazeera, without getting called on the carpet by their commanders. But gawd forbid you espouse Judeo-Christian beliefs. According to the Pentagon, that will get you an Article 15, or worse, in front of a Courts Martial.
You know the Army has gone bat-shit nuts when a superior officer emails his subordinates with diatribes about “Christian Right groups out there” that “do not share our Army Values”, but fails to mention the glut of anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, and anti-Western Islamofascist thugs that make life a hell of a lot more hazardous than any Christian Right group in his fervid imagination.
I’m agnostic and even I can see that Christians are being blatantly discriminated against in the armed forces.
They were looking for a reason to nail MSG Sommers for his anti-Obama opinions, so they simply trumped up charges to cover their ass.
I can’t speak for the other branches of the military, but the evisceration of the United States Army is complete. There were hints of what was coming before Obama got installed, but since his regime took over, it’s gone berserk.
You think the EO concept is being abused now? I predict that within the next generation of Soldiers, we will witness the insertion of PC officers assigned to each unit much like the embedded KGB political officers in the former Soviet Army. Every Soldier who speaks out in defense of the Constitution we’re sworn to protect, and objects to the insane policies forced on them, will be duly reported to the authorities.
Related articles
- Soldier Who Read Conservative Books Now Faces Charges (patdollard.com)
- Sgt. Nathan Sommers Found Guility By Army After Reprimand for Reading Books By Conservatives (foxnewsinsider.com)
- Soldier Told Not to Read Levin, Limbaugh or Hannity in Uniform (radio.foxnews.com)
He portrays an image of this flawless career and upstanding soldier, but he is not. He is the epitome of double standard. I hope it catches up with him, in some ways, but he is also a family man, and I would hate for his kids to suffer because he lacks foresight.
SDFan,
I saw a lifetime of double standards during my service. “RHIP”, you know. I’ve also seen double standards with regard to the civilian hierarchy. Ted Kennedy drove drunk off a bridge in Chappaquiddick and cared more for saving his career and his own ass while Mary Jo Kopeckne drowned. He never spent one day in jail. Massachusetts kept re-electing the son of a bitch until he croaked. Obama and his merry band of socialist thugs have been raping this country and shredding the Constitution since the day he got installed. None of them have been impeached or prosecuted for Benghazi, Fast and Furious gunrunning, using the IRS to discriminate against Tea Party patriots, or leaking classified information about the SEAL operation that took down Bin Laden, to mention just a few of the crimes.
From what I’ve seen in the last several years, free speech has become a one way street; muslims can vent their spleens against America while Christian Soldiers and vocal critics of Islamofascism are told to shut up. Case in point: Nidal Hasan often injected Islamic extremism into his briefings and railed against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The officers present were afraid of being labeled anti-EO so they said nothing. After the Ft. Hood terrorist atrocity, the Army went looking for scapegoats and tried to target the people who didn’t report Hasan’s behavior. See how that works?
But, I digress.
My point is, in the current overzealous, oppressive, PC atmosphere that has infected the military, the timing of the disciplinary action against MSG Sommers is awfully coincidental. If he isn’t being targeted for his religious beliefs, then what? Do you take issue with his cynical use of Chick-Fil-A? His vocal opposition to the in-your-face gay issue? His anti-Obama bumper stickers? What is it that supposedly caused disruption in the unit?
SFC MAC
All that being said, I know him personally, you don’t. and you don’t know the whole story, and none of you ever will, He most certainly is not being persecuted. He is playing the situation for sympathy, and possibly an early retirement. And publicity, because he loves it.
SDFan,
So how does he compare with the despicable PC policies and double standards?
SFC MAC
This guy isn’t everything he portrays himself to be. . As his “employer” the military has to prevent a hostile work environment, which had little to do with the books, but a lot to do with his treatment of other members of his chorus who were gay. I know him personally, he is the bully, not the military. Sommers operates on his own moral standard, but won’t hesitate to call someone out for behaviors he finds unacceptable. They never mentioned anything about his religious beliefs, only about the way he handled situations at work.
SDFan,
On the contrary. It’s conceivable that MSG Sommers was targeted because he didn’t goosestep to the New World Order.
I was in the United States Army for a total of 30 years; 10 Reserve, 20 Active. The bulk of my service was as an Intelligence Analyst, and not long before I retired, I could see that it was becoming politically incorrect to call muslims the enemy. Since then, the policies involving ROE and the way we approach fighting the war against Islamic terrorism has gone absolutely insane. I’m agnostic, so I don’t care for institutionalized religion, especially one that incorporates terrorism and death to the infidel (unbelievers) as part of its religious doctrine.
As I mentioned in the post:
You know the Army has gone bat-shit nuts when a superior officer emails his subordinates with diatribes about “Christian Right groups out there” that “do not share our Army Values”, but fails to mention the glut of anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, and anti-Western Islamofascist thugs that make life a hell of a lot more hazardous than any Christian Right group in his fervid imagination.
It’s become a malignancy that has infected the entire military across the board.
There’s a draft Army Manual that forbids criticism of the Taliban, Islam, and the muslim male propensity for pedophilia. It also bans the promotion of women’s rights. The DOD classifies muslim acts of terrorism against the military as “workplace violence”. The Pentagon leadership, Obama, and military commanders have all shamefully embarrassed the United States by kowtowing over Koran burnings while the Taliban and Al Qaeda lap up the propaganda. The Pentagon has hired an atheist extremist by the name of Mikey Weinstein to specifically target Christians and Jews who proselytize. No mention of radical muslims like Major Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 American Soldiers in the name of “allah”.
As I commented to someone on another post: Not once did I ever encounter a pushy evangelical. I have, however, encountered more than one PC asshole in the hierarchy who thinks criticizing the violent theocracy of Islam is “offensive”. I was deployed with the 101st Airborne Division in what was to be called OIF, when SGT Asan Akbar, a muslim convert, used grenades and his M4 to kill CPT. Christopher Scott Seifert, an S2 Officer in one of our brigades, and wound 15 others at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait. In the entire 30 years of my Army service, not once did a Christian or Jew pick up a rifle and slaughter other Soldiers in the name of their religion.
There are far more dangerous and important things to worry about than a MSG serving Chick-Fil-A as a protest. For instance, how the military brass and the Dhimmi in the White House have made the world safe for radical Islam.
As for the gay service members, I think this opens a Pandora’s Box of problems. This is NOT A CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE, no matter how much they insist.
Gender, nationality, ethnicity, and skin color are difficult, if not impossible, for most people to conceal. Sexuality, on the other hand, can be kept private and none of anyone else’s business.
This new “openness” is going to cause unnecessary distractions and needless complications. Now comes the problem of how to deal with gay same-sex “harassment”, gay military partners who want to marry, and gays using their “protected status” by “acting out” and refusing to deploy to war. Not to mention AIDs. Or how this will affect on post housing for “partners”. Or the rules on fraternization.
Or those who would use their sexuality as an excuse not to do what they were trained for: Break things and kill people.
Just wait until a transsexual shows up at the recruiting station. Or until someone in the military decides to get a sex change. Won’t that be interesting.
Considering all of that, it’s quite possible that MSG Sommers is a victim of PC run amok.
SFC MAC
Actually he got an Article 15 for bullying and threatening other members of his unit. Not reading books.
Knottie,
How does expressing your beliefs ie: serving Chik Fil A at a promotion party and putting bumper stickers on his car, constitute “bullying”? You want bullying, sweetpea? Just check out the ridiculous Army Draft manual for Afghanistan: http://sfcmac.wordpress.com/2012/12/15/draft-army-manual-dont-criticize-taliban-or-islam-dont-advocate-womens-rights-dont-criticize-paedophilia/, or the email depicting patriots as “terrorists”: http://sfcmac.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/hagel-grilled-on-u-s-army-officers-email-depicting-patriots-and-christians-as-racists-and-terrorists/
The crackdown on freedom of speech, or more specifically, the double standards, is absolute tyranny.
Where were you when Nidal Hasan spewed violent Islamic rhetoric?
SFC MAC