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Gregory Bull / AP
The Marines say Staff Sgt. Gary Stein will be discharged for criticizing President Barack Obama on Facebook. He has since apologized to the president.
Sgt. Gary Stein, the 26-year-old Marine who learned Wednesday he would be discharged for his online comments criticizing President Barack Obama, wishes he could take it back.
“People ask me, ‘Would you go back and change those words?’ I would most definitely,” Stein told msnbc.com. “I would articulate my point better.”
On March 1, Stein wrote on a closed forum for active-duty meteorologists and oceanographers that he would say "Screw Obama" and not follow all orders from him, according to Courthouse News.
“Obama is the economic enemy,” he wrote in the post. “He is the religious enemy ... He is the ‘fundamentally change’ America enemy … He IS the Domestic Enemy.”
Marine who criticized President Obama on Facebook to be discharged
Five minutes later, another Marine took down his post, but not before someone Stein knew took a screen shot and forwarded the comment to Stein’s superiors.
Stein had already been warned about a Facebook page he had started in 2010, which he named Armed Forces Tea Party.
“They said, ‘All we ask is that you write that the views are not that of the Marine Corps or the Department of Defense,’” Stein said. He said he put up the disclaimer that day.
The Facebook page, which had six moderators, including Stein, included posts about contraception, gays in the military, pundit Keith Olbermann and Obama. One post included a photo of Obama with the word, “Jackass” written underneath. Stein said that was not his post.
Service members are, according to Directive 1344 of the Department of Defense, allowed to express personal opinions on political candidates, but not as representatives of the Armed Forces.
Last month, a three-member military panel recommended that he be booted from the Marine Corps. On Wednesday, Brig. Gen. Daniel Yoo accepted their recommendation that Stein be dismissed for violating military law.
Stein said he repeatedly told Marine Corps officials he would shut down the Facebook page and not speak with the press if they allowed him to complete his contract, which ends in three months, but they refused.
“I think they’re trying to use me as an example,” Stein said. “Senior officers don’t want to hear, ‘You were the person who let this Gary Stein situation get out of hand. I think there might have been peer pressure among the senior enlisted.”
Maj. Michael Armistead, a Marine Corps spokesman at Camp Pendleton, could not confirm whether this negotiation took place.
Stein, an Arizona native, has been a Marine for nine years and was deployed to Iraq from 2005 to 2006. Although he regrets his post, he still believes his online activity should be protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution. Still, he said he would caution other service members to think before posting their opinions.
“I’m not telling them to zip it up or shut up; be conscious of what you post,” he said. He said he believes the Marine Corps should clearly rewrite the rules for social media in the wake of his dismissal.
In a phone interview Wednesday, Stein sounded tired. A former weather forecaster, he lost his security clearance and started working as a scheduler on a rifle range at Camp Pendleton. He said his wife’s grandmother died Tuesday night and he was diagnosed Monday with a throat disease. He said the Marine Corps is waiting to discharge him so that he can go through treatment.
“It’s been a rough day,” Stein said. “I’m disappointed. Not only in the Marine Corps, but in myself.”
Watch US News videos on msnbc.com
He said he plans to go through treatment and tend to his wife and 4-year-old daughter. He has been a licensed real estate agent for two years; last night he posted a house for sale on his personal Facebook page.
He also wrote on Facebook that he would not accept racist or vulgar posts.
“I will ban you and you will never be on the page again,” he said.
And he said he has also apologized to the president.
“If he was in front of me right now, I would salute him, say, ‘Yes, Mr. President, No, Mr. President,’ and when I walked away, I would still disagree with his policies. But those are two separate things.”
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The only reason he's sorry is because he's not gonna get the benefits he would if he had been honorably discharged. Now he's free to go join a white supremacist group with others like him.
Oona, your comment wins the prize for most moronic of the day. You are pathetic. This Marine should not have disobeyed orders. The military punished him appropriately but you with your moronic thought process somehow want to connect this to racism. Idiot!
He gave up his Constitutional rights when He swore an Oath to the USMC.......Its called the Uniform Code of Military Justice, He was NOT a Civilian with Civilian rights....look it up..... U.C.M.J.,est. 1950 by Congress restricts the First rights of Military Personnel, among many other things.......common knowledge if you were in the Military, You give up a whole bunch of rights on "Day One"
I'm sure He is very familiar with it, it is a shame though
If there were Military Justice most Officers and Leaders of this country would be in jail for TREASON among with numerous other charges!
He was pretty much free to do what he wishes to do, he just can't imply that his service is going to be impacted by his opinion of the candidate, or even President.
The unfortunate line crossed was "...I will not follow his orders..." This implies that he's a military man, and that as a service-member he will disobey the CIC. If he hadn't said that, I'd agree that he has a right to express his opinion. "Plain clothes" speech is ok, it's once you represent that as a member of the military you think XYZ about people in the chain of command... yikes, it's all over once you do that.
Some uneducated people have said I'm incorrect... Allow me to be your teacher with a sample of:
DoD Directive 1344
4.1.1. A member of the Armed Forces on active duty may:
4.1.1.1. Register, vote, and express a personal opinion on political candidates and issues, but not as a representative of the Armed Forces.
4.1.1.3. Join a partisan or nonpartisan political club and attend its meetings when not in uniform, subject to the restrictions of subparagraph 4.1.2.4. (See DoD Instruction 1334.1 (Reference (c).)
4.1.1.6. Write a letter to the editor of a newspaper expressing the member’s personal views on public issues or political candidates, if such action is not part of an organized letter-writing campaign or a solicitation of votes for or against a political party or partisan political cause or candidate. If the letter identifies the member as on active duty (or if the member is otherwise reasonably identifiable as a member of the Armed Forces), the letter should clearly state that the views expressed are those of the individual only and not those of the Department of Defense (or Department of Homeland Security for members of the Coast Guard).
4.1.1.8. Display a political bumper sticker on the member’s private vehicle.
4.1.1.9. Attend partisan and nonpartisan political fundraising activities, meetings, rallies, debates, conventions, or activities as a spectator when not in uniform and when no inference or appearance of official sponsorship, approval, or endorsement can reasonably be drawn.
Now there's also a big list of no-no's. I think he broke some no-no's as well, and again when he said "I won't follow his orders" that was the big-daddy screw-up.
However I stand by my original point which was you do NOT give up your right to free speech, that's an ignorant view of service requirements if I've ever heard one. You simply have to use some common sense in how you express it. The Sgt., he didn't do that, he messed up, totally. My point is no less valid though and backed up by the referenced items above.
I always underestimate the stupidity of Tea Partiers and they always prove me wrong.
CC, you are a moron.
cc -- By terming Tea Partiers "stupid", you insult stupid people.
Yea Croaker because we can keep spending money and handing out free stuff forever without having to worry about the national debt. The free givaways will never go away. Everything is free.
I agree 100% with what this Marine had to say about the communist sitting in the Oval Office however, he was warned by his superiors & the military must have order and discipline. He was wrong to continue to post against orders and must now pay the price.
HStowell: The Communist sitting in the Oval Office??!!?? Obviously, you know absolutely nothing about what you just said! Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzz. Why don't you people at least take and pass the GED before you make such absurd statements? I mean you sound as foolish as someone calling "W" a Nazi!
TJefferson, unlike the remarks about Bush there's ample evidence against Obama. Get a clue and educate yourself about the man's statements, actions, appointments, family, and associates.
H Stowell: I have done exactly what you say, but I have taken it a step further. Where you draw absurd conclusions from broad, over generalizations and "straw man" arguments, I do not. I am under no illusions that you are capable of doing anything other than what you are doing, I'll leave it at that.
The critical issue here is violation of the service member's oath, not free speech. The armed service member swears to obey lawful orders. This man said he would not follow orders. Taken at his word, this man is an avowed traitor. He is subject to discipline under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Get rid of him ASAP.
It isn't about whether you agree with his comments, whether the President is an idiot, or freedom of speech...he broke the rule as stated below. It's called accountability.
Service members are, according to Directive 1344 of the Department of Defense, allowed to express personal opinions on political candidates, but not as representatives of the Armed Forces.
30 years ago to this very day I criticized a coworker openly at work. She was not my supervisor or boss or owner of the company, simply a coworker. I did not use derogatory language. I felt then, and I feel to this day that the criticism was warranted, as did the supervisor to whom I sent the memo containing the criticism, as did the the employee I criticized when I showed her and discussed the memo with her. Even though I made the criticism and felt it justified, I really did regret making it, and expressed that regret almost immediately to the coworker and my supervisor. My coworker laughed about it and took me for a cup of coffee. So, everything was hunky-dory right, or so I thought. Imagine my surprise when, more than 2 months later, I was called to the boss' office and, faced by a committee of managers, was summarily fired because I had supposedly openly criticized a coworker, causing her embarrassment and damaging company moral? What had I done wrong? Stupidly, I had shown the memo to another coworker who, in a pique of jealousy or anger, I've never figured out which, accessed my personal file cabinet after work and stole, then copied and distributed my copy of the memo. In a word, because I had showed it to one person, I had "published" it. Even though an investigation by the company later concluded that the memo "probably" had been pilfered and surreptitiously spread about, it was my responsibility. This all ended in litigation because the company challenged my claim for unemployment. The court ultimately granted me unemployment, but not my job back. In a highly sympathetic summary judgment ruling, the court said I was probably pretty stupid for 1) putting my criticism in writing, and 2) showing it to a third party, but that a "reasonable" employer never would have fired me for what happened and it had no basis for reinstating me because I was an at-will employee with no contractual or legal rights to the job. Employment law has evolved greatly since that day, but my situation would end up the same today, because the doctrine of at-will employment lives on and the cherished, misunderstood right to "freedom of speech" does not apply in situations that do not involve some level of government. So, what does that have to do with the instant case? Here we have a fellow who signed a contract upon employment which, among other things, obligated him to obey the commands of his boss, in this case the President of the United States, the Commander in Chief, whom he openly defies in a writing that he publishes for the whole world to see. He is critical of his boss in a hostile and derogatory manner. He doesn't apologize or express regret immediately, but waits weeks, doing so only after being informed he is going to be fired from his job. And the man demands his rights to "freedom of speech." Sure, the case involves the government, but sorry, the contract the man signed when he joined the military specifically states that he no longer is subject to civilian law, but military law. That is carefully explained to him when he signs up and again when he enters boot camp. If the reasons he is being discharged are not clear to you or acceptable to you, you don't deserve your Tea Party credentials.
It has been my experience that those who use 500 words to say what could have been said in 50 , particularly an explanation of "how I was wronged or it's not my fault" are, more often than not, completely making up the story.
there is NO SUCH THING AS FREEDOM of anything in this or any other country... The guy blew it ,now he is out of a job and benefits.. But because he spoke his mind he should be fired.. DONT THINK SO... There are alot of soldiers who think the same way i am sure, just not stupid enough to post it.. What is with all the pictures we see of our soldiers holding dead bodies and pissing all over the enemy... That is just wrong i dont care who they are... Now we have no securtity in country everyone is angry and the most angry are our soldiers sent to HELL TO FIGHT ANYONE AND EVERYONE... Lets get this straight, there is no such thing AS FREEDOM IN THIS COUNTRY, no freedom of speech, might piss someone off, no freedom to protest might get jailed, just no freedom... Those poor guy;s over there are facing all kinds of BAD BLOOD, everyone thinks we are the enemy so we get treated like that.. Walk a mile in there shoes ALL YOU PEOPLE WHO HAVE NEVER SEEN WAR, and maybe you would have a diffrent opion of this soldier....
"ALL YOU PEOPLE WHO HAVE NEVER SEEN WAR" - this is part of the comments section on articles like this and the Marines pissing on the dead Talibans that just crack me up. Guys who watched Saving Private Ryan and played every Call Of Duty game who think that qualifies them to write things like "ALL YOU PEOPLE WHO HAVE NEVER SEEN WAR".
And by the way What The Hell, I have a lot of freedom and so do you. It just seems like you don't because you're always broke.
what the hell: What in do you mean there is no such thing as freedom of speech in this country anymore? You have freedom of speech to say what you want and so does everyone else, or you wouldn't be posting on this website. If you're talking about the freedom of speech to scream "Fire" in a crowded theater, the answer is "No" you don't! The U.S. Supreme Court answered that question years ago. Now, consider this: FOX News lost a case in Florida back in 2001 or so when they fired a couple of managers for refusing to air a story FOX management wanted released. Now, FOX appealed the case in 2003 on the basis that the First Amendment protected their right to LIE to their audiences, and secondly, because they were an ENTERTAINMENT NETWORK, NOT a news network. The Florida, 9th Appellate Court agreed with FOX and overturned the lower court's decision! Don't tell me you don't have Freedom of Speech in this country. FOX will tell you are certainly wrong about that!
"Or you wouldn't be posting on this website" - I've thought long and hard on that one, and that does kinda sorta sound like freedom of speech to me. Unless they're arresting him as we speak.
If you are a Marine you follow orders or you pack your bags. Same with the US Army (Airborne) or any other branch of service. Now for all you yardbarkers that has never defended this NATION you have no right to bark like a chiwawa behind the gate. So act like a chiwawa now that the gate is open, yes you shut the f up. The only right you have is what our military gave you and fought for you to have.
This Marine messed up, (even thou my opinon I somewhat see where he is coming from). I don't agree with the Commander in Chief on alot of things BUT he is the Commander in Chief. Say what you have to to yourself not to the world on facebook.
Vote in November it is your right unless you f____d that right up.
US Army Disabled American Veteran! Airborne! All The Way and Then Some! HOOAH!!
Thank You All For Your Service To Our Nation! AIRBORNE!
When u sign up to go to other peoples country and kill them you also give away your rights to say and do what you want. Heck, even if you just said about your unit commander that he was the enemy and you wouldn't follow his orders, then you are going to get in big trouble. But when you publicly diss the commander in chief and say you refuse to follow his orders, you deserve to be court martialed or worse. I haven't much sympathy for people who volunteer to go shoot people in other countries though. Since the Korean War there hasn't been a "righteous" war, so anybody who has been in the military since then and thinks they were defending freedoms, think again. What you were doing was serving the corporations that profit from war!
Karl- not quite.
You don't give away your right to free speech at all, but you do promise to not speak those views in uniform or as a representative of the service.
That's his mistake, "...I will not follow his orders..." That implies he's in the service and he won't obey orders, lawful or otherwise.
That's the problem. He didn't give up any rights, but he did agree to not share them in uniform or a service representative.
In plain clothes he could say virtually what ever he likes, put Obama's face on a Jackass, what ever, the line he crossed was declaring himself a non-compliant active service member.
Another thing- A service member serves for the reasons they choose to serve. Regardless of anyone else's motives. They serve for freedom, or for tradition, or revenge, or because they don't want to stay in the town they're in, or for what ever reason they choose to sign up. They don't give a damn about who is making profits. Companies get paid to supply warriors with weapons and tools of war, someone always profits. That doesn't mean they weren't serving for freedom.
Mike
I keep seeing your posts. It's obvious that you never served. This man is a disgrace to the great men and women of the Corp. Please read the the UCMJ. You give of the right to free speech. Read Article 88, contempt to officials. He definitely violated it and he might have violated 94, sedition. Stop mouthing of on issues that you have no clue about. Or, at least use google and learn something.
If I was or still work with them I couldn't tell you or I'd break DoD Directive 1344 which states I CAN vocalize any discontent I have as long as I don't do it in a way that represents me as being in the service. READ UP, Sir.
I submit respectfully to you that you shouldn't call me out unless you KNOW you're right, and 1344 says you're wrong and I'm right. Enjoy reading up and getting your stuff straightened out.
Now, maybe the UCMJ and that directive are in conflict, in that case, which one do you follow? It seems to be the directive was created to clarify what you can and cannot do.
What I said was that if he hadn't represented himself as a serviceman, he could say just about anything he wants. "Obama sucks", "He's evil", what ever. He CAN do that as long as it isn't known that an active service-member is saying it, IAW DoD Directive 1344. See sections 4.1.1.1., 4.1.1.6., 4.1.1.8., 4.1.1.9., for starters.
As you'll see, every word I said was TRUE. You'll also see that I stated clearly that he did violate some rules, that's not in question. My point (very correctly) was that he could have spouted off as long as he wasn't obviously putting it out there that he was a service-member, and that you DON'T give up your right to free speech, but you do have to be mindful of how you use it.
Now, do your homework, or keep living in a small reality where you can't be wrong, just remember to do YOUR homework before calling me out again.
This is bull@!$%#... troops under Dubya went for 8 years without @!$%# like this even thought the entire friggin war was a joke! Why don't we look at Tillman and his story before we look at this jackhole... and yeah, he should be booted.
Too bad Teddy Roosevelt isn't today's president. This dummy would be built like Ah-nuld with all the push ups Teddy would have had him cranking out.
One more thing... Anyone notice that Obama kind of sounds like a weak/broken version of Capt. Kirk (Shatner's)?
Imagine he decided to show compassion and let this warrior retire instead of giving him the boot, what would it sound like?
It's kinda Kirk, just without any toughness and backbone, probably because of all the "Obam-uuuuhhhhhs", as I call them.
Obama: "I heard about this, and uuhhh, I've.....directed...thhhheeee corpsss.... toooo lettheman, uhhh, retire, withanhonorable uuhhhh, discharge."
Kirk: "Bones, I... need, thisserviceman, to, obey........thechainofcommand! Well, he served well... I, guesswecanjust, let him, go."
I think all the teenage-stoner "uhhhhhhhh"s ruins Obamuuuhhhh's ability to sound intelligent or strong- not that the character Kirk sounded like a genius, but which one would you rather take orders from... Seriously?!
Ironically, I've heard these are called, "Intellectual Pauses." Not in this case. When this guy is off-teleprompter, the entire DNC crosses their fingers and hopes for the best!
Michael: Why can't you right wing idiots agree on who the President is. Some of you say he is a dictator and others like you accuse him of being a whimp. The rest of us look at you maroons, shake our heads, and say "Just "Another public school dropout! Wish they could at least pass the GED!"
I sure hope your heart can stand 4 1/2 more years. Sonoma huh? No wonder you make whine out of your sour grapes.
Anyone notice that this "marine" sounds a lot like Corporal Hudson in "Aliens"?
Michael....at least you don't hear Obama having to correct himself or apologize for using the wrong words.
Romney, on the other hand, says a lot of things that his staff has to "re-interpret". Romney makes a lot of gaffes.
...the trees are the right height
...corporations are people, my friend
...my dog likes fresh air
...these cookies are from the 7-11 bakery
...I'm not concerned about the very poor
...my speakers fees aren't much (just $374,000)
...I'm also unemployed
...my wife drives a couple of Cadillacs
...I'm running for office, we can't have illegals
Perhaps if Romney used a few more "uhs" he wouldn't sound so out of touch (stupid).
I don't hardly hear Obama. I do hear, Uhhhhhhhhhh, ummmmmmmmm, ohhhhhhh, iiiiiiiiii, callings cops idiots when his "friends" get in trouble, and pronouncing Corpsman with the S, and that's all just for starters. LLLAAAMMMEEEE!
Sure, you might invite him out to have a beer and bowl, but I don't think a self-respecting voter that just looks at then-vs-now will vote for him. The partisan people will vote party line per usual, and that's fine. The rest of us won't.
Those of us that don't care about (D) or (R) on a ballot probably won't be voting for this guy again.
In the end, all the pauses adds up to "duh" LOL
I love how as an independent I can make a comment about how silly sounding he is, and find people that obviously would drink his bathwater jumping up to defend his slowness LOL
I haven't heard audio clips of the Marine, can't say I know what he sounds like nor do I have an interest in doing so. I will say (and have said) that I don't agree with what he did, as "I won't follow his orders" is a biiiiiig no-no, and you're going to pay a price for it.
However, I've obviously struck a nerve with my very accurate observation of his slowness. You guys can keep hating all you want, it doesn't make me less correct.
He messed up, but he's taking it like a man. We all mess up. You learn from it and move on.
Uh, yeah okay. So when you read an article where Kim Kardashian says she's a savvy businesswoman, do you say, "OOOH! OOOH! See, she is of substance!"
Piece of advice: stop being so easy to fool.
David- I think you missed the entire point of the comment.
Second, no self-respecting man would read a Kim Kardashian related article unless they do STD research at the CDC.
haaaaaaaaaahahahaha :)
I'm just happy that my tax dollars will no longer be paying this cowardly teabagger.
Well, he's not exactly just disagreeing with Obama's policies, he's going off the deep end.
My dad served in the Army during WW2,and he always told me that it was important to respect authority regardless of my opinion. He lived that belief everyday of his life. I remember when Richard Nixon was president and about to speak on t.v. and I said we don't like him dad why would we listen to what he says? My dads response was,we may not agree with him but he's still our president. We should listen to what he has to say. I guess those days are long gone.
gman: I respect your father's words, but you surely remember there were a LOT of people who had NO respect for Nixon and took to the streets to tell the world that! I'm not telling you anything, I know, when I say Americans have always been outspoken and worse during presidential elections. It's particularly true this year when we have so many racists in this country who are organizing to defeat this President in any way they can. The evidence for that is in FBI reports on dramatic increases in numbers and activities of far right wing groups, including the American Nazi Party, skinheads, KKK, and militias to mention only some of them. (Go to the American Nazi website to learn how the Nazi's themselves say how they are changing their tactics.) Then, read many of the posts on this website for evidence of far right wing mentality by those who say they are Republicans or Libertarians. Some posts are advocating outright violent revolution against the American government, a government of ELECTED representatives of our people. These people are advocating their "2nd Amendment rights" against the American people, their Constitution, and their ELECTED representatives, if the President wins the election this November. I know many of them are old, retired, Social Security drawing, crackers, but still, their words are disconcerting.
I agree with what you say, but my point was that incivility is common now across all parts of our culture. There was a time when a soldier wouldn't have been so public with an opinion. You're right,there have always been people saying dangerous things, it just seems that now nothing or no one is off limits.
While the Commander-in-Chief has the power to pardon or commute the sentence, he should not in this case. He was repeatedly warned and given clear orders. The military, and especially the USMC, cannot long endure continued disobedience.
It's interesting to note that this man was three months away from the end of his contract with the military. I'd like to know why he couldn't wait until then to spout off.
What he did was a great way to get some attention on his way out of the service. You can bet that FOX News will be at his door trying to schedule him to go on some of their talk shows. Perhaps Stein had intentions of running for office and this would be a perfect way for him to get some publicity and notoriety.
Stein was warned and didn't take it seriously enough to change his habits. If you make the wrong decision, you pay the price. He did and he will.
What I find funny is how many Americans think it's crazy to talk negatively about the president. The president, no matter who it is, is not the end-all definition of "America." I am an American citizen, born and raised. I am not a puppet for the latest regime sitting in the role of the presidency. Obama, Bush, and nearly every president in the last 150+ years has been hell-bent on destroying "America" for the benefit of their party cronies. If a president is not willing to defend the U.S. Constitution without desecrating it with their "loose" interpretations, they cannot possibly be considered anything to be respected. Many of the founding fathers of this country had no idea the government representing America would swell up into this enormous monstrosity of debt, excess, and thievery.
I think Obama is a sham. I also thought Bush was a sham.
The federal government should not be meddling in race, individual economics, education, healthcare, foreign entanglements, and a whole host of other things. Wake-up folks! We've allowed the puppet masters to rape America.
You are paranoid.
Yeah, that bad ole guvmint should just shut up, stay out of our bizness and quit meddling! We should only hear from that sham establishment when there are floods, natural disasters and opening day ball games!
Oh sure, "defending the Constitution" should be the president's first priority! But since when does it need chicken hawk defenders?
Any individual who is insubordinate can be or is fired. He was insubordinate and he got fired.
What is the big deal?
For sure, I can't imagine someone like him in the military. He'll refuse to take orders in the middle of a battle? Insane that anyone thinks he has the right to behave in this manner.
The Tea Bagger nee NeoCon is pretty much the definition of insanity.
Civilians are funny, and Tea Baggers even funnier.
When Shrub was president anyone saying anything falling outside of blind loyalty to the 'Commander" was called a traitor and accused of giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
Now that Barry is the Commander anyone can talk any kind of crap about him. These people will even support a Marine who is so stupid that in 9 years of service doesn't understand what most of us understood before the first day of basic had passed: 1) WE ARE GI, WE HAVE NO RIGHTS, and 2) WE FOLLOW ORDERS.
It sounds to me like apologizing for benefits, now that he has health issue and soon to have employment issue too. That is far less than genuine sincerity. That asides, he was a marine, by nature he should be royal to the nation and the president. I know that some people can hide their feelings, but this one is way to stupid to understand that.
Freedom of speech is great if you can afford it.
Sorry moron, Exactly what did you expect?
When you took your oath did you forget the wording, or think that for some reason it didn't apply to you?
When you took that oath you took a pledge and then you stupidly go and renege on that pledge.
You were given chances and ignored the opportunities offered to you.
Be glad you're not sitting in prison and just got kicked out.
USN '74-77