Marine Sgt. Gary Stein served his country for nine years, and
then was released from the Marine Corps with an other-than-honorable discharge
because of his refusal to relent in his political speech on Facebook. Stein
used the social media outlet to berate President Obama and continued to do so
even after his command asked him to curtail the comments. Stein is now outraged
about the Marine’s new public-service announcement concerning social media.
Using Stein’s case as a prime example, the PSA talks about
the career risks involved using social media to criticize policies made by the
President and others in the service member’s chain of command. Stein
disapproves of this campaign, stating that the Marine Corps should not try to
curtail speech that represents themselves and not their branch of service.
Especially during an election year, the Marine Corps
outlines specific guidelines on how service members should conduct themselves
in political environments. According to Marine Corps Order 5370.7B, an active
duty Marine may make monetary contribution to a campaign and attend partisan
and nonpartisan meetings or rallies while out of uniform. The Marine Corps
allows political activity, as long as the individual distances themselves from
the Corps, often a difficult task when many individuals live on base and discuss
politics with friends (other Marines).
The Marine Corps did not inform Stein of the PSA, even though
he is currently in the process of appealing his discharge. The PSA was first
published on Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point’s website, but has since
been taken down.
I would like to share it with all my friends and hope they will like it too.
ReplyDeleteJim
www.imarksweb.org