Marine Seargents Facebook comments against Pres. Obama: Valid? or Stupidity?
By agmamayo
@agmamayo (804)
Philippines
April 14, 2012 8:43am CST
I have read an article on Yahoo about a certain Marine sergeant who posted derogatory comments about his Commander in Chief, President Obama. Some of the comments posted were citing the president to be a domestic enemy, a coward and a complete "Jack*ss".
When this marine was interviewed by the media, he stated that those comments he posted on his Facebook account were all his personal opinion as Gary Stein and not as Marine sergeant Gary Stein. However, he posted "As an Active Duty Marine I say Screw Obama, I will not follow orders from him". According to some marine top brass, he will be charged with conduct "prejudicial to good order and discipline" because of violating military regulations prohibiting partisan political statements while in active service in the military. Stein is now awaiting possible discharge for his conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentlemen. In my point of view, he may have issues against the president but he should have been more careful about those things, he should have honored the dignity of his work, as a marine and as a family man. With his comments he might lose his job, everything he worked for and earned for his entire 9 years of service in the military will be forfeited and disappear like smoke. If all his military benefits will be lost, what will happen to him and his family, only because of his derogatory comments which I think are nonsense. If he does not respect the president, then he should respect the office whom he has a duty to defend, as a marine and as a citizen of America. If you talk trash to your boss and disobey all his instructions then surely you will get fired and your job is lost immediately. So I guess he was not thinking about what would be the negative effect of his actions to his future and his family, just plain stupidity.
2 responses
@jonnifc (1017)
• Philippines
14 Apr 12
Well, he should have exercised better judgement when expressing his opinions about his Commander-in-Chief. Facebook is a powerful thing and everybody knows if you badmouth your boss in FB, you can get in trouble. More so for military personnel. Certain proper conduct is expected from them. It might be too severe, though, if he is dishonorably discharged based on this issue alone.
@agmamayo (804)
• Philippines
23 Apr 12
he might face tough consequences in return for his deliberate posting of unfavorable words towards the president, his commander in chief. If he has issues about Obama, he should have retired first and do all he can to berrate the president and avoid risking his career as a Marine. Military code of conduct says "Obey first before you Complain". He even lied that he was talking about what he thinks as a civilian and not as a Marine, but based on his Facebook posts, He wrote "As an active member of the US MArines". He deserves to be court marshalled or discharged dishonorably.
@ShardAerliss (1488)
•
14 Apr 12
The main problem here, I think, is that he said he would not follow Obama's orders. Would he say that to or about a direct commanding officer and expect not to be disciplined? As a member of the armed force it his job to follow orders. There is leeway, perhaps, for questioning, but very little. To outright refuse to obey all orders from his superiors is grounds for disciplinary action.
However, I don't think he should automatically be given a discharge and I certainly don't think he should be given a dishonerable discharge and lose any benefits or pensions he has accrued whilst serving (not entirely sure how the system works in the USA). He hasn't done anything terribly wrong, he didn't actually refuse any orders, just said he would.
Although he has proven he's a bit of an idiot...
