This week has been a strange one. I am ex-military and several events transpired that made me uneasy and hopeful at the same time. Let me explain.
When I entered the military, I took a solemn oath to defend the Constitution against ALL enemies foreign AND DOMESTIC. For the record, here are the oaths sworn by the Army. The oaths sworn by the other branches of the military are similar with the reference to the branch by officers.
Enlisted: “I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”
Commissioned Officers: "I, _____ (SSAN), having been appointed an officer in the Army (Navy, Marine Corps, etc) of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God."
Please note that at no time does the military person swear to defend the person of the President or anyone else. The oath is to protect and defend the Constitution. In the course of performing this vital mission, the person is expected to follow the “lawful” orders of the Commander in Chief and any other officers appointed over him or her.
All military personnel, enlisted and commissioned, must be governed by the rules set forth in the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and the established regulations of their particular branch of service. The UCMJ is to military personnel what the Penal Codes of the various states are to civilians. It specifies acts which are considered a crime while serving in the military. It establishes the “legal” relationship between personnel and the officers who command them. It is the legal bible of the military. All criminal charges brought against a serving military person must initially be brought under the text of the UCMJ. Additional state or federal crimes may be charged AFTER the UCMJ is satisfied. This is a protection of sorts for the military person. It places them firmly under the jurisdiction of a military court rather than a civilian court. This may seem like a slap on the wrist, but remember, there is normally no jury in a military court. You are tried before a single officer in a summary court or a panel of officers in a general court martial. There are courts of appeal in the military, but justice moves much faster than in the civilian courts.
Now, having set the stage, I move on to the events I mentioned earlier.
During the events around the attack on our diplomatic mission in Libya, numerous requests were made by diplomatic and military persons to send additional military assistance to the mission at once as it was under organized and sustained attack. It has been firmly established that this was an organized attack made by terrorist forces nominally under the command and direction of Al Qaeda. The requests were denied at the highest levels of the command chain. These people in the mission were left to die and the diplomatic mission along with the large amount of sensitive intelligence documents were left to the terrorists to pilfer. Then, a brave man stood tall. General Carter Ham took the steps to save lives. Those steps may have cost him his career and certainly cost him his command. What dastardly deed did General Ham commit? Read on.
On October 26th the diplomatic mission in Benghazi Libya made a frantic call for military assistance. They were under attack by many hostile forces and couldn’t hold out much longer. A discussion between General Ham, (COS)General Dempsy and (SecDef)Leon Panetta decided that committing forces without additional intelligence was foolish. General Ham in the meantime had mobilized a rapid response force that he felt adequate for the mission. He informed his superiors that he was ready to mount a rescue mission at once. General Ham then received an order from above to “stand down”. In what appears to be shock and anger at the order to stand down when Americans were dying, General Ham ordered the rapid response team to deploy at once on the rescue mission. This was in direct violation of standing orders. But were they lawful orders? Within 60 seconds of issuing this command, General Ham was relieved of command by his second in command and placed in custody. It is to be assumed that he is under charges of disobeying a direct order in time of war, in a theater of war. He has lost his command, possibly his career. Could he be the first general to lose his life for disobeying one of Obama’s orders? Did he do right? I don’t know. My knee-jerk reaction is he is a hero for trying to save American lives. We did the same thing in Grenada with the American students. Of course, we DID have a REAL Commander in Chief then, not a despot who spends American lives for political gain. Yes I really said that, and I stand by my comments. This sitting president is a disgrace to the office and the country it represents. Hopefully, we will correct this travesty next week.
During the last week or so another flag rank officer has been relieved of command by the Obama administration. Rear Admiral Gaouette, who was in command of an aircraft carrier strike group in the Middle East, is being temporarily reassigned due to an allegation of “inappropriate leadership judgment.” Rumor has it, the good admiral is part of a conspiracy. Said conspiracy revolves around a group of senior officers that have allegedly decided to stage a military coup if Obama is reelected. WOW! If true, I don’t know how to look at this development. For the military to even think about such a move without orders establishing martial law is incomprehensible. We don’t do things like this in America. We are the United States, not some banana republic. But … let’s look a little deeper. According to an article on CNN (you may boo and snort) the Navy has removed or relieved 14 command level officers so far this year for matters pertaining to professional ethics and personal accountability. This from the Obama administration, who can’t pronounce these words let alone understand the meaning of same.
So, is there a conspiracy afoot? I don’t know. Is there a concerted effort on the part of the Obama administration to purge officers who take their oaths seriously? Is Obama removing any officer he thinks might rebel against his possible martial law takeover of the country? Is he working like tin-pot dictator Kim Jong Un of North Korea? Are there still men and women of conscience and courage in the military who would refuse to follow unlawful orders? I hope and pray there are such individuals. They may be our only hope for survival as free citizens. The current military scares me. There are too many in the military who only paid lip service to their oath and will turn on the American citizens if commanded to do so. Hopefully, there are cooler heads in the NCO and senior officer ranks who will not let it happen. I am also a member of Oath Keepers. We understand the oath we took and that it is for life. I pray that there are others in the active military and law enforcement who believe as we do. If not, we are in for a long civil conflict. We as free citizens will have no choice but to go against the most powerful and best armed military in the world. Talk about an uphill battle. I can only take comfort in the knowledge of a similar group of citizens who faced the British in Lexington and Concord. We can only wait and see.
GreytigerTX
11/3/12
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Thank you for your service
I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.[1]
9 June 1969
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