Several soldiers in the U.S. Army are accused of plotting attacks on other soldiers at Fort Stewart in Georgia, plotting to violently overthrow the government of the United States, and then murdering a 19-year-old fellow soldier and his 17-year-old girlfriend because they were “loose ends” after the 19-year-old decided to leave the group and the Army.  This isn’t a case of a bunch of loudmouths getting drunk and shooting off their mouth after a frustrating day at the motor pool.  This is actual planning of terrorism against the county they pledged to defend and then murdering two people who they feared would report them.  In a just world, any of these offenses, if proven in a court-martial, would lead to the offenders dancing a jig in midair.

First, let’s start with the easy one: murder. There are precisely two reasons for a soldier to take a human life:  Either as part of his legal mission, or to protect himself and others from unlawful violence.  Both of these are rare.  In this respect, these pieces of garbage are no better than the MS-13 scumbag who has his ex-girlfriend carved up so that she doesn’t report him to the law, and should be treated accordingly.  The fact that they did this to a fellow soldier and his young girlfriend only aggravates the situation.  Those who planned this atrocity, carried it out, or either witnessed it or knew about it and did nothing deserve not only severe punishment, but the infamy that comes with it.

As for the other charges, that they planned to kill their leadership at Fort Stewart, lead a mutiny against the government, and kill members of the civilian leadership are, if possible, even more disgusting.  The sanctity of civilian leadership over the military was established by George Washington during the Newburgh incident in 1783, in which a group of officers in the Continental Army plotted to stage a coup against Congress, and possibly ensconce Washington or one of his subordinate generals as ruler of our infant nation, but were persuaded to let it go by General Washington.  Put simply, it should be anathema for soldiers to consider overthrowing their civilian leaders, just as it should be impossible for a child to consider murdering his parents.  Soldiers are not expected to agree with the government, or even like it, but they are expected to follow their legal orders, no matter what, and that includes paying respect to the principle of civilian control of the military.

As an example, I served through the Clinton administration.  Years of cost cutting, coupled with increased operational tempo running ourselves ragged tending to whatever weeping sore the world developed, wore a lot of us very thin.  To say that President Clinton was unpopular with the military would be a gross understatement.  One of the guys I served with, who was my peer in rank, was from Arkansas, and had a personal animus against the Clintons.  Off duty and away from junior soldiers, he wasn’t shy about expressing his hope that the president would end his days as deputy assistant director in charge of unclogging stuck drains at a feed lot.  But he never breathed a word of it on duty, and heaven help you if you were a soldier that bad mouthed the President or any other part of the government within earshot of him.  In his opinion, and it’s an opinion I share, soldiers do not get to  be political while on duty, and a soldier who disrespects his leadership is a very dangerous thing.

The accused at Fort Stewart failed to figure out how this all works.  If you disagree with the government while you are in uniform, you either learn to live with it and make sure your orders pass the legality sniff test, or you get out and become politically active.  If you do this, you have the ability to change the course of the Republic without endangering it.

If these dingbats are convicted, I hope they swing high in front of their unit.  Apparently the FBI hasn’t been able to figure out if there might be more of their ilk in their units, so maybe seeing the ones we can find twisting in the wind will convince them to walk away from their plans to betray their oath to the country.

Dear Douchebag,

I read with interest a news article about your company, Veteran Clothing, which markets its line of apparel to males aging from 16 to 24 by using military imagery such as the Purple Heart and the hand salute.  While I applaud you for coming up with a new business in these hard economic times, I have to take exception to your choice of name and the symbols you use to make a buck.

Let’s be honest, no matter how much you protest, you are not a veteran of much else but flogging the dolphin to 30 second Internet videos, which, if word ever got out that you watched them, would get you shunned by a two dollar hooker the week before the welfare checks come out.  You’re not old enough to be a veteran in your field, and you admit you’ve never put on a uniform.  So drop the pretense that you can ethically use the symbols and terms you chose to market your sweatshop seconds, and be honest with the douchebags who put them on.  Tell them that they are ignorant dummies, and the only reason they wear your dreck is so that they can impress their ignorant dumbass friends with how “hardcore” they are, and that you are more than happy to capitalize on that.

Besides the name you chose for your company and your products, there are two things that you do that catch in my craw like an inhaled dung beetle:  the use of hand salutes in your advertising and the Purple Heart on your tee shirts.

The hand salute is used to express respect either from one professional to another or from a professional to an ideal such as the flag or the national anthem.  If you’ve never been saluted or had one returned to you, you just cannot understand this concept fully.  That is one of the reasons why when a civilian president, who has never served in the military, does such a horrible job returning salutes, it makes my teeth grind.  The hand salute is one of the first things you are taught in the military and it is the last thing rendered unto you when you are buried.  It is that important.  Your use of some horse’s ass in baggy pants smacking himself in the forehead in a parody of what should be a respectful gesture highlights your lack of understanding of what you are doing.

The Purple Heart is an award given to recognize the pain and trauma that a servicemember goes through when they are injured in combat.  It is the one award that no-one wants, but everyone respects.  I have never been wounded, but I have worked with people who have been and are recovering.  The pain and heartache they and their families go through is the reason we honor them, for they do it on our behalf.  The person wearing a Purple Heart has literally shed their blood for you and me, and you using that symbol as a moneymaker disgusts me.

In closing, I hope that you find it in your heart to change your ways and your marketing.  There are many things in American culture that you can mock and exploit to make money, so I’m sure that you will not have to tax yourself too badly.  It’s a forlorn hope, but with asshats like you, that’s about all I have.  Please don’t bother to pledge some pissant percentage of your profits to a veteran’s group.  It’s too late for you to buy class.

Sincerely,

Daddy J. Bear