He quietly urged other military personnel to reflect on their own positions. “They should be confident in questioning possibly immoral or illegal orders,” he said, “remembering they are responsible for their own actions, and knowing others are asking the same questions.”
“If they have doubts about their orders, they are not alone,”
Jesus fucking Christ you fuckers in here saying “what he quit for” should read the fucking article.
The guy resigned to shine a light on the current administration, but all you can do is say “why he quit tho?”If he hadn’t have quit you’d be calling him a lackey or stooge, but when he does resign AND uses it to call out tRUMP you still think he’s done the wrong thing!!
For fuck sake, take the win. Point at this guy and his message and use it. Christ.
By quitting he is potentially allowing the administration to fill the position with a trump approved “yes man”. I think he could do more good by keeping his position and defy/resist orders instead. I don’t blame him, though. Getting the hell out of there seems reasonable too!
Malicious compliance would be better in most cases
Given that this is the only way military members can legally protest I am glad to see this sort of action.
So that a fascist can take his place? Weird way to protest.
They can either resign publicly or be confined privately. This way we know about it, we see members of leadership taking a stand. And for each one that resigns I’m confident there are others who rebel secretly in whatever ways they can. We saw the commanding general of ORNG give his press conference about protecting the protestors. It’s a fine line they walk, and in this day and age, with the required credentialing for news agencies at the Pentagon, you might just not hear about Colonel So-and-so who defied an order.
Feel free to take his place.
Oh, of course, with my US citizenship that I have lying around here somewhere, and my decades of experience in the US military. Will do.
Excellent plan!
Will do just for you, pumpkin. You’re so smart.
Please, you’re going to make me blush.
A nation of quitters, capitulators, and oath breakers.
America the brave, my dick.
All these comments are telling him to stay and fight, but they’re ignoring that could be devastating to his family.
He’s over the 20 year mark and can retire. If he stays and gets a dishonorable discharge, his family gets none of his retirement, no medical, and a family member with financial mobility akin to a felon.
What would you do in that situation?
I don’t think I’d be willing to put my family through that. We don’t have enough in the bank to take a blow like that. I’d probably do what he did. Try to fight another way.
Could be even worse, look at what happened to Stauffenberg’s family.
Arguable whether he signed up for that.
Fight and die in defence of a NATO ally? Yes. Same as the aggressor, if the elected government decides so, such as in Iraq? Also yes.
Risk having his wife, children, grandchildren taken away and put in Sippenhaft (collective punishment) or put in a reeducation orphanage? Not sure there is a moral obligation to that. Safety for his family was one of the things he got out of all this.
His risks for resisting beyond what he already did are higher than they would be for the average citizen. On the other hand, he also could do more than the average citizen.
A tough call, and I would not judge.
Bullies and fascists do not stop unless they are forced to stop. If every american capitulates like this, then we are lost.
This is what it means to fight for country and freedom. It’s not just words in a country music song. Standing up for your beliefs sometimes means real risk and sacrifice.
If the armed forces want to be recognized for their service and sacrifice, this is how its done.
one of the first thing fascists do is getting rid of the people that are more likely to oppose them, which is usually top military generals, and Intellectuals; scientists, teachers,etc. thats why scientists are usually to flee the country long before the conflict gets worst.
Death and imprisonment, and collective punishment of wife and child. Are not a ask a sane person asks of any man unless the alternative is death.
It’s not that Americans can’t and will not fight, it’s that half the population is illiterate. How do you fight 175 million neighbors?
its 4th grade reading level now, math is probably worst than arithemetic.
Something like 50% of humans are hard wired to follow their gut. They rely on fairh, authority, and feelings to guide their everyday descision making. They do not live their lives based on facts or logic. If they believe something, then, its true.
Right wing media takes full advantage of this. They spent 40 years making people “feel” a certain way.
So, to answer your question, I think we need to stop the constant flow of poison flowing into their ears. The poison needs to be replaced with a better message.
He’s read SunTzu. He knows a good strategy sometimes is to be safe.
I hope he can move with his family out of range of the re-activation order.
plus trump and the gop can SIC thier supporters on the people opposing him. stalking, death threats,etc.
Then why the fuck do you quit, freely giving up your important position so that gop can put a useful idiot there?
Because they can put you in military jail for disobeying a direct order. Man probably has a family he needs to feed. Military jail is not like civilian jail. UCMJ doesn’t fuck around, and UCMJ being wielded by this administration is probably going to equal a bad time.
I got downvoted so much for saying the same when that air force general quit.
It does no longer matter if the order is illegal, if half the nation is rotten. There can be an order to kill civilians and it has to be obeyed. You got a family to take care of and under Trump rule, said family can suddenly become terrorists if you refuse to bomb California or NYC or something. Which you won’t be able to do anything about when you’re in military jail.
Most people’s opinion was that you should directly disobey the dictator and just let whatever happen to your family, happen.
People in his command see this. Shit, we see this here. But his resigning has an impression on people, which may unfortunately be the only effect he can make. The whole unlawful orders thing is a sticky situation at best, and what all of us here in this tiny echo chamber believe is not what is reflected in the real world, and so some stand he may take may end up unseen and unheard while he rots away as an O-1 in Leavenworth.
Same with when Mattis was fired back in term one. Sometimes the only statement you can make is your resignation.
exactly, this shit pisses me off.
Stop taking a fucking moral stand and quititng. all you’re doing it is making it easier for puppets to get placed without having to go through the effort and legal issue of baselessly firing you.
How is quitting the answer? Someone else will become the yes man.
Jail time for disobeying, as per UCMJ.
There’s a difference between disobeying and incompetence.
Not for this administration.
No it’s not and really has never been really. In a magical ideal world it is, but the real world just ain’t like that.
Removed by mod
He made the problem worse?
He’s been there long enough for retirement. If he fought Trump he’d be dishonorably discharged and lose all retirement pay, all medical benefits, and you’ll have a record that is equivalent to having a felony.
By quitting now he’s ensuring the welfare of his family.
And if instead, he later said “I didn’t want to do these bad things, but I had to play the part, because if I left someone worse would replace me!” then the comments would also say he’s part of the problem.
His choices are lose/lose, we made sure of that.
I’m praying for a military coup, and for all these Nazi Republicans to be hung Mussolini style at a Buck ees.
In the meantime I’m putting on this frog suit and dancing in the streets.
I don’t think you realize what kinds of people are in the US military. Be careful what you wish for.
I don’t think you realize that the US military is a pretty fair representation of the civilian populations. I served with dudes who came in all shapes, sizes, and affiliations. You’re talking about 3+ million active and reserve members, and the law of averages works the same in and out.
We need him to stay in, and fight the good fight, not quit. WTF?
Come January 2028, we might very well need our military leaders to uphold the Constitution they took an oath to protect, and kick the bastards out of the White House.
No, we need him and all the other competent officers on the side of the rebellion. Nazis will be weak without smart people leading them.
I hope all the soldiers and officers would either drop their guns or point them away from the protestors and towards the fascist government.
Btw there won’t be another election the way things are going. Waiting until 2029 to do something will be waaaayyyy tooooo late.
also it takes a while for an officer pipeline from college(rotc or OCS)-to colonel or generals, so once they lose these officers its going to be harder to replace them, its not like suddenly can promote a non-officer to an officer quickly.
We need him to stay in, and fight the good fight, not quit. WTF?
If you’re waiting for an officer’s revolt, don’t hold your breath.
I don’t disagree that we need people like the Colonel to stay in, but the man has served faithfully for 24 years. More than long enough to reach retirement. We have to trust in the training that he has given the men and women that have served under him, and hope that it will prove to be enough.
Why quit? That is stupid.
