Soldier told what he can and can't read.

[Anna]

Or what he can have on his personal car. I might could see the car thing with the anti Obama
stickers while on base or anywhere that he may be representing the military.
But what he reads or listens to as long as it doesn't interfere with his dutys?
By doing this is the Army labeling these media personalitys as some sort of adversary's ?
What if this soldier were listening to Alan Colmes would that then be permissible?
What if his bumper stickers were anti Bush would that be ok because Bush is no longer in office?
Or anti McCain or any other sitting congress person?
How about a fast and furious sticker or any other endeavor that Obama has undertaken would that
be the same? Would a Jesus sticker also be considered grounds for bringing him up on charges?
This looks like a slippery slope to me I hope he wins his case.
I can not find anything in the UCMJ other than maybe the anti Obama stickers that could be 
considered even remotely illegal.


http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/soldier-told-not-to-read-levin-limbaugh-or-hannity-in-uniform.html

[yellowtail3]

E-7 should know better, even if he is Army.

[bosephus]

For obvious national security reasons I can't get into to much detail ...[redacted]... but again most often during sunset on Durin's Day.

We then went to ...[redacted]...which of course seems silly but made more sense as time went on.  Be extra careful of the ...[redacted]... and boy did that hurt! I couldn't sit for a week! But we all had a good laugh and anyway live and learn I always say.

[redacted]

[redacted]

[redacted]... and ever since then we regarded him with a wary eye, if you know what I mean. 

Anyhoo, I didn't mean to get so long winded but suffice it to say that I can't promise you'll make it back safely, but if you do you'll have a tale to tell.

I'm sending this message through Verizon so I hope it gets out without any problems.

Gotta go, there's a knock at the door and.....

[Anna]

For obvious national security reasons I can't get into to much detail ...[redacted]... but again most often during sunset on Durin's Day.

We then went to ...[redacted]...which of course seems silly but made more sense as time went on.  Be extra careful of the ...[redacted]... and boy did that hurt! I couldn't sit for a week! But we all had a good laugh and anyway live and learn I always say.

[redacted]

[redacted]

[redacted]... and ever since then we regarded him with a wary eye, if you know what I mean. 

Anyhoo, I didn't mean to get so long winded but suffice it to say that I can't promise you'll make it back safely, but if you do you'll have a tale to tell.

I'm sending this message through Verizon so I hope it gets out without any problems.

Gotta go, there's a knock at the door and.....

MIB? Just give them some really nasty lemonade they will leave.

[goodshot]

     The tentacles are tightening.
     Blessings

[Anna]

     The tentacles are tightening.
     Blessings

How those tentacles effect you. Depends on how strong your backbone is.
Or what its made of.

[ironglow]

Wow,,,this guy is lucky he's a government employee.  In the private sector many bosses just would've of fired him if they didn't like what he was reading or the 'cut of his jib'.
.
.
..TM7

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   Let's be honest, most civilian employers would figure what their employees read on their own time is their own business.
 
    There is a chain of command in the military which goes all the way to the oval office.  The prez appoints "his" top generals, who in turn promote "likes'..
  Right now they are forcing perverts upon the military while trying to drive Christians out of it.  If they succeed, will they have a better military?    ...I doubt it..more likely it will disintegrate.

[ironglow]

Private employers censoring what their employees read on their own time?  May happen but I never saw such a thing.
 
As far as leadership forming their own cadres..just look at the results.. who their choices are..
 
  If you haven't seen the active pruning of Christians, you have had your eyes closed.
Here is just one example of hundreds..  http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/air-force-removes-video-that-mentions-god.html

[SHOOTALL]

 Fire employees that can read really they are hard to find in the first place why fire them ? Kidding aside the higher you go up the ladder the more you are expected to tow the line. I know several that put on a dog and pony show at work much like the Hollywood and network news people do.

[ironglow]

  Except for the military and recent years as a part time basis, I never worked for the govt.  I always worked in the private sector. and for the most part my employer didn't give a hoot what I read, so long as I got my job done.  For instance, when I built structures on farms..if I pulled in to a farm with my crew and started a job on Monday and was due to finish on the following Tuesday..   Then I pulled out on Saturday with a well built and finely finished structure..my boss could care less what I read at home in my spare time.
  ..And I didn't probe into what my crew did with their spare time, providing they were ready, willing and able to put in a hard and heavy 10-14 hours  6 days weekly.
  Whether building farm structures (silos) or working high steel as I did in the south, I didn't have to fear for my job.. very few people wanted to work that high or that hard.
    ..  The latter years before I retired, I worked for a "fortune 500" electronics firm.  I didn't even try to partake of any "office politics"  those are too sleazy for my taste.  I am not interested in office "drama"..  Instead,I worked in the production area..keeping the solder machines and robots functioning.
  My part time job with local govt is just that ..part time and non-union..so I deal mano y mano with the town board..and being non-union..they get their $$ worth..  Where I live, everybody KNOWS  everybody, so trust is high..no drama..and politically, almost all agree anyway..  

[yellowtail3]

Again - an E-7 ought to know better.

[ironglow]

Again - an E-7 ought to know better.

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  Do you REALLY expect an E-7..or for that matter, an O-7 should curtail his/her personal reading.. just to placate some paranoid, PC poltroon ?

[yellowtail3]

Again - an E-7 ought to know better.

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  Do you REALLY expect an E-7..or for that matter, an O-7 should curtail his/her personal reading.. just to placate some paranoid, PC poltroon ?

Under specific circumstances, yes.

[lakota]

Again - an E-7 ought to know better.

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  Do you REALLY expect an E-7..or for that matter, an O-7 should curtail his/her personal reading.. just to placate some paranoid, PC poltroon ?

Under specific circumstances, yes.

yes we cant have those low lifes thinking for themselves now can we?

Sent from my VM670 using Tapatalk 2

[yellowtail3]

yes we cant have those low lifes thinking for themselves now can we?

That's silly, and it's certainly not my position, no matter how much you'd like to attribute it to me. Again - an E-7 should know better. You'd understand that, had you ever been under a good one.

They didn't tell the guy what he could/couldn't read. They shouldn't have to. Jackass SGT wants to play games? He ought not be an E-7.

[ironglow]

Again - an E-7 ought to know better.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  Do you REALLY expect an E-7..or for that matter, an O-7 should curtail his/her personal reading.. just to placate some paranoid, PC poltroon ?

Under specific circumstances, yes.

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  Under what specific circumstances?
      I do hasten to remind you, we are considering moral/constitutional issues here.. NOT "how best to suck your way up"!

[Mikey]

IG:  Gotta go with YT here.  That SFC (E7) should damn well know what he is doing as at that senior NCO rank he is part of the leadership for junior enlisted.  He should be able to do what he wants in the privacy of his own off base quarters, if he has them and if not, and if he is billetted with the rest of his unit he needs to pay particular attention to his behavior and the examples he sets for others to follow.  You just can't flaunt it at that rank without consequence.
 
Restricting certain forms of literature within the ranks is nothing new and these restrictons are applied to officers as well.  I recall that the only personnel allowed to have and read Mao's Little Red Book were our intelligence and psy-ops officers, unless you took them off prisoners or the dead (couldn't read them anyhow as they were in Vietnamese or Chinese...) and although Playboy was commonly read in the ranks it was often confiscated as it was a terrible distraction for some of the young soldiers who needed to concentrate on maintaining their M16s and pay attention to who was coming into their field of fire rather than on some barechested babe. 
 
I can't recall if the Anarchist's Cookbook was on the 'verboten' list or not but I recall some of the troops trying to fashion field expedient explosive devices the way the Cookbook portrayed them - why I don't know as they had plenty of demo available to them.  I know there were other magazines and pro-commie literature that the higher ranking officers did not care to see in the ranks as it formented insubordination and disobedience.  It would not take more than one or two insubordinates in a unit to lay down their rifles or just sit on their asses and refuse to obey orders to create havoc with morale or military discipline and the usual 'reward' for that was a stint in LBJ.  The fools thought that if they just said 'no' (ala jane fonda) that they would go home and not have to listen to some Sargeant tell them what to do - that may have been true, but not until they got out of jail and LBJ was never a pleasant experience for anyone.  No matter how tough some of those street idiots thought they were, the lead filled billy-clubs of the MPs at LBJ or the Presidio straightened them out really quickly. 
 
This isn't anything new.

[ironglow]

Mikey;
  The OP said "soldier told what he can and can't read", and that is what I was dealing with. Here , from the story;
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
  "
During the summer months, Sommers came under fire for reading the works of Mark Levin, Sean Hannity and David Limbaugh.
Sommers was reading Limbaugh’s “The Great Destroyer” backstage at a U.S. Army Band concert at the U.S. Capitol. A superior officer told him that he was causing “unit disruption” and was offending other soldiers.
“I wasn’t reading aloud,” he said. “I was just reading privately to myself. I was told they were frowning on that and they warned me that I should not be reading literature like that backstage because it was offensive.”
In another episode, he had been caught backstage reading a copy of Levin’s “Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America.”
Sommers said he was told to refrain from reading the book “while in uniform or within sight of anyone from the band.”
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
   THe M/sgt wasn't reading aloud or telling anybody, hey, listen to this".  It is hard to understand how he was causing "unit disruption" with what he was reading silently to himself, unless they WANTED to be offended! I am presuming that the "gay" troops read their own literature at times.. and there is all kinds of personal literature concerning race, gender, politics and religion being read by various troops.  Let's face it, there are few things a man can read without offending somebody!  Probably "Guns & Ammo" would offend some..
   Outside the Bible, I haven't heard of any other "religious" books being banned..and somebody looking to be offended, could find a good excuse with a fellow troop reading the Koran silently to himself..
  If anyone thinks that banning conservative literature, while allowing  gay, muslim, global warming, "Dreams from my Father" or other literature is acceptable... they are falling into the Political Correctness trap, and are helping to hasten the decline of the USA.
 
    This intolerant spirit flows from the top..down through officers appointed by the top...  Perhaps it is easier now to understand why  many of the best and combat experienced NCOs are leaving the military..

[yellowtail3]

Ironglow sez:

[/size]

Outside the Bible, I haven't heard of any other "religious" books being banned..

Are bibles banned in the military?
 

If anyone thinks that banning conservative literature, while allowing  gay, muslim, global warming, "Dreams from my Father" or other literature is acceptable... they are falling into the Political Correctness trap, and are helping to hasten the decline of the USA.

They may be. But... who has thinks this? Name some names, Ironglow? Provide a link? I'd be interested to read it...

[Anna]

Watch it IG, YT3 here is now a war hawk and a military jag officer. Just like Kerry was when it
suited him best. Officer on deck!!!!

[ironglow]

IG..'backstage'...?? Sounds like he was on duty.  Like YT3 said, when you're in the service, you're pretty much owned. regimented, and suppose to do what you're told. Anyway that would never work for me...
.
.
..TM7

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  TM..Do you have any military experience?  If so, you seem to have a very constricted view of military life. The "backstage" you worry about is evidently like "backstage" anywhere..a bit of relax time before or between performances.  Our military..at least as I remember it, is not totalitarian organization.  Sure there are som FMs and TMs to study, but your breaks and free times are yours..we were never required to read "party publications".
  Do you guys really believe nobody reads controversal things on their own time?  And since when are Liberal or conservative philosophies "controversal", I thought that was normal dialog in the American town hall.
   Come now, you guys cannot be so dense as to think there are "thought police" going over every bit of reading material every soldier reads..that sounds more like a cult than a military unit!      Obviously this guy had a CO who was biased toward the left...a disease possibly passed down through the chain originating in Washington.
 
  You guys are just not thinking..  Today it is Limbaugh and Levin banned... tomorrow it could be Bob Schieffer or Brian Williams.
  Does that sound reasonable ?

[yellowtail3]

Watch it IG, YT3 here is now a war hawk and a military jag officer. Just like Kerry was when it
suited him best. Officer on deck!!!!

I've never been a JAG (250x) officer, and I don't think that Kerry was, either. We both served on surface ships. He's got a command star, I don't. Both of us have more time at sea than you do.


other than that... not much in common.


By the way: what does 'war hawk' mean to you?

[ironglow]

Ironglow sez:

Outside the Bible, I haven't heard of any other "religious" books being banned..

Are bibles banned in the military?
 

If anyone thinks that banning conservative literature, while allowing  gay, muslim, global warming, "Dreams from my Father" or other literature is acceptable... they are falling into the Political Correctness trap, and are helping to hasten the decline of the USA.

They may be. But... who has thinks this? Name some names, Ironglow? Provide a link? I'd be interested to read it...

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  YT..  Where have you been, "out to lunch"?    http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/u-s-military-to-rescind-policy-banning-bibles-at-hospital.html
     http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2011/06/va-veterans-cemetery-bans-the-word-god-jesus-offensive-no-longer-allowed.html
 
  Dufus has tried to ban many Christian things (besides National Day of Prayer)..most of the time he gets called on it , however..  Then some willing, party hack takes the fall for him!

[SHOOTALL]

telling a guy not to read something and enforcing it are quite different. Think TATOO.

[ironglow]

IG...if the guy was on assignment or at work, in uniform (or not), and on a paid break backstage_ _he's 'on duty' and not dismissed. People that out rank him get to tell him what to do, or tell him to tidy up his manners.
.
.
.TM7

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  TM;
   I don't know what military you served in, but I can recall guys driving everything from tanks and APCs to supply trucks and staff cars..often carrying reading material with them..especially when expecting any layover time en route.  Unless it was especially salacious or commie propaganda and did not interfere with duties..normally nothing was said.
  I must say of course, that I have not served under the current current administration, and we have seen some very dictatorial things emerge from those Lefty minds...   I have heard current troops claim such censorship and curtailment of what freedom GIs enjoy is going on.  If so, it comes down from the top..

    ...But I suppose that would go along with spying on John Q, using the IRS as personal enforcers and abandoning our troops as if they were "expendables"..

[ironglow]

Uh-huh, that's all well and fine and usual case, IG. But when you're in the military you're essentially owned and G.I.  Sooner or later somebody higher up the totem pole might come along and take the wind out of your sails just because....and just because they can and will excercize that option....in fact they're trained to excercize that option.. Pretty much the same in the private sector sometimes, but only you have even less rights protection with the 'at-will' doctrine with 'humps' that might be bosses...Ask any women who might have been actually subjected to 'harrassment'; but then again, harassment seems to endemic in the military nowadays.. ..
.
.
..TM7

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  Of course, any blowhard can pull rank at any time..but that doesn't make him correct.  That is exactly what the OP was addressing.
  The question never was.. "can some jerk pull rank" ?   The OP was concerned with the inappropriate manner of pulling rank.. which is exactly what happened.

[Mikey]

Let's see now:  how many of you nay-sayers who complain that this poor senior enlisted fellow (the rank of Sargeant First Class, E-7 is senior and is often a leadership positon) can't exercise his 'rights' to read or watch whatever he wants, has ever been (1) the commanding officer of a infantry platoon or infantry company in combat, or has (2) ever been in a senior enlisted (E5-6 and up) position in combat, or has (3) ever led men under arms into harms way or (4) has court martialed men for insubordination,  being absent without leave or desertion or has (5) ever stood in court martial against a officer or enlisted for cowardice under fire or any other military crime? 
 
And this includes you Anna. 
 
Lots of you served but few of you served in a combat leadership capacity and the one basic thing those of you who have not damn well need to understand, and that many fail to understand, is that in combat either you live or you die.  Every single man and woman under combat arms who has led others into combat, be he/she a E5 squad leader, a E6 platoon Sargeant, a E7 Company Field First Sargeant, a E8 Master Sargeant or a E9 Command Sargeant Major knows full well that you either follow orders or you get others killed.  And if following orders means that you don't waste what precious mental capability you have on flowering the mind with the social writings of academics but rather how to survive the combat you are faced with, then you had damned well better toss that interesting magazine and pay attention to how many rounds are in your rifle magazine. 
 
This is also a bit like kirsten gillibrand, the ny senator who proposed legislation to take away the investigative and court martial powers of military commanders for sex abuse crimes.  Well, you can either think with that part of your anatomy you are sitting on or you can use your brain.  If you begin striping military commanders of their authority you will immediately lose any command capability and you will simply have commanders afraid to exercise their command. 
 
And IG - 'blowhards' - c'mon, where the hell did that come from, eh?  It sounds like you had a commander or a senior NCO who disagreed with you but you should recall that on the battlefield you don't have much room to disagree, without consequence. 

[ironglow]

Mikey;
    First off, this was definitely not a combat situation..this guy was on break, backstage.. at Ft Meyers.  No combat urgency, so it's "apples to oranges" in my view.
  I realize the military has changed some since my day there, but I doubt it is that different. When I was in Germany, the brass didn't like the European publication "Overseas weekly".. but lots of troops still read it and it was still carried in the PX ..and no troops turned suicide bomber.
 
  It would seem that if the leadership expect to dominate every thought, of each soldier, for every minute.  That sounds like the "goose stepper" armies.  Yes teamwork is important, but we don't need robots!  Yes, I hated the recent advertising slogan "Army of one"..but I don't expect soldiers to eat "square meals"..that id square dof movements of the fork, spoon and knife..all done while counting cadence.
 
  In conversing with my grandson and his fellow Spec Ops Marines, they indicated that combat efficency was predicated more by respect for leadership and esprit de corps..not by somebody trying their hand at  "chicken  sheit"!  Of course, in an actual combat scenario, there was little time or material for indulging in Limbaugh, Levin or Joan Rivers..so again, it's "apples to oranges".. except for the practitioners of C...  S... !

[yellowtail3]

E-7 should know better


I think this one just wanted to stretch the envelope a bit, and then wail & whine... when he should have, when confronted by CO on this, said Aye, Aye,  Sir! and squared his sheit away.


he chose another course. he chose badly. An E-7 should know better.

[Hairy Chest]

Private employers censoring what their employees read on their own time?  May happen but I never saw such a thing.
 
As far as leadership forming their own cadres..just look at the results.. who their choices are..
 
  If you haven't seen the active pruning of Christians, you have had your eyes closed.
Here is just one example of hundreds..  http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/air-force-removes-video-that-mentions-god.html

.
IG...in your working career, were you private sector or government..? B/c it seems you aren't aware of the 'at will' principle of employment which is pretty much law of the land, except in Montana or where contract employment prevails; and even then contracts are routinely violated by employers as a rule. 'At will employment means you can sheit can an employee any time you so desire and you don't need a reason. Hump employers do this all the time...sometimes just for giggles. Never give a reason for termination if you don't have to.
.
As for Christ's Army legions they sure haven't pruned out Gen Boykin_ _about as whackadoodle as they  come. Citing one story of the Air Force religious overstepping, overstepping so much they were outed by Mikey Weinstein, doesn't mean diddley; it just means they had to curb their enthusiasm for a while.  The US armed forces and the private mercs, are more judaeo-christianized and rapture ready then ever before...not a good development actually as far as the continued existence of intelligent life on earth is concerned....Incidentally, I've noticed new and devious weapon systems are now often bequeathed Biblical or religious based nomenclature.
.
.
...TM7

Jews have worked tirelessly to remove Christianity as the country's dominant religion, since WWII.

Jews have worked tirelessly to promote massive nonwhite immigration since 1882.