Seems the Green Berets are sending a message. More than 1,100 former and current Army Special Forces troops -- Green Berets -- have reportedly put their names to a letter condemning any efforts to restrict gun ownership following the massacre of 20 students and six staff at Sandy Hill Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. The 2,900-word letter has been distributed to media outlets and posted on Professionalsoldiers.com, which is operated by retired Army Special Forces Master Sgt. Jeff Hinton. Because of the sensitive nature of their military careers the names of those signing the letter are not being released. Go to Military.com for more info
Active duty troops can sign a petition for specific legislative action, if the signing does not obligate the member to engage in partisan political activity and is done as a private citizen and not as a representative of the Armed Forces.
(*)(*)(*)(*)ing hilarious. http://www.military.com/daily-news/...nst-gun-control.html?comp=700001075741&rank=1 From the story. The 2,900-word letter has been distributed to media outlets and posted on Professionalsoldiers.com, which is operated by retired Army Special Forces Master Sgt. Jeff Hinton. Because of the sensitive nature of their military careers the names of those signing the letter are not being released. Wow. Names not released. What a shocker.
Master Sgt. Jeff Hinton. Because of the sensitive nature of their military careers the names of those signing the letter are not being released.
What's the point of a petition with no names? Sign it as a private citizen, that's allowed in the services.
Kind of makes the claim of the signatures, especially considering this is not allowed by the military, to be utterly meaningless, doesn't it? I mean, any clown can claim they have signatures of active duty military folks in violation of the prohibitions of using their active military status as a political tool, but if someone is not going to show them, he could say he has 100,000 signatures and it is just as meaningless.
They want to have their cake and eat it too, basically. "Hey look at us, we're Green Berets, we're signing this petition" oh wait, well we're not giving our names out... Just sign it..."John Doe"...with no affiliation as an active duty Green Beret...that's allowed. but of course a private citizen's signature won't have the weight of a Green Beret signing it... I' ve signed petitions, as former and even active member of the services...but as a private citizen...just my name. These guys can do the same, but you can't have your cake, and eat it too.
I don't know Herk. 1,000 green berets doing something they are explicitly forbidden from and then the names not released? Whilst I am sure there is a meat head or two in the special forces, I find it hard to believe that there are 1,000 of them in something like the green berets. Sounds to me, and this is just my opinion. fictional nonsense.
Thanks everyone and I am well aware of the rules while in uniform. My interest is how this plays out and what traction it gets. What is important is you have a section of the Army that is being vocal and that in itself is rare when it comes to current political events. My, how times have changed 68W40.
There's an old joke applicable to various conflicts...there were 100 Navy SEALs in Iraq..and I've met all 1,000 of them on-line. Folks tend to embellish...the former Corporal in a motor pool...is a Green Beret on-line. I can't say that's the case here, but the point of a petition is to stand by your signature, and it's ok to do as a private citizen...just no asterisk *Green Beret* Either you stand by your name or you don't sign it if you insist on maintaining an affiliation with the Armed Forces. Which could be construed as being a representative of the Armed Forces...an institution that by it's very nature should remain apolitical...meaning neutral on specific politics.
Aside from yourself, I believe everyone on every single forum online was either a military pilot or special forces. I have never run into a person whose military career was working in a warehouse or cooking.
I resigned my commission in early '07. So unless they recall me after the S hits the Fan...(highly unlikely) I'm less concerned about the ramifications of being on a message board and being "political"...than I am being tracked down by a regular citizen as someone who doesn't like my opinion.
And I did the same in 2004 but was a lowly enlisted Medic....... Door gunner special forces chow hall monitor in the Air Assualt operations. Thanks for your service and supplies.
I killed lots of bugs in the service of my country. My Air Force Reserve squadron was set up for aerial spraying...mosquito control and oil spill solvents. There's no such thing as "lowly" in my book...and thank you for your service as well. 16 million veterans in a nation of 310 million... I'd say we're the minority that have even bothered to step up to the plate You served honorably, that's all that matters...besides Medics are vital.
Hey me too! Only I did it with a windshield of the 7-ton, humvee, and the MRAPs. And spent alot of time looking for Charlie in the open desert...driving near pointless "disruption" convoys...accomplishing jack (*)(*)(*)(*) in the process. At least you got to go flying eh? That's at least cool. Way cooler than just another grunt on the ground rolling dice on forsaken Iraqi highways. Killed a lot of mice too! We also got to be meat puppets for attack dog practice, which ironically was the most fun of the whole deployment.
Those with the proper press credentials can review the still growing list of names for validation. Feel free to contact Jeff Hinton at professionalsoldiers.com This is not a petition just a public statement regarding our take on the current situation.
True, it was more fun to be a zipper suited sun god than what the average ground pounder experiences raking sand. However in terms of "heroics" and battle scars? I don't qualify...engine running off loads was the norm, push the beans and bullets out the back and get outta dodge. RTB behind the wire.
I like how you all attempt to undermine the credibility of a Veteran who achieved the rank of Master Sgt.? If I say Rand Paul's Turkey question had to do with Brewster Jennings, CIA, and an advanced weapons black market, I get no responses, or get called a tin-foiler, but somehow with far less supporting evidence you guys are all given a pass in undermining this guys credibility without offering any evidence!
Oh man, this brings me flashbacks of when people would say "I wish I could go outside the wire." When the reality is no, not really bub. It is boring, and when it is not boring it is scary as hell - even when nothing happens. I remember wondering why in the hell we have stopped a convoy on Route Uranium for 15 whole minutes(that (*)(*)(*)(*) ant "road" to Al Asad). I was about to (*)(*)(*)(*) myself the whole time fearing that one of the sand people would dial in a mortar on us. It turns out I had a brick in my sphincter because of three reasons: 1st. An army convoy magically appeared and didn't show up on Blue Force Tracker(...still waiting for the Red Force Tracker patch...) and we took turns shaking fists at each other over right of way. 2nd. Some jackass didn't tighten up a few lugnuts on his humvee and his friggin wheel fell off. 3rd. None of this was ever passed over the net. Life outside the wire is simply a bad place to be. Not advisable to anybody.
