With Syria on the tip of everyone’s tongues, political opinions have been thrown around, accusing the other party of not looking at the situation for its full picture. Americans are beginning to wonder whether or not we’re going to have to police yet another country.
There have been plenty of pictures floating around about the situation, and a few videos have been released, voicing opinions about what to do regarding Syria. One of the hot-button pictures that’s circulating the web was of soldiers from different branches dressed in uniform and holding up a sign that covered their face.
The signs said the same thing in different variations. Picking out one sign, it read “I didn’t join the Marine Corps to fight for Al Qaeda in a Syrian Civil War.” Other signs were similar, often replacing Marine Corps with their respective branch that they served for, and one sign even called for America to wake up.
Indeed, this does make for a powerful message, and I’m sure it caught the eyes of many people. However, let me point out that this is wrong.
When I first saw it, I was rather surprised, and I agreed with the masses that it was a powerful picture. I still do, but something went off in my head that didn’t seem right about the picture. I managed to find a few documents that seem to support my thinking.
According to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Article 88, active duty members are not permitted to make contemptuous remarks against their superiors, such as the Commander-inChief, President Barack Obama. Declaring that they will not go to Syria is an example of such a remark. Also, as I’ve heard many times over, members are not supposed to make political statements in uniform.
It’s understandable that they may not want to go to Syria. I think we should stay out of Syria, as well. However, no matter how powerful of a statement they want to make, it’s wrong to make such statements in uniform. Since they hid their faces and their names, it’s not likely that they will be persecuted for what they have done. If their chain of command were to figure out who they were, then a course of action would be taken.
In response to these pictures, another soldier posted a picture of himself in uniform with a sign also, but his face and name were shown. His sign read “You don’t join to say ‘I refuse,’ you don’t join to hide your face, you don’t join to push your ideology. You join to serve. Now quit making signs and get the f*** back to work.”
While he is essentially doing the same thing that the other soldiers did, he is not expressing a political statement or any comment that is insubordinate against the Commander-in-Chief. And I whole-heartedly agree with his sign. You volunteered yourself for this; you weren’t drafted into the Armed Forces. I understand the tiredness of fighting, but there are ways for you to leave, and there’s no reason that the military uniform should be used for any political statement.
Everyone has a right to their own opinion, but be respectful when expressing them, and that includes respecting the military uniform.