Marine sergeant discharged for criticizing Obama: Was that fair?

[white cloud]

The other-than-honorable discharge given to Marine Sgt. Gary Stein for writing “Screw Obama” and other criticisms of the president on Facebook means he will lose all of his military privileges, including access to military health care and education benefits, as well as the right to shop in the tax-free grocery and department stores on base.



Marine discharged for slamming Obama on Facebook
Board seeks Marine's dismissal over 'contemptuous' anti-Obama Facebook comments
.
Is this a fair punishment for a Marine who has served in the military for nine years – a tenure which also included a tour in Iraq during the particularly violent years of 2005 to 2006? Some service members who have been found to have deserted have received “general” discharges, after all.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2012/0426/Marine-sergeant-discharged-for-criticizing-Obama-Was-that-fair

[Schema Thing]

1. what would have been his punishment if he'd said the same things about his CO?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. Article 15 at most

Since it went viral, they had to make an example out of him...I think a general discharge would have been more appropriate. Right now he is branded a criminal without benefit of trial.

[enough]

2. The ACLU is defending him.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002613790

[atreides1]

4. Yes

But they also defended the Nazis in Skokie Illinois...

And they have defended other worthwhile causes over the decades, this just isn't one of them.

[Roselma]

5. Oh yes...it was fair. He starts his new

tea party radio talkshow program in a couple of weeks. This is THE badge of anti-Obama honor in the conservative world. My son is in the Marines. There is no way he could get away with what this young man tried. They are informed/lectured/taught that when they take the oath, the government expects them to honor it.

[pinboy3niner]

8. He starts his radio show Tuesday, before he's even out of the Marines

Marine Discharged For Criticizing Pres. Obama Launches New Radio Show
by Meenal Vamburkar | 5:03 pm, April 26th, 2012

Gary Stein — the Marine discharged for criticizing President Obama on Facebook — is getting his own radio show. The first episode, called “The Conservative SitRep with Gary Stein,” will debut on May 1.

“With help of a few people, the first internet radio episode has been scheduled for my new show called “The Conservative SitRep with Gary Stein,” Stein wrote in a statement, according to the Washington Examiner.

...


Until he’s officially out of the Marines, Stein noted that his show will have some limits. “Until I am officially out of the Marine Corps I do have two ground rules for the show,” he said. “I will not talk about the details of my case or about President Obama, himself.”


http://www.mediaite.com/online/marine-discharged-for-criticizing-pres-obama-launches-new-radio-show/

[Major Hogwash]

9. It should only take about 10 days to process him out of the Corps.

I found out yesterday that Stein is from Arizona. He said he joined the Marine Corps in 2003 and was sent on 1 tour to Iraq in 2005.
I read that the reason he wanted out of the Corps is because the unit he was with was scheduled to be shipped over to Afghanistan later this summer.
I don't know if that is true or not, but I think the facts about that aspect will come out later this summer.

[TheCowsCameHome]

6. You bet it's fair.

If he said things like that in the private sector about his employer watch and see how fast he'd wind up on the street.

Screw him. And I don't care what he did in the past, either. It doesn't change a thing.

[Major Hogwash]

7. Hell, yeah it was fair.

And Stein was warned multiple times to knock it off, but he refused to stop.