Army Bob: Ranger Rick is a casualty of woke culture

by Robert M. Traxler

Part of the fallout from my friend Ranger Rick’s resigning under pressure from penning his Townbroadcast column is that he was a foil, a shield from the predictable attacks from the liberal/socialist movement.

Ranger Rick wore proudly the mantle of a right-wing zealot; he has said, “Let ‘em attack me, not your column, as yours is more measured than mine, so let then go after me.” So, after a few months, the members of the leftists/socialist movement who scribble in the pages of this newspaper suddenly discovered a new target for their anger, anger that our nation has free speech (well we used to have free speech), and it is upsetting to many who prefer only approved politically correct/woke speech.

Even Lynn Mandeville has joined the amen corner of the church of politically correct speech and the movement to shout down politically incorrect “hate” speech, and politically incorrect speech in general. Ms. Mandeville is tactful in her last column, saying I never openly agree with her, but I do agree with her on masking, vaccinations, among other topics.

As to her point “I might be wrong, but I’d bet there are none in Congress right now who would identify as Socialists with a capital S.” With all due respect she is indeed wrong, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a Democratic Socialist, Senator Bernie Sanders refers to himself as a Democratic Socialist, and Rashida Talib is a Democratic Socialist.

Ms. Mandeville made the following comment “On the other hand, in my lay person’s understanding, there is an obligation for members of the military to disobey orders they consider unlawful or immoral, or to circumvent normal chains of authority when they fear for the safety and security of the country.”

There is no “chain of authority;” interestingly enough, General Milley is not in the chain of command but a staff officer. Let’s hope and pray we never find ourselves seeing a General Officer take the Constitution into his/her hands and using fear for the security and safety of the country as a basis for disobeying the orders of a duly elected president who is Commander-in-Chief.

If we cannot in good conscience follow an order, we need to resign, as three general officers did when President Trump decided to surrender in Afghanistan. Do we want a general to send divisions of troops to the border and stop the illegal immigration if they deem it a threat to our “security and safety,” without orders from the Commander in Chief? Or even in violation of the president’s orders? The leftists need to beware of what they wish for as they may get it.

Do we wish to be Turkey? The constitution of the Republic of Turkey calls for the military to step in and remove a government that fails to follow the constitution. The military has replaced two elected governments in the last few decades, do we want that? Apparently, some feel that we do.

As Ms. Mandeville wrote, “On the other hand, in my lay person’s understanding, there is an obligation for members of the military to disobey orders they consider unlawful or immoral, or to circumvent normal chains of authority when they fear for the safety and security of the country.” God help us if we go down that path.

Ms. Mandeville went on to write “If General Milley is determined to have violated military protocol, it will be up to the military to establish the appropriate remedy.” Violating protocol is not subject to punitive action, while violating general regulations is. Violating the Constitution is punishable, protocol not so much.

The Democrats are allowing hearings into his actions and those of others in the Afghanistan withdrawal, but they deny Republicans the right to call witnesses and limit the questions they may ask; such is the power of the majority party.  Only two individuals are authorized to call for an Article 32 investigation of General Milley: the president and secretary of defense. An Article 32 investigation is similar to a grand jury investigation. Given the politics of the situation, that  is pretty unlikely to happen.

I went back and reread the things Ms. Mandeville said about things I wrote; let’s agree to say we both have been less than civil in the past and probably will in the future, especially now that the majority of the commenters in this esteemed publication do not have Ranger Rick to vent their anger upon. He is another casualty of the woke culture.

My Opinion.