Politics and the Military
With a highly politicized election year upon us, it’s important for military members to understand and abide by the rules and regulations that govern our involvement in the political process. If we aren’t aware of our boundaries, we can’t exercise our rights as citizens of this great country.
DoD Directive 1344.10 was recently updated issuing more specific guidance about the roles and responsibilities of Active Duty military members with respect to political activities. It lays out what we can and cannot do in fairly specific detail while ensuring to point out that we have not surrendered our rights to vote and express opinions about political issues.
As military members, we retain our rights to register, vote, and express personal opinions on political candidates and issues. The key is to refrain from doing so as a representative of the Armed Forces. We need to be careful when expressing those views, especially during duty hours and more especially if we hold key positions of leadership to avoid the appearance of undue influence.
We are also allowed to join partisan and nonpartisan political clubs and attend their meetings – when not in uniform. These activities must not interfere with our military service. However, we are NOT allowed to campaign on behalf of political candidates in any capacity. Nor are we allowed to speak before a partisan political gathering, including any gathering that promotes a partisan political party, candidate, or cause. So, groups like Vets For Freedom are perfectly fine because they don’t promote a political party, candidate, or cause. Their purpose is promote military issues that should be supported by all parties.
We are allowed to make monetary contributions to any political organization, party or commitee favoring a particular candidate as long as we don’t collect money for partisan political fundraising activities, rallies or conventions. We are also not permitted to attend these partisan fundraising events if our involvement is more than just a mere spectator.
Leaders walk a fine line when encouraging their Soldiers to participate in the political process. It is important that we do so without prejudice toward a particular party or issue. I tell my Soldiers to figure out what they feel about certain issues and vote their conscience.
We need to be careful about refraining from participation in any radio, television, or other program or group discussions as advocates for or against a partisan political party, candidate, or cause. We are allowed to participate in these events as long as it is clear that we do so as citizens and not as representatives of the armed forces.
We are allowed to have bumper stickers on our vehicles, but cannot have huge political signs, banners, or posters on them – especially on military installations. If you live on a military installation, you are not allowed to have those posters, signs, and similar items publicly displayed in your yard or on your home.
There are a lot of rules and it’s important that service members understand what they are. More important, since it’s impossible to cover every possible scenario, service members must understand the “spirit and intent” of these regulations. Each service also has their own regulation that further lays out the accepted guidelines. For the Army, that regulation is AR 600-20, Army Command Policy.
It is important that each of you find, read, and study your service branch’s respective regulation. The worst thing you can do is NOTHING. As members of the Armed Forces, we must exercise the same rights we continue to guarantee for others. If the military becomes a politicized entity, we will lose the public trust.
“If we do appear to be influenced by our own views or our own understanding of how things should be, we’re going to lose the public trust,” Army Col. Shawn Shumake, director of legal policy within the Office of the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, told the Pentagon Channel. “We’re going to lose the confidence that’s so important and that the military has maintained for so many years.”
Servicemembers with questions about the rules affecting partisan political activities or participation are encouraged to talk to their commanders for guidance.
Bill Grisham
April 29th, 2008 at 10:13 amYes, you are limited in your expression of political candidates’ support and involvement, but don’t let that keep you from paying attention to what’s going on in the political world. Remember that whoever you pick to support with your limited ability should be someone with integrity and honesty (if these things still exist in the persons at this level of politics). Most politicians will say anything to any group to get their support. Pay attention because the conflicts these politicians get the country into will be fought by soldiers, sailors and airmen just like yourself. Are you sure you want to fight for the man you support? Or is it actually a conflict that is required to protect the country from external harm? These things have to be considered because your life is on the line much more than the general citizenry here at home.
William Graham Sumner made the following observations:
“Every man and woman in society has one big duty. That is to take care of his or her own self. This is a social duty. For, fortunately, the matter stands so that the duty of making the best of one’s self individually is not a separate thing from the duty of filling one’s place in society, but the two are one, and the latter is accomplished when the former is done.”
“The danger of minding other people’s business is twofold. First, there is the danger that a man may leave his business unattended to; and, second, there is the danger of an impertinent interference with another’s affairs. The ‘friends of humanity’ almost always run into both dangers.”
“War is never a handy remedy, which can be taken up and applied by routine rule. No war which can be avoided is just to the people who have to carry it on, to say nothing of the enemy. . . . In the forum of reason and deliberation war never can be anything but a makeshift, to be regretted; it is the task of the statesman to find rational means to the same end.” The Conquest of the United States by Spain and Other Essays [1898]
Sit down and read, educate yourself for the coming conflicts.
Your In Liberty, Bill Grisham