Where do you think they got this idea?
Statement from Military Veterans
As military veterans, we have worn the uniform proudly, representing hundreds of years of collective experience and all five branches of the military. We have served Commanders-in-Chief of both parties on whose orders some of us have deployed into battle. We have all served our country; some of us have bled, while all of us recall friends who made the ultimate sacrifice.
For many of us, it is not often that we inject our voices into the national dialogue, but this is a moment that demands it. That is because we consider President Trump’s sustained attacks on an active duty Army officer, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, to be an affront to the Constitution that we have all sworn to uphold. We are speaking out precisely because neither LTC Vindman nor his fellow active-duty service members can.
The President’s actions and insults towards LTC Vindman are not only wrong, they carry dangerous implications. The dismissal of LTC Vindman and his brother, also an Army Lieutenant Colonel, from the National Security Council staff appears to be motivated by nothing more than political retribution and deprives the White House of expertise necessary to defend our collective national security. The manner of these dismissals suggests that the Commander-in-Chief has prioritized a personal vendetta over our national security.
The President’s slander of LTC Vindman, moreover, further undermines military discipline and public trust in an institution for which there are few more precious commodities. The President’s attacks and suggestion that the Defense Department should investigate him take aim at the long-standing military code of conduct that demands that service members report wrongdoing and illegal acts through proper channels. LTC Vindman did just this. That these attacks come on the heels of President Trump’s pardoning of — and campaigning with — war criminals, his public threats of war crimes, and his minimization of Traumatic Brain Injury, a debilitating scourge on so many veterans, only compounds the implications.
President Trump believes that he can assail LTC Vindman with impunity, knowing that the latter is, by law, barred from speaking out. The President should know, however, that, despite taking aim at one Army officer, he has targeted anyone who currently wears — or has worn — the uniform. Our service members and veterans deserve the confidence of knowing that our elected leaders will come to their defense, just as they remain vigilant for ours.
LTC Vindman and all of his colleagues should know that we stand with them even when their Commander-in-Chief does not. For all of us, right still matters, just as we know it does for them, too.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/...CMJxAe_-nvls9BgiQ/edit#heading=h.rb44txxj958r
Statement from Military Veterans
As military veterans, we have worn the uniform proudly, representing hundreds of years of collective experience and all five branches of the military. We have served Commanders-in-Chief of both parties on whose orders some of us have deployed into battle. We have all served our country; some of us have bled, while all of us recall friends who made the ultimate sacrifice.
For many of us, it is not often that we inject our voices into the national dialogue, but this is a moment that demands it. That is because we consider President Trump’s sustained attacks on an active duty Army officer, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, to be an affront to the Constitution that we have all sworn to uphold. We are speaking out precisely because neither LTC Vindman nor his fellow active-duty service members can.
The President’s actions and insults towards LTC Vindman are not only wrong, they carry dangerous implications. The dismissal of LTC Vindman and his brother, also an Army Lieutenant Colonel, from the National Security Council staff appears to be motivated by nothing more than political retribution and deprives the White House of expertise necessary to defend our collective national security. The manner of these dismissals suggests that the Commander-in-Chief has prioritized a personal vendetta over our national security.
The President’s slander of LTC Vindman, moreover, further undermines military discipline and public trust in an institution for which there are few more precious commodities. The President’s attacks and suggestion that the Defense Department should investigate him take aim at the long-standing military code of conduct that demands that service members report wrongdoing and illegal acts through proper channels. LTC Vindman did just this. That these attacks come on the heels of President Trump’s pardoning of — and campaigning with — war criminals, his public threats of war crimes, and his minimization of Traumatic Brain Injury, a debilitating scourge on so many veterans, only compounds the implications.
President Trump believes that he can assail LTC Vindman with impunity, knowing that the latter is, by law, barred from speaking out. The President should know, however, that, despite taking aim at one Army officer, he has targeted anyone who currently wears — or has worn — the uniform. Our service members and veterans deserve the confidence of knowing that our elected leaders will come to their defense, just as they remain vigilant for ours.
LTC Vindman and all of his colleagues should know that we stand with them even when their Commander-in-Chief does not. For all of us, right still matters, just as we know it does for them, too.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/...CMJxAe_-nvls9BgiQ/edit#heading=h.rb44txxj958r
