MIA: Dissent in the Military

And how the leadership is failing Service Members

What happened to the necessity of dissent? Even though our military requires a degree of good order and discipline, the act of dissent has always been a staple of our military when it is morally and ethically applicable. We are a country that was spawned from dissent. Visit the home/museum of George Mason, and this is the first thing you see.

So what happened? We have taken our eye off the ball, we have become complacent, lazy, consumers etc etc. And for those that are willing to stand up, to take on the fight, they are being silenced by fear. That is the goal judging by one of the latest Department of Homeland Security reports: “A March 2021 unclassified threat assessment prepared by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Department of Justice, and DHS, noted that domestic violent extremists “who are motivated by a range of ideologies and galvanized by recent political and societal events in the United States pose an elevated threat to the Homeland in 2021.” The assessment pointed to newer “sociopolitical developments such as narratives of fraud in the recent general election, the emboldening impact of the violent breach of the U.S. Capitol, conditions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and conspiracy theories promoting violence” that “will almost 4 certainly spur some [domestic violent extremists] [sic] to try to engage in violence this year.” See: DHS Report

Judging by this report, I expect to be black bagged any day now.

So on top of all the reasons I listed above, they are trying to scare you out of dissent. And to that I say “nah.” But who cares about me? Where are our leaders? Cashing their checks from China? Yes, but where are our military leaders? They are hiding behind the weak mans trope, “I am just following orders.” If that is true, every single one that has pushed this mandate on their soldiers has violated the same order they are claiming to follow. As I documented in the previous posts there is no product to fulfill the mandate, legally.

When the first FRAGO was released to implement the mandate it said these 2 important things:

So are the commanders ensuring availability of the licensed product Secretary Austin required? No! The greatest irony is that these commanders are actually the ones disobeying an order by Secretary Austin to follow the guidance from Terry Adirim. If someone can logically explain that to me, I would appreciate it. But the short answer is, they all just hit the easy button at the expense their integrity and the confidence of those that serve under them.

From personal experience, I know that many of these commanders are aware that there is no licensed product, that this order is not legally obtainable, but they are so worried about maintaining the status quo, checking that next box for promotion, that they will sacrifice the livelihoods and careers of those in their charge. They have been so scared into compliance they are not taking this opportunity to dissent when it is morally and ethically necessary. Truly a disgrace.

These officers have failed their soldiers by not taking the proper steps to ensure that the order they are giving is legal, moral or ethical. They have not met the primary standard of their service. They are punishing others for allegedly perpetrating the same behavior they have committed.

I will end this with a couple of quotes from Vice Admiral Stockdale because, damn

“We warriors must keep foremost in our minds that there are boundaries to the prerogatives of leadership.”

—Vice Admiral James Stockdale