OPINION:
Army Secretary John McHugh, his chief of staff, Gen. George Casey, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen recently admonished Lt. Gen. Benjamin Mixon for exercising his First Amendment freedom (“Mixon’s gay counseling,” Inside the Ring, Thursday).
Gen. Mixon wrote a letter to the Stars and Stripes newspaper in support of continuing the 1993 “Don’t ask, don’t tell” law barring homosexuals from the military. He also urged people to write their elected officials discouraging any changes. The dressing down of Gen. Mixon has a chilling effect on the free expression rights of all military personnel.
Military members have limited free speech rights under two directives. Department of Defense Directive 1344.10 says military members may encourage others to exercise their voting franchise, sign a petition for a specific legislative action and write a letter to the editor expressing their views on public issues.
Directive 5122.11 authorizes the publication of the Stars and Stripes newspaper, which states the following on its website: “Editorially independent of interference from outside its own editorial chain-of-command, it provides commercially available U.S. and world news and objective staff-produced stories relevant to the military community in a balanced, fair and accurate manner. By keeping its audience informed, Stars and Stripes enhances military readiness and better enables U.S. military personnel and their families stationed overseas to exercise their responsibilities of citizenship.”
This sounds like exactly what Gen. Mixon was doing to counter what these politically correct yes-men have been saying about homosexuals serving. Gen. Mixon did nothing wrong.
Messrs. McHugh, Casey, Gates and Mullen should all publicly apologize to Gen. Mixon and inform military personnel that they are free to express their political views in newspapers, other media and to elected officials without fear of reprisal. To prove the point, the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff or secretary of defense should be Gen. Mixon.
CMDR. WAYNE L. JOHNSON
Navy (Retired)
Alexandria, Va.
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