US elections: Should military officers be allowed to appear in uniform supporting a political candidate?

No

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by Susan Percy

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It's a pretty safe bet that those who answered "yes" to allowing military officers to appear in uniform to support a political candidate have no insight into, or understanding of, the military at all.

The Uniform Military Code of Justice wasn't written in a vacuum by those who say, "I don't see why...I don't believe...I just don't understand" why the military must operate under different guidelines than the civilian world. But it does. It must. Good order and discipline are the keys to military effectiveness. Our armed forces don't exist to prop up the warm and fuzzy feelings of the populace but to keep them secure. There's an old saying in the Navy that every rule and regulation is "written in blood", meaning that lives have been lost because of errant act committed; the rule was made in hopes that such sacrifice would be averted next time. On board an aircraft carrier deck, sailors are even ordered how they should move about-with intricate steps and eyes steeled toward every possibilty-because one moment of carelessness can mean running into an airplanes propeller or jet wash...and death. As a civilian observer, you might not comprehend the tedium of military life. It's not your place to know...or judge.

Besides, no one says a military member can't support a political candidate. Just the slightest bit of digging into military protocols would enforce that truth, but if you aren't a part of the military and your opinions about military regulations are based on knee jerk responses to "how you'd do it if the rules were left up to you", you might consider joining up first. Basic training could provide a real reality check as you learn about military service.

In fact, it's as incumbent on a military member-officer or enlisted-to vote and otherwise practice the benefits of a democracy as it is on any other American; he or she simply must do it OUT of uniform and not in conflict with their mission and orders. The different services put great stock into symbols and how they are utilized. A salute symbolizes respect to authority or that an order will be carried out and, despite misunderstandings otherwise in the civilian world, NO ONE in the military is ever forced to carry out an illegal order. A uniformed officer or enlisted person wears the uniform, the symbol of his branch of service; as such he or she DOES represents everyone in that branch of service and more; he represents every dedicated person who chooses to maintain the security of our nation. The uniform speaks to the historical separation that dictates a civilian Commander in Chief. Taking sides in a political election-vote democrat, republican, independent or vegan-is hunky dory; taking sides while dressed in your uniform takes on the cachet of speaking for your comrades or shipmates against your boss or your boss to be. It's bad business in either the civilian world or the military. Can you spell mutiny and the consequences thereof?

After three years as a Navy wife, and losing a spouse in SE Asia, I spent almost thirty more years married to a Marine. I came to fathom the "why's" and "wherefores" of the services; the details that made them function at the top of their game. I began to understand that every rule and regulation came into being to make units stronger through cohesive measures rather than ones that would rend them apart. Without taking those rules at face value, I watched how they played out to strengthen our fighting forces, not weaken them.

Politics is a divisive process; it pits one side against the other in order to win. But the losers don't die, at least not literally. A military win requires the coming together of minds, bodies and wills to persevere, overcome, and rescue compatriots for a win, or lives will lost increase. Politics sows seeds of turmoil and distrust, two elements an army cannot endure. They spell defeat; politics has no tacit position in the uniformed services and in fact must be formally forbidden in the course of doing one's job. Otherwise, I might be loathe to drag the wounded liberal to safety on the battlefield. An extreme analogy, I admit.

The military, more than any other institution must operate on the slogan, "United we stand; divided we fall". Why such rules, regulations and traditions exist is not meant to be understood those who rarely give military service a second thought or would never devote a minute to studying the evolution of those rules in the military culture. Then again, I'd have to say that members of the military often wonder what's up with the civilian population as well. Non military types frame so many of their "suggestions" (thanks, but no thanks) for the military in the context of their own limited and soft realities.

But never fear, the American military, proudly refraining from public politics while they're dressed in uniform-understood by you or not-will still protect you, often from yourselves.

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