That’s complete bullshiite and you know it. This Marine was a Sgt, an NCO. In the Marine Corps we put a ton of responibilty on our NCO’s. The Marine Corps is about small unit leadership. This Sgt knew the rules on political statements while representing himself as a Marine. He chose not to follow those rules and paid the price for it. He was held accountable for his actions. He was also ordered to cease his activities. He refused the order. He was given the chance to rectify his behavior and failed to do so. This Marine did not deserve to be a Sgt in my beloved Marine Corps. Period. End of story. He failed as a leader of Marines and paid the price.
The military does grant sufficient latitude for individual service members to vote according to their political beliefs, attend political activities (only out of uniform) and even display a bumper sticker of a candidate on their personal vehicle. But you just cannot have members of the military identifying themselves as such and engaging in partisan political activity and defying orders such as what this individual was doing, while on active duty.
I think you misinterpreted my post. It’s not that I’m defending the Sgt for engaging in political activity while on active duty. It’s that I’m lamenting that PC political activities (like marching in LBGT parades in uniform) is condoned. And, make no mistake, marching in a LBGT parade IS making a political statement.
Apparently some political activities are more equal than others.