| Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul has been discussed in the blogosphere quite a bit lately, concerning his use (mis-use?) of his @us.army.mil email account. Political Muse began writing about this back in early April. Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul recently exacerbated the issue by launching an ambush on Congressman Tim Walz - as discussed yesterday in Part 2 of this series.
The issue isn't Dave Thul's right to speak out; the issue is following established military rules, regulations, and protocol while doing so. In today's edition, we're going to look at an article from US Army War College, written by noted Army lawyer Major John Kiel, an expert in military free speech issues. The name of that article is "When Soldiers Speak Out: A Survey of Provisions Limiting Freedom of Speech in the Military".
"When Soldiers Speak Out" was published in the August 2007 issue of Parameters while the national debate about the war in Iraq was intense. This debate was beginning to include active duty soldiers, as Major Kiel explains:
Remarks against the President (Bush) have become more prevalent among service members because they communicate through a host of mediums unfathomable to yesterday's generation of fighting men and women. Soldiers frequently post digital journals, cell phone photos, and music videos on popular Internet sites such as YouTube and MySpace. A few techno-savvy troops even manage their own milblogs, or online personal diaries where they can communicate in cyberspace about virtually anything to virtually anyone.
That sure sounds like Major Kiel could be directly referring to Dave Thul, his personal blog, and his comments about President Obama and Congressman Walz, doesn't it?
Major Kiel goes on to describe in his 14 page article specific cases and specific rules, regulations, and protocols involving troops speaking out while on active duty.
In his article, Major Kiel discusses but doesn't link to Department of Defense Directive 1344.10, Political Activities by Members of the Armed Forces. That Directive can be linked to, here.
In Dave Thul's case, while on active duty is key. Clearly, according to this article published at the US Army's War College, Dave Thul would be in some serious hot water over his actions --- were he on active duty. Were he on active duty, Dave Thul could potentially face Courts Martial for his actions. The question is how these rules, regulations, and protocols affect members of the National Guard NOT on active duty - such as National Guard member and Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul.
So far, I have been unable to find rules, regulations, or articles about these questions.
Therefore, the questions raised have been brought to the attention of the Minnesota National Guard's Public Affairs Office for clarification.
Stay tuned!
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