As an aside, having taught Military Ethics for several years to officers in a graduate degree program, I never found one who had more than the average citizen’s grasp of constitutional law. My read is that when given a choice between “defending the constitution” and ‘obeying orders,’ they would overwhelmingly choose the later as the safer course.

The wordings of the current oath of enlistment and oath for commissioned officers are as follows:

“I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.” (Title 10, US Code; Act of 5 May 1960 replacing the wording first adopted in 1789, with amendment effective 5 October 1962).

“I, _____ (SSAN), having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God.” (DA Form 71, 1 August 1959, for officers.)

Agreed. Absolutely spot on.

To be totally clear, I have absolute faith in our military and the people who make it up. I do not, however, have any faith whatsoever in Obama and his followers. I think it’s totally possible that when the revolution gets that far, he’ll call out the National Guard or whoever else is around and sworn to follow his orders and order them to face down American citizens.

Think Kent State.

At that point, our military had better have already thought through how they will react should such an order come from their Constitutionally elected (and bought & paid for) Commander in Chief.

Logically, they will have a point. Why would the pirates move to shoot the captain while they were apparently successfully negotiating for a ransom, and surrounded by armed men?

This just goes to show how irrelevant all the talk of ‘rights’ is. The simple fact is that if we let pirates get away unmolested then a lot more people will be hijacked, and in the end quite a few of them will die. Our task is precisely to molest these pirates, in a decisive and demonstrative fashion. Fortunately our Navy personnel on the spot appear to have understood this.

Recall how Captain Phillips was saved:

1. He used his own initiative and courage.
2. The SEALs shot the hell out of the pirates.

There were no speeches, “respect” and “I will stand with the Muslims” orations from the Lightworker who was totally silent. Though seemingly micromanaging the rules of engagement.

This is not good for the Lightworker’s program of peace through talk.

NOW Obama Administration officials are “worrying” according to the Washington Post that “other” pirates might “escalate” and harm other hostages, of whom there are about 250 scattered throughout Somalia. Use of force against Somalia and it’s people has been ruled out according to the Washington Post.

Luttrell’s spring is wound a bit tight.
Yep, but given his background and the situation, he’s a little bit entitled. If armed guys were standing at the gate to my ranch over the body of my pet dog that they’d just killed, I’m not sure what I would have done, either.

I don’t know what personal torments he faces after hours. I’ve read his book and other media accounts with quotes from him. For a while I feared he was self-promoting, but now am pretty sure that he’s just a warrior-hero trying to deal with a lot of pretty ugly history. (I hope some SEAL vets get together with him help him adjust.) He admits that he’s having some issues. The dog-killer idiots didn’t much help.

re: reply to Nahncee – “I spent three years in what is now called Rangers. We can tell the difference between bad guys, especially foreign ones and American citizens.”

Agreed. Absolutely spot on.

The crap most Americans think they “know” about U.S. Military SPECOPS is the rubbish put out by Hollywood leftists via propaganda films. American military men take an oath to the nation to uphold the Constitution of the United States, and unlike most average Americans with a public school education, we know what’s in the document. SEALS aren’t “merc’s”, and the continuous run of films with story lines about ex-U.S. Military operators becoming mercenaries or super-criminals is a figment of the left’s perverted imagination. Guys who put their lives on the line for America for low pay and little public recognition aren’t going to sell out to criminals, foreign powers, or extra-constitutional political movements.

While I think Obama is a disaster for America (to put it lightly), it’s essential that we NOT become like the nitwits running the political left – we need to remain intellectually honest. I am sure that Obama made the call on this operation, or at least delegated sufficient authority to the scene commander that he could make the call. Two cheers for him. Now that the band aid has been applied, what will he do to resolve the larger question of Piracy. Piracy a close cousin to Terrorism, but oops, there is no longer such a thing now that Obama is President. Piracy is part of the “Overseas Contingency Operations” of the U.S. Military. Problem with that is contingencies are handled as one-off events, versus a “war” or “campaign” which requires a long term commitment (not to mention a plan). If Obama does not commit to a military led anti-piracy campaign, we’ll soon face the same situation with an American flagged ship or (American crew on a foreign flagged ship) held hostage by Somali pirates.

I base my assumptions on Obama’s background, his books he authored, the people he chose for his team, and reporting on “deep background” from the Washington Post about how the Obama team has refused to authorize force in and around the Horn of Africa to the great frustration of the Military.

The man campaigned and won on the promise to be the international Shaman, the Lightworker. And Lightworkers don’t authorize military force.

Indeed, the “authorization” reported that the SEALs and Navy people had the ability to use deadly force IF the Captain was in life-threatening danger is very curious.

Why not let the military use whatever and any force needed? Without Obama’s micro-managing from afar.

I agree and would add that sometimes positive reinforcement from an unexpected source is even more effective than from the usual, expected sources.

Best wishes and Happy Easter,

Jim

Sorry, at least one was Anglo.

http://patdollard.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dogkillernumber.jpg

We had a BOLO out for this one of the group who was wanted for it. He turned himself in because apparently every veteran in the country who heard about it wanted a piece of him. And there are a lot of veterans in Texas.

Barking Moonbats, Leftists, pro-Enemy pacifists, and plain old sociopathic scum come in all colors, ethnicities, and genders.

Subotai Bahadur

I heard the names. The dog killing punks were Hispanic.

Then Luttrell turned to the Ranger and said “Do you know who I am?” The Ranger said that he did. And Luttrell replied “Then tell them that I would not have just killed them. I would have taken them into my basement and tortured them for days.”

Dasy was named after the men lost on that mission, the letters of the dog’s name coming from the men’s names.

Wound too tight? I would have killed them. There would have been no chase. Even without his experience and what the dog represented to him, I would have killed them. I would like to think that I would have done it quickly, mercifully, but I would have killed them. No question. They deserved it. They needed killin’. They still do.