Marines Seek Guidance on Social Media After Anti-Obama Posts
The Marine Corps is recommending an update to the Defense Department directive that landed an anti-Obama Marine in hot water.
Maj. Gen. Vaughn Ary, staff judge advocate to the commandant, is asking the Pentagon to incorporate social-media guidelines into its policy covering political activity in uniform.
Ary’s call for review was spelled out in a letter he sent to Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, R-Calif. The congressman’s spokesman provided the letter to Marine Corps Times.
The letter stated that Marine Corps staff was being instructed to contact the Defense Department to recommend an update to “provide service members with additional guidance on how to use social media in a responsible manner.”
This came in response to a letter Hunter sent Tuesday urging the Corps to withdraw discharge proceedings against Sgt. Gary Stein and update the directive. Hunter spoke out in Stein’s defense last week, stating that the Corps would lose the majority of its force if it kicked everyone out based on political speech.
DoD directive 1344.10 is the one Ary is suggesting be changed. It addresses appropriate political activities for service members. Stein was told he violated Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice by failing to adhere to that directive after criticizing President Barack Obama on Facebook.
Ary does not advocate for Stein in the letter.
“I am confident that the leadership at (Marine Corps Recruit Depot) San Diego will make the very best decision in Sgt. Stein’s case in accordance with time-honored and well-known Marine Corps standards,” the letter states.
Stein faced a Marine Corps administrative separation board Thursday after his commander recommended he be discharged from the Corps. After a daylong hearing, the three-person board — made up of a lieutenant colonel, a major and a sergeant major — recommended that Stein receive an other-than-honorable discharge. This could cause Stein to lose his Veterans Affairs benefits and never find another government job again.