What you say is true, however if he had chosen to follow the rule many more would have died. As part of the USN there are times when shit happens and common sense supersedes the code of military conduct - eg. kicking the shit out of two punks while on shore leave in Puerto Rico to drag a shipmate back to the ship. We should have been put in the brig and PR tried to press charges, but my Commander stood by us and all we got was a week of mess duty. There were many incidents routinely handled at the moment without legal escalation or reprimand when I served.

Yes, the UCMJ is an entirely different set of rules but common sense and heroism transcends both.

If this man gets slammed with anything more than a token punishment its shameful and I intend to raise hell.

It IS how this military works AND it is AMONG the reasons they are having so many suicides of combat veterans. I know a active duty combat soldier that had a urine sample failure that turned out to be a doctor failing to list a prescription. He went through hell clearing his record. Told me that period was more stressful than any of his remembered combat experiences and ADDED, "no wonder we have such a high suicide rate" Stupid is stupid and the command should recognize the stupidity of enforcing this situation and the failure to do that reflects the poor leadership decisions made by the Commander in Chief!

Thanks for posting this comment. I hadn't considered that the Officers need to have power over the soldiers. I would wager, though, that they don't just "shoot soldiers who disobey"; this is probably true only the sense of "disobey" that requires force to protect life. Like if a soldier starts attacking an Officer with lethal force. In such emergencies, of course we would prefer the Officer be armed and the soldier not. But in most cases of disobedience, the soldiers may be punished through ordinary military legal channels.

Good point, and interesting dilemma. Generally, I believe in allowing people arms to protect themselves. If soldiers using firearms against Officers is a serious problem, then I can understand the rule prohibiting this. Of course, I believe all "gun-free zones" ought to be required to provide adequate armed security to protect those unarmed, and those in charge assume liability for criminal attacks.

Though you have to admit the irony: kids are sent to risk their lives and are allowed guns to fight for our freedom, but are prohibited from defending themselves at home against citizen criminals. Instead, we find ordinary citizens arming themselves to stand guard where unarmed soldiers cannot defend themselves (and in some cases, these citizens are being told to stop doing this!).

There are many examples of rules being overlooked when the circumstances clearly warrant it or when the one breaking the rules is above them. The reason they are being enforced in this case is very much in line with this administration. Oh, yeah, the rules - like not having classified information on an unclassified computer - obviously doesn't apply to some...

Mike Marotta Nice escape excuse for the "Community dis-organizer now occupying our White House. How do you justify the mass murder by an Army Major of unarmed soldiers at FT. Hood??? Workplace violence??? The perp is still alive!

I agree. Much of America does not understand the military. Including, it would seem, Allen West.

Are you in the state guard?

If you read the facts of the incident timeline (for instance, here: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/lo... you will see that while Lt. Cmdr. Timothy White's response was the correct one, it was ineffective. The shooter, Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, was killed by a Chattanooga police officer responding to the scene. The shooter was shot while re-entering the building after he already killed the first victims. Again, Lt. Cmdr. White's response was correct. That is not the issue. I just point out that he is not being punished for killing the perpetrator. In fact, he is not being punished at all.

Impeachment? Would that be appropriate and sufficient for a domestic terrorist? (not too sure on the "domestic" part...)

You weren't there and saw your buddies murdered. Get real. He would walk away under the current administration hatred of the military.. has happened...Remember Ft. Hood??

Yes....they aren't afraid to hurt the feelings of those poor, murderers. Defend your self or die!!