About four months ago I took my wife to see one of my favorite bands of all time, Anti-Flag, a “Politipunk” band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was at the 9:30 Club in downtown D.C., which is the perfect joint to hold a punk rock show. I was decked out in my camouflage pants, DC shoes, cocked sideways hat, and a Military-Free Zone t-shirt. When the ticket guy scanned my ticket, and gave me the stamp on my left hand telling the bar tenders I was of age to drink, all I could see were 15-30 year old punk rockers, crazy hair, and more leather studded clothing than a bad porno. By the merch tables was a group of people not selling CDs, t-shirts, or posters; but the truth. I happened upon three people from a group called IVAW, or, Iraq Veterans Against the War. Being a member of the military, a twice veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and opposed to the war in Iraq, I checked it out. Actually my wife pointed it out, who is also fervently against the war in Iraq.
They gave me their “sales pitch” about what they stood for, I listened, not only because it was applicable to be, but also because I like to keep an open mind about everything that affects the world we live in. Much of the information I already knew from my own reading and inquisitions, but some of the information I had never heard of before. Things like “Stop-Loss,” the rising tolls of PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), and a lack of Veterans Benefits were not in my daily vocabulary. I was appalled. I was already a supporter of Military-Free Zone, which is currently standing against the “No Child Left Behind Act,” which states that schools and other organizations are REQUIRED to hand over records containing names, phone numbers, addresses, dates of birth, ASVAB, SAT, and ACT scores, to military recruiters without the consent of the child or the child’s parents. If the schools/organizations do not comply with the act, they face the possibility of losing government funding.
So, after the Anti-Flag show, I IMMEDIATELY checked out IVAW.org, and mailed in a membership form. On the website I found all sorts of pertinent information to me, and my situation (active duty war protester). I read all the rules, instructions, and looked over the UCMJ again, just to make sure I wasn’t going to do anything wrong, while still letting my voice be heard. I took the Iraq Veterans Against the War bumper sticker I got at the Anti-Flag show, and put it on my car, next to my old squadron logo, and across from my Military-Free Zone sticker. Shortly after I did this, the FCPOA (First Class Association, all the E-6s) in my squadron were voting on whom they were going to recommend for Junior Sailor of the Quarter, and Bluejacket of the Quarter. This is where they pick in their eyes, the E-5 and E-4 who they think is the stellar example of a Sailor in those pay grades. And of course, my LPO (Leading Petty Officer) at the time was going to recommend me, again, for JSOQ. When he came back from the meeting, he told me to tone down my open IVAW statements and recruiting. When I asked why, he said it was because it was brought up in the FCPOA meeting. I was pissed, but that’s beside the point. I read into the 1325.6 a little more and realized that I was in fact not allowed to openly recruit people at work, in a duty status, or while on a military installation without consent from the Commanding Officer. So I throttled back.
About a week later, I put another MFZ sticker on my car, which stated “F*ck recruiters in our schools,” with the expletive not censored. Within about 2 weeks of my stickers being on my car, I was called to my Command Master Chief’s office, on his first day at my current squadron, to speak with him. Master Chief was in civilian clothes because he was painting his newly acquired office. I had heard stories about this CMC from his guys in my squadron, about how cool he was, and how he is a fair guy, so I wasn’t too scared. He asked me how I was, and how things were going downstairs in the maintenance department, etc. I told him it was business as usual, fixing jets and the like. He then proceeded to ask me about my bumper stickers.
CMC asked me what they said, and I told him, and explained why I had them on my POV. He stated that he thought the MFZ sticker that contained an inappropriate four-letter word was in bad taste, and that it might offend someone. I concurred, knowing that at least in my home state of Missouri, it was illegal to have profanity on your vehicle, and Virginia being a commonwealth, it probably had some crazy law against it as well. I told him I would remove it at my earliest convenience. Master Chief Jones told me that he was receiving phone calls from persons around the base, asking about this Huetteman guy with all the anti war stickers on his car. He then asked me about my IVAW sticker. I plead my case about how I felt about the war in Iraq, and knowing that in DoD instruction 1325.6, it stated nothing about placing stickers on your privately owned vehicle, or making a statement through said stickers. He concurred, and said that he knew he couldn’t tell me to remove the stickers. All he told me was to think of another way to express myself. In response to this, I told him that once I come through the fence and enter the squadron spaces, the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy of the military sets in and I’m not allowed to talk about certain things, and people aren’t allowed to ask me personal questions. He concurred. I told him that if my stickers were opening people’s eyes, then it was doing their job. I agreed to park farther away from the gate, so that I would not offend the Chiefs at the squadron adjacent to us in our hangar, when they were coming to, or leaving work. After that, we spoke of other things, and then I was dismissed. At that moment I introduced myself because we had never actually met each other before that.
So my first run-in with someone in charge about my stickers went well in my opinion. I still received harmless comments from my co-workers who jokingly called me a Communist, or a Nazi propagandist, but I was used to comments like this ever since the 2004 Presidential Elections when I told people I wasn’t voting for Bush. I was stationed in Texas at the time, so there was a very Pro-War, Pro-Military, Pro-Right wing mentality. Time went by, I’d say about a month or two before I heard anything else regarding my “dissent.” While detached to Las Vegas, NV, I casually and politely asked my Master Chief on the pool deck of the hotel if I was causing him any trouble with my actions. He told me I was fine, and that all he hears about me from the Maintenance Dept. is good things. I asked him if he was sure, and that I don’t want a good man to have to do more work on my account. He told me I was fine and not to worry. About 2-3 weeks later, we had a new Warrant Officer check in. He was the epitome of good old boy, country bumpkin, with camouflage hats, sandals, and probably didn’t own a collared shirt. He was also the epitome of pro-war, nuke them all, and sort them out later. Well, one day when he was walking in the gate to the hangar, he asked a few sailors in the smoke pit who’s car was the Grey Ford Focus with the stickers on it. The response was, “Huey’s.” He asked in a tone of “who they hell are you to talk to me like that,” “Who’s Huey?” The response was given back in kind, “Petty Officer Huetteman,” like what are you new? He thanked the sailors and walked inside, in a white t-shirt, which is against the uniform regulations, but that’s a different story altogether. When I reported to the hangar deck for the daily morning FOD (Foreign object debris) walk down, a Chief informed me that my division chief was looking for me. I already knew what it was about because the questioned sailors in the smoke pit gave me the heads up. After FOD walk down was complete, and I was walking back to the hangar, my Division Chief approached me and asked me where in the instructions it states I can have “those stickers” on my car. I said, “oh, you mean in the DoD 1325.6?” He asked, “Oh, is that it?” In my head I was like, “Dude, if you’re going to try to tell a story, read the damn book first.” He also asked if anyone in Base Security had talked me about them, I said, “No, why would they?” I told my Chief that nowhere in the instruction did it say I could or could not have the stickers, but that it merely stated I was not allowed to make statements that were contemptuous in nature towards elected officials, superior officers, or higher ranking enlisted personnel. None of which I was doing. I told him I had a copy of the instruction in my shop, and I would be willing to let him borrow it to read. He said he would like to see it. When I showed it to him, at no point in his reading was he like, “HAHA! Gotcha!” He just read it, and said that we were going to see the Warrant. Well the Warrant was busy, so that was the last I heard of it. Shortly after this incident, a fellow sailor in the Avionics Division (I’m in the Aircraft Division) told me that her Division Chief had a little “sit down” with everyone. During this “sit down” he asked everyone to make sure that if they see something wrong, wrongdoing, or if they thought something wasn’t right, to report it to their Chief. His examples were statements, displaying disloyal or subversive comments, wearing unauthorized patches (at the time, I had a patch on my coveralls that was technically against the uniform regulations, but was applicable to my rate, and it didn’t offend anyone. I also had a patch on another set of coveralls, from my last squadron, that had been on there for 18 months, and no one had ever said anything), and anything else that seemed “out of place.” After I heard this, I got the feeling the Goat Locker (Chiefs mess) was trying to build a case against me to find me in breach of good order and discipline, which is the only way they could make me remove my bumper stickers. A day later, the Quality Assurance Chief approached me, and told me to remove my Martin-Baker Ejection Seat Maintainer patch. I told him I had it there because that’s what I do for a living, I have pride in my job, and the squadron had yet to give me a squadron Plane Captain patch after being a PC for almost a year. He said he’d get me one, I still haven’t seen it.
Well, I’m a little pot stirrer, so I went online and ordered some more Pro-Peace stickers to put on my car out of spite for the people who had a problem with my stickers. To my back window I added an “Against the War, not the Warrior,” and “War Sucks.” I also added my current squadron logo, so that everyone on my base would know whom I was attached to.
On our return flight from our most recent detachment to Anchorage, Alaska, I was one of the last persons on the plane, so I had to stand and wait for everyone to get situated before I could find a seat. Standing there, annoyed, in the center aisle, I heard, “Iraq Veterans Against the War, is that some sort of a club?” I turned around and saw one of our Lieutenant Commanders sitting next to where I was standing and I realized I hadn’t taken my IVAW button off of my backpack. The last thing I wanted to do was to stand there and argue with an officer about the validity of the cause, so my response was, “Eh, sort of, I guess so, sir.” To which he replied, “Well it’s good you have your opinions, just as long as you keep fixing seats (I’m an ejection seat mechanic) and airplanes so we can kill those motherf*ckers.” I laughed inside, knowing that he is an Electronic Countermeasures Officer (ECMO), not a pilot, and he flies in a pretty much non-combatant, electronic jamming aircraft.
Well, it didn’t take long for the “issue” to be brought up again. I was called down to Maintenance Control to speak with my Maintenance Senior Chief Petty Officer (MSCPO, E-8). He had in tow my Division Chief, and all three of us headed to the Squadron Duty Office, a poorly lit, 10’ x 10’ room with only a desk in it, where Sailors stand watches. I was told to sit down, so the two of them could stand and tower over me. They asked me if I knew why I had been called in to see them. I had no clue, and that’s what I told them. Senior’s response was plain and simple, “your bumper stickers are becoming a problem.” In my head I said, “You’ve got to be kidding me, these guys obviously have nothing better to do!” I was asked to explain everything, again, for the hundredth time. They asked me how someone who was active duty, thought it would be okay to have stickers like the ones I had, on my vehicle. I told them it was my right, and I was allowed to display them. Their response was that a number of officers, as well as enlisted had voiced their opposition to them being on my car to my CMC, as well as officers within my command. I was surprised, because normally if someone has a problem with someone, they address it with that person before shooting up the chain of command with the grievance. They said that it had most recently been brought up because of the button on my backpack, which was, technically, against the rules, I was on an Air Force base, in a US Navy aircraft, in a duty status. All things aside, I don’t feel a button, or a sticker that plainly says, “Iraq Veterans Against the War,” as a protest, but I guess it is. All I think I am doing is making a statement. So apparently the officer that had a problem with it, on the airlift, was the same one who was joking with me about it. Weird. I then told my MSCPO about my previous conversations with the CMC about the issue, all he said was, “Things have changed.” My Division Chief chimed in with, “Again, how do you think this is okay, to make a statement of this kind?” I told him that when I started having an opinion on the war in Iraq, it was not well received. I was stationed in Texas, a red state, and most of the people in my squadron were very Pro-war, Pro-republicans, so it wasn’t taken well that I was not a Bush supporter, and didn’t support the war in Iraq. But over time, as the nation turned on the Iraq war, and the military being in Iraq, so did the military, and my actions were more received. My Chief immediately broke in with, “Well, we are in the military, and we are always Pro-Military.” The MSCPO then asked me where I saw my career going, and if I saw myself as a 20-year sailor. I said that I was thinking about it, and that I can say yes sir for that long. I also added, that just like when he was debriefing me on my periodic evaluation, where he gave me the #3 EP (third highest ranked, in skill and professionalism, E-5) that I love my job, and I love the Navy, that I show up to work and try my best to fix jets, and that I’m not going to do something stupid to jeopardize that. His response was, “I know, you’re probably my number 1 or 2 worker bee in the maintenance department, and you’re modest, you’re not in it for the glory or the awards.” I immediately remember the Navy Achievement Medal I was recommended for, for stopping a potential Class “A” mishap (Death or damage in excess of $1,000,000) (Loss of an aircraft and probably 15-20 peoples lives) that apparently was denied, because I’ve never seen it. He also stated that “he can’t have, let’s say 200 sailors in Afghanistan, and 20 of them oppose what we are doing over there, and are against the war, one of them might sabotage and aircraft.” He also asked me what would the junior enlisted think about my actions, which if a Second Class in my position was “protesting”, what were they to do, follow or fight? In my head I’m like, “What? How is my bumper sticker going to influence someone to sabotage an aircraft? If someone were to sabotage an aircraft, they would have made up their mind to do that long before I had ever heard of IVAW.” I explained to him how IVAW doesn’t stand for ideals like that, that it stands for peace, paying reparations to the Iraqi people to destroying their country, and veteran’s benefits. His eyes said, “Yeah, whatever.” He told me that I have already proved myself as a maintainer, and now that I’ve taken over my work center as LPO, the shop audit coming up will show what type of leader and supervisor I am. This immediately made think they are going to use the results of that to give me an evaluation not nearly as good as the one I got last year. They then informed me that I had been found in breach of good order and discipline, and that I was now under orders to remove the stickers from my car. It is my understanding, that my Commanding Officer is the only one who can deem something a “breach of good order and discipline”, as stated in the DoD 1325.6.
3. POLICY
It is DoD policy that:
3.1. The Department of Defense shall safeguard the security of the United States.
3.2. The Service members' right of expression should be preserved to the maximum extent possible, consistent with good order and discipline and the national security.
3.3. No commander should be indifferent to conduct that, if allowed to proceed unchecked, would destroy the effectiveness of his or her unit.
3.4. The proper balancing of these interests will depend largely upon the calm and prudent judgment of the responsible commander.
I don’t see how my actions can or could “destroy the effectiveness” of my unit. Also, I am never to wear my IVAW button, or anything else that could be construed as protesting, and I would be put on report, and sent to Captain’s Mast (Non-judicial Punishment). I was also told I was not allowed to partake in protests out in town, which I know is incorrect, but by this point I could care less to argue with an unreasonable man, I just wanted to leave. But he said, “You guys could probably talk about this subject for hours, just not at work, and you can say whatever you want on the Internet, like on Myspace or whatever, I know everyone has that.” My Division Chief said, “So let’s go get those stickers off of your car.” I told him I was far too busy with work that I couldn’t do it just then, but I’d do it later. “Well, give us a timeframe for them to be removed.” My Chief asked, I told him they wouldn’t be there when I came to work the next day. My MSCPO said, “So It’ll just be the __(current squadron)__sticker and the __(previous squadron)__sticker on there tomorrow morning, right?” I replied, like a smart ass, “What? You don’t want me to take the __(previous squadron)__sticker off too?” He looked at me confused. After work, I removed ALL of my stickers; I didn’t want to be associated with my squadron whatsoever. Also, I Immediately posted a blog on my Myspace account, and received more support than I thought I would ever receive from my squadron mates. More people on a daily basis now ask me why my stickers are gone, than I was ever asked about them being on the car. When I tell this story, my squadron mates and my wife and friends get pissed off and go off on tangents about how screwed up my squadron leadership is. Friends from my previous command are in awe of the “witch hunt” that goes on everyday in my squadron. That’s all I have for now.
AME2(AW)
