Rick Moran has an interview with Sergeant David D. Aguina, the soldier who was told to stand down at YearlyKos.
When Sergeant David D. Aguina stepped up to the microphone at the YearlyKos forum on the panel on “The Military and Progressives: Are they that Different?” and began to quietly rebut many of the points that had been made about the failure of “The Surge,” he knew he wouldn’t have an easy time of it. That is why he prepared a four-inch thick loose leaf binder full of charts, graphs, releases from the Department of Defense, the State Department, and Central Command, as well as articles from the mainstream media.
But for all his preparation, he was still taken by surprise when one of the panelists, John Soltz, founder of the anti-war group Votevets.Org, took him to task and silenced him on the grounds that Aguina was wearing his uniform while expressing his political opinions.
“Technically, he was right,” Aguina concedes. “He is a commissioned officer in the army and I follow the rules. I will respect his authority which is why today, I came in civilian uniform.”
Aguina spoke to Pajamas Media on Saturday, returning to YearlyKos the day after he was led away from the panel by Soltz, now blending into the crowd in a charcoal gray suit with a white shirt and a black tie.
Despite his change of wardrobe, he remains boiling mad at Solz for angrily chastising him in public for violating military regulations. If he wants to get technical about it, Aguina counters, two can play at that game.
“If I’m in violation of AR670-1 which is the regulation he brought up, then he’s in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice Article 88 which says no commissioned officer can criticize a government official.”Read the entire interview at Pajamas Media.
