The Military Goes Political

When I joined the Navy back in 2002, talking politics seemed to be a little taboo. It's an understandable policy as the military is subservient to civilian leaders that are democratically elected... and no one in America wants some Generalissimo seizing the White House in a violent coup. But that policy seemed to trickle down to where military personnel didn't even want to think about politics because of some "unspoken rule" I never really understood.

Well, I'm proud to say that times are a-changin' based on my own personal observations. My boss asked me if I was an "Obama guy" the other day (yeah, I know, thanks for nothing, sir), Joe in Iraq talks about who he's pulling for this election, The Left Captain talks about terrorist thugs being even worse than *gasp* Darth Cheney, and Uber Pig at Blackfive makes valid points for scrapping the War on Drugs (something the candidates won't even talk about). Being completely ignorant of politics gave us a bonehead Secretary of Defense that completely undermined sound military advice that resulted in disastrous policy decisions early on in the Bush era. I say we can't afford to remain apolitical, and it's heartening that this taboo is going by the wayside.