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Subscribe to RSSThe Army lieutenant colonel who refused to deploy to Afghanistan because he claims President Obama is not a natural-born American has pleaded guilty to one charge against him.
Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin pleaded guilty to not reporting to Fort Campbell (KY) for his deployment to Afghanistan. Lakin claims the order from President Obama as commander-in-chief is "unlawful" because he has not proven he was born in the United States.
Lakin could face up to 18 months in prison, but Army officials tell NBC News instead of jail time it's "likely" the court will order him discharged from the Army.
That could prove to be expensive. Army officials say at 18 years of service, Lakin is two years short of full retirement, which over a lifetime could total as much as a couple million dollars in retirement pay and benefits.
Lakin still faces court martial on a second charge of missing his flight to Afghanistan.
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It's also been expensive for the military to go through the undue hassle of prosecuting this nutjob.
But, on the other hand, I'd rather have some gay soldiers who will give their lives if needed to perform their duties over some whackjob who refuses to do anything because he has too much tinfoil wrapped around his head.
The guy throws away a career because of an already debunked bit of hogwash. And patriotic gay and lesbian Americans are still banned from serving openly. What a world, huh?
The guy is standing up for something HE believes in. The same as anyone else that truly believe something.
You do not assertain the rank of LT. Col being a nutjob. He is probably more intelligent than most on here whining.
Yeah! He just *Proved* that, right? Please!!
G.H.
Where is he? "The upper echelon of the military" Where are you? "On a damn blog speaking about someone you do not even know" PLEEZE.....
Standing up for something you believe in is admirable if you're talking about moral values. Standing up for a refusal to accept quantifiable facts is not. That's just stupid.
IntheMiddle,Tx.............So he's upper echelon military, he ruined 18 years of service due to ignorance. Doesn't show much smarts! And yes, I'm sitting here blogging...............aren't you?
He's not a nutjob. He has a right to question his C-N-C. When Bush was President, any soldier who
questioned his authority was supported by the then oppostion as doing the right thing. Now, that it is
the other way around, he is called a nutjob.
I guess I could have question Nixon's authority when he said "I am not a crook"?
When Bush was president no soldier -- no citizen -- questioned him by denying his legitimacy to be president. The "birther" claim has been shot down in court multiple times, and Obama's legal citizenship has been verified by countless sources. But this guy refuses to serve because he's claiming allegiance to a non-credible conspiracy theory, not to his commander-in-chief. So yeah, he is a nutjob.
He will be stripped of all benefits
I hope he is stripped of all benefits, retirement, VA health care, pension, any and everything that the honorable men and women who actually serve this great nation receive.
There are a lot of us who could say we would not pay our taxes while w was in office because we don't believe he was elected but selected by the supreme court, however I doubt we would have gotten away with it. So lakin my dear boy, where I live your little tantrum is just a dog that won't hunt.
I hope he does not go to prision, I definately vote for court martial!
They can't strip him of benefits unlesss he is court-martialed and the judgement is such. most likely he is over 20yrs and just will be forced into mandatory retirement. You cannot take away his service. He served his time and EARNED his benefits.
"Army officials say at 18 years of service, Lakin is two years short of full retirement, which over a lifetime could total as much as a couple million dollars in retirement pay and benefits"
I had a TI in the Airforce with 20 plus years and he left our squad unsupervised over Christmas and was charged with AWOL. He lost it all for a few unapproved vacation days. He had planned on retiring at the end of the year.
A true patriot!!
He violates UCMJ and does not follow orders for the sole purpose of his own political ideology and he's a patriot? We need to work on your standards.
to be a fool is patriotic?....and you'll think common sense is common.
he desserted his post, his responsibilities, his country, and with a dishonorable discharge, good luck with the new career. But apparently he is your hero, not the men and women who dutifully perfom their jobs in our armed forces, no matter the political landscape. he's worse then a draft dodger. prison is too good for him.
I am not a military man so maybe some of the guys can help me on this. I have two questions.
1.) wouldn't going against orders and being court-martialed lead to one losing retirement and benefits?
2.) doesn't " a couple million dollars" seem like a pretty high retirement for someone dishonorably discharged?
People have been shot for less of a crime.
I just have to add,
When I was growing up, my sisters and I used to fight like cats and dogs.......but if someone else gave my siblings a hard time there was hell to pay.
I do not agree with Pres. Obama's politics. I am a republican and do not like the entitlement mentality of the dems...........that being said, Obama is the president of the United States of America and I will stand behind, beside or in front of him and defend him against any foreign enemy.
Apparently it would be hard for you to hold an elected position in your party today with comments like this. But that without doubt is the right approach. We are all bound to have different beliefs on the best direction but still have our best interest at heart.
correct he loses all beneifits, the couple of million is considering that he retires at around 42 years of age on a Lt. Col. salary (probably promoted to full Col. prior to retirement) with full beneifits for him and his wife. I think 78 is the expected life expectance so thats about 36 year retirement with yearly cost of living increases, that sounds about right.
In answer to your questions:
1. Yes, he will lose benefits if he is given a "dishonorable discharge." However, the article doesn't make clear that will be the case -- with a milder "other than honorable discharge" or "bad conduct discharge" he could retain some benefits (the military court has some discretion on this).
2. When looking at "a couple million dollars" don't think in terms of lump sums, think of potentially several decades of retirement pay, health care, and other related post-service benefits. If he loses all of those, the total value could easy top $2 million when calculated over time.
If Obama isn't an American, then all the more reason to get your butt in gear and fight for this country. That's what you enlisted in the military to do, right?
Coward.
What is he saying, that the "Supreme Court" has no standing? This "Birther" nonsense was adjudicated {and settled} by the Supreme Court.
This guy is a racist that doesn't want to accept the fact that we have a "Black President". He should be 'court marshaled', thrown in the 'brig' for 5 years and then thrown out of the military.
AHHH, the old race card.
I had not even thought about that in regards to this story.
Does it never get old to keep whining and bringing up race whenever someone disagrees with you?
Seems to me the people that always bring up the race card are infact, the racist ones.
Marcus:
You guys love to throw the race card out there as if that makes your argument more credible. You do not know this man no more than you know me. The word is court-martial and we do not have a BRIG in the Army.
He will be forced into early retirement and go on about his life. AWOL is a court-martial offense but most likely he will receive an Article 15 and maybe get busted a rank but still retire at his average highest pay grade.
A lot of you do not understand the military but yet you always have something to say about it. In case you don't know the military pays taxes too so they are on their own tax dollars too. Threw that in before you start with the 'military works for me BS."
Proud Rep I agree that the race card ends the debate. that why people use it. also people who are tired of the race card use it to end the debt. I believe that this Col. probably does have racist under tones that propell his hatred of the POTUS, especially since he swore an allegence to the POTUS as all military personnel do. The reason for this is in all my days I have never heard anyone denounce the citizenship of a POTUS until a black man was elected. I'm white and it seems to me to be convincing, even though I don't know the man.
Marcus-2796000
This guy is a racist that doesn't want to accept the fact that we have a "Black President". He should be 'court marshaled', thrown in the 'brig' for 5 years and then thrown out of the military.
Most racists have a hard time being told by a Black man what to do; let alone a Black President. It's a remnant from slavery. You know that Master-slave relationship. Do what the White nan says. Just ask crazed Jim DeMint. He wants to break President Obama at his supposed to be "Waterloo"because the President won't do what the white Demint says.
During Slavery break him meant man breaking and slave making. In cases of belligerence from a slave it meant do not hesitate to use the bull whip.
http://thetalkingdrum.com/wil.html
=========================================
I suggest you read the link under
THE BREAKING PROCESS OF THE AFRICAN WOMAN subtitle. It's applicable to men too. Fredrick Douglaus had it happen to him.
This will help you understand this birther/racist psyche.
Enjoy!
something else to think about, as a Lt Col. he could be a Battlian Commander or XO. He is responsible, potentionally for leading 1000 men and women. what does this say for his leadership ability? who would want this guy making decisions that put our son's and daughter's in harms way? how many more are just like him? APPARENTLY VOTE DEMS OUT is one of them. what a moron. no doubt never took up arms in support of our country.
I am an Iraq war vet, Democrat and former Army captain. I didn't believe in the war but went when called. That's what soldiers do. We don't get involved in the politics. If he didn't know that, he should have read the constitution and the Officers' Guide. This is a very sad reflection on the officer corps.
tsk, tsk - this only shows that blind adherence to Tea Party dogma can lead to senseless acts of racism.
(in times of war as we are in today) orders are obeyed to be obeyed no matter what your opinion of your commander is to disobey a direct order in war time is punishable by death by firing squad and this unpatriotic idiot should be given the max
Couldn't agree with you more Jim. Some of these bigots just refuse to accept President Obama as "Commander in Chief". The entire world is witnessing just how bigoted certain Americans really are.
The problem is that these "Red State" so-called Americans have been taught for centuries that America could not and would not EVER have a Black President and now a lot of Southerners are in shock and are appalled. I have 3 words for the racists...GET OVER IT!!
It seems this discussion has gone pretty far down the road based on a brief article in the news. As an attorney, I daily see news articles about legal matters that are just simply wrong! Who know how much of the facts concerning this officer were reported wrong!
He was tried on the proper charge & is guilty of the proper charge. If he wants, he can don a Confederate uniform, become a Civil War reenactor, & feel right at home in his proper army.
He may be a LTC in the Army, but he is making the rest of us look bad. I joined the military knowing that I was going to have to go to war. I do it because not only do I have to, I want to. This is just one more way of shirking the "call." Over the years people have gone to other countries, some have committed suicide, and this one just seems to think that it might have worked. Only problem with that is whether he "believes" that President Obama is a citizen, born and raised, has no merit whether he should be following orders. His orders came from people with a much higher rank that said that they needed him to go to Afghanistan. If he didn't want to go to war, he never should have accepted a longer commission, knowing that it was going to happen.
It does not matter what his political beliefs were/are, the Colonel disobeyed a direct order from his superiors, the Colonels medical service was needed in Afghanistan and he felt his political beliefs outweighed that. He deserves no less than a dishonorable discharge.
Anything less than a "Dishonorable Discharge" would be a farce.
This is what happens when you become drawn into something like that "Tea Party" CULT. Your common sense goes right out the window...along with your PENSION.
Eighteen {18} years down the drain...bye bye
Let this be a lesson to the other RACISTS!
Every soldier has a conscience. Orders can be questioned.
If you really believe that 'nonsense' then join the military and refuse to follow orders and watch what happens to YOU. You will wind up just like Lt.Colonel "I refuse to deploy" Lakin, dishonorably discharged and without a pension.
Lakin will now have to mow lawns and pick up aluminum cans to make ends meet. lol I think when it finally sinks in that he has thrown away his {two million dollar} pension because of following behind and listening to a bunch of idiots, he will take the easy way out at the 'end of of rope' in his parents basement. hahaha
Bye bye Lakin...have a nice trip and good riddance!
Isn't it funny how all the academic records and other documents relating to the Bama , the most powerful
man in the world are under lock and key. Why only him and not the others?
Let this racist be tried and convicted. If you don't see the racism in this then you are totally blind. This man's racist beliefs run so deep that he is willing to give up 18 years to defend them. Yes, if G.W. Bush was still president, this man would serve proudly, even though GW send him to war under false pretenses. Let this be a lesson to the rest of you racist in the military. You have a black commander in chief and you better get used to it. You will take his orders and do as he says or you will find yourself in the same situation as this stupid LTC. You have been warned.