Free speech

Global Military Justice Reform does not have a foreign policy. It also does not have an immigration policy. It does, however, "go about Athens making inquiry of the citizens." In that vein, one wonders whether the service can, consistent with the First Amendment, punish the social media posts of a 21-year-old Oregon National Guard military police PFC, reported here by Huffington Post:

An Oregon National Guardsman is facing disciplinary action after suggesting that undocumented immigrants are “lucky we aren’t executing them.”

Private First Class Gerod Martin wrote the offensive comment Wednesday on a Facebook page to raise funds for the Texas-based Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services.

“Waste of money,” Martin, 21, wrote in a comment that has since been deleted. “They’re lucky we aren’t executing them.”

Martin’s Facebook account appears to have been deleted as well, or has been set to private. Screenshots of Martin’s page show him wearing his Oregon National Guard uniform in his profile picture. “Just a young buck serving his country,” he wrote on the page.

Martin’s comments violated the uniform code of military justice, Maj. Stephen Bomar of the Oregon National Guard told ABC affiliate KATU. He said the organization will hold Martin accountable for his actions but hasn’t decided on a punishment yet.

“This was a clear violation in uniform to say anything like that, or anything political because we enforce the policies of our politicians,” Bomar said. “That was just a horrific comment.”

Disciplinary action? Really?