The race for the Indiana first congressional district happens to feature a Republican candidate who is female, African-American and a combat veteran of the Iraq War. One would think this was pretty cool, a nice selection of diversity that gives voters real choices. Unfortunately, what has happened instead is this race revealed that the military is truly a partisan organization that hates its conservative members and will go to great lengths to destroy them as a person.
Most people have already read the story about the improper release of the health records of candidate Jennifer Ruth-Green, which revealed she was sexually assaulted by an Iraqi servicemember. Appalled by this, plenty of Congressional members have asked the military how this could happen, and the Air Force came out and said “The Department of the Air Force takes its responsibility to safeguard private information seriously and the matter remains under investigation.”
To which I say…
Yup, the Air Force will definitely hold this person responsible. Just like they held a General William Cooley responsible for sexually assaulting…I mean, aggravating, sorry, forgot to apply the “flag and general officer double standard rule,” please forgive me for that! I mean, come on, the Air Force takes this very seriously. So do the Army and Navy. Why wouldn’t you believe them?
Here’s my prediction: the military never names the person that leaked this information and later provides a statement saying that person was terminated. Nobody goes to jail. Maybe a fine is involved.
But this case is more than sexual assault. It’s about intimidation, specifically of conservatives. Plenty of people over the past few years have complained that the military is increasingly biased against conservatives. Whether its witch hunts for “white supremacists” or mass denial of religious exemptions for a questionable COVID-19 vaccine, there is mounting evidence that this bias is real and has real consequences.
Knowing this, imagine a servicemember genuinely wants to run for Congress, or be President, or donate to a political cause. This servicemember was promised time and again that things like private medical records were sacrosanct, that they had proper controls to protect privacy. After watching those promises evaporate, tell yourself honestly, would you want this information exposed by a partisan hack?
Especially for women, this is pure, raw intimidation. When the leaker walks away free, every single victim of sexual assault is going to seriously consider shelving any thought of running for a high profile office. Some still will, but many will not want to run that gauntlet. And why should they? Why should they be re-victimized? Does the public really need to know this? Did this information help us evaluate Jennifer Ruth-Green as a candidate? If you were inclined to vote for her, did this revelation make you less likely to do so?
She didn’t commit a crime, nor does this show any lack of judgement on her part, so there is no good reason to release this information. None. It was done solely to intimidate and re-victimize her.
Contrast this to John Fetterman, who has an obviously serious medical condition that affects his ability to conduct his job, and yet his medical records are sealed. Yes, people can ask for them, just like they can ask for tax records, but if the candidate doesn’t have to release them. People can and should judge someone for that, but it doesn’t give them a right to violate the law.
The military’s two-tier approach to punishment is finally public enough that we should stop calling it a non-partisan organization. It self-selects the progressively brain dead for its highest ranks and shields them from criticism and punishment, while swiftly sending people to jail that dare question its mission and methods. It especially hates conservative free thinkers that might ask questions like “Where is the money for this weapon system going?” or “Should we really leave US soldiers to fight a proxy war with Russia in Syria?” or especially “The US military is weak.” It really, REALLY doesn’t want these people in Congress, so it will allow blatant intimidation to keep them out.
I seriously hope Jennifer wins her race, and I hope she exercises some real power to change the military before its too late.
This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government organization, because in their view its heresy to call out such obvious problems. If you liked this article, donate to DaTechGuy or purchase one of the author’s books on Amazon.
Da Techguy's (no longer backup) Blog 