Let me start off with saying I'm usually quite unconfrontational, unless I have to be, and that includes my "political" views. While I believe that politics are a little more open to discussion than say faith and religion, I will at least listen to your point of view and give you the chance to impress me. I deal with the public on a regular basis and most of the time it's a very cooperative relationship. I've also had to play bad cop coastie on occasions, so I'm not unfamiliar with "hostile" situations if you want to call it that.
I picked up a black, regular sized, DTOM from Gadsen a couple months ago and decided I'd actually put it outside on the porch about two weeks ago. I logged in this morning to find an email from the Base Housing Officer (a retired Active Duty Coastie, now a Civilian running the office), to kindly tell me to "remove my political banner, because it violates base housing regulations".
Now, before we get into a "This is an outrage" discussion, I did read through the base housing manual and it does have a paragraph on signs, banners and flags. By trade I'm often interpreting law books as they apply to foreign and domestic vessels, therefore with my experience I could turn this into something big if I wanted to, since there really is no definition for "political banner" and therefore just the interpretation of the housing official here.
I told the wife to take it down, A. Because I only have a year left here in housing, B. I've got another baby on the way and don't want to start a political battle and C. I am in the military and therefore have to sometimes forgo certain rights... I did sign up for that after all.
My quarrel lies with the fact that I've had no issues so far in the 4 years I’ve been here. I'm a good tenant, I take care of the house and lawn and I don't have parties that bother neighbors (although the dogs might bark every so often). As far as I know, I still have my 1st amendment rights... but I could be wrong. I have seen other flags on people’s houses to include the recent pink equal sign that’s still hanging on a neighbor’s house. While I'm not here to discuss other person’s views on that subject (you are entitled to your own thinking)…how is THAT not a political banner?
Here was my reply to the housing officer:
I’m curious what you guys think about this, especially those of you that have served yourself and know how the military works. While my reply certainly has an underlying meaning, I don’t think I was disrespectful. We’ll see if anything comes of it, and I’ve already discussed the matter with my command who has my back on the issue. I will not pursue the matter any further, unless the powers at be decide they want to.
I picked up a black, regular sized, DTOM from Gadsen a couple months ago and decided I'd actually put it outside on the porch about two weeks ago. I logged in this morning to find an email from the Base Housing Officer (a retired Active Duty Coastie, now a Civilian running the office), to kindly tell me to "remove my political banner, because it violates base housing regulations".
Now, before we get into a "This is an outrage" discussion, I did read through the base housing manual and it does have a paragraph on signs, banners and flags. By trade I'm often interpreting law books as they apply to foreign and domestic vessels, therefore with my experience I could turn this into something big if I wanted to, since there really is no definition for "political banner" and therefore just the interpretation of the housing official here.
I told the wife to take it down, A. Because I only have a year left here in housing, B. I've got another baby on the way and don't want to start a political battle and C. I am in the military and therefore have to sometimes forgo certain rights... I did sign up for that after all.
My quarrel lies with the fact that I've had no issues so far in the 4 years I’ve been here. I'm a good tenant, I take care of the house and lawn and I don't have parties that bother neighbors (although the dogs might bark every so often). As far as I know, I still have my 1st amendment rights... but I could be wrong. I have seen other flags on people’s houses to include the recent pink equal sign that’s still hanging on a neighbor’s house. While I'm not here to discuss other person’s views on that subject (you are entitled to your own thinking)…how is THAT not a political banner?
Here was my reply to the housing officer:
I’m curious what you guys think about this, especially those of you that have served yourself and know how the military works. While my reply certainly has an underlying meaning, I don’t think I was disrespectful. We’ll see if anything comes of it, and I’ve already discussed the matter with my command who has my back on the issue. I will not pursue the matter any further, unless the powers at be decide they want to.
