Are people scared to speak their minds on RP because of the higher ranking military personnel that use this site?

I've disagreed with some higher ranking individuals on this site. But I maintained respect.
There have been a few senior Officers and Enlisted that I feel do not hold conversations and just talk at other Service Members in discussions. That being said I have always remained polite, even in disagreement.
Generally what happens outside of duty should remain there, but we as Service Members have to hold ourselves to a standard. If someone violates the RP community standards action should be taken to remove them from here, or a temporary ban, etc.

I don't think there are really many people here that are scared to speck their mind. I think people are afraid of what may come back to them. If I were to say something stupid I should expect someone to call me out. That is what happens in real life. RP is not a soap box for anyone to spew their agenda. If you don't want want a discussion then don't have one. If you know for a fact that you are not about to change your mind or entertain an opposing view point then you don't want a discussion. I don't care how much you think you are right. You don't have a real discussion like this. I have seen far too much mud slinging going on here.

In the case of the PFC in question, I think it was a case of "How he asked" not "what he asked."

In other words, he failed to apply "Tact" which would normally be a forgivable mistake among Peers (and this is a Peer network). Personally, I think a "few" jumped the gun a little, and went "letter" vice "spirit" of the question.

This is a hugely diverse network of individuals (600k) and there is A LOT of great info out here. But in ALL on line interactions, we must be cautious, because you never know who is watching, and things can be taken out of context, and requests for advise, can be seen as needless bitching.

What is really unique about RP is that we are NOT anonymous. We put our info out there.

This is both good and bad. That said... We as a community should be very cautious about reaching out to anyone's seniors without good cause.

When I was in the Rangers we did skits. We couldn't say the name of the person and they couldn't smoke us for what we did. It was for fun but still had guidelines. As long as you adhere to those usually you were ok. Nothing is absolute. If you put something out there be specific about he problem but generalize who it is about. The problem is there is always room for interpretation and something's just don't need to be posted if some anal NCO or officer will see it.

There always someone who wants to run to someone else's chain of command. Sometimes it needs to happen and most of the time its for retaliation. I myself have had it happen to me out of retaliation from civilians, but I never give up my chain of commands contact information. Service members and veterans should speak their minds in a tactful and professional manner none the less.

I know a few folks that have gotten talking toos and a few that have actually gotten in career altering trouble over both RP and FB posts. The post themselves were not "bad" but perception overruled.

People are very cautious what they post on RP, and probably leave many of their true feelings out. With all the repercussion from social media sites members think twice before they post. I have seen many replies and remarks on here and most look carefully thought out. Someone is always trolling out there. I see more honesty on Fb.

SGT (Join to see) To answer your question SGT I am not afraid to voice my opinion, and attempt do so with tact and respect that every member regardless of rank deserves. We all have our own opinions and interpretations of events, and this forum provides a great way for service members to share there experiences. I would hope since we are all supposed to be professionals, or aspiring to be professional, that if someone had an issue with my comments that they would approach me about it.

Speaking for myself I am not afraid to speak my mind but I will do it tactfully. There is no rule that says I have to agree with everything you say. If I don't agree, I move on versus using that down vote button.

No because every person regardless of rank has an opinion, and as long as responses are professional and don't get out of hand or taking to the extreme.