Posted on Jun 28, 2014
How do you feel about soldiers signing a political petition?
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Battles..question is this... How do you feel about soldiers signing a petition? Now I now this is freedom of speech however this is in reference to a soldier signing a petition to legalize marijuana. Is this violation of AR 600-85 or is this considered free speech? Besides pulling this soldier away and talking to them about the issue is there another way to correct the issue?
Posted in these groups: 
Freedom of Speech
Freedom of Speech
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 13
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To me signing a petition is not much different than voting. As long as it is done out if uniform, it should be fine.
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MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca
In a sense that is very true SPC Smith. The difference being that a referendum or election is an approved and authorized event where a petition is completely off the radar and in the case presented by SSG (Join to see), highly questionable in nature.
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SPC Christopher Smith
Seeing how petitions should be protected under Free Speech, it doesn't matter what a person supports when out of uniform. Just because they personally believe that weed should be legal, out of uniform they represent their own views, and not the views of the Army as so many people seem to believe. Just as any other corporation, you have to protect their views in their uniforms. On your own time, in your own clothes you are only representative of yourself. If you feel the need to recommend UCMJ over a petition, more than likely it is less the signing of the petition as much as you don't agree with what the petition is about and now attacking the person over their views. The original argument really was that the person was upset that the SM in question is positioning to legalize weed, not just he signed a petition. If the signing was more important he wouldn't have brought up what the SM signed about.
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SSG (Join to see) without doing some research and based only on the information provided, if the petition was signed off post and out of uniform I would not have an issue with it. If the petition was being circulated on post, then I believe we have a problem. If the Soldier was off post and signing that petition in uniform, again I believe we have a problem.
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1LT (Join to see)
Couldn't possibly agree more. There's a fine line between wanting to follow the rules as a good leader and going out looking for issues with personnel. People need better things to do with their time. Who cares?
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Signing a petition asking for the legalization of weeds isn't the same as smoking weed. It simply supports the legalization of a controlled substance. It's perfectly within the Service Member's right to exercise free speech on their own time and out of uniform.
The only petition that could conceivably be in conflict with UCMJ would be a petition that supports any form of sedition. This type of petition is not in keeping with UCMJ or our Oaths of Enlistment.
The only petition that could conceivably be in conflict with UCMJ would be a petition that supports any form of sedition. This type of petition is not in keeping with UCMJ or our Oaths of Enlistment.
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