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It is with that in mind that I continue. Some people in this Army believe they have more power than they have. Some people think that by virtue of their rank, they can bully those with lesser rank into doing everything they say. Some of these people don’t know me very well.

Last week, I contacted my County Commissioner’s office about a proclamation to declare May 1st as Silver Star Banner Day. This is an effort, started a few years ago by the Silver Star Families of America to honor our wounded warriors. Being an advocate for our injured warriors, I natually jumped on this effort and contacted my representatives. I also asked for the Commissioner’s help in contacting the local cities to issue similar proclamations.

I followed up my request with an email in which I errantly identified myself as an Army First Sergeant. I did however, make it clear that I do NOT represent the Army or my unit in making the request. I stressed that again when I spoke on the phone with the representative. She asked me if I went through my public affairs office and I replied I had not because I wasn’t doing this as a Soldier, but as a private citizen. Somehow, that very pointed and deliberate phrase didn’t quite translate to our esteemed politicians.

Instead of contacting me about the effort, the morons called the Public Affairs office on my post. They didn’t know what I was doing so forwarded the email to someone who might. It got forwarded again and ended up in the inbox of one of these leaders with nothing better to do than assert their authority. For career and OPSEC purposes, I naturally won’t divulge who this person is or whether he is an officer or NCO. Let’s just say he definitely outranks me!

Today, I got a phone call from the Public Affairs representative to meet at the office of this individual. I gathered up all my information thinking that this individual wanted to know more about the project and how he could help. I couldn’t have been further from the truth.

The very first thing he says to me is, “1SG, why the hell are you going around my Public Affairs and contacting the [commissioner's name deleted] directly?” It wasn’t a nice question and wasn’t meant to be answered. It was more rhetorical since when I tried to answer I was cut off. The next 20 minutes was pure confrontation. In no uncertain terms, I was point blank told that I was NOT to contact neither the mayor’s office nor the commissioner’s office. There are people on post spoke with these people and I was not among them.

I tried numerous times to explain that there was a misunderstanding, but poor leadership took over. Instead of simply asking what happened and allowing me to tell my story, he continued to cut me off and assumed my motivation. At one point, he asked me why I was involved with the organization. I told him I had been injured in Iraq and had a soft spot for our wounded warriors. When I explained that I had denied my Purple Heart in theater, he proceeded to denigrate that.

Good leaders listen as much as they speak. When I tried to explain what I was doing, I was cut and told to give a short version. When I tried to give the short version, I was cut off and told that I’m an active duty Soldier and everything I do I do as a representative of the Army (not necessarily in those words). Basically, because I was an active duty Soldier, I couldn’t just go willy-nilly contacting County Commissioners and Mayors without informing people with inflated egos.

Since my entire command knows that I write here, I know that this post could very be read by anyone in my chain of command as well as certain individuals with inflated egos. Let me make something perfectly clear – I will continue to contact my elected officials as I see fit. I will take greater care to ensure that I do so as a citizen and not as a representative of the Army, but I will continue to contact them. I am NOT required to go through ANYONE in my capacity as a citizen of this county or city unless that contact is of an official, military nature.

I realize that I could very well find myself in a tough place, but since I wasn’t afforded the opportunity to defend my position in person, I am forced to defend it here. I did NOT sign away my rights and privacy when I joined the Army. I did not sign away my rights and privacy when I volunteered to become a First Sergeant. I was forced to agree that I would not contact these officials because I was unable to defend myself. Being forced to agree into a contract makes that contract null and void. I hereby declare that my agreement not to contact these officials is null and void because I was obviously not permitted to explain my rights in such a contentious environment.

I made the mistake of sending the email via my .mil email address, so I have corrected that and resent my proclamation request with my civilian account from my home. I made clear that I do NOT represent the Army or any military organization. My worry now is that people’s inflated egos have jeopardized the possibility of this happening now. Now, instead of issuing a simple proclamation, the Army bureaucracy has gotten involved.

So, I want to thank those involved who let their rank get in the way of noble effort to simply get our city and county to recognize the contributions of our nation’s war wounded. You almost succeeded in destroying a patriot’s motivation to do something in honor of our nation’s wounded warriors. Almost!