Army doctor who refused to deploy (based on 'birther' issue) gets 6 months

[kpete]

Source: Talking Points Memo/Associated Press

Army doctor who refused to deploy gets 6 months

Army doctor who refused to deploy based on 'birther' issue will be dismissed, jailed 6 months

JESSICA GRESKO
AP News

Dec 16, 2010 16:11 EST

An Army doctor who disobeyed orders to deploy to Afghanistan because he questioned President Barack Obama's eligibility to be commander in chief has been sentenced to six months in a military prison and will be dismissed from the Army.

A military jury sentenced Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin on Thursday after three days of court-martial proceedings at Fort Meade in Maryland.

Before sentencing, Lakin had been found guilty of missing a flight that would have gotten him to his eventual deployment.

He also pleaded guilty to disobeying orders to meet with a superior and to report to Fort Campbell in Kentucky, the base from which he would have deployed to Afghanistan.


Read more: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2010/12/army_doctor_who_refused_to_deploy_gets_6_months.php

[old mark]

1. The article does not mention that he will also lose his pension and benefits - he will be

discharged with NOTHING after 18 years of service, and being 2 years shy of minimum retirement...Also, the time in prison will probably be in The US Disciplinary Barracks at Leavenworth, and will be on his record permanently.

Link: http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/usdb/

Still, he got off lightly due to the plea agreement.


mark

[atreides1]

2. He still has his medical license

Once he servers his sentence, I'm sure that any hospital would be willing to hire him.

He has years of experience, and after all the NFL did take Michael Vick back!:rofl:

[joshcryer]

15. Yeah, but the benefits he threw away are unbelievable.

He was almost set for life.

[jberryhill]

28. Not if that state considers it a felony conviction

The Missing Movement charge had a max sentence over a year, and thus could qualify as a felony conviction in some states.

[atreides1]

35. It was a General Courts Martial

GCM and SPCM convictions are federal convictions, however, and the underlying offense may affect your eligibility for certain jobs, programs, or licenses.

(SPCM=Special Courts Martial)

[savalez]

4. Good. Birthers ain't worth the paycheck..

[awoke_in_2003]

13. Talk about stupid...

most service people that close tend to lay low- not this asshat.

[aquart]

18. Sounds good to me.

Cowardice masquerading as political rectitude.

[fascisthunter]

3. idiot tool

[Roy Rolling]

5. principle?

I'm wondering if his refusal to go to Afghanistan was because he just didn't want to be in the line of fire or really political. I find it hard to believe someone smart enough to be a doctor could be stupid enough to weasel out of his military service by alleging he is a birther and blaming it on Obama. Suddenly being a coward I can understand, suddenly being a birther is beyond comprehension.

[abbeyco]

8. A local radio birther sympathizer put it this way:

That if Obama was really for the troops, he'd support this 'fine young man' by just showing his birth certificate and all would be well. How could Obama let one of our own become a "political prisoner" all over something he (Obama) could control.

Frankly I'm glad to see this loser in the klink - he deserves nothing less. For his stupidity and use of the US Military to try to prove his stupid point, he's losing a hell of a lot - and it's his own damned fault.

[eleny]

9. Was that Boyles?

I wonder if Peter is going to rally the birthers to help this guy when he gets out. Lakin appears to be a grandstander who lost his attempt to be a hero of the movement.

[abbeyco]

11. It was Boyles - Lakin & the birth certificate is his new dead horse

to beat after the JonBenet & Tancredo things. He even had Jerome Corsi from WND on this AM and they were in rare form about how this entire thing was a miscarriage of justice, blah blah blah. Pete's a disgusting pig (my apologies to pigs everywhere) and he's really gone round the bend on all of his Obama conspiracy theories; it's actually pretty scary to listen to the supporters of teh stupid that call his show. Pete says they aren't birthers so I guess they're just dumbasses?! :shrug:

[eleny]

20. I started listening to hm back in the mid 70s when I moved to Co

That was the old days of the KWBZ radio station. Boyles was a liberal and led a pretty wild life. But his interest in history and social movements are legendary. He can still interview authors better than most. But he's taken a very bizarre turn to the right in recent years. And this birther jazz is his leap off the cliff.

[Sonoman]

10. That was my thoughts when I first read about this.

I cannot recall anything regarding prior deployments.

I believe the guy is just another Uber-Patriotic ChickenShit.

Sonoman

edited due to my inability to discern the difference between 'a' and 'I'.

[joshcryer]

17. Yep, coward that didn't want to go into the death zone.

[DrDan]

6. yet not even an investigation of those that lied us into war and outed a CIA operative

nice little club

[Hawkeye-X]

7. He needs to be sentenced to life at Leavenworth.

[Sirveri]

12. For failure to follow a lawful order? He got hammered quite hard for what he did.

[Hawkeye-X]

36. He disobeyed and disrespected the Commander in Chief.

Let him rot.

[jjblazes]

14. I'll bet you

after his stint in the stir he will be offered a job a faux news as a military expert.....what a cementhead

[niyad]

23. welcome to DU

[jjblazes]

33. Thank you....It's nice to be back....

[BenzoDia]

16. It's kinda scary that someone this stupid made it all the way to Lt. Col. nt

[COLGATE4]

21. He started as a 1st Lt. (commission with MD degree), and

stayed in long enough to get promoted to Lt. Col. Not much of a feat, actually.

[Kingofalldems]

19. Prediction: A future republican president will pardon him

And he will get full benefits restored.

[DemocratAholic]

22. medical degree from Glenn Beck University?

Of course I understand that doctors are people too, and some are Republicans, but I find it incredibly strange that someone who has the intelligence to get through medical school, and everything else they have to go through, would be a "birther." It's like walking into your doctor's office and seeing they got their medical degree from Glenn Beck University.

[niyad]

24. makes you wonder how much payola he was offered.

[COLGATE4]

26. Just remember that 50% of all doctors graduated in the

bottom half of their class.

[niyad]

30. dr, frank burns, anyone?

[tblue37]

34. AS my daughter the doctor says whenever anyone trots out that line: To get into med school in the

first place, an applicant must be one of the top students in the country. The "bottom half" of the top few percentage points is still within the top few percentage points.

[COLGATE4]

25. Gutless prick. Once he saw that the shit was really going to hit

the fan and that his followers weren't going to rise up and save him, he tried to persuade the court to let him back away from his refusal to deploy and let him deploy as ordered. No 'courage of his convictions' for this little birther - just 'row row row your boat' desparately away from all his brave pronouncements. Fortunately, the judge and military jury didn't give him a chance. Hope he enjoys his 6 months in Ft. Leavenworth DB.

[struggle4progress]

27. The poor guy has a mental problem. The rightwingers got to him

and exploited him as a noise-maker, then dropped him cold when he was no longer useful. He's screwed himself over royally with this stupid stuff: I hope he gets the help he needs

[niyad]

29. that is an extremely compassionate view of his stupidity.

[struggle4progress]

31. I find my anger is more effective when used in a sparing and focussed manner

[rasputin1952]

32. Good...

there goes his retirement, all benefits he was due and being dismissed from the Army, he can't even collect unemployment because he was essentially fired. Taking this a step further, and hospitals that receives federal funds, (virtually all of them) can legally bar him from association; if he is not on a hospital practice list, he can kiss his Med License into the street, he'll retain it, as it is a state Board that certifies his ability to practice) but w/o hospital privileges, it value is seriously decreased...a lot of fallout can come from this.

All of this because he honestly believed in the idiocy of PO's B/C to be false. I have to wonder if it crossed his mind how incredibly stupid this was. All those years for gone...and for absolutely nothing, except disgrace.