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Making Army Great Again: Commie Beebop Receives Other Than Honorable Discharge
Was this young man always planning to leverage military service as a stunt, a springboard to leftist political activism? Or did he misjudge the “arc of history,” believing the K-12, media, entertainment echo chamber’s propaganda? Whatever the case, Mister Spenser Rapone is a civilian again, well before the end of his military obligation.
Spenser Rapone sought an appointment to West Point out of high school. When he did not receive one, he signed up and went for the really tough duty. He became an infantryman, then he volunteered again to join the Army Rangers. As a junior soldier, he would wear the scroll-shaped unit insignia but not attend the leadership course, Ranger School, which awards the Ranger qualification “tab.” He graduated jump school and air-assault training. He deployed with his unit to Afghanistan and served honorably, earning the Combat Infantryman Badge. You can read all of that on his uniform.
With tough, honorable service on his resume, admission to the U.S. Military Academy was easier. He got his degree and his commission. But, at the graduation ceremony, he wore his cap with the words “Communism will win” on the inside. He got someone to take a photo with him displaying the message and a clenched fist salute.
Eventually, his identity and his social media persona “Commie Beebop” (Twitter handle punkproletarian), were exposed. The Army did the right thing, properly conducting an investigation under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. That takes a while, especially for officers, whose cases are disposed of at the two-star or higher level. There was much harrumphing and posturing by online critics, but anyone with senior command experience knew there were many ways to screw up an investigation, making the alleged culprit bullet-proof.
It was almost certainly more than just the two photos from graduation. In the normal course of things, if it was one public incident, I would expect a brigade or a General Officer Memorandum of Reprimand—with a suspended filing date. That way, the officer would have a chance to straighten up, and the chain of command could show action had been taken. Rapone had to work hard to get what he got.
What he got was the worst possible administrative discharge. Do your duty and you get an Honorable discharge. Have some issues, and you might get a General (under honorable conditions), discharge. Mess up badly, but not so senior commanders want to have you tried at court martial, and you get an Other Than Honorable discharge.
Army leaders did the right thing and now the former second lieutenant (the most junior Army officer rank) is Mr. Rapone and carries a negative mark on his service. Apparently, he expects to leverage that as a badge of honor on the fringe left.
“At Socialism 2018 I’ll be sitting down with with [sic] Spenser Rapone, the US Army Ranger, Afghan-war combat vet, recent West Point graduate, and now war-resister, who sparked nation-wide fury after publicly supporting Colin Kaepernick and Socialism during his West Point graduation,” Rory Fanning, also an ex-Ranger, tweeted Wednesday. “Deciding he could no longer stomach the immorality of US imperialism, he spoke out against the reprehensible actions of the military in September 2017. He ultimately resigned his commission, and was separated from the Army in June 2018 with an Other Than Honorable discharge.”
I am sorry for this misguided soul’s family but satisfied that the Army did the right thing. Mr. Rapone still gets access to VA services connected with his honorable enlisted service (Afghanistan), from which he was discharged to transfer to the officer corps through West Point. But, his later bad paper will follow him for years. Hopefully, this has put commanders on notice to know what their young officers and sergeants are doing on social media.
Published in General
It is a free country. Is there a reason that a communist can not serve? Is that not discrimination?
Hey he can take over for John Kerry who served in Vietnam. He will fit right in with the Demorats.
Indeed. Using discretion is a good thing, and not hiring people to defend the nation who hate it is using discretion. It didn’t work out too well when we elected such a person to be President.
Communist are Americans too. Thus the Democrat Party.
I’m curious about the reason for the other-than-honorable (OTH) discharge and what we don’t yet know about this. I’m guessing Mr. Rapone may lied about some affiliation, affinity or association of his when filling out forms and doing interviews in order to receive a security clearance. I guess the modern equivalent would have the subject asked about affiliations with ISIS or such. In my day we were asked about affiliation with communism certainly. Uh oh, lying to the FBI?
The order of merit in discharges generally goes Honorable/General/OTH/Bad Conduct (BCD)/Dishonorable. An OTH is usually assigned for some level of breaking rules, regulations or laws that is seen as less severe than what would lead to a BCD. A common reason for an OTH discharge would be a fraudulent enlistment.
I’m not sure if it’s explicitly against written regulations to be a communist and be in the U.S. military – pretty sure it isn’t – but again it is probably something asked about during security clearance investigations even today and lying about it would be a problem.
All members of the military and officers especially are instructed to refrain from talking about or participating in politics at “work” and in my experience this is the way it is (commissioned officer in the Navy during late Vietnam War era). Mr. Rapone’s sentiment in the cap in the photo would be a violation of this guideline though not in itself a basis for discharge I would think.
Great comment. Updated OP to reflect the kinds of discharges. There was chatter last fall that Rapone was badmouthing senior leaders online. It was almost certainly more than the two photos from graduation. In the normal course of things, if it was one public incident, I would expect a brigade or a General Officer Memorandum of Reprimand—with a suspended filing date. He had to work hard to get what he got.
Communism is an ideology that calls for and requires the overthrow of all existing social institutions. Serving as an officer in the Army requires supporting and defending the Consititution, e.g. one of the very institutions that communists seek to destroy. These are mutually contradictory requirements, so it follows that one cannot be both an Army Officer and a communist.
Mr. Rapone’s commitment to his cause is pretty remarkable. It would appear that he is a true ideologue. I cannot imagine anyone less committed going through the stages he did to ultimately receive his commission. Anyone that dedicated to a cause anathema to the American system of government is certainly not someone you would want leading American soldiers into a combat or other military operation. Military officers swear allegiance to the preservation of nation. Their patriotism is a given. This young man, for all his intelligence and commitment, was never fit to wear the uniform of an officer in the United States Army. I applaud him for his service as an enlisted man, but he disqualified himself for the position of commissioned officer by his dishonesty and his lack of fidelity to our Constitution.
I find it interesting that he posted the message on the inside of his cap and did not show it to most of his peers. I wonder why he chose to do that? Actually, it’s no wonder. Communism is ultimately subversive to our government – a government founded and defended, in part, to preserve property rights. Communism is necessarily antithetical to those rights and not likely to be accepted by his peers.
Then there is the question, “Will win over what?” Over a democratic system? Over a system (capitalism) that depends on protection of property rights (i.e. rights to own and invest capital in any legal enterprise)? He hid the message because it is obviously subversive.
This occurred also in the midst of louder than usual murmurings about star football payers getting a pass on honor violations (particularly one who was returning after they beat Navy for the first time in more than a decade).
There was also an instructor’s public revolt in the form of an open letter against insidious PC culture permeating the Plain and classrooms (the Supe’s first response is here).
Guessing the tarnishing effort began around 20-Jan-2009.
The bad news is that it isn’t hard, most especially in the army reputedly, to routinely upgrade an OTH to a “under honorable conditions.”
A security clearance goes through the FIS (Federal investigative service) and not the FBI.
“Military members, for example, may attend political meetings or rallies only as spectators and not in uniform. They’re not permitted to make public political speeches, serve in any official capacity in partisan groups or participate in partisan political campaigns or conventions.
They also are barred from engaging in any political activities while in uniform.”
Now send him the bill for that 4 years at West Point.
I’m not sure that is quite so.
A former officer isn’t getting the same odds as the E-3 washed out for repeated pot positive piss tests. The E-4 reservist who mobilized, then, after demobilization, stopped drilling without permission — definitely more sympathetic than the former lieutenant.
Do we really need to set the conditions up for yet another PFC Manning?
Would you, as a soldier who is willing to exposing yourself to death or mutilation, want to be under his command?
Wouldn’t knowledge that your officer is not fully committed to America prevailing in a conflict–say with a socialist country–demoralize both you and your unit?
As a his superior officer, would you willingly put him in charge of a combat mission you cared about?
Yes. There is no political test for being in the military. That’s similar to the reaon that a member of the communist party worked for the CIA and was later its director under Obama.
What he did wrong was to publicly show his politics while in uniform and showed disrespect to people above him in his chain of command.
Merely being a communist is neither illegal nor punishable.
As an officer, would you willingly admit to not caring about a combat mission?
I question the intelligence of anyone who buys into communism. Maybe a century ago one could have argued that the theory sounded so wonderful that it should be given a try, but after decades upon decades of failure and millions upon millions of lives sacrificed on the communist altar, there’s no excuse other than stupidity and/or venality.
The fact that he also posted evidence on social media just confirms his idiocy. Good riddance.
The beliefs held by members of the military vary as widely as the general public. This individual crossed the line in associating his current service status with political and policy expressions. We do not want a politicized armed force. We expect the military to submit to civilian leadership, under the Constitution.
EXACTLY!
To be clear, I am not arguing for a political test among the military. My point is to question Rapone’s intelligence, based on his belief in Communism. Good riddance not because he’s a Communist, but because he’s apparently an idiot.