Soldier is Warned Over Letter to the Editor

Army Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Minor, 30, currently serving in Iraq was recently threatened with legal action and with being kicked out of the Army by his 1st Sgt. Louis Edwards II, at Camp Speicher, near Tikrit, according to an article in the Stars & Stripes.

So, what did he do? He wrote a letter to Stars and Stripes objecting to a requirement for all soldiers in his unit to wear the 1st Infantry Division combat patch. The problem is that commanders’ legal guides, military legal experts and the Department of the Army all agree: Soldiers have the same constitutional right as other U.S. citizens to write to newspapers and otherwise express themselves without seeking permission.