The attack on the religious freedom for those who protect our nation has now come down to this: you can’t even retire from the military with your freedom of religion and speech intact.
As our friends at First Liberty Institute have alerted us, retired U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sergeant Oscar Rodriguez was invited to recite a traditional flag-folding speech at a retirement ceremony at Travis Air Force Base for Master Sergeant Charles Roberson. Rodriguez came at the request of Master Sergeant Roberson, who asked him explicitly to give the traditional version of the speech—which acknowledges God—instead of the more politically-correct version recently updated by the Pentagon.
Apparently, Roberson’s commanding officers thought this speech was much too dangerous to be heard by the audience. The traditional speech ends with these words:
“It is this one nation under God that we call, with honor, the United States of America. God Bless our flag. God bless our troops. God bless America.”
When Oscar Rodriguez began the speech that contains this perceived-threatening speech, Roberson’s commander, Colonel Raymond A. Kozak, had several uniformed men forcibly remove Rodriguez from the room during the ceremony as the U.S. flag was being folded. Rodriguez continued to recite the speech as he was thrown out of the room.
Oscar Rodriquez, a retired service member not in uniform, an invited guest, was thrown out of a private ceremony upon the mention of the name of God! You can watch a video of the physical against Oscar assault here.
Egregious attacks on the faith of our service members like this cannot stand. Master Sergeant Charles Roberson’s retirement ceremony should have been about his service, his family and colleagues, and the faith that saw him through it.
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