US Army officer resigns over 'unqualified support' for Israel
He wrote that the justifications for Israel’s war in Gaza became “difficult to defend” and that “whatever the justification you’re either advancing a policy that enables the mass starvation of children, or you’re not.” The post received an outpouring of support with hundreds of likes and comments in just a few hours. ...
In his letter, Mann also says that he’s the descendant of European Jews and “was raised in a particularly unforgiving moral environment.”
“When it came to the topic of bearing responsibility for ethnic cleansing — my grandfather refused to ever purchase products manufactured in Germany — where the paramount importance of ‘never again’ and the inadequacy of ‘just following orders’ were oft repeated. I’m haunted by the knowledge that I failed those principles,” Mann wrote.
Mann went on to say that he held off sharing the reason for his resignation because he was afraid of violating professional norms and disappointing officers that he respects.
He may not get a piece of paper that says ‘honorable’ on it, but that’s pretty damned honorable. Good man Mann
He's a Major with 13 years of service so he has already completed his obligated term of service long ago. Unlike enlisted personnel officers are not on a strict contract and can request to resign their commission at any time after their initial obligation. He requested to resign his commission late last year and the Army accepted his resignation in January so he will be honorably discharged in June. He will miss out on the pension that kicks in after 20 years of service however.
I knew officers could resign whenever but wasn’t sure if they’d give him an Honorable under the circumstances, the green machine isn’t too fond of troops speaking up publicly about the bullshit.
He probably has an additional MSO because of some event in career. Certain schooling and assignments may incur an additional service obligation. The Army wants to avoid spending a lot of money on training its officers only to have them immediately drop their REFRAD paperwork.
He'll get a general under honorable conditions at worst. To get other than honorable, he'd have to be court martialled iirc.