A lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve was relieved of command in 2020 and is now facing removal from the force after he peddled racist opinions to his troops and used his social media accounts to attack public officials that his own lawyer described as racist, inflammatory and in poor taste.
In June 2020, Lieutenant Col. Michael Spillane wrote a memo to his soldiers that warned them of the "medical crisis created by China" and that "peaceful assembly have turned into riots."
A memo from an Army officer to his troops was full of typos and half truths and warnings about Democrats and minority-led protests, a highly atypical memo from an Army officer. The memo was described as offensive and inflammatory by Col. Jeffery Wood.
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Wood wrote in a June 29, 2020 statement that there was no reason to use broad generalizations that could be taken as offensive.
The review board found him guilty of Conduct Unbecoming an Officer and other charges, and recommended that he be removed from service. Regulations urge commentary to reflect "Army Values" but troops are allowed to share political views. The board pointed to a waterfall of offensive meme posted to his Facebook account as justification to separate Spillane with a general discharge under honorable conditions. His discharge is pending final approval.
"Posting material on your personal social media that is clearly offensive is inconsistent with the Army Values and being a leader in the U.S. Army Reserve," Wood added into Spillane's record. What you do as a civilian reflects on your military position. You are in a sensitive position as a commander, and you have to be careful when you post offensive messages. Your soldiers are forming opinions about you.
The discharge status of a veteran can have dire consequences if they are not honorable, and that is what Sean Timmons, the managing partner of the Houston office of Tully Rinckey, agrees with. A bad paper discharge can exclude a veteran from benefits, hurt employment opportunities, and leave the veteran with a stigma that's difficult to shake off. Timmons wants the Army to allow Spillane to leave with an honorable discharge.
Timmons believes that this is a First Amendment issue. The UCMJ has rules against contempt toward public officials, including members of Congress, and the Army has vague guidance against posting obscene material on social media. One Army legal official who spoke to Military.com on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the case said troops are allowed to make political statements and engage in the democratic system, but they should not make offensive statements towards elected officials.
The Cream of Wheat box cover was altered to say "Cream of Nothing" and replaced with a picture of President Barack Obama.
The chef caricature was removed from Cream of Wheat boxes in the fall of 2020 after the maker of the hot cereals noted that many found the logo offensive. The image is from the turn of the last century and was once called a smiling Black man called "rastus", a derogatory term for Black men. The image was intended to depict Chicago chef Frank L. White, but it was removed from the company's branding due to the resemblance to the original racist logo.
Timmons told Military.com that the posts were sexist, bigoted and offensive. The question is what jurisdiction the military has over a man who is on his private Facebook and posting political opinions. There is no jurisdiction for our legal research.
The Army Reserve did not respond to the request for comment.
The Confederacy waged a gruesome war against the U.S. mostly over the right to preserve slavery, and multiple posts by Spillane appeared to be sympathetic to them. One post shows an image of the Confederate flag, saying that if this symbol represents racism in America, so do these logos for the Democratic Party, the NAACP and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund.
The post trashed efforts to support historically disadvantaged communities, peddling lies from the far right that minorities get advantages over white Americans, such as overabundant access to college scholarships through avenues like the Hispanic Scholarship Fund.
The image of Robert E. Lee was shown with the text "Do not take a knee, take a stand!" In an apparent reference to Colin Kaepernick, a former Black NFL quarterback who was a cultural lightning rod for rightwing pundits and lawmakers for kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial inequality and police brutality, the statement said "support saving out history and our nation."
There were many anti-Muslim posts made by Spillane. It still hurts 77 years after Pearl Harbor. The freshman lawmakers, who are both Muslim, are writing our laws 19 years after 9/11. Tlaib was born in Detroit, while Omar was born in the US after her family fled the violence in their native country.
The government is bringing in more and more people like this, so men like this are forced to work until they're 70, according to a post.
It's not clear how many troops have been disciplined for their conduct on social media, but one soldier may be the first to be kicked out of the force. Military personnel are responsible for the content they publish on all personal and public Internet domain, including social media sites, blogs, websites and applications, according to the 21-page report announcing those policies.
John Kirby noted when the policy was announced that it wouldn't be something that the command or the department would be actively fishing for. According to documents reviewed by Military.com, the investigation on Spillane was initiated after soldiers in his unit reported his online conduct, and the Pentagon seemingly had no involvement in the investigation.
A soldier who was not identified in documents obtained by Military.com told investigators that he sent a memo to his troops telling them to use social media when not on duty.
One benefit of living in a free country is that we all have our own beliefs and feelings. As a member of the US Army Reserves, we have the right to express our views, but we must be ordered to do so. We all follow the rules and regulations set by the Department of Defense regardless of our beliefs, race, or gender.
Military.com is reproducing those passages.
The soldier questioned the man about his memo on June 30, 2020, after he said in his statement that they are above Spillane.
The soldier said thatLTC Spillane didn't understand the idea that someone could take offense to his posts or that his position as a commander requires more scrutiny and empathy. He said that he would file an Equal Opportunity complaint as he believes that he is being discriminated against and that he dislikes the phrase "Black Lives Matter" because he sees it as racist.
Some soldiers interviewed by investigators said that Spillane was an effective commander who displayed no racist, sexist or otherwise offensive behavior in person, completely different from his online persona.
One soldier said that as a commander, the expectations are higher than for everyone else. "LTC Spillane has an awkward personality and needs some guidance."
He was described as a subpar leader by others. When investigators asked if Spillane was effective, the soldier simply replied, "No, not really."
A soldier went on to say that he and someone identified as Cpt. painted a bleak picture of Spillane's leadership. Colon ordered them to drive 530 miles overnight or be counted as absent without leave, or AWOL, after the soldier requested to care for their dad who was going through cancer treatment.
The soldier had to jump the chain of command to get permission to stay with their sick dad.
What type of leader would order their subordinates to drive 530 miles in one day?
Scrutiny of service member's social media content is not new. The Pentagon was planning to look at posted content of personnel undergoing reviews for security clearances.
While troops have the right to speak freely and assemble peaceably, the military must still assess their character, honesty, discretion, judgment and trustworthiness when deciding whether they are reliable enough to have access to classified or sensitive information.
A Marine lance corporal was kicked out of the service in the year 2019. A photo of a swastika, a quote from a Nazi, and an image of himself in blackface was shared by Lance Cpl. Mason Mead. Violence against women was encouraged by him.
The Marine who shared a photo on social media of himself posing with his boots in the shape of a swastika was reprimanded.
The military and the National Guard have been slow to crack down on the force, even though Spillane is looking at the end of his career after offensive posts.
A National Guardsman who was part of the mob that rampaged through the U.S. Capitol in January is still serving in Wisconsin despite being sentenced by a federal court. His commander and fellow soldiers wrote letters of support.
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The person can be reached at Konstantin.toropin@military.com. He can be followed on the social networking site, "@ktoropin".
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