Birther Lakin Has A Date With The Army Today
US Army Lt. Col. Terry Lakin has a date with his destiny today:
Army Calls ‘Birther’ Doc’s Bluff …
In response to previously published statements by Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin, the Army presented an official letter of counseling that directs him to report to Fort Campbell, Ky., on April 12 to begin deployment preparations with his unit. In spite of the letter, Lakin has not yet yielded, although he ultimately might. When contacted by Military.com, he would not say whether he would report for duty as ordered. …
In the letter of counseling, Lakin is told that his deployment orders “are presumed to be valid and lawful orders issued by competent military authority” and he is warned there will be consequences to disobeying them.
“Failure to follow your reassignment and/or deployment orders may result in adverse action, including court-martial,” the letter reads. “Should you fail to report to Fort Campbell in accordance with your orders and deploy, your actions may constitute a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. These violations may include being absent without leave — AWOL — missing movement, willfully disobeying a lawful order and contempt toward officials.”
Conviction of any of the charges at a court-martial could result in a dishonorable discharge, the letter states, as well as loss of all pay and allowances, and imprisonment.
Lakin is an Army physician refusing to treat soldiers in wartime, lower than a pregnant roller skate.
How different is this awesome act of ‘conduct becoming’ an officer and a physician doing his part in Afghanistan:
It’s not every day that Major John Bini, a U.S. military surgeon, dons body armor before going into the operating room. But he did just that after an Afghan soldier was brought in on March 18 with an unusual head wound—a nearly three-inch unexploded shell lodged in the patient’s scalp.
After realizing the foreign object was a live explosive, Bini evacuated the operating room, leaving only the anesthesiologist, Major Jeffrey Rengel, who put on body armor, to watch the patient. All electrical monitoring devices were turned off for fear of detonating the round, and a military bomb squad was called in. Using manual blood pressure cuffs and a battery-operated heart monitor to keep track of the patient’s vital signs, Bini operated with only Rengel in the room along with a member of the bomb team.
Lakin had written a letter to President Obama on March 30, saying in part:
I recently received deployment orders for a second deployment to Afghanistan. My orders included a requirement to bring copies of my birth certificate. I will provide a certified copy of my original birth certificate with common, standard identifiers, including the name of an attending physician and a hospital. Every day in transactions across the country, American citizens are required to prove their identity, and standards for identification have become even stricter since the terrorist attacks on 9/11. …
Please assure the American people that you are indeed constitutionally eligible to serve as Commander-in-Chief and thereby may lawfully direct service members into harm’s way. I will be proud to deploy to Afghanistan to further serve my country and my fellow soldiers, but I should only do so with the knowledge that this important provision of our Constitution is respected and obeyed. The people that continue to risk their lives and give the ultimate sacrifice to the service of our country deserve to know they do so upholding their vows to the oath of office and the Constitution.
Unless it is established (by this sufficient proof that should be easily within your power to provide) that you are constitutionally eligible to serve as President and my Commander-in-Chief, I, and all other military officers may be following illegal orders. Therefore, sir, until an original birth certificate is brought forward that validates your eligibility and puts to rest the other reasonable questions surrounding your unproven eligibility; I cannot in good conscience obey ANY military orders.
Oddly, and contradictory to prevalent Birther custom—which embraces terms of implied denial like “de facto” or “usurper” or “Soetoro”—Lakin addressed the letter in a way that acknowledges Barack Obama as his commander in chief, before expressing his doubts on the President’s legitimacy to be commander in chief:
March 30, 2010
The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States of America
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500Dear Mr. President:
I am not sure this would mean much in a court-martial or civilian court of law as evidence against Lakin’s claims, but it might.
Here is the “Developmental Counseling Form” he received from the Army, dated March 31:
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