TPM: "Doesn't this break military regulations...?"

[Rose Siding]

Photo at this link, with caption:
Marilyn Musgrave introduces Marine Sergeant Brandon Forsyth
on Friday during the Larimer County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner.
http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060304/NEWS01/603040311/1002

Here's how the reg reads:

4.1.1. A member on active duty may:
...
4.1.1.3. Attend partisan and nonpartisan political meetings, rallies, or conventions
as a spectator when not in uniform.
http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/html2/d134410x.htm

From TPM:

Wait a second. Doesn't this break military regulations and probably several laws?
....
A look at the picture shows pretty clearly that Forsyth was in uniform. Yet those regs linked above say clearly that military personnel can attend partisan events only as spectators and not in uniform. What am I missing?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/007802.php

Billmon's '04 post on a variation of this issue stuck with me:

snip>
The defense offered by the GOP's local functionaries is that the soldiers asked to attend the rally "so they could show their support for their commander-in-chief before getting shipped out to fight the war on terrorism."

And, of course, they were also given those t-shirts to wear. So at least they weren't in uniform. {their commander was}

So how could anyone - except maybe some pinko terrorist lover - complain about something so innocuous?

Well I wouldn't - if not for the fact that we already have several thousand years of history to draw on for examples of what happens when the armed forces of a powerful state dabble in politics - or, worse still, allow themselves to be transformed into the personal shocktroops of a political leader or party.......

http://www.billmon.org/archives/001533.html

[NVMojo]

1. another GOP prostitution of our soldiers

[ChristianLibrul]

2. military regs

Us pinko terist-lovers foolishly think laws and regulations apply equally to everyone, or they apply to no one. Which do you prefer, rule of law or anarchy?

[liveoaktx]

3. Here's my question-what would it take to have the military STOP that?

I don't suppose it's a civilian matter. And the Republican politicos who are doing it aren't likely to stop.