Update from Author: Since writing this article I have been made aware of other posts in which Rapone appears to engage in direct personal attacks on the President, Vice-President ,and Secretary of Defense. Such actions are incompatible with the principle of unity of command and far more serious than the photo tweets as outlined below. I stand by my comments in relation to the photo tweets, but accept that more serious UCMJ action may be necessary in relation to the personal attacks.

The U.S. needs military officers who are skilled and intellectually curious and predisposed to challenging groupthink. Correspondingly, the Army shouldn’t overreact in punishing 2nd Lt. Spenser Rapone for his apparent endorsement of communism.