What do you do when you're Commandant of the United States Marine Corps and expected to honor the chain of command, yet serve under a Commander in Chief who has demonstrated through word, deed, and association that he has little respect for our Constitution?
When do our armed services enlisted and junior officer personnel, some having received substantial training or recent combat experience in 'Urban Operations' begin discretely to discuss among themselves the same "What if..." questions many citizens now are struggling to address?
Who among them, all having sworn alliegiance - not to the President and the chain of command but to the Constitution itself - dares speak truths that would forever breach the heretofore unpenetrated wall between the military and the civilian government?
Where rough men who stand ready to do violence on their nation's behalf hold hushed conversations, they no longer have the luxury of ignoring a potential future of disorder within our borders now that the cards have been dealt. They've studied the conditions preceding other conflicts in history and, because it's within their job description, quietly and respectfully continue to make certain preparations.
Why? Because by custom and law they are forbidden to intrude on civilian affairs. They must seek a discrete method of announcing their readiness and proclaiming their loyalty - if there was ever a doubt. Putting a shot across the bow of a Commander-in-Chief who is getting frisky with Executive Privilege must be done in a manner that is by no means mutinous and yet is clear in its implicit message.
How does our professional military retain an arms-length separation from civilian politics while crisply reminding a President that severe consequences face those who would take liberties with our Constitution?
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