Air Force vet dragged from flag-folding ceremony for speech referencing ‘God’

A veteran is threatening legal action against the U.S. Air Force if it does not apologize for forcibly removing him from a retirement ceremony at Travis Air Force Base, where he was invited to give a speech referencing “God.”

Oscar Rodriguez, a 33-year Air Force veteran, was solicited to speak at the April flag-folding ceremony in honor of retiring Master Sgt. Charles Roberson, who heard Mr. Rodriguez deliver the same address one month prior and wanted it performed at his own retirement.
But when Mr. Rodriguez stood to deliver his three-minute oration at the Sacramento base, a man in uniform followed him to the front of the room and obstructed his view of the audience.

Pretending to ignore the interference, Mr. Rodriguez refused to cede the stage and began his speech anyway. After two more men in fatigues rushed the stage, he was pushed and dragged out of the assembly room against his will, for referencing God.
“It was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life,” Mr. Rodriguez said in a press release on Monday. “I have given more than three decades of service to the military and made many sacrifices for my country. To have the Air Force assault me and drag me out of a retirement ceremony simply because my speech included the word ‘God’ is something I never expected from our military.”

Mr. Rodriguez retained the First Liberty Institute to represent him in potential legal action against the Air Force.

First Liberty sent a letter to the Air Force and to the commander at Travis Air Force Base on Monday, demanding an apology by June 27 and threatening to “pursue all available legal options” on Mr. Rodriguez’s behalf.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Mike Berry, director of military affairs at First Liberty.

“Where people in uniform come and grab somebody and physically treat them like this, and forcibly drag them away against his will because of what he’s going to say, and because of what he was going to say is the word ‘God’? That’s insane. I can’t fathom that that would be happening in our country on a military base.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jun/20/air-force-vet-removed-ceremony-god-speech/