In the below listed article, an endorsed Combat Veteran For Congress with 3 tours of combat duty, Congressman Duncan Hunter, Capt-USMCR (R-CA-52) joined Congressman Thomas Rooney, Cpt-USA (Judge Advocate General Staff) (R-FL-16) in sending

a letter dated October 10, 2012 to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff questioning why LTC Mathew Dooley, USA, USMA ’94, a highly decorated US Army Combat Veteran with 6 operational and combat tours of duty in Bosnia, Kuwait, and Iraq was given a negative Officer Evaluation Report (OER) on grounds that his instruction in a course on Radical Islam was offensive to Muslims and Islam. LTC Dooley was teaching military officer about the true threat posed to them by Islamic Radical terrorists from lesson plans approved by the National Defense University (NDU), taught the course as he was directed to do so, performed his classroom instruction well within the scope of NDU’s professional guidelines, and did not violate any established NDU practices or DOD Regulations to merit a negative OER. LTC Dooley’s OERs going back many years paint a picture of an outstanding Army Combat Officer with unlimited potential.

The question that should be answered by the Chairman is what civilian appointee at DOD instigated the reprimand, and why DOD got involved in the minutia of evaluating an instructor at NDU; normally Department Heads draft OERs, not even the President of the National Defense University gets involved in evaluating the hundreds of instructors in the command. “Political Correctness,” currently in vogue with Obama’s civilian appointees at DOD, has gotten completely out of control; in this case it has become a threat to the safety of military officers serving in the Middle East, it is destroying unit cohesiveness, is negatively affecting the moral, and is not contributing to Combat Effectiveness of the finest US Military Combat Force in history. LTC Dooley’s negative OER effectively destroyed his outstanding military career, and may have ended his potential for promotion in the US Army.



REP. ROONEY (FL-16) AND REP HUNTER (CA-52) GO AFTER CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF

http://watchdogwire.com/florida/2012/10/16/rep-rooney-fl-16-goes-after-chairman-of-the-joint-chiefs-of-staff/?s=rooney

Political Correctness Run Amok

16 October 2012

by Dr. Richard Swier
Members of the House Armed Services Committee, Congressmen Tom Rooney (R-FL) and Duncan Hunter Jr. (R-CA), sent a letter to General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff questioning why Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Matthew Dooley was given a negative Officer Evaluation Report (OER) on the grounds his instruction of a course on Radical Islam was offensive to Muslims and Islam.

Their letter dated October 10, 2012 states in part:

“It appears that LTC Dooley led this course well within the scope of NDU’s professorial guidelines, as NDU’s own Faculty Handbook states: “Academic Freedom at National Defense University is defined as freedom to pursue and express ideas, opinions, and issues germane to the University’s stated mission, free of limitations, restraints, or coercion by the University or external environment.”

It is our understanding that LTC Dooley did not violate any established University practices, policies or DoD regulations to merit a negative OER.”

The Congressmen’s letter concerns actions taken by General Dempsey earlier in the year when he publicly excoriated Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Dooley at a May 10, 2012 news conference claiming the course LTC Dooley was teaching at the Joint Forces Staff College (JFSC) was offensive to Muslims. General Dempsey caused LTC Dooley to be fired as an instructor, ordered his course, Perspectives on Islam and Islamic Radicalism, to be discontinued and that all material considered offensive to Islam be scrubbed from military professional education within JFSC and elsewhere within his command. General Dempsey further ordered that LTC Dooley be given a negative Officer Evaluation Report—the death knell for a military career.

Rep. Rooney was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008. Prior to that time, he served four years in the United States Army Staff Judge Advocate (SJA). During his years in SJA he served as Special Assistant to the U.S. Attorney at Fort Hood, TX prosecuting all civilian crimes on post. In 2002, Tom was selected to teach Constitutional and Criminal Law at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Prior to his election as a congressman from California, Duncan Hunter Jr. served as an officer in the Marine Corps. He served three combat tours overseas: two in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.

The Congressmen’s letter asks “[W]hy the DOD was compelled to further discipline LTC Dooley by jeopardizing his reputation and his future in the service.”

LTC Matt Dooley attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated and received his commission as a Second Lieutenant, Armor Branch in May 1994. His assignments included deployment to Bosnia, Kuwait, and Iraq for a total of six operational and combat tours over the course of his career. He served as a Tank Platoon Leader, Tank Company Commander, Headquarters Company Commander, Aide-de-Camp (to three General Officers), and Instructor at the Joint Combined Warfare School. He is a graduate of the Command and General Staff College as well as the Joint Forces Staff College.

The Thomas More Law Center, a national nonprofit public interest law firm, based in Ann, Arbor, Michigan, represents LTC Dooley.

Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Law Center observed, “The purpose of the Army is to fight and win wars. So what happened to LTC Dooley is more than a personal miscarriage of justice. When instructors are prohibited from teaching military officers about the true threat posed by Islamic Radicalism, it is a threat to our national security. Our war fighting potential is thus being crippled by the political correctness and appeasement of radical Muslims currently in vogue at the upper echelons of the Pentagon.”

A review of LTC Dooley’s OERs going back several years, including his OER as an instructor with JFSC, paint a picture of an outstanding officer with unlimited potential:

“LTC Matt Dooley’s performance is outstanding and he is clearly the best of our new instructors assigned to the JFSC faculty over the last six months. . . . A must select for battalion command. . . . LTC Dooley possesses unlimited potential to serve in positions of much higher authority.”

“MAJ Dooley is unquestionably among the most dedicated and hard working officers I have ever known.… Unsurpassed potential for future promotion and service.”

“Our soldiers deserve his leadership.”

“This officer possesses unlimited potential for future assignments. He must be promoted ahead of his peers and selected for Battalion/Squadron Command at first opportunity.”

“Superb performance.”

“Matt is a consummate professional with unlimited potential;”

LTC Dooley’s awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Army Commendation Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, the Army Achievement Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal with Star, Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal with Two Stars, both the Global War on Terrorism Service and Expeditionary Medals, the Armed Forces Service Medal, the NATO Medal, the Parachutist Badge, the Air-Assault Badge, and two Army Superior Unit Awards.