Lt. col. refuses deployment - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

Lt. col. refuses deployment

Decorated Army flight surgeon Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin says he will not comply with orders to deploy to Afghanistan until President Obama releases his birth certificate.

“I am today compelled to make the distasteful choice to invite my own court-martial, in pursuit of the truth about the president’s eligibility under the constitution to hold office,” Lakin said in a YouTube video being circulated by Safeguard Our Constitution, an organization raising money for Lakin’s legal defense.

“If he is ineligible, I believe my orders and all orders are illegal,” said Lakin, 45. “Any reasonable person looking at the evidence in the public domain would have questions about President Obama’s claim to be a natural-born citizen.”

Lakin has been in the Army 18 years, is assigned to an Army health clinic at the Pentagon, and he is a recipient of the Bronze Star and various service medals.

As of April 2, the Army had not taken action against Lakin. Army spokesman George Wright noted Lakin has only expressed an intent to violate Uniform Code of Military Justice articles related to missing movement and disobeying orders.

“Lieutenant Colonel Lakin is free to express his personal views. The Army has no comment on his concerns, nor the views that he espoused,” Wright said. “Whether his actions to date violate any law or policy is for his chain of command to determine.”

Attempts to reach Lakin for comment were unsuccessful.

The American Patriot Foundation, an organization that questions whether Obama was born in the United States, is championing Lakin. Margaret Hemenway, a spokeswoman for the group, said although the Army has not taken action against Lakin, he has nevertheless retained an attorney.

Hemenway said Lakin, who is due to be promoted to colonel, was risking his career for his principles.

“I think he’d like the president to say, ‘I need everyone to deploy and I’ll release my records,’” Hemenway said.

He is not the first soldier to refuse to deploy overseas citing questions over Obama’s presidential legitimacy. Two soldiers represented by California attorney Orly Taitz, who has lodged a well-publicized campaign to challenge the president’s citizenship, have made similar claims.

In July, Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook, a reserve soldier who sought a temporary restraining order and status as a conscientious objector by the same justification, had his deployment orders revoked.

Army Capt. Connie Rhodes, also a doctor, filed for a temporary restraining order to stop her deployment in August. Texas federal judge Xavier Rodriguez denied the request.

The issue was largely relegated to fringe groups after Obama released a copy of his Certification of Live Birth from the state of Hawaii in 2008. It said he was born in Honolulu in 1961, two years after Hawaii became a state.

____________

Army Times staff contributed to this report.

See more:

Lakin’s video on YouTube