In harm's way...

...even at home.

Apparently the Republican Party has decided to put 144 active duty military personnel at jeopardy under the Uniform Code of Military Conduct. Amazingly, they seem to be proud of it. Putting troops in harms way seems to be a GOP specialty, no matter where they are.

Alterman has the scoop.

The RNC convention week is boasting that it has 144 active duty military delegates at the convention or three percent of the total. That information can be found here.

Meanwhile, according to DOD Directive 1344.10, which can be found here this is a violation of the code of military conduct. It explicitly says:

A member on active duty shall not...

Participate in partisan political management, campaigns, or conventions (unless attending a convention as a spectator when not in uniform).

As Eric points out, the GI's at Madison Square Garden have been specifically ID'd as delegates, not spectators.

If you see a squad of MPs descending on the convention floor, it may not be a color guard...

UPDATE: On reflection, Eric retracts...

According to our man Bateman, whom we should have contacted in the first place, the Republican Party is not in violation of the U.S. military’s rules on the participation in party politics by active duty military, owing to the reserve status of the delegates.

His link to the RNC website is broken, so I don't know if they said active duty when they meant reserve, or said active reservist just to confuse, or if Eric was right in the first place.

I just hope no well-meaning if misguided GI gets busted because these guys put him in jeopardy...