Air Force vet kicked off base over speech that mentioned God

One of the most moving events in a service member’s career often is the traditional folding of the American flag during the military retirement ceremony. But Air Force Master Sgt. Charles “Chuck” Roberson’s retirement was forever marred when airmen forcibly removed the man reciting the patriotic speech that accompanied the flag-folding ceremony—because the speech contained references to God.

Roberson asked retired Senior Master Sgt. Oscar Rodriguez to recite the flag-folding speech during his April 3 retirement ceremony at Travis Air Force Base in Sacramento, Calif., after he saw Rodriguez deliver the same speech at a military retirement ceremony a month prior to Roberson’s.

But as two airmen proceeded to fold the flag and Rodriguez stepped up to recite the speech, a senior enlisted airman confronted him.

“Are you really going to do this?” he demanded.

When Rodriguez continued with his speech, three other airmen rose from their chairs in the front row, physically grabbed Rodriguez by his jacket, and began dragging him out the auditorium door. Video of the incident shows Rodriguez attempting to continue his speech even as he is being dragged into the hallway. He was subsequently escorted off the base.

“It was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life,” Rodriguez said. “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.”

Roberson’s commanding officer, Lt. Col. Michael A. Sovitsky, after learning Rodriguez had been invited to deliver the flag-folding speech, attempted to prevent him from participating in the ceremony because his speeches have historically made reference to God. But Roberson, who can invite whomever he wants to his retirement ceremony, insisted Rodriguez come and participate.

“This commanding officer really did not want Oscar to say the word ‘God’ at this retirement and was willing to take whatever steps he deemed necessary to remove Oscar and prevent him from saying it,” said Mike Berry, director of military affairs for First Liberty Institute, which is representing Rodriguez. “And that’s really unfortunate and it’s illegal. And Oscar’s a private citizen. Members of the military in uniform, they have no right—and as I said, it’s illegal for them to do that.”

First Liberty Institute sent a letter to senior Air Force officials informing them that the Air Force violated Rodriguez’s rights under the First Amendment free exercise and speech clauses, the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. It also claims they broke federal laws against conspiracy to violate someone’s constitutional rights. The letter asks for an official apology to Rodriguez and demands those who violated his rights be held accountable. The Air Force has until Monday to respond.

“We’re prepared to take any legal steps that are necessary to vindicate Oscar’s rights, to secure justice for him, and that is up to and including filing a lawsuit if we have to,” Berry told me.

Rodriguez’s planned speech mentions the word “God” six times, including invoking God to bless the flag, our troops, and the United States of America. But the speech also mentions that the flag symbolizes the Constitution—a fact not lost on Berry.

“It’s a tragic irony that it says our flag stands for the Constitution,” he told me. “It stands for freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press. The very things he’s saying the flag stands for, clearly the Air Force doesn’t think they apply to him in this case.”