- The U.S. military is investigating the presence of two uniformed solidarity members at the Virtual Democratic National Convention as a potential policy violation.
- The two army soldiers appeared during the vote by role-playing parties by party representatives from American Samoa.
- Participation in political events violates Protocol of Defense Department of employees who retain nonpartisanship.
- “Wearing a uniform at a partisan political event like this is prohibited,” a U.S. Army spokesman said.
- The DNC called its decision to present troops a ‘surveillance’.
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The army is investigating two solidarity that appeared in a clip Tuesday night during the Democratic National Convention as a potential violation of its rules on partisanship.
The uniformed army soldiers are seen behind U.S. Samoa party representatives during a virtual call Tuesday night, when representatives from all 57 states and U.S. territories formally named Joe Biden as the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.
Army members are prevented from displaying any kind of approval, sponsorship, or statement against political parties, candidates, and causes to maintain nonpartisanship, per a long-standing department of defense policy.
“Wearing a uniform at a partisan political event like this is forbidden,” Army spokesman Lt. Col. Emmanuel Ortiz-Cruz on Insider on Wednesday. “Examples of prohibited political activities [for Army soldiers] include campaigning for a candidate, soliciting contributions, marching in a partisan parade and wearing the uniform to a partisan event. “
The spokesman confirmed that the army was looking at the two soldiers assigned to the 9th Mission Support Command.
The DNC described the inclusion of troops in the segment as a mistake on its part.
“Each state was asked to highlight issues and values that are most important and the U.S. Samoa delegation wanted to highlight their commitment to military service when filming their segment,” a DNC official told Insider. “The composition of that shot was an oversight.”
Home to about 60,000 people, American Samoa had the highest military enrollment rate of any U.S. state or territory in 2014.
