Veteran Sues Air Force After Forcibly Removing Him From Ceremony for Speech Mentioning God

An Air Force veteran has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Air Force claiming he was pulled from a ceremony in the middle of a speech when he mentioned God.

Senior Master Sgt. Oscar Rodriguez told Fox News his First Amendment rights were violated . . .

Video from the April 3, 2016 military retirement ceremony showed service members at Travis Air Force Base in California physically removing Rodriguez as he recited a traditional passage in a flag-folding ceremony. Rodriguez was invited to speak at the event by an outgoing fellow Master Sgt. Chuck Roberson from the 749th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, who was retiring from the U.S. Air Force after 27 years of service.

“I was removed from the speech because my script mentioned God. Air force officials did not want me to utter those words,” the 33-year veteran told Fox News. “There was no direct communication between the Air Force and myself to forbid me from making this speech.”

U.S. Air Force officials would not comment to Fox News on the pending litigation, but had released a statement last year: “Evidence indicated Mr. Rodriguez was removed by members of the squadron because he attempted to participate in the ceremony even though his participation had been disapproved by the hosting squadron commander… When it became clear that Mr. Rodriguez intended to act inconsistent with the commander’s restrictions he was removed by several squadron NCOs (noncommissioned officers). The inquiry found no evidence that the NCOs were motivated to impair Mr. Rodriguez’s constitutional rights of freedom of speech or religion.” (Read more from “Veteran Sues Air Force After Forcibly Removing Him From Ceremony for Speech Mentioning God” HERE)

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