VSF Letter to SECDEF and SECA

The Honorable Robert M. Gates, Ph.D., Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1000 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1000
Mr. Pete Geren, Secretary of the Army, 101 Army Pentagon, Washington, DC 20310-0101

Dear Mr. Secretary:

We, the members of Veterans of Special Forces, are pleased to write this letter in support of Lieutenant General (R) Philip Kensinger, and Brigadier General (R) Gary “Mike” Jones.

Mr. Secretary, neither Phil, nor Mike, were aware that we have taken this action on their behalf. As members of the U.S. Army Special Forces Regiment our sense of duty compels us to speak on their behalf in order to stay a great injustice.

The principles underlying The Veterans of Special Forces organization are patriotic allegiance to the United States of America, fidelity to its Constitution and laws, and support of a strong Special Forces to accomplish national defense objectives. The objectives of the organization are educational, historical, and patriotic, perpetuating the principles of liberty, justice and a strong national defense, which created the United States of America.

As past, present, and future members of and veterans of the United States Army Special Forces (Green Beret) community, we wish to inform you that our confidence in the integrity, forthrightness and moral courage of these two officers has not wavered.

We reject the notion that these Special Forces Officers failed in their duties to America. We know them to have offered nearly their entire adult lives to the defense of our nation on numerous battlefields. They led many of us into battle. We trusted these men with our lives and we would do that again today. We know them to be laden with the highest standards of integrity, and to be strong, courageous, and of sound and proven judgment. Each has moral courage beyond belief. In our hundreds of collective years of serving alongside them or under their command, we have seen not the least portion of defiance, unmanageability, intractableness, disobedience, insubordination, or non-compliance with Army Regulations.

We remind, that the combat operation on which CPL Tillman regretfully died was not a Special Forces Operation, and those Generals who were in operational command of that operation have not been held accountable for any part of this debacle.

Mr. Secretary we have been to hell and back with both of these generals; and we are willing to follow them again to free the oppressed, and to preserve liberty, freedom, and the Constitution of the United States. We hope you agree that these men have been punished sufficiently. We respectfully request your objectivity, and sense of equity, to preserve the dignity of these two officers, not simply because they are icons of the Special Forces community, but because of their integrity, loyalty, and their decades of honorable and courageous service under arduous conditions.

Very respectfully,

Major General (R) Sidney Shachnow, Chairman; and The Veterans of Special Forces Board of Directors