Spenser Rapone — the Army soldier who became notorious after a picture of him in his West Point uniform holding a “Communism Will Win” sign went viral — was discharged from the Army this month, according to social media postings.
Rory Fanning, a former Army Ranger and conscientious objector, tweeted on Tuesday that he was sitting down and interviewing Rapone for an event called: “Socialism 2018: A War Resister in the Ranks,” scheduled for July 5.
https://twitter.com/RTFanning/status/1004090721798905857
A description of the event said:
Spenser Rapone is a former Army Ranger and Infantry Officer recently separated from the military for speaking out against its imperialist violence. He enlisted as an infantryman out of high school in 2010, and deployed to Afghanistan in 2011.
After returning from his combat tour, he applied and was accepted into the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY in 2012, graduating and receiving his commission in May 2016. Deciding he could no longer stomach the immorality of US imperialism, he spoke out against the reprehensible actions of the military in September 2017
He ultimately resigned his commission, and was separated from the Army in June 2018 with an Other Than Honorable Discharge.
Rapone first gained widespread attention in September after he tweeted the picture of himself at his 2016 West Point graduation holding the “Communism Will Win” sign under his cover, or hat, along with the hashtag #VeteransforKaepernick, in support of former San Francisco 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Members of the military are prohibited from expressing political views while in uniform.
He also tweeted a photo of himself wearing a Che Guavara t-shirt under his uniform.
West Point and the Army subsequently launched an investigation, and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), a staunch anti-Communist, demanded answers from Army leadership. Rapone’s mentor at West Point, Professor Rasheed Hosein, was on administrative leave at the time of the controversy, as Breitbart News exclusively reported. A West Point spokesperson said the action was unrelated to Rapone.
Breitbart News inquired Tuesday with West Point about the status of its investigation into Rapone. The request was forwarded to the Army headquarters at the Pentagon, but a response has not yet been received.
Fanning, a book author and Afghanistan veteran, called Rapone a “now war-resister.”
“Our conversation will be called ‘Resisting Within the Ranks.’ Spenser is being discharged from the military with an Other Than Honorable discharge this June, in part, because [Marco] Rubio penned a panic-stricken letter to acting Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy demanding the branch nullify Rapone’s military commission after seeing this photo.”
Rapone retweeted Fanning’s tweet.
The event page for Socialism 2018 said the two would discuss “what does it mean to resist as an active duty soldier in the 21st century?”
“Social revolutions share a vibrant historical legacy with disaffected,” it said.
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