Retired military leaders who take part in partisan campaigns do no favors for themselves or the active military service, according to Brookings Federal Executive Fellows Eric Reid and Thomas Burke.
“When the campaigns come calling, retired military leaders should respectfully decline,” Reid and Burke wrote on the Brookings Institute website.
Campaigns want their candidates linked to the reputation and esteem of the military and use retired military personnel to make that visual link for voters.
“This presents a dilemma: disentangling the views of retirees from the active military is a near impossibility, thereby exposing the military to charges of partisanship where none may exist,” Reid and Burke said, the Brooking Institute reported.
The military continues to attempt to remain non-partisan in its active-duty ranks, with Department of Defense policy and statements by the secretary of Defense and others stressing this point.
But political parties and presidents still try to use the military to display their ability to appear as a strong commander-in-chief.
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