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October 4, 2004
[Have an opinion about the issues discussed in this article?
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By Seth Robson,
Stars and Stripes European Edition
CAMP RED CLOUD, South Korea — The 2nd Brigade soldier who created
www.beerforsoldiers.com, a Web site that lets people buy a beer
online for a U.S. soldier, has been ordered to stop running his
site.
Sgt. Dale Rogers, in Iraq with Company C, 1st Battalion (air assault),
503rd Infantry Regiment, posted a notice on the site last week informing
readers that he is turning it over to his brother.
A spokesman for the 2nd Infantry Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat
Team, which includes 1-503, said in an e-mail that lawyers from
the unit rendered a legal opinion that the Web site violated the
Joint Ethics Regulation.
“The soldier seems to be using his association with the Army
as a way to solicit funds for beer. Whatever his intentions, and
I’m sure they are genuine and pure, (the Web site is) … illegal.
I noted … however, that the site is still up and running. I am confident
it will be shut down soon,” the spokesman said.
Last week Rogers posted a defiant message on the Web site in response
to the order.
“I won’t back down! Stand me up at the gates of hell and I won’t
back down,” the message said, quoting a Tom Petty song.
“I am currently serving somewhere outside of Fallujah, Iraq.
My Web site is going through a change; I am turning over this Web
site to my brother due to legal pukes who say a soldier cannot solicit
beer donations to increase the morale of his fellow soldiers. What
a crock! But I am a soldier and I have to comply,” Rogers wrote.
By Sunday night beerforsoldiers. com had adopted the slogan “The
Web site where you cannot buy us a beer.”
Rogers set up the site in February before joining 1-503 in South
Korea, where the unit was based before deploying to Iraq last month.
Beerforsoldiers.com used to let donors click on links that charged
their credit cards for anything from $2 for a 40-oz. bottle of beer
to $6 for a “tall beer from the bar,” to $7 for a six-pack. Other
donation options included $10 for a “pitcher” or $20 for a “keg
club.”
The site includes dozens of photographs of soldiers enjoying the
beer.
In South Korea, Rogers spent money collected from the Web site
buying drinks for soldiers at local bars. He had intended to save
money generated by the site while he is in Iraq, where soldiers
are not allowed to drink alcohol, for drinks during a midtour leave
in Qatar and a homecoming party for soldiers at the end of his one-year
tour, he said.
Now, clicking on the “Don’t buy us beer” link at beerforsoldiers.com
takes you to a page with the word “violation” displayed six times,
an invitation to the and the message: “We would still love for you
to buy us a beer but the legal folks say you can’t.”
Donations rose sharply after Stars and Stripes ran a story about
the site in September, he said.
An e-mail from Rogers stated he was ordered to “cease and desist”
running the site at the behest of the Army’s lawyers.
However, Ron Buchholz, a civilian attorney for the Department of
the Army, Judge Advocate General, Standards of Conduct Branch in
Washington, said he merely sent Rogers’ command an e-mail stating
that the site raised legal and ethical issues.
Buchholz said he has no authority to issue orders to soldiers but
acknowledged that an order from Rogers’ command may have been a
response to his e-mail.
Federal regulations make it illegal for federal employees, including
soldiers, to solicit or receive gifts. But numerous complicated
exceptions to those rules mean legal opinions often are sought when
people want to give soldiers presents, Buchholz said.
The shaven-headed infantryman does not appear happy about the Army’s
ban on beer donations.
“You’d think that a soldier risking his life in a war zone, usually
under enemy attacks almost daily, could at least have the right
to maintain a morale builder for his fellow brothers, such as this
Web site,” Rogers said.
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