Former National Guard spokesman files complaint with Army

INDIANAPOLIS -- A former Indiana National Guard spokesman who was transferred for testifying against legislation favored by the Guard's top officer has filed a complaint with the U.S. Army.\nMaj. Rob Palmer, 35, Indianapolis, said Maj. Gen. George A. Buskirk Jr., 54, transferred him because he spoke against legislation to allow someone without Guard experience to become assistant adjutant general.\nPalmer was transferred from his job as public affairs officer for the Guard's 38th Infantry Division.\nBuskirk, the state's adjutant general and top military official, claimed Palmer violated guidelines in his testimony that require public affairs officers to "help Army leaders gain and keep public support."\nSoldiers have a right to speak out, but "public affairs officers must subordinate their own views on political issues to the official position of the organization," Buskirk said in a written statement.\nLt. Col. Larry Powers, a Guard spokesman for Buskirk, said Tuesday that the adjutant general was prohibited from commenting further until a military inspector general finishes reviewing Palmer's complaint.\nPalmer said he had not yet been transferred to the public affairs position when he testified during this year's session.\nAt a Senate committee reviewing the law, Palmer told legislators he was speaking as a citizen. He resigned from the Guard last month.\nPalmer's complaint, filed in late June, said Buskirk tried to keep him from exercising his rights as a citizen in Indiana.\n"I think that is raw arrogance," said Sen. Richard Bray, R-Martinsville who heard Palmer's testimony. "To relieve a man from his military position for totally political reasons is bad."\nSen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, chairman of the committee to which Palmer spoke, faulted him for not telling his commanders he was going to testify.