Tea Party Marine Enters Discharge Hearings Hopeful

Sgt. Gary Stein, the Camp Pendleton Marine who maintains a Facebook page  critical of President Barack Obama, is facing a board today that will recommend  whether he should be discharged him from the Marine Corps.

In 2010, Stein came under fire for writing on his page Armed Forces Tea Party that he would not follow an order from the president and later clarified that he would not follow an illegal order.

Stein, 26, left a message on one of his Facebook pages as he prepared for the hearing:

"Today my 9 year career with the Marine Corps will be on the line for a statement of nearly 2 dozen words. My heart is heavy this morning I tie up my boots and start my hour drive to Camp Pendleton. It hurts me to know that I could be punished for the one of the constitutional rights I have give the last 9 years of my life to protect."

Read the rest of the message on Stein's page.

Stein was notified in March that the military was moving to discharge him after determining he was in violation of the Pentagon policy barring members of the military from engaging in political activities. The Marine's lawyers and the American Civil Liberties Union say his views are protected by the First Amendment.

"The military may be different from the civilian world, but it's not exempt from the First Amendment," David Loy, legal director for the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties, told the Associated Press.  "Sgt. Stein didn't say anything for which the Marine Corps has any right to punish him. He did not threaten order or discipline or take positions that anyone would attribute to the Corps. Indeed, the Corps is threatening loyalty and morale by persecuting a good Marine for exercising his free speech rights."