DoD Worries People Might Think They Endorse Dumping Ice Water on Self for Charity

The post below showed up on my Facebook wall yesterday
afternoon, courtesy of the
National Training Center at Fort Irwin, an Army post out in the
California Mojave Desert I used to keep an eye on back in my
newspaper editor days:

If for some reason you can’t read or see the image, it’s a note
from the Office of General Counsel Standards of Conduct Office for
the Department of Defense that Defense employees, including
military members, may not participate in the now-omnipresent
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) “ice bucket challenge” while in
uniform. The military’s justification is the fear that a soldier,
sailor or Marine dumping ice cold water on him or herself could be
perceived as official military endorsement of the nonprofit ALS
Association.

The Facebook comments tend to fall under
the “Are you kidding me?” variety, complete with an amusing meme of
Reason Foundation board member Drew Carey and his famous Whose
Line Is it Anyway? explanation of rules and points (made
up/don’t matter).

This doesn’t prevent people in the military from actually
participating in the ice bucket challenge. They just have to take
their uniform off first. Might I suggest stripping down on camera
as well, slowly, perhaps to some appropriate music?

Previously: Ed Krayewski noted that the ice bucket challenge
could also be a good way to publicize the
value of medical marijuana, which helps treat the symptoms and
slow the progression of ALS.