Veteran who deployed once, never fired weapon, now expert on police use of force
THE INTERNET — Army veteran Ryan
Smith, who deployed once to Iraq in 2011 and never fired his weapon in anger, has now transferred these experiences into critiquing police use of force within the United States on social media, sources confirm.
Smith, who served one 12-month tour as a trainer for the Iraqi Army, and received a Combat Action Badge as the result of an errant mortar round landing 300 meters from his hooch, has taken to social media to boldly criticize what he views as “a completely out of control police force, with no regard for escalation of force or rules of engagement.” according to his 15th Facebook status update on this subject over the last few months.
“When I was in combat,” begins Smith’s latest tweet. "We had very strict rules of engagement that every single person in the entire military followed at all times.”
He added: “I would know, I stood guard duty at the gate like 300 freaking times.”
Post-9/11 veterans like Smith have a long history of returning from deploymen…
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Duffel Blog to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.