CARBONDALE, Ill. – People these days throw the word ‘hero’ around without a second thought. Devin Hester opens the Super Bowl with kickoff-return TD – He’s a hero! Bob Barker retires after 35 years of hosting the Price is Right – What a hero! Kobayashi eats a whole lot of hot dogs – Hero! Hero! Hero!

But I’d like to pay respect to a hero whose contributions go unsung: Sgt. Adam Kokesh, a Marine who strives to protect veterans’ right of dissent.

Kokesh gained national media attention after participating in an Iraq Veterans Against the War demonstration in Washington, D.C., at which he wore parts of his uniform. For his actions, he received a warning from an investigating attorney of the Individual Ready Reserve (a pool of honorably discharged active duty personnel from which the military can re-draft for another tour in Iraq) of his “offense” for wearing military uniforms in a political demonstration which may cause an unfavorable view of the military, the Associated Press reported. Adam replied with the traditional boisterous style worthy of the Marine Corps and told the officer to go and ____ himself.

Anyone can purchase a military uniform off the Internet and conduct a demonstration. However, it seemed befitting to the U.S. government to silence the only voices who have true credibility and who have actually seen the war first-hand.

So while certain political figures may openly mock a mother of a deceased soldier, they now cower behind the uniform code of military justice to quell the seeds of dissent of a decorated Iraqi war veteran to avoid a PR backlash.

This led the Marine Corps to pursue Adam’s separation from his current IRR status with an Other Than Honorable discharge. Reports said Adam chose to exercise his right to a hearing to challenge the charges against him in spite of the prosecuting attorney’s dangling of a lenient ‘general discharge’ plea bargain. Adam refused to accept any compromise in this matter, as this would allow the military to say that members of the IRR are not entitled to freedom of speech.

In a phone interview to the Marine Times, Kokesh states, “Other Marines have been threatened with this, I’m not the first. I took a stand on principle and said I’m not going to tolerate this. They messed with the wrong veteran.”

Even the Veterans of Foreign Wars head Gary Kurpius stated in an article by CBS, “Trying to hush up and punish fellow Americans for exercising the same democratic right we’re trying to instill in Iraq is not what we’re all about. Someone in the Marine Corps needs to exercise a little common sense and put an end to this matter before it turns into a circus.”

However, despite these words of reason, Kokesh was separated with a general discharge as “the result of uniform regulation violations and disrespect to an officer,” according to a recent USMC press release. He completed his commitment to the IRR June 18. Without an honorable discharge, he is not eligible for the Montgomery GI Bill (which he is reportedly using to obtain a masters degree).

When a service member enlists or is commissioned in the military, they swear an oath to protect country and the constitution. A key tenant in our forefather’s constitution and our American identity is the sacred and hallowed ideals of the right to free speech, assembly, and protest. However, the military said, Adam Kokesh is not entitled to the very freedom he was defending. As a combat veteran, he has sacrificed more for this abstraction of freedom than most Americans could ever understand. There should be absolutely no question as to whether this right should be granted to him.

When Adam Kokesh was punished for exercising his constitutional rights, a dangerous precedent was set. The U.S. is on a slippery slope toward the complete repudiation and revocation of the founding principles of our constitution.