Forgive me here, but Lt. Col West while perhaps gung ho as can be seen with the results of his Article 128 and Article 134 hearing which was later reduced to an Article 15 which resulted in his retirement, the question asked of him provoked an opinion from West. While I could care less who is a communist and who isn't because the last I checked in the Constitution there was nothing in there that specifically mentioned Americans were or were not allowed to be part of a particular political party and Lt. Col West of all people who spent his life defending it more so than others should know that and I suspect he does. I frankly see this as Lt. Col West responding to a question from someone based on his personal opinion from a lifetime spent in the Military and nothing more. Like all Americans it his his hard won right to express it as it is the right of those who disagree to express theirs.