The cadet who caused an uproar in the military community last year after he held a cap with the words “Communism will win” written inside has been officially kicked out by the U.S. Army.
Spenser Rapone was booted by top officials at Fort Drum’s 10th Mountain Division with an other-than-honorable discharge after they accepted his resignation on June 18. In an earlier statement, they said they had given him a warning for “conduct unbecoming of an officer.”
The United States Military graduate at West Point angered audiences after his social media posts revealed shocking graduation photos on his Twitter account, one of them showing the smirking young man opening his uniform to divulge a T-shirt underneath with a red image of a Marxist icon, Che Guevara.
Last year Army officials condemned Rapone who later became known as the “commie cadet” and started an investigation into his social media accounts.
“Second Lieutenant Rapone’s actions in no way reflect the values of the U.S. Military Academy or the U.S. Army,” an Army statement read.
The photos, posted in September 2017, also drew fierce backlash, sparked death threats, and caught the attention of Sen. Marco Rubio who called on the Army to remove Rapone from their ranks.
The highly controversial cadet first took the contentious photos during his May 2016 West Point graduation, before posting them on social media a year later. He told the Associated Press that he believes he is a “revolutionary socialist.”
Rapone, who remained unapologetic in the wake of the scandal, yet again added fuel to the fire by posting a tweet on Monday showing him giving the middle finger to a sign at the entrance to Fort Drum. The photo was accompanied by the words “One final salute.”
Communism is estimated to have killed at least 100 million people, yet its crimes have not been fully compiled and its ideology still persists.
Watch Next:
Memoir of a Communist Slave
A story of tragedy, faith, and resistance in the face of brutal totalitarianism, Memoir of a Communist Slave is one man’s journey to uncover what he believes has held him and his people hostage for too long.
