Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.Staff Sgt. Daryn Moran, a so-called "birther" who denies President Barack Obama's U.S. citizenship, is being discharged from the Air Force, the military confirmed Wednesday.
Moran, of Omaha, says he quit reporting for duty at an Air Force base in Germany last week to protest the commander in chief, whom he disparages as a criminal who should be arrested.
But the Air Force, in its first statement on the case, said Moran was in fact already in the process of being discharged when he stopped reporting for work.
“He is currently outprocessing for discharge from the Air Force, which was previously approved by his commander on August 4th,” says a statement released by U.S. Air Forces in Europe.
Air Force officials didn't give a reason for the discharge and didn't comment on Moran's behavior.
Moran, in an e-mail, confirmed he was being discharged but said he couldn't provide details until a later date.
Moran has spent much of the past week vilifying Obama in interviews, in online forums and on his Twitter feed, behavior that appears to violate the military's code of conduct.
He also repeatedly argued that Barack Obama isn't a citizen of the United States -- a disproved conspiracy theory that lost some steam when the president publicly released his long-form birth certificate earlier this year.
During his tour of the "birther" blogosphere, the Air Force staff sergeant called Obama "the enemy" and "a criminal" and made vague references to his desire to "remove" the president. He also derided the military as unprepared and shoddy.
Howard Moran, a retired Air Force sergeant who lives in Omaha, has defended his son's words and actions to The World Herald, but expressed worry that his son would be arrested.
But it's a discharge, not arrest, that will end Moran's time in the Air Force.
This contradicts Moran's stated goal in the past week that either he or the president of the United States should end up in handcuffs.
"Now it's plain and simple," he tweeted Monday. "Arrest B. Obama or arrest me. I'm waiting in my house."
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