It is one of the rights members of the United States Armed Forces have continued to fight for throughout the years and in times of war.

It is a message that remains true whether it be from the polls today or in an absentee ballot from abroad.

This is a point Major Wil McFadden, an executive officer within the Department of Military Science at MSU, hopes to make clear.

It always is important that citizens have input when it comes to citizens electing the leader of the free world, he said.

“It is not only the rights of our soldiers, both within the states and overseas, to vote, but also the right to be aware of government functions and agencies,” McFadden said in an email. “All American citizens should support the voting process and selection of our nation’s leadership.”

McFadden, who previously served in Iraq as an officer, said his vote will lie with the views of an American citizen who stands for “freedom, liberty and the right to prosperity for all Americans,” regardless of his profession, adding this is why it is necessary Americans vote.

To engineering sophomore Andrew Cross, a student veteran, the right to vote is something he isn’t going to let anything get in the way of.

“I’m skipping class tomorrow to make sure I go vote,” said Cross, who served a year in Iraq before coming to school at MSU.

He currently is a student cadet in Army ROTC and encourages civilians to get to out to the polls.

“I’m like, ‘If you want to support veterans, go vote,’” Cross said. “It’s a way of exercising free speech and that’s what we fight for.”

Jeff Charnley, a professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures, who also is a veteran of the Cold War, said during his tour he worked as a voting assistance officer at his base in Germany, assisting and educating soldiers how to vote absentee.

“The military takes great pains to make sure that the soldiers, men and women in the service, have the opportunity to vote and have a hand in the procedure, just like the people who are not in the military,” Charnley said.

Charnley said his vote is influenced by his experiences overseas, and he is going to support the candidate whom he believes has handled military issues, such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, very well.

“With the killing of Osama bin Laden, that was one of the things (President Obama) was able to demonstrate military and political leadership and make a tough decision,” Charnley said. ”I think … more people in the military today (and) veterans will support President Obama.”

Cross has an opposing view point. He said he will vote for the candidate whom he feels will provide the most job security for the military, among other things — Gov. Mitt Romney.

“The military is a vastly conservative group of people, that’s not even a secret — that’s well known,” Cross said. “I know a lot of guys who, (if) the policy affects them, that’s who they decide (to support). … If they are cutting one of the programs, we’re not getting enough armor or (ammunition), and that kind of unnerves (us).”

Ultimately, Cross and other veterans believe voting is a right American citizens should engage in. Despite which candidate or party wins, they will follow orders either way.

McFadden said these core values of the U.S.’s democracy are displayed in the deeds of all soldiers and veterans.

“(For them) to support and defend the supreme power vested in the people … this is one of the primary reasons America is the greatest country in the world,” he said.