Seven active duty Army personnel participated in uniform at a McCain campaign event this month -- in apparent violation of Defense Department rules that prohibit uniformed personnel from engaging in such political activity, today's Boston Globe reports.

A DOD spokesman appeared to confirm to the paper that the soldiers were in violation. But the key to the story is this interview with one of the participants:

In a brief interview after the event, Sergeant First Class Chad Kozdra, the commanding officer at the recruiting station, said he had been approached days earlier about participating in the event by the McCain campaign.

He said he supported McCain and had done so in 2000.

"What they were told is that this was a support-the-troops barbecue," not a campaign appearance, said Paul Boyce, a US Army public affairs officer.

In fact, the Globe reports, the rally was part of McCain's "No Surrender" tour of early-primary states, despite the soldiers having been told that this was a "support-the-troops" barbeque.

In other words, it looks as if the McCain campaign induced these soldiers into a situation where they were in violation of DOD regs. A McCain spokesperson denied to The Globe that this was intended as a political event, but an expert in military affairs told the paper that it was a clear violation.