Marine Corps Veteran of Afghanistan Killed By Police

Local news reports

Police fatally shot a Camp Pendleton Marine who struck an officer with a car in a parking garage in Palm Springs, authorities said Monday.

The Marine repeatedly ignored orders to stop after being approached by officers on bike patrol around 2 a.m. Saturday, the Palm Springs Police Department said in a statement.

One of the officers partially climbed into the passenger window to stop the car, but the Marine accelerated, striking the other officer, the department said. The Marine kept driving with the officer hanging out of the window until the car crashed near the garage exit, it said.

Both officers were treated for injuries at a hospital and released. They have been placed on administrative leave while the department investigates.

The Marine died at the scene and the lone passenger, another Marine, was not injured, authorities said.

"In the course of these events, fearing for their safety and the safety of others both officers discharged their weapons," the statement said.

This is one of those intrepid warriors that the rah-rah patriots over on TTAG were celebrating the other day. The picture would have been taken during basic training, about three-and-a-half years ago. He looks to have been just 17 or 18. I doubt very much if the following jingoistic nonsense applied to him.

To answer the call for service, to put on the uniform and steel yourself to step in harm’s way, is a step in beginning to repay the debt of honor owed to our ancestors.

No, most who join are too young to possibly have such lofty motives.  In fact, most join for the wrong reasons, usually to escape one thing or another. Then boot camp training and a year or so in a combat zone, who could possible be whole.  As former servicemen, it's all about aggrandizing what they'd done.

No, these guys, in most cases are not heroes to be honored but suckers to be pitied.  They fell into the trap set by old politicians who almost to a man had not served. As I said the other day, if you consider the foreign involvements we've been engaged in over the last 45 years, is there anything there to be proud of?  No, there's not.  And to have participated is not something to be proud of either.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Camp Lejeune Marines Involved in Weapons and Equipment Theft

via Gun Policy News

 International Business Times reports

U.S. Marines at Camp Lejeune, N.C., stole and sold approximately $2 million in guns and combat equipment to streets gangs and to China and Russia, military officials confirmed. The stolen guns and combat gear included assault rifles, night-vision goggles and flashlights. 

More than 60 people have been implicated in the incident, the Daily News in Jacksonville, N.C., reported. 47 service members and 21 civilians have been charged so far. Several of them have already pleaded guilty, Ed Buice, public affairs officer for Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) in Quantico, Va., told the paper.

It seems like there's a lot more to "theft," as one of the main sources of guns going to criminals than your proverbial revolver being stolen out of the night stand or glove box.  This is theft on an entirely different level.

Although the case is ongoing, what do you think about the sentences already handed down?

That paper said that two Marines have been convicted in the case. They are Sgt. Daniel Adam Reich and Capt. Donald E. Pump Jr. Reich was convicted Monday of selling and attempting to sell military property and conspiracy. He was sentenced to 40 months in prison and given a dishonorable discharge.

Pump was convicted of similar offenses, sentenced to 18 months in prison and dismissed from the Corps.

Do those sentences seem a bit light to you? I would have expected a harsher treatment of Marines involved in something like this.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Marine Sergeant Gary Stein to be Discharged

Yahoo News reports

on the marine we wrote about before.

A federal judge refused on Wednesday to block disciplinary action against a Marine who criticized President Barack Obama on Facebook and called him a "domestic enemy" in a posting to an internal military network.

Marine Sergeant Gary Stein, 26, a meteorologist stationed at Camp Pendleton near San Diego, filed suit on Tuesday, saying the Marine Corps was violating his right to free speech. A Southern California congressman has rallied to his defense.

The Marines have said they initiated discharge proceedings against Stein after he posted political statements about Obama on a Facebook page he runs called the "Armed Forces Tea Party."

What's your opinion? Don't members of the military agree to some limitations on their 1st Amendment rights? Aren't there certain things they cannot say due to the fact that they wear the uniform? Isn't disrespect to the Commander-in-Chief a crime?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

The Few, The Proud, The Marines

Who's this remind you of?

Marine Reprimanded for Obama Hate on Facebook

Before It's News reports

On Wednesday Marine Sgt. Gary Stein was notified by the Marine Corps that he was in violation of the Pentagon’s policy for blatantly condemning President Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

Stein’s actions could now lead to his dismissal and a possible downgrade in ranking.

The Marine who is based in Camp Pendleton, California, created a Facebook page called “Armed Forces Tea Party,” which currently has approximately 19,000 likes and has photos showcasing slogans such as “NObama” and “One Nation, under Obama, with poverty and unemployment for all,” has been under the microscope since 2010.

What do you think? Are military guys wrong for openly criticizing the Commander-in-Chief.

Isn't it criminal for marines to commit acts of disrespect and disobedience?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Marine Corps Birthday

Gordon over at The Alternate Brain wrote something extremely touching and beautiful in 2005.

The Birthday Ball

My comment:

I hadn't read your post from 2005 before. I just loved it. I can see why you'd be proud of that piece.

I served in the Marines between 1970 and 1972. I didn't go the the war. Even before my discharge I became extremely anti-government, anti-war and anti-Marine Corps.

I remain that way still, seeing not much of patriotism or heroism in our current volunteers as much as frustration and a lack of economic choices. I don't see them as the noble paragons of virtue they're often touted to be but rather saps who have been duped by the government.

Nevertheless, I can't deny the emotional attachment I feel for fellow Marines. Never does a November 10th go by that I don't reach out in some way to my fellows.

Your essay about the Birthday Ball ceremonies touched me deeply. I thank you for that.

Army Suicide Rates Highest Ever

CNN reports on a sad story about the suicide rate among soldiers being the highest in the 28 years they've been tracking the data.

Statistics obtained by CNN show the Army will report 128 confirmed suicides last year and another 15 suspected suicides in cases under investigation among active-duty soldiers and activated National Guard and reserves.

The confirmed rate of suicides for the Army was 20.2 per 100,000. Army officials were reviewing the suspected suicides Wednesday. If any of them are confirmed, the rate would rise.

The obvious factors are mentioned, war-related stress especially. Army officials said that although the national figure is slightly lower, it's not fair to compare the two.

Another factor is that military suicides tend to be committed by young men with access to weapons.

I suppose that means that the availability of guns makes a suicide attempt easier and more likely to succeed. Isn't that an obvious logical conclusion?

The Los Angeles Times reported recently on the Marine Corps situation. For reasons that to me are unclear, they come in lower than either the Army or the civilian population.

Forty-one Marines are listed as possible or confirmed suicides in 2008, or 16.8 per 100,000 troops, the Marine Corps report said. Nearly all were enlisted and under 24, and about two-thirds had deployed overseas.

To make further comparisons, I found this fascinating table on Wikipedia. The main thing that jumped out at me was the fact that the top countries are all former-Russian or other Iron Curtain countries. Why is that?

I'm reminded of some of our other discussions on whether suicide is an individual right. The talk of young military men taking their own lives saddens me deeply. I feel these suicides point out the terrible mistake that suicide is, in most cases. Here we're not discussing the terminally ill patients or quadriplegics trapped in an intolerable lifestyle; rather we're talking about young people in the flower of youth. What could be a greater waste than that? Everything and anything should be done to prevent it. What do you think?

The numbers are interesting too, in light of the murder statistics we've seen. If anything, my arguments about gun availability are strengthened by adding suicides to the equation. Besides the 5 or so murders per 100,000, it looks like we've got two or three times that number of suicides. Do you see what I mean?

Marine Corps Training

I've been wanting to dedicate a post to Bob S., one of our frequent commenters, who seems to disagree with me on just about everything, but has a respectful and thoughtful way of doing so. His son recently graduated from the Marine Corps Basic Training in San Diego.

I myself went through that training in Parris Island in the summer of 1970. I did it for all the wrong reasons, mainly to get my father's approval. All this is in retrospect, of course, but even during that summer's frenetic activities, I often wondered what I'd gotten myself into. On the graduation day, which followed what was at that time nine weeks of incredibly intense physical and psychological assault, my elation at having survived and the thrill of receiving the drill instructor's as well as my father's beaming approval, inflated my persona into something new and different for the 17-year-old, 135 pounder that I was at that time.

I went on to have a less than illustrious military career and to commence upon a decade and a half of rebellion against everything, all material for other posts. Yet, I believe some lifelong habits and attitudes were instilled in me that summer, many of which have served me well.

Best of luck to your son, Bob. May the Universe smile upon him wherever his military duties take him. And may he be one of the survivors like I was.

Marines and Motorcycles

CNN reports that more Marines have died over the last year in motorcycle accidents than in Iraq.

Motorcycle accidents have killed more Marines in the past 12 months than enemy fire in Iraq, a rate that's so alarming it has prompted top brass to call a meeting to address the issue, officials say.

Twenty-five Marines have died in motorcycle crashes since last November -- all but one of them involving sport bikes that can reach speeds of well over 100 mph, according to Marine officials. In that same period, 20 Marines have been killed in action in Iraq.

So, does that mean the Iraq number is very low or the motorcycle number is very high, or both? It sure caught my attention; I'll tell you that. I can easily identify with the young Marines who drive too fast and engage in other risky behaviors that 20-year-olds often engage in.

What really caught my attention, though, was at the end of the video when Barbara Starr, the Pentagon Correspondent, said the Marine Corps had considered "banning Marines from owning these types of sports bikes."

Bob S. has often asked me to compare my ideas about guns to problems with other things, cars for example. He would say things like, so many people are killed in car accidents, why not ban cars? I'm paraphrasing there, but that's more or less the question. I've always resisted going into those types of comparisons because I don't believe in gun control or gun bans. But just for argument's sake, if the Marine Corps banned motorcycles, most or maybe even all of these 25 guys would still be alive. Does that mean it's the motorcycle's fault? No, of course not. Does that mean it's the fault of the availability of the motorcycle? Yes, indeed.

How does this apply to guns? If someone wants to do harm with a gun and none is available, he might grab a knife or club, something less lethal and do less damage. If a young Marine wants to ride fast and feel that freedom that riding a fast bike gives, and none is available, he might get in a car, drive fast and if an accident happens, possibly survive.

This is not to say let's have gun bans and motorcycle bans as a solution. It's simply to say, just like the availability of those powerful motorbikes is the problem, gun availability is a big part of the gun violence problem. Can we all agree on that?