Marine Corps Under Fire

Seems we have another kind of trouble brewing in Iraq other than just figuring out who the enemy is. According to the November 2, 2006 issue of the USA Today there are "troubled troops in no-win plight." This is partly a story about Chris Packley, a top marksman on a Marine sniper team that returned from Fallujah in 2004 who "wanted out." He eventually got his wish and was "expelled" from the Corps and now claims that PTSD was the cause of the unlawful behavior that got him into trouble. As a consequence of his "less-than -honorable" discharge he lost access to the free counseling and medication he needed to "treat the mental wounds left from combat." He now basically is accusing the Marine Corps of  "punishing" him for the behavior that led to his discharge. Can anyone say LAME? According to one Lt. Colonel Colby Vokey who supervises the legal defense of Marines in the western USA, he blames the Corps for these men not being eligible to get treatment from the VA because they did not receive the proper treatment and counseling at the time they needed it. Had the Marine Corps provided this assistance the man would have remained as virtuous as he was when he first set foot on the yellow footprints! Yeah, right! "The Marine Corps has created these mental health issues in combat veterans and then we just kind of kick them out into the streets" Vokey goes on to say. Who is this guy? 

 WHO'S SIDE IS HE ON? The Marine Corps contends that stress disorder isn't a legal defense for misconduct and I would have to agree. What I don't understand is if they feel this way why is a Marine Col. defending a position against it. If the Marine Corps takes a position on something isn't a Marine colonel supposed to go along with it? Yet, he tosses out these catchy comparisons to "Catch-22" and talks like a civilian tort lawyer. There is a dis-connect here and I haven't figured it out yet. However, you can't blame the Colonel for those in the Corps who don't have the guts to take responsibility for their actions. (and I am not suggesting that Packley is one of them.) NOTHING is anyone's fault any more. If you murder 30 people in an Amish schoolhouse, why, that was because your mother drank crack-laced coffee for breakfast. It surely can't be your fault.

But if you are a combat soldier you have to act like one of the other 98% who do. You can't fake it in combat. That's why our government spent all that money to train you and get you ready to face our enemies - not to fall apart at the first sign of blood. Soldiers, especially Marines have to gird their loins for battle. If you are going to talk the talk you better walk the walk. Somewhere I read that some of us Americans have been accused of becoming a want-it-now kind of society but this goes too far, INSTANT PTSD?! It used to take years for those feelings to eat away at you until something snapped and if you were smart, sought help from the VA. Now, it seems you don't have to wait at all, you can get it while you are in combat.

VIETNAM VS. IRAQ - Do'nt get me wrong, I am a disabled vet myself (PTSD) and when I was in stomping around in the jungle as a nineteen year-old Marine in 1969 I was horrified by the things I saw (and did). When I came home I had trouble sleeping and lunged for a weapon every time I heard a loud noise. People talk about performing under pressure in business? Try being terrified for a year sometime and see where it takes you. That's when your true character comes out. Fight or flight. Chris Packley saw a fellow Marine and buddy die on the battlefield. A lot of us saw buddies go down too. But Marine training prepares you for this as much as anyone can and most of us are able to put that experience aside until the job is done. You bitch about it, cry some, then square yourself away and mark another day on your short-timers calendar. Just because he saw a buddy blown away that morning does not give a Marine the excuse to break down and put his comrades in danger by his behavior. Even a dumb jarhead knows you do that AFTER you get out and go back to Suzy.

In Vietnam in 1969 we had similar problems, guys would smoke dope provided by our Vietnamese friends that was laced with who-knows-what, go nuts and start shooting at their own. When and IF they were apprehended and locked up they would say anything to save themselves.The stories you hear about the abuse of drugs was no exaggeration. My buddies and I were "juicers", drank our fair share of Pabst and raised some hell in an attempt to temporarily put aside our fears. But we did nothing more than get loud and obnoxious. Unlike the "heads" we did not do drugs and go around shooting people. We knew who they were and to a one, they were a bunch of pathetic losers. The Marines have been known to work miracles at molding character out of total meatheads but even they can't do the impossible. If you have no character other than being mean and stupid it should come as no surprise  to anyone when you lose it.

It was always those guys, the ones who got caught doing something illegal who whined about how the stress of combat made them do it. Mostly it was the REMF's who couldn't face the consequences of their actions and fortunately for them grenades were in ready supply. After all, dead men tell no tales. This Col Vokey goes on to say how the Corps has fostered a "Catch-22 " referring to the no-win situation showcased in Joseph Heller's 1961 satirical war novel, Catch-22. The press loves it when Marine colonels admit; first, that they read anything other than The Art Of War and second that they can actually reference a famous novel! It's also a great way to divert attention from the real issue, this Marine F***'ed up! 

Col. Vokey goes on to explain that "scores of combat veterans like Packley are being dismissed from the Marines without the medical benefits needed to treat combat stress." The article points out that in recent months the Marine Corps has begun investigating the matter, identifying 1,019 Marines (shitbirds?) who may fall into this group since the war in Iraq began. (Maybe it's unfair but what comes to mind is all the sea lawyers in prison who want to reopen the cases of all those "innocent" guys on death row.) The story gets even weirder when a Navy Captain who co-ordinates the Marine Corps' combat stress program goes on to say in very good military double-speak, "That it happens at all is oviously not ideal." A true military example of getting straight to the point. This Navy Captain, William Nash says that each case will be examined to learn whether the Marine suffered combat stress and whether that might have contributed to the misconduct. Again, excuse me but isn't the Marine Corps still considered a branch of the Navy? Let me repeat; THE MARINE CORPS SAYS STRESS DISORDER ISN'T A LEGAL DEFENSE FOR MISCONDUCT!

THE USMC TIME MACHINE -  Let me take you back a moment in time, the year; 1972, the place; Camp Pendleton, California. The "war" in Vietnam is still dragging on and will be for another three years. Some 7,000 Americans are yet to die. In what some of us consider to be nothing more than a once- in -every -five year "purge" of the undesirables in the Corps, the Marines announce a "Drug Amnesty" Program. This means that anyone who wants to can get out, no questions asked, just belly up to the company office and file the paperwork. No counseling, no "do you realize what your'e doing?", no mentoring of any kind. 

At the time I happened to be the Personnel Chief of a Company attached to an Engineer Battalion. I was the guy that had to prepare the paperwork to process these discharges. Against orders from my superiors I would talk to some of these guys privately and on my own time to see what was motivating them. I cared about these men as individuals, men I had fought alongside, and I thought it was a terrible thing for them to do just to get away from the problems they were having in the Corps. I knew most of them quite well and drugs were not the problem. These guys hated their superiors, hated the "Stateside Chickenshit", and just wanted out. Their real reasons ranged from not being able to handle a sadistic NCO to too many inspections but if admitting to a drug problem could get them out, so much the better.

I can't remember how many I processed during that period but each one broke my heart and there were more than a few. My First Sergeant was a tough old bird and OLD CORPS all the way. He forced me under threat of reduction in grade to notate on their DD-214 that reason for separation was for "DRUG ADDICTION." Now my point here is that these guys weren't drug addicts. A lot of them had served tours in Vietnam and God only knows what may have happened to their health and state of mind since then. But do you think any one of them realized that they could be jeopardizing their future care without an honorable discharge? The VA has discretion to grant full benefits in other-than-honorable or bad conduct discharge cases. It can still deny them if the agency decides the underlying misconduct was "willful and persistent." A largely subjective decision according to VA official Jack McCoy.  

DRAFT DODGERS AND MISFITS - When President Carter pardoned the draft dodgers that went to Canada I was one of the few that supported that decision. I felt that anyone with the convictions to go and live in a foreign country deserved a break. I am often asked how I feel about Marines who get bad discharges - then claim it was the stress that made them f*** up? Well, the jury is still out on that one. Marines these days get a lot of support as this article continues to point out; "The military has moved more aggressively in this (Iraq) war to increase awareness and treatment of combat stress than in previous conflicts. Mental health teams have been sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. Soldiers and Marines are asked about their mental and physical health before and after their tours." Thank God that Chesty isn't around to see this! If the Marine Corps wanted you to have a shrink - they would have issued you one!

Vokey and his legal team say they are convnced, "based on reviews of medical records that combat stress was a major factor in the misconduct cases." They argue that either the Pentagon or VA should revise it's policies so that these combat veterans are not stripped of the medical care they need to get better. I can't say whether or not this is a good idea but it doesn't feel right. If these guys are let back into the family what about all the other guys who were discharged for misconduct? How far back do we go? This 1,019 Marines they talk about is a drop in the bucket! One grain in a bucket of Iwo Jima sand. The VA has to beg for money now, congress can vote themselves generous pay raises but when it comes to vets the money just isn't there. What happens when we add a few million mis-fits to the mix?

Captain Nash seems to be an expert at talking out of both sides of his jibs; "PTSD does not force anyone to do an illegal act", he says. "The consequences to the Marine Corps of not upholding those standards of behavior would be a much greater tragedy. It would dishonor all those Marines who have not broken the rules." The story continues by saying that mental health experts say that this problem certainly occurred in prior wars. But combat-induced mental disorders and how they may contribute to bad behavior were not as well understood. I feel sorry for Chis Packley and the other Marines mentioned in this story but I can't look beyond the issue at hand, do we forgive and forget what he brought on himself? Most Marines do their jobs in a quiet and efficient manner, some just can't hack it.

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