A Young Marine Speaks Out
By Philip Martin

I'm sick and tired of this patriotic, nationalistic and fascist crap. I stood through a memorial service today for a young Marine that was killed in Iraq back in April. During this memorial a number of people spoke about the guy and about his sacrifice for the country. How do you justify 'sacrificing' your life for a war which is not only illegal, but is being prosecuted to the extent where the only thing keeping us there is one man's power, and his ego. A recent Marine Corps intelligence report that was leaked said that the war in the al-Anbar province is unwinnable. It said that there was nothing we could do to win the hearts and minds, or the military operations in that area. So I wonder, why are we still there? Democracy is not forced upon people at gunpoint. It's the result of forward thinking individuals who take the initiative and risks to give their fellow countrymen a better way of life.

When I joined I took an oath. In that oath I swore to protect the Constitution of the United States. I didn't swear to build democracies in countries on the other side of the world under the guise of "national security." I didn't join the military to be part of an Orwellian ("1984") war machine that is in an obligatory war against whoever the state deems the enemy to be so that the populace can be controlled and riled up in a pro-nationalistic frenzy to support any new and oppressive law that will be the key to destroying the enemy. Example given � the Patriot Act. So aptly named, and totally against all that the constitution stands for. President Bush used the reactionary nature of our society to bring our country together and to infuse into the national psyche a need to give up their little-used rights in the hope to make our nation a little safer. The same scare tactics he used to win elections. He drones on and on about how America and the world would be a less safe place if we weren't killing Iraqis, and that we'd have to fight the terrorists at home if we weren't abroad. In our modern day emotive society this strategy (or strategery?) works, or had worked, up until last month's elections.

My point in this; to show that America was never nationalistic. If anything they were Statalistic (giving their allegiance to the state of their residence). This is shown in the fact that the founders created states with fully capable and independent governments and not provinces that were just a division of the federal government. These men believed that America was a place where imperialistic values would be non-existent. Where the people trying to make their lives better by working hard, thinking, inventing and using the free market would tie up so much of normal life that imperialistic colonization and the fighting of wars thousands of miles away for interests that are not our own would be avoided. They believed this expansion of power could be left to the European nations, the England, France and Spain of their time. However this recent, and current influx of nationalistic feeling has created an environment where giving up your rights, going to a foreign country to fight a people who did not ask for us to be there, nor did their leader do anything to warrant us being there, and dying would be considered honorable and heroic. I don't believe it anymore. I don't believe it's right for any American to go along with it anymore. Yes I know that we in the military are bound by the UCMJ and somehow don't fall under the Constitution (the very thing we're suppose to be defending) but sooner or later there is a decision that every American soldier, marine, airmen and seamen makes to allow themselves to be sent to a war that is against every fiber this country was founded on. I know that when April rolls around I will be thinking long and hard on that decision. Even though we in the military are just doing as we're told we still have the moral and ethical obligation to choose to do as we're told, or to say, "No, that isn't right." I believe that if more troopers like me and the professional military, the officers and commanders, start standing up and saying that they won't let themselves or their troops go to this illegal war people will start standing up and realizing what the heck is going on over there.

The sad fact of the matter is that we are not fighting terrorists in Iraq. We are fighting the Iraqi people who feel like a conquered and occupied people. Personally I have a hard time believing that if I was an Iraqi that I wouldn't be doing everything in my power to kill and maim as many Americans as possible. I know that the vast majority of Americans would not be happy with the Canadian government, or any other foreign government, liberating us from the clutches of George W. Bush, even though a large number of us would like that, and forcing us to accept their system of government. Would not millions of Americans rise up and fight back? Would you not rise up to protect and defend your house and your neighborhood if someone invaded your country? But we send thousands of troops to a foreign country to do just that. How is it moral to fight a people who are just trying to defend their homes and families? I think next time I go to Iraq perhaps I should wear a bright red coat and carry a Brown Bess instead of my digitalized utilities and M16.

Notice I never once used the word homeland in any of this. I have a secondary point I want to bring up now. Never once was the term homeland ever used to describe the country of America until Mr. Bush began the department of homeland security after the 9/11 attacks. Taking a 20th century history class will teach us that the most notable countries in the last century that referred to their country in this way were Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. Hitler used the term fatherland to drum up support, nationalistic support, for his growing war machine. He used the nationalism he created in the minds of the Germans to justify the sacrifice of their livelihood to build the war machine to get back their power from the oppressive restrictions the English and French had put on them at Versailles. This is the same feeling that has been virulently infecting the American psyche in the last hundred years. This is the same feeling that consoles a mother after her son is killed in an attempt to prosecute an aggressor's war 10,000 miles away. It's also known as Patriotism these days, but I say, "No more." No more nationalistic inanity, no more passing it off as patriotism. Patriotism is learning, and educating oneself to understand what their country really stands for.

I heard a lot during the memorial service about how the dead Marine did so much good for others and how his helping others was like a little microcosm of America helping because we have the power to do so. Well if we have the power to help people why aren't we helping in Darfur where hundreds of thousands of people have died in the last 10 years. Saddam was convicted and sentenced to death for killing 143 Shiites who conspired to assassinate him. (I know all you "patriotic" Americans would be calling for the heads of anyone who conspired to assassinate supreme leader Bush). And yet we spend upwards of 1 trillion dollars and nearing 3,000 lives to help these Iraqis when they don't even want us there. Not to mention we don't have the legal justification to be there. I guess we should wait around for the omnipotent W Bush to decide who we should use our superpowerdom to help next. It's about time to throw him and the rest of the fascists out. Moreover it's about time to start educating Americans about their past and history, and letting them know that imperialistic leaders are not what the founders of this great country wanted.

Philip Martin [send him mail] has been a Marine for 2 years. He is in the infantry (a "grunt"), and spent 7 months in the al-Anbar province of Iraq. He went on more than 180 combat patrols in and outside of the city of Fallujah, where he was hit with 2 IEDs (luckily never injured) and was involved in a number of firefights. He is currently stationed in Twentynine Palms, CA, and due to return to Iraq for a second deployment in April 2007. He is 21-years-old.

http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2006/12/...8616&frame=true

I sent him an e-mail and suggested after he finishes up his Marine committment that he consider running for office.


lenal

I also sent him an email and posted his article on DIGG.
The Snuff

Deja Vue all over again

That sounds about typical: any of y'all bother to check with HEADQUARTERS U S MARINE CORPS, PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT SUPPORT BRANCH (MMSB-17) before y'all started lauding this fellow as a real human being qualified for public office?

I thought not.

Well here's a link http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/ind.nsf/locator since I can't post phone numbers here.

Since you probably don't know anyone there ask for Staff Sgt. Jeff Janowiec in public affairs, he's the only staff NCO working today since it's Sunday. He'll know why you're calling when you mention this fellows name.

Who is he Marine?

God only knows Redbird. Manpower and Reserve affairs doesn't show any body named Philip Martin stationed at 29 stumps. They have a couple of Philip Martin's currently in the Marines; one's a GySgt at Kanohle Bay Hawaii, the other is a LtCol at Quanico Virginia.

If a Marine wrote that he didn't use his real name.

Well if this is a hoax, there will be quite a few publications with egg on their faces. This article was first published in The Nation. It has been the buzz of the internet ever since. And it is helping spur discussion in Congress about the safety of our troops if the Iraq Study Group proposals for embedding the troops in the Iraqi army are implemented.

Not surprised to consider that maybe this soldier didn't use his real name. I'm outraged if this article isn't written by a soldier.

Sing this parody to the tune of "50 Ways to Leave your Lover."

There Must Be 50 Ways To Leave Iraqis

"It grieves me so to see them in such pain.

I wish there was something we could do

To make them smile again,

And help them in their struggle to be free.

The problem is all inside your heads," I said in glee.

"The answer is easy if you take it logically.

There must be fifty ways to leave Iraqis!

It's really not my habit to intrude.

Furthermore, I hope meaning won't be lost or misconstrued.

But I'll assert myself at the risk of being rude:

There must be fifty ways to leave Iraqis."

Just say: "You're out of your gourd, George.

Make a new plan, man. Just slip from the front, runt.

You don't need to be coy, boy. Just leave Iraqis.

Hop on the plane, Jane. You don't need to discuss much.

Just ship out to sea, Candi, And let them live free.

For there must be fifty ways to leave Iraqis"

You go get em gunny, I haven’t seen orders barked so well in a long time. “y'all bother to check with HEADQUARTERS U S MARINE CORPS, PERSONNEL”……………….I thought not…….. that’s hilarious, you said that just as if it would be a natural thing for these good people to check with HQ before moving on eh. Again I’m not sure how it works in the marines, trust me, in the Army they would tell you they have better things to do besides verifying some flaky characters existence because you think you have a point to make. Why is it such a big deal, maybe he’s incognito, maybe he doesn’t exist at all, maybe he is a bashful hero. Mellow out there gunny, your going to give yourself a stroke, and nobody wants that.
Does SSgt Janowiec really want the phones jacked up because your having a bad day in the “ol forum”.

Since the party may well be using a name other than his actual one, or if you check and get through, they surely will have more than one individual with this very common name, run it through google and see how many are referenced there.

Marine do you want to give your dogtag numbers so we can check and see if you are legit?

Someday when this is all over I will ask my grandnephew but he's too busy with his intel work for the Marines.

Who cares if this gets eliminated - one must speak ones mind at times.

lenal

amen lenal, speak your mind you are entitled

We don’t have a ‘dog tag” number, we had a serial number. Today it’s your ssn, in my day my number began with RA********, regular Army.
What we all have in common is our DD 214, which is the official record. When we were arguing Sen. Kerry’s record, it was his DD214 that is the official record, and fortunately Mr Kerry was willing to put his out in public, and the facts are the facts and the DD214 are the individual’s facts.

Well, I see you boys are still sipping the Kool aid.

Now let me tell you why I checked this fellow out. It had to do with what he wrote in his message.

Let me reiterate it to y'all so you don't get confused.

The fellow purports to be a Grunt which just got back from Iraq.

Well, there are a lot of places an 0311 Marine might get posted when they come back from Iraq but Twentynine Palms ain't one of them. Twentynine Palms has no infantry regiments there except on a temporary basis and when I say temporary that means they are aclimatising them to a desert environment in preparation to deployment in Iraq. I'll betcha who ever wrote this piece saw all the stories of Marine regiments being deployed from Twentynine Palms to Iraq and not knowing the system fouled up their story. Your boy here didn't know how the Marine Corps works hence this stupid old lifer figured him out PDQ.

Now, let me ask y'all a couple of questions which has bothered me about the anti war people from day one. How come you guys have to resort to deception and fraud if y'alls message is so good? Second question; do you fellows ever use you heads for anything besides a hat rack?

Just in case you want to see who's located at 29 Palms. Checkout Tenant Commands; I got a bunch of buddies instructing at the Comm School there and am thoroughly familiar with the place.

https://www.29palms.usmc.mil/

[quote=Marine,Dec 11 2006, 08:13 AM]
Well, I see you boys are still sipping the Kool aid.



http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0901/dailyUpdate.html
Polls show opposition to Iraq war at all-time high
Sixty percent also say terrorism is more likely in US because of Iraq.
http://www.zogby.com/NEWS/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1075
An overwhelming majority of 72% of American troops serving in Iraq think the U.S. should exit the country within the next year, and more than one in four say the troops should leave immediately, a new Le Moyne College/Zogby International survey shows.

http://www.pollingreport.com/iraq.htm
Newsweek Poll conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. Dec. 6-7, 2006. N=1,000 adults nationwide.
"All in all, do you think the United States is making progress or losing ground in its efforts to establish security and democracy in Iraq?"
.
Making Progress;21%
Losing Ground; 68%
Unsure;11%

These same things bother me about some conservatives and I never got a good answer from them, either. But I don't brand all conservatives as liars for the sins of a few.

He says he is a returning grunt, a marine who just returned from Iraq, and some can’t understand why there is a mystery here. If I were to advise such a person, I would ask how much time did they have left in the service. If they had a while before the end of their enlistment, I would tell them to not let the service know how they felt about their ideas of dissent. Knowing full well the military would do everything in their power to make life uncomfortable for such a person. We can see by one marine’s reaction, just how seriously some might take this kind of free speech, or should we say dissent.
I guess when a marine grunt comes home from combat, they are not welcome to voice any controversial ideas, seems if they do, someone will try and track them down, for whatever reason.
“hence this stupid old lifer figured him out PDQ.” “Deputy dawg” is on the case, we can all sleep better tonight. As manic as some seem, I would hide my true story too. True or not, does it deserve all this investigative energy.
One only has to spend a little time with today’s military personnel to hear a dissenting voice or two, and that seems very American does it not?
Philip Martin, whether real or not, sure got some of these guys going, maybe that was the point eh.

I’ve just got to address another thing, links to the military are full of “sniffers”, why is it necessary to read my personal info, just so I can access their front page?, BIG BROTHER STRIKES AGAIN!

[quote=vfguenley,Dec 11 2006, 12:06 PM]
[quote=Marine,Dec 11 2006, 08:13 AM]
Well, I see you boys are still sipping the Kool aid.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0901/dailyUpdate.html
Polls show opposition to Iraq war at all-time high
Sixty percent also say terrorism is more likely in US because of Iraq.
http://www.zogby.com/NEWS/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1075
An overwhelming majority of 72% of American troops serving in Iraq think the U.S. should exit the country within the next year, and more than one in four say the troops should leave immediately, a new Le Moyne College/Zogby International survey shows.

http://www.pollingreport.com/iraq.htm
Newsweek Poll conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. Dec. 6-7, 2006. N=1,000 adults nationwide.
"All in all, do you think the United States is making progress or losing ground in its efforts to establish security and democracy in Iraq?"
.
Making Progress;21%
Losing Ground; 68%
Unsure;11%

[/quote]
Well Vaughn, those are nice statistics.

Now, if those Americans were persuaded with honest and truthful information that's all well and good; that's the way an intelligent and thoughtful person makes important decisions.

But, if they were hoodwinked by folks filling them full of disinformation where does that put your statistics? Sooner or latter those people making up your statistics will figure it out.

You still haven't told me why the anti war movement feels it's necessary to rely upon deceit to obtain it's goals. Is the anti-war movements one of those situations where the ends justifies the means?

So are you telling us this fellow isn't a Grunt or that he's not really at Twentynine Palms and this ain't really his name? Makes me wonder just what he says is the truth.

I guess you can just pick out what you want to believe as the truth and that which don't make any sense as isn't important, eh?

As far as investigative energy, it took me one reading to figure out some major discrepancies in this fellows story. I guess if I didn't care I was being fibbed to I could over look those kind of things.

Don't know 'bout all the politics, but I did get a chance to chat briefly
with the recently returned Marine Sniper from down the street today.

I was buzzin' by on my scooter when I saw him the driveway getting
something out of his too-tall, four-wheel drive Ford. What a good-lookin'
young man. It was a short chat, just about what sort of disability he
qualified for and that he would be around his parents' house awhile, now
that he was processed out. Said he may stay in some sort of special reserve
unit in Baton Rouge that he won't even have to show up for...

I figure he was in deep shit over there because he down-played it.
"Only" in "the field" eight months, and after wounded by an IED
"only" had to hand out ammunition, for the reamining 10 mo.

Still quiet, but a riveting presence, talked about getting drunk
with a couple of buddies and sleepin' in his truck bed, with a smile
that could melt steel. He said he was aproached by a deputy when he parked in
a handicapped slot, and had to explain the Purple Heart license tag
qualified as a handicapped tag.

I suggested he take it slow (to readapt to The World) and if he wanted
to work around a group that has comaraderie, to tell me, and consider
being a deputy sheriff.

A blackhawk from the local Air National Guard flew over and we both
looked up. He told me he rode in Hueys and saw an F-16 work out in-country...
it seemed down home, like with my other (Vietnam-era) brothers.
I shook his hand and told him if needed anything to call.

As he walked off, I hollered:
"Hey...welcome home!"
And, there was that smile again,
a slight nod...and he climbed the stairs.

I don't know too much about the politics,
...I didn't even think about it..."Biscuit" is home...
home from a war his country sent him to...in one piece.

That's swell Chuck. Appreciate them for doing what they done. Done because they love our country. Politics can go to hell.

blood is blood...'nuff said

You know Chuck, you probably get the same chill down the backbone I do watching a civil war movie or re-enactments.

The Confederate skirmish line volleys, simultaneously as the Stars and Bars pop up over their heads.

Nothing racial or bigoted about it, it's our heritage.

well marine there has been 42 killed this month. how did they die??? it wasn't from fighting I bet. I don't call this fighting when they are killed by road side bombs and suicide bombers.
so how do we win? when they run out of explosive.
the us military could take on any country in the world no doubt they are the best.

good point!

I, for one, fail to understand the mentality which finds it acceptable to have military lives sacrificed in a conflict that cannot be resolved by military force. The centuries old cultural feuds have taken center stage in Iraq and now our military become the collateral damage.It is not honorable to exploit the services in this manner.

To further lower the bar, said mentality then asserts that love of country doesn't exist in those that differ from their views.

Fortunately the majority, according to all polls, have come to see through all the smoke and mirrors. And we mourn deeply for all those that could have been spared if clear vision was an asset of the current civilian leadership.


lenal

Here's some data on what Marine units are at 29 Palms, which is the largest Marine base in the world.



http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/29palms.htm



Mojave Desert Facilities
Units
Headquarters, 7th Marines
1st Battalion, 7th Marines
2nd Battalion, 7th Marines
3rd Battalion, 7th Marines
3rd Battalion, 11th Marines
3rd Battalion 4th Marines
1st Tank Battalion
3rd Light Armored Reconnaisonce Battalion
D Co. 3rd AA Battalion
Combat Service Support Group-1
Marine Wing Support Squadron-374
Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron-1
Official Homepage
Twentynine Palms

################

lenal

The evolution of this mindset has been a fascinating thing to follow. I’m not sure, but I believe some of the original knee jerk was media enhanced. It appears today that more Americans have taken a more serious look at the reality of this war. We are deep into it now, and now we need even more level headed thinking to find our way out.