Photo by: Sgt. Bryson K. Jones image:31149:0::0

By Steve William Sanson

The military train you to kill from the time you enter boot camp, you are broken down just to be rebuilt stronger, smarter; a lethal weapon. The United States Marine Corps train Marines to be this way. They train your son and daughters to be able to handle any situation and to work well under extreme pressure.

The Marines are a basic rifleman first then they are experts in their MOS (Military Occupational Specialty). I know first hand that they are the best of the best, they believe in God, Country, and Corps. No retreat no surrender, meaning if you have the means to fight you do not surrender under any circumstances and if you are a POW (Prisoner Of War) you only give your name, rank, and serial number this is the same as your social security number. You are to die before you give up your fellow Marines and Country.

Marines do not leave anyone behind dead or alive. Teamwork is a must and you are as strong as your weakest link. When you are in combat your family is the other Marine's covering your six, this is equivalent to watching you're back making sure that you arrive through each mission alive. You trust the Marine beside you with your life.

Marines do the jobs that are extremely dangerous and an asset to national security. Their elite fighting force is the Recon Rangers and Airborne Rangers, the Army has the Green Berets and Para Troopers, the Air force has the Commandoes, and the Navy has the Seals. All highly trained to do what ever it takes to complete the mission with none of their team members in a body bag.

The Marines are named the Presidents Own, meaning that a sitting United States President can place Marines anywhere in the world for 90 days without the act of Congress. Marines are security guards for all American Embassies world wide. When countries see the United States Marines they either fear them are love them.

Our military has decreased in size due to lack of volunteers for our all volunteer military force, wounded, or dead. Some of our military servicemen/women are on their forth term between conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Each term is 12-18 months in the war torn countries.

I remember when Operation Desert Shield started just before the Persian Gulf War against Iraq in 1991 an officer from my unit who is a Major in the Marine Corps told us that he would rather we be charged for murder than someone else being charged with our murder. Meaning if you are dead there are no courts, no appeals, no statements, no juries, you have no second chances. The saying goes "its better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6."

Our military has suffered over 24,000 wounded another 1,000 with known PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) a form of mental illness and we have over 3,200 fatalities in regard to the current war against terrorism.

When I mentioned wounded I am talking about bullet wounds, knife wounds, loss of limb, lost of sight, burns, lost of organs, and the list continues.

Imagine walking down the street and some idiot mugged you and during the process killed your spouse or child. How would you feel? What raged would go through your body and mind?

In the military we are all brothers and sisters and when we walk down the streets and someone kills our team member, things happen and people get hurt due to our heightened response. Unfortunately it might be an innocent person. If the partner of a Police Officer on a police force here in America is murdered or hurt that Police Officer is sent home or not working that case for sure. Now we do not have that option when at war and our brothers and sisters are getting hurt and murdered in big numbers with the combination of lengthy, extended tours and PTSD.

Our Military are doing house to house searches for insurgents which are the most dangerous form of combat you could do. Anybody can be the enemy; you do not know who is on the other side of a door, wall, tree, and car. No one is innocent not women or child. The Iraqi government under Saddam place children in the military at 16 years old. In some African countries the rebels use child soldiers to kill villagers the children are as young as 7 years old. During Vietnam woman were armed with explosive booby traps, and grenades. You learn not to trust anyone the minute you do, you could place yourself and your fellow serviceman/woman in danger.

The military is governed by a law called UCMJ (Uniformed Code of Military Justice) meaning your constitutional rights are out the window. The military can hold you in isolation or solitary confinement (no visitors, letters, or phone calls). You are guilty before proven innocent.

During your Court Martial you have a jury of your peers whom are really not your peers. If you are an enlisted that served in combat and your alleged crime was taken place in a combat environment. Your jury might be all officers that only know combat by reading about it in a book, this is an unfair system don't you think?

In a civilian society if a Police Officer gets shot at he may get 6-8 months paid Administrative Leave and extensive mental counseling. When our military gets shot at, witnessing people getting shot, or extensive amounts of dangerous situation they do not get Administrative Leave they get to do it another day and a day turns into a year. By this time you might be in a hostile situation for a few years. A mind can only experience so much before you lose it.

I am disgusted as to the way our government treats our military personnel. Bringing them back in shackles and denying them their constitutional rights. They fight for our freedoms and they are still scrutinized placed in situations no one wishes on their worst enemy, keeping them there without the proper mental care and if they manage to stay alive they get prosecuted for defending their fellow serviceman/woman.

Our government trains the Military to kill and then tries them for murder. The environment we placed our servicemen/women in is very hostile and they become a product of their society, kill or be killed.

Look at what we are doing with our Marines that our government claims that failed to follow the Rules of Engagement and the LAW OF Armed Conflicts.

What rules are the insurgents following?

What message are we sending our troops?

E-mail: SteveWSanson@cs.com phone 702 283 8088
Website: www.VeteransInPolitics.com.