Truth in Recruitingby Liam Madden | Sun, 09/02/2007 - 11:59pm
His Father's Request:
I have a huge favor to ask of you. My 16 year old wants to join our Beloved Corps on DEP next year. He's still seeing the bells, whistles, marching bands, and trinkets and the hoopla that hooks our young men and women into this bloody mess of "W"'s. If you would, please, contact all of the combat veterans you know, and have them send him emails about the realities of war. He's not getting it from me. Perhaps if he got it from men and women closer to his contemporaries, it would have more of an impact. He thinks Gunny Hartman is cool and he laughs everytime he watches Full Metal Jacket. I've tried to tell him but he doesn't get it. Any emails from the men and women who have served combat tours would be greatly appreciate. His email is ......
Semper Fi,
Jim
GySgt, USMC, Ret
Truth In Recruiting 101:
Nick,
My name is Liam, I served four years in the Marine Corps and one tour in Iraq. I was honorably discharged in January. I hear you're thinking about enlisting. What is on your mind?
I respect your sense of duty and adventure, I feel like I was very much like you when I was 16. "Full Metal Jacket" was my favorite movie.
Please consider my experience before you enlist. There are lots of good things about the Marine Corps, but any Marine can also talk for days about how much it sucks. It doesn't suck because it is challenging, it sucks because you are asked to lower yourself and your expectations constantly. It sucks because they don't want you to be an individual and to think. It sucks because our government is risking our lives for a lie.
Please don't put yourself in a position where you could die for a lie.
Respectfully,
Liam Madden
Sergeant USMC
The Young Man's Questions:
Liam,
Thank you for responding. I am looking into the military after high school and need as much help as I can get. If you can send me any more info on the marines and maybe about what you did, that would be much appreciated.
I also had some other questions. What did you mean by lowering self and expectations? Also, how do you know if the Marines are right for you? And how are you to not think? Thank you for reading.
Sincerely,
Nick
My Response:
Nick,
Maybe a call will be the best way for us to communicate. My number is xxx-xxx-xxxx
I've attached some info about what recruiters tell people interested in enlisting and how it isn't always accurate.
The first thing they try to instill in you in the Marine Corps is that you are not an individual, you are a member of a team. There are some things I like about being team oriented instead of self oriented but the result is trying to make human beings be something they are not naturally, killers.
They don't want individuals because individuals ask questions before they "obey", the military NEEDS people to obey first and think later. Judging by how much thought you are putting into this major life decision, you seem to be a person who chooses to make thoughtful decisions. This means you can succeed in the military, but you would have to shut off (or at least control) your instinct to think critically. That is a pretty dangerous thing for a person to do.
I was a communication electronics specialist in the Marine Corps. I was good at my job and was deployed to forward areas a lot. I did tons of manual labor and I valued the opportunities I got to lead and to learn about leadership. In Iraq I was asked to do combat oriented duties occasionally. I was stationed in Okinawa, Japan for two years and was deployed around the pacific. In my last year I was in an "Honor Platoon" that performed military funerals every day.
What did I mean by lowering expectations? I meant that from day one in Boot Camp it was clear that they didn't ask you to excel and provide the opportunities to excel as much as they asked you to put up with an enormous amount of bullshit and provided a constant barrage of it. This turned out to be excellent preparation for the rest of the 4 years because that is what Marines are asked to do, not be heroes, but put up with ridiculous situations. For instance, waking up at 5AM to go to work, not being provided with any work to do, then as the day ends and we prepared to go home, to be told by "leaders" that we had to do 2 days worth of work before we could go to sleep. EVERYDAY for months on end. 5AM-9PM days. Another thing that didn't make sense to us was how we were expected to know things that we were not only never taught, but never given the opportunity to learn because we were kept too busy doing tasks that really didn't need to be done. (Like raking sand or standing in formation)
Lowering expectations was inevitable as we were constantly told about leadership and how important it was, but rarely did leaders demonstrate the principles they preached. Don't get me wrong, there are great leaders in the military, we were trained well sometimes, and some days we barely had to work at all, but they are NOT the majority. In fact, even tough I did learn from some good leaders, I found that I had to learn about leadership more from seeing "how not to be a leader." This taught me how to make every situation a learning experience and therefore, hopefully, a positive experience, but it was very frustrating at times.
The world does not need more Marines right now. Marines are being used and have been used for hundreds of years by our government to make life miserable for poor people all over the world. The world needs more people like you, who want to do something other than a "typical job," who want to make a positive difference, and are willing to take risks to do so. I joined the Marines wanting those things, but I've learned that fighting a war isn't a typical job but a horrible job. Wars, especially this one, rarely make "positive differences," and you should never risk your life for a lie.
Please find a place in life that lets you make a difference, not one that takes your willingness to make a difference and betrays it by sending you off to fight people who want us to leave their home. I have found my place by being a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War.
The Marine Corps is made of good people, not murderers, but it is troubling to see good people being asked to behave like murderers sometimes. You would be asked to behave like one from time to time.
Occasionally, instead of "Hello" or "Yes Sergeant," I was greeted with "Kill babies."
Morning runs are accompanied by chants that make it seem cool to kill children,
"Going to the playground,
where all the kiddies play,
pull out my 240,
and I began to spray."
The protection of convoys and military equipment was put far above the lives of Iraqi civilians on or near roads, so much so that we were told to run children over to avoid stopping in traffic and I know of at least 3 times members of my unit shot civilian motorists who simply were too close to an American vehicle.
You might be saying to yourself, "The military needs good people like me to ensure such bad things don't happen." I agree, the military does need good people, but our country needs good people working to end war more than it needs good people being used to execute war.
If you believe that you have considered all of your options and the military is still the best choice, I would recommend the Marines because the camaraderie and the unbelievable people you meet and places you'll go. But in the same breath, if you enlist I would hope that you immediately become a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War because we are an amazing community of support and just because you believe the military is your best option, it doesn't mean you have to agree with how the military is being betrayed by our government.
Respectfully,
Liam Madden
Iraq Veterans Against the War
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