Memoirs written in prose of Sergeant Robertson, Damon M. USMC while in Iraq | ...with frequent appearances of King Hammurabi.
If you are new to this journal, make sure to start reading in chronological order by scrolling down to the bottom of the oldest post in October 2004. Damon's letters from August 20th, 2004 - October 23rd, 2004 were all added to this blog on Oct. 23rd, 2004. All subsequent letters are posted in real time.
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Re: Hammurabi, USMC - DMR
Dear Family and Friends: Short from telling this next bit to CNN or Fox News, I'm going to see if the judicial arm of the Marine Corps can preserve the Marine Corps' honor. We have a blatant case of sexual harrassment in our unit. Here's the summary: Lcpl A (female) has pictures of herself, on her own computer, which she describes as "inappropriate." She does not share these pictures, nor any information as to why they are there or who took them. "A" is a married woman. Cpl Z steals said digital photos on a 'thumb drive,' passes them around in the platoon for several days before "A" hears about it. "A" approaches her staff sgt, "Toothless" if you've read my early emails, who instead of rising in righteous fury as he should, striking down the perpetrator, continues to instead inform her that "you shouldn't be embarassed. they're good pictures." i.e., the real judicial snag here: the staff sgt is as guilty as the cpl, according to military regulation, as he knew of this dishonorable behavior and not only did nothing to stop it, but condoned it. Lcpl "A" goes further up the chain of command, to our Dear First Sgt. He tells her she's merely gunning for the rank of the Cpl and doesn't respect her pleas. He tells her "an investigation will be undertaken." No investigation is undertaken. Instead, "A" and her friends are subjected to M.I.H., "military instructional hours," a creative way of saying they get screwed with after they work 13 hours. They get assigned extra duties like cleaning the entire barracks building every day for a week, while half of them stand in full combat gear with weapons to "guard the perimiter." These orders are issued by Toothless who is, in any interpretation, as guilty as the Cpl of sexually harrassing his junior Marine. Our sgt files "request mast" paperwork, whereby he is allowed to skip his chain of command and speak directly to our commanding officer, a Major (o-4). Our major informs the sgt that he's not going to get excited to defend "A" if she's been a trouble maker the whole time we've been here. [logical interlude and insight into why this company is so messed up: the supposed continual misbehavior of "A" does not justify her lack of recourse to justice. Whether or not she is a "good Marine" in the opinion of the Major does not mean she can be wantonly victimized without penalty. This bringing-up of another's faults to hide one's own is commonly referred to as a "red herring," a distraction to the real argument at hand, in this case, whether or not justice can be delivered in a sexual harrassment case. The accused have rights.] "A" is told that if she pursues charges/legal action, she herself will be charged with sexual harrassment. Toothless says "if you want to F* someone else, you're going to get F*ed yourself." In the days since our sgt's appeal to the Major, nothing has been done. "A" has been sufficiently beaten down by the extra duties and once, when she used to seek my advice, now only says "who cares I just want to go home." ... Contrary to popular myth, there are men in my company, myself included, who aren't going to let the staff get away with this. Me and a few other stand-up corporals are going to see the JAG (judge advocate general) office in the near future and present our complaint. Our other alternative is to request mast ourselves: a request mast stops at our commanding officer only if *we* believe he'll handle the situation. He hasn't. Broadly speaking, we can take our request mast all the way to the Secretary of the Navy. There is precident for us to file on behalf of another Marine. We will. And, like I said, if the JAG won't do anything and the chain of command frustrates our efforts to request mast (which is itself a criminal act, but not beyond them nor is it something I haven't witnessed before in other units), then something tells me that certain civilian news agencies would love to get a letter signed by a bunch of men like myself who aren't going to let these jerks get away with this kind of abuse. (Toothless is also the same man who stole from Seal Team 1 pallets earlier in the deployment and was not punished. Rumor has it he has been nominated for a medal for this deployment, a Service Commendation Medal, which I don't know how nifty that is or not, but the Real Marine in me burns with indignation even at the suggestion that he should be rewarded for his wretched and repeated failings as a human being, let alone as a Marine. He disgraces the uniform. Some men wear the digital cammies because we actually Believe. Some do it for a paycheck, and apparently what they can get on the side.) God help us. :D
# posted by chevas @ 7:54 PM 