US Marines Letter of why he didn't re-enlist

[Whitey]

I got this off the League of the South site and Dr. Micheal Hill said I could reprint things as long as I included the credit, so here it is. This Marine said it best as to the decay of the US today. Casey Kahn tells it like it is.

In October of 1995 I signed and made an oath of enlistment into the United States Marine Corps Reserve. I swore as follows:

''I, Casey Khan, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.''

As a part of the delayed entry program I spent my first months in inactive service until I went to boot camp at MCRD San Diego in May of 1996. Three months later on August the 16th, I was proud to earn the title of United States Marine and excited to perform my duties as a protector of the Constitution and People of the United States.

In my six years of active reserve service there were many things I enjoyed and respected: Time in the field. Weapons Company 2nd BN 24th Marines. 81mm Mortars. Good tough NCO’s. Mustangs. Good Battalion Commanders. Call for fire missions. ALICE packs. CAX (combined arms exercise in 29 Palms). Playing spades. Platoon 3113. Quantico. Amphibious assaults. Forward Observation. Hovercraft. Sea stories. Former Drill Instructors. Helicopter assaults. Being an NCO. Dress Blues. Marine Corps History. PFT. Gun Drills. A good 15–20 mile hump. Throwing grenades. Combat hits. Pugil Sticks. Bayonets. MRE Bombs. Marine Corps push-ups. Marine Corps Birthday Balls.

Of course no grunt spends time in the Marine Corps without complaints. I certainly had my share of gripes: Time in garrison. Bulk fuel operations. Inefficiency. Supply (something that never meets demand). Admin. Meaningless paperwork. Meaningless work. Many Staff NCO’s. Officers who don’t know land navigation. Officers who don’t listen to their NCO’s. WM’s. Fort McCoy, WI. Wearing Alpha, Bravo, or Charlie uniforms. Digital cammies. M16A2 service rifles.

Despite these nuisances, I loved the Marine Corps and the spirit of its founding in 1775 as a defense against tyranny. As I began to understand the true nature of liberty, I began to question just what kind of "Teufelhunden" that this organization has really morphed into. No longer a shield against tyranny, it has become the abused tip of a spear to a racket for politicians and their special interests du jour. In approaching reenlistment there were two realizations that kept me from signing for a second term. First, was the realization that the U.S. Constitution is a dead and meaningless document. Second, was the realization of a heresy that has permeated modern American society for some time.

The Constitution Is Dead

I first enlisted as a patriot believing in liberty and the principles of limited republican government espoused by the Constitution. Unfortunately, US Constitution has gone the way of the USS Constitution, decommissioned and put away like a museum piece on display as a reminder of America’s gloried past. Considered no longer useful to our modern times, the document is given some lip service but only in reverence and never in use. Like the cannon and sail in modern combat, the Bill of Rights and enumeration of Federal power are ineffective against the intentions of corrupt and ambitious men who seek power at the expense of liberty.

Presidents no longer even have to goad an enemy into striking first, like FDR or Lincoln, to get a Congressional war declaration. These days Presidents ask Congress for the power to decide whether war is appropriate. Rather than taking orders from Congress as the document enumerates, he seeks to have discretion to wage war when he feels like it. Actually, more often than not, modern Presidents assume they are automatically the Commander in Chief as soon as they take their oath. Forgotten is the fact that the enumerated and delegated power of declaring war lies with Congress and only Congress. Until such a declaration, officers should not be bound to orders of the President. Why? Orders given without the proper consent of Congress are unconstitutional and unlawful. Officers are not lawfully bound to unlawful orders. Looking to the spirit of liberty and the founding of this country, we know the founders did not want such force of power to lie in the hands of just one man. They knew if the threat was real and eminent, a proper declaration would come from the legislature. Today, however, the Congress has relinquished its delegated powers, giving the President license to do whatever he and his office determine that they can get away with. Consequentially, the presidential and legislative oaths to the Constitution have just turned into a great photo op on inauguration day.

If the President and Congress cannot honestly vow to uphold and protect the Constitution, how can one in good conscience, who understands the spirit and letter of the Constitution, enlist or take a commission in any branch of the United States military? This is a problem I had to wrestle with in my mind between 9/11/01 and the run up to the Iraq war. Would I go and support my buddies in the field, or would I stay and fight the good fight in the spirit of liberty against the usurpers of the Constitution? Fortunately, I finished my obligation to the active reserve before my unit was sent to the Persian Gulf, and I could be put to a great test. Even still, I was put to the test of continuing to take an oath that no longer had any meaning. I was put to the test of whether I wanted to support machinery used in the antithesis of freedom. I said, no more.

It is a sad and hard realization for a grunt who loves the Marine Corps to admit that the organization is not used in the preservation of liberty, and has not been used toward that end for a very long time. In fact, although the U.S. is a wealthy country, it is not the free country it once was. Marines need to understand that with every act of war since 1860, the country has seen overt actions by the Federal government against freedom. The Civil War brought the Morrill Act, Legal Tender, and the Secret Service. In World War I, along with the introduction of the "Teufelhunden," came the income tax and the Federal Reserve. In World War II, with the great island hopping campaign, came a seven-headed monster known as the WPA, SEC, FBI, FCC, CIA, FDA, and social security. In Vietnam, with the patrols of Hue City, came Medicare, Medicaid, and military micro-management from the Pentagon. In Beirut, while Marines were killed, an unconstitutional war on drug commodities was ratcheted up. Finally, while Marines called a fire for effect on Iraqi forces, came the final nail in the coffin of the Constitution. Known as the Patriot Act, a piece of legislation approved so diametrically opposed to the Constitution, tyrants like Napoleon and George III would be covetous. Each time Marines have come home from each of these fronts, politicians at home sought powers irreconcilable to any of the principles defined in the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, or the basic ideals of classical liberalism. The founding Marine, Samuel Nicholas, would have nothing to do with the Marine Corps as it is used today to the detriment of the liberty he held dear. Unlike Samuel Nicholas, modern Marines come home to tyranny rather than the liberty they hoped to protect.

The Heresy

Which leads us to the heresy, which permeates the modern American mind. The heresy is the contention that liberty is provided for by the soldier. No longer protectors in service with deference to the sovereign civilians, soldiers are now the masters who give license to the "freedoms" Americans have. The heresy is best summed up by Marine, Father Davis O’Brien when he iterated:

It is the Soldier not the reporter, who has given us Freedom of the press. It is the Soldier not the poet, who has given us Freedom of speech. It is the Soldier not the campus organizer, who has given us the Freedom to demonstrate. It is the Soldier not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial. It is the soldier, who salutes the Flag, who serves beneath the Flag and whose coffin is draped by the Flag, who allows the protester to burn the Flag.

Without thinking about the ramifications of such a statement, many Americans would nod agreement to such an assertion. Do I hear a damn right out there? From Lee Greenwood’s "God Bless the USA" to Toby Keith’s "American Soldier," the thesis remains that the rights and freedoms in America are given by soldiers. This thesis is reinforced when civilians approach soldiers with a "thank you." Soldiers of society, now ration out rights like MRE’s at chow time in a garrison state. The free exercise of individuals and in particular the endowment by God is not considered. Without soldiers and their actions, there is no freedom to speak, organize, transact, or exercise property rights. All deference should be given to soldiers; their will be done.

Tyranny is the necessary result when individuals in society subvert their freedom to the will of other men, in particular the will of the soldier. It is interesting to hear a Catholic priest who speaks so eloquently about inalienable rights and absolutely fails to attribute their endowment to God. As such this is a heresy in failing to recognize God’s dominion over man ruled absolutely by a mechanism of natural rights. To assume that rights are given by soldiers is to assume that soldiers predicate God. To assume such is to assume Godhead, a violation of the Commandments.

Let me correct Father O’Brien by saying: It is God, not the soldier Who has given us the freedom of speech. It is God, not the soldier Who has given us the right to demonstrate. It is God, not the soldier Who has given us the right to due process. It is God the Father, Who has given us the Commandments, Who forgives us for breaking the Commandments

Whether one believes in God or not, all men instinctively know of their rights and their thirst for freedom. They exercise it every day, in all countries, regardless of what soldiers and states do. Freedom knows no bounds or political party. Freedom is endowed in the spirit of man. Right now someone in China is starting a business. Someone in Iran is praying to the Christian God. Someone in Iceland is speaking truth. Are these people able to do these things because of soldier’s actions? They do these things because they are exercising the freedom that God has given them, the freedom to choose what to do with their lives.

I choose to no longer take part in this heresy. I’m trading in my 11 General Orders for Seven Sacraments and my pocket Constitution for a Catechism. Semper Fidelis in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.




February 14, 2004

Casey Khan [send him mail] works as a risk analyst in Phoenix, AZ, where he lives with his wife. He was Honorably Discharged from the United States Marine Corps Reserve in October 2003.

Copyright © 2004 LewRockwell.com

[Frank S.]

I find much to argue with here, but this reply being PWI (Posted While Intoxicated), I'll have to keep it short (that'd be a first for me).
What I do agree with is that politics have permeated virtually every aspect of life, mostly to destructive effect.
From anti-smoking legislation ($2000 fine for smoking in your car while parked at city hall's underground garage) to abortion to the current raging debate on gay marriage, politicians are pushing laws down our throats, until the day they'll vote on how much our farts should stink.

Beyond that, I do not believe the US constitution is "dead". Saying so is a dramatic statement and draws attention to mr. Khan's grievances, but it is important to note the influence this document has in our day, for instance in the drafting of a European constitution aiming to define and protect the rights of the individual.
The US model is the oldest such constitution in the world.

There is no disputing the fact that politicians do their best to subvert it, but this is not always out of sheer expediency: it is understood that a working model of democracy must rest on some form of caste system.
In order to maintain the high standards of living the American people are accustomed to, it is necessary to keep (forgive the terms) wogs, wops and dregs of humanity in check and producing.
In the days when the constitution was drafted, slavery was in effect.

Today they can be Mexican immigrants or American citizens left on the wrong side of the digital divide, doesn't matter.
In order to maintain the edifice in good order, we need folks to live in the downstairs apartments and basement, paying rent, in part by sweeping the floors, changing the lightbulbs and taking out the trash.

But it's getting much, much harder to keep them from moving up in this age of near total information awareness. Big floppy words. Okay.
Put it this way: India's catching up and even in places overtaking us (yes!)
because of their superior education system. In point of fact they are very good at communicating, and that's key.
They process information better and faster, and do it for much less money (80 to 85% less). America's strength is (was) technology and 'services'. Neither requires physical presence on US soil, and so those activities can be shipped off overseas, facilitated by instant communications.
An oversimplification, but you know what I mean.
There is one thing we do better (well mostly better) than anyone: war.
And there is money to be made in it, but eventually this too will slip away from us.
Consider that Bechtel recently decided to move its headquarters from San Francisco to Maryland. Openly because they want to be closer to their main client (Washington DC), but covertly because it's too damn expensive to maintain business operations in California.
Eventually they could move their headquarters offshore, like others have already and save on taxes as an added bonus.
Such companies effectively cease to be American corporations, and corporations are a huge part of America's welfare system.

Well... More on that later, maybe. I'm gonna start on my second bottle of Jack. I'm parched.

[Wholley]

Frank,
That was not short..
Wholley.

[Whitey]

Political Correctness, Gun Bans, loss of Due Process of Law and Writ of Habeas Corpus, the 6th,9th and 10th Ammendments have been infringed, the presidents in the last 50 years rule like dictators using executive orders much like dictators. I figure it is pretty much dead. The election candidates just drag it out from time to time to stir emotion, once elected they pursue Marx's altruist dream. Patriot act pretty much killed the freedoms in America. Our people and leaders traded our freedom for financial gain I think long before I was born.
The debate last night was re-enforcing these things I see in thios guys letter.
All tooting civil rights mantra, the UN Charter seemed more popular than the Constitution, the UN should have no power in this Republic, the UN charter is nothing more than an anthem to our Constitution if anything.
Only one candidate wanted to nix the Patriot Act but favored globalization instead and the UN laws to our own.
The old family Reds, Green, Liberals, communists, altruists, and homosexuals backed by central bankers and corrupt politicians, and corporations seem to have taken over the country looting the treasury, passing legislation to help the few and ignore the rest, dishonest economy, ect.. I think this Jar Head hit the nail on the head.

[Frank S.]

Well ever since men decided to band together in caves to fight beasts or other groups of men, the die was cast.
I mean, globalization is just the continuation of that, and if there are constitutional infringements, I think it's due to our alliance with dictatorships and other forms of restrictive governments. We adapt to them because they cannot adapt to us.
I don't see this as avoidable.
If you look at quality of life nowadays, we can bemoan neighborhoods once thought of as splendid presently overrun by weeds, strewn garbage and crime of varying severity.
That's the law of the lowest common denominator, what unites people of varying backgrounds are the basest human instincts. You won't sit on the back porch (if you have one) with the Cambodian boat people next door, sipping brandy and listening to the Goldberg variations while their teenage kids absurdly call each other 'niggah'.
The constitution is a document which came of lofty goals, and as such it is not something which can 'die' easily.
The Patriot Act is a pimple on legal history, the constitution isn't.
True, both are only as good as those who would enforce them, but you well know how much resistance there is to the former: for all our (mostly justified) complaints about losing freedoms, we can still talk about it openly without fear of the cattle prod or the Pepsi Challenge.
Yes, it is vital to remain vigilant, but in actuality, all's not lost. Or dead.
We're in a transition phase. Libertarians complain about behavioral legislation, conservatives about big government and taxes and liberals about oppressions of minorities and what-have-you, but as someone predicted about 15 years ago, after the 'death' of communism, capitalism as we know it will have to reform itself or die itself.
Maybe one way we'll manage to do that is by recapturing the spirit of the bill of rights, though not necessarily to the letter.
Every time I hear people talking about the way things used to be and looking backwards, I think we're seeing change coming.
Whichever way the pendulum swings, can we adapt, or do we go the way of the Dodo bird? If we keep clinging rigidly to the past, seems to me it'll be the latter.
That's not to say we should let go of the past (I'm talking of the constitution again) completely, but the world's very different now than it was 200+ years ago, as Ben Franklin foresaw.

None of the above answers the nature of the next great divide, however.
So let's keep talking.

[Whitey]

I see no reason to band together with anyone. Globalization cannot take hold unless nations are conquered. Sure we and our central banking bank rolling friends and allies may win, but at what price and what do "We" win out of it? Globalization seems to be good for the few and bad for the many.
I have a feeling we like the empires of the past will pay dearly for our New World Order.

[Pasha]

Taking a very deep breath ....

There is a actually quite a lot of merit to what Whitey has just posted. I am an internationalist by instinct and a firm believer in the brotherhood of nations. However the more I examine multinational organistations, the more I see them as networking clubs for industrialist and financiers.

A perfect example of this is the European Union. Don't mistake me, I do like the idea of a mutually beneficial European organisation, but the prime beneficiaries of the EU's economic policies are the directors of big corporations often at the expense of the commonweal.

Frank is correct in elucidating the salient point of the inevitability of globalised interaction. The only examples, that come to mind, of countries opting out of the international net are North Korea and Bhutan. Inevitability however doesn't neccesarily condemn us to the rôle of globalised serfs. There is no earthly reason why we cannot ensure that the wealth generated by the globalised economy benefits us all.

Rereading my last sentence, I am aware that it does resemble, "From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs". Then again I get the impression from some of the posts here, that anyone to the left of Cesare Borgia is tarred with the Marxist brush.
Best regards alll.

Pasha

[Whitey]

Pasha,
My idea's on freedom are along that of Locke and Jefferson. Anything else is tyranical to me. I use Marx broadly, because his ideals describe an eloquent slavery.

Many students at school are fed a steady diet of Max as I'm finding out. When I talk of Jefferson, or as a free man in general it makes the prof. lies obvious and the instructor uneasy.

Last week we were being brainwashed that individual property rights were not required, that people should be taxed more so "Everyone" could go to school, and that Political Correctness is a real good thing because it prevents people from hearing hurtful, but in most cases true things.

Something is happening in America, I can't quite tell yet what it is, but you can feel it everywhere. It's the people, the silent majority, I think the Average American is starting to awaken to the result of this latest power grab by the global socialist's. Kerry is sweeping the polls, but I don't think even he can keep the people quiet.

Globalization will never work, simply because it never has. The have nots will increase and seriously outnumber the haves. People will fight.

Secondly in our services we are seeing for the first time patriots again, not careerists. These patriots remember their oaths, and will not follow unlawful orders, the ones that will be issued to institute the sick global agenda. No WMD's, we invaded, we got Saddam, why are we still there in force? It's about the money. Hell every nation in Africa is home to a terrorist cell or government.

I look at America today and I see people getting shook down at the airport while thousands storm the southern boarder everyday unchecked. Video cameras, stories of wire taps and e-mail surveilence on our own "Citizens". Especially those who just voice their disapproval of these tactics. It appears our government fears the citizens more than terrorists, it is obvious in the not so "Patriot Act". What a deceptive piece of illegal and treasonous legislation.
Bush lied about WMD's knowingly or not, still he was in charge and it led to the deception of the nation and a feeling of betrayal. Why is he or his cabinet not treated equally under God and the law? If I was blatently guilty of such crap you can bet I'd be locked up. Same as Clinton, he gives the Chinks weapons guidance systems, classified stuff, and what happened? Nothing. It was a crime and it was ignored, but let him get a hummer from an intern and all hell breaks loose.
Ronnie Reagan got nailed on Iran Contra, Olie took the fall obviously for the man in charges misdeeds, why isn't the president held accountable like a ships captian?
Our country is made up of good people I believe, so good they are easily mislead. We are a gulliable nation, perhaps that is changing.
Our officials are corrupt along with the courts.
And to close this nation was Founded upon God, a higher being, all our laws, our character its inscribed on our oldest federal buildings, take that away, and watch it all come crashing down.
I'm sad about all this really, I'm sad that a few powerful and greedy people have in the last 50 years destroyed everything we were, and in place built nothing, nothing that will last long. That my people have been decieved into thinking freedom comes from how much you can buy or that choosing between 1 of the 2 corrupt political parties is democracy.
The UN is a paper tiger, look at how helpless they were handcuffed in Bosnia, how their stupid policies led to the genocide in Rwanda. I don't think the US or UK should play games with these people, we shuld leave them alone.
If any alliance shouls be formed, maybe a pact between the US and common wealths.
However the Central Bankers, Pull Politicians military traitors past and present, and the common folks governments known as corporations won't let it happen.
Then again it ain't up to them. If the people continue to wake up, we could see freedom again in our time.