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WOW, the leftists in Berkeley published a letter from a Marine

The Berkeley Daily Planet

Commentary: An Open Letter to Code Pink

By Richard Lund
While the protest that you staged in front of my office on Wednesday, Sept. 26th, was an exercise of your constitutional rights, the messages that you left behind were insulting, untrue, and ultimately misdirected. Additionally, from the comments quoted in the Berkeley Daily Planet article, it is clear that you have no idea what it is that I do here. Given that I was unaware of your planned protest, I was unable to contest your claims in person, so I will therefore address them here.

First, a little bit about who I am: I am a Marine captain with over eight years of service as a commissioned officer. I flew transport helicopters for most of my time in the Marine Corps before requesting orders to come here. Currently, I am the officer selection officer for the northern Bay Area. My job is to recruit, interview, screen, and evaluate college students and college graduates that show an interest in becoming officers in the Marine Corps. Once they’ve committed to pursuing this program, I help them apply, and if selected, I help them prepare for the rigors of Officer Candidate School and for the challenges of life as a Marine officer. To be eligible for my programs, you have to be either a full-time college student or a college graduate. I don’t pull anyone out of school, and high school students are not eligible.

I moved my office to Berkeley in December of last year. Previously, it was located in an old federal building in Alameda. That building was due to be torn down and I had to find a new location. I choose our new site because of its proximity to UC Berkeley and to the BART station. Most of the candidates in my program either go to Cal or to one of the schools in San Francisco, the East Bay, or the North Bay. Logistically, the Shattuck Square location was the most convenient for them.

Next, you claim that I lie. I have never, and will never, lie to any individual that shows an interest in my programs. I am upfront with everything that is involved at every step of the way and I go out of my way to ensure that they know what to expect when they apply. I tell them that this is not an easy path. I tell them that leading Marines requires a great deal of self-sacrifice. I tell them that, should they succeed in their quest to become a Marine officer, they will almost certainly go to Iraq. In the future, if you plan to attack my integrity, please have the courtesy to explain to me specifically the instances in which you think that I lied.

Next, scrawled across the doorway to my office, you wrote, “Recruiters are Traitors.” Please explain this one. How exactly am I a traitor? Was I a traitor when I joined the Marine Corps all those years ago? Is every Marine, therefore, a traitor? Was I a traitor during my two stints in Iraq? Was I a traitor when I was delivering humanitarian aid to the victims of the tsunami in Sumatra? Or do you only consider me a traitor while I am on this job? The fact is, recruitment is and always has been a part of maintaining any military organization. In fact, recruitment is a necessity of any large organization. Large corporations have employees that recruit full-time. Even you, I’m sure, must expend some effort to recruit for Code Pink. So what, exactly, is it that makes me a traitor?

The fact is this: any independent nation must maintain a military (or be allied with those who do) to ensure the safety and security of its citizens. Regardless of what your opinions are of the current administration or the current conflict in Iraq, the U.S. military will be needed again in the future. If your counter-recruitment efforts are ultimately successful, who will defend us if we are directly attacked again as we were at Pearl Harbor? Who would respond if a future terrorist attack targets the Golden Gate Bridge, the BART system, or the UC Berkeley clock tower? And, to address the most hypocritical stance that your organization takes on its website, where would the peace keeping force come from that you advocate sending to Darfur?

Finally, I believe that your efforts in protesting my office are misdirected. I agree that your stated goals of peace and social justice are worthy ones. War is a terrible thing that should only be undertaken in the most dire, extreme, and necessary of circumstances. However, war is made by politicians. The conflict in Iraq was ordered by the president and authorized by Congress. They are the ones who have the power to change the policy in Iraq, not members of the military. We execute policy to the best of our ability and to the best of our human capacity. Protesting in front of my office may be an easy way to get your organization in the headlines of local papers, but it doesn’t further any of your stated goals.

To conclude, I don’t consider myself a “recruiter.” I am a Marine who happens to be on recruiting duty. As such, I conduct myself in accordance with our core values of honor, courage, and commitment. I will never sacrifice my honor by lying to anyone that walks into my office. I will never forsake the courage that it takes to restrain myself in the face of insulting and libelous labels like liar and traitor. And, most importantly, I will never waver from my commitment to helping individuals who desire to serve their country as officers in the Marine Corps.

Captain Richard Lund is the United States Marine Corps’ officer selection officer for the northern Bay Area.

And he was right on the money showing them how stupid and closed minded they really are.

Semper Fi Captain  Lund!

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1. You’re the only civilian on your block who can sing the “Marines Hymn” by heart.

2. Your dad reminds your date that he has multiple medals for sharp-shooting.

3. You lived in over 3 countries during the first six years of your life.

4. You’re the only four-year-old in your daycare who can read a real clock. (A military clock)

5. You’re the only ten-year-old in your grade who can give the correct Zulu time for all of the 24 time zones.

6. You know what Semper Fi really means.

7. It means Always Faithful.

8. “Navy” and “Army” are both four letter words around your dad.

9. You were never allowed to watch Popeye or Donald Duck as a child.

10. You have learned over the years that it is not the Marines who are dispatched last, but the Navy.

11. When your four-year-old sister is not allowed to sing “In the Navy” or “In the Army now.”

12. You can spell “OOrahh!”

13. You know what the phonetic alphabet is.

14. You can recite the phonetic alphabet forwards and backwards.

15. Your dad’s Chevy truck lacks a Chevy insignia because it was replaced by an eagle, globe and anchor.

16. Although not required, you still know all seven steps of the firing cycle of the M16A2.

17. You have nightmares about… “Yellowfootprints” ?

18. All the males in your family from birth and up wear high and tights.

19. You’ve memorized the entire history of the USMC from 1775 to the present day.

20. Maggot is a term of endearment.

21. When the other children on the block say that their dads don’t have 2 birthdays you look at them as if they were from Mars.

22. Table Manners?

23. M16 is not a gun. It is a shoulder-fired, magazine-fed, full-auto, air-cooled weapon.

24. Whenever you watch a war movie, you spend half the time correcting the mistakes.

25. Yes I do know what time zero-dark-30 is!

26. Instead of summer camp, you get boot-camp!

27. Instead of playing with baby-dolls, you played with GI-Joe. (Who incidentally is a Marine)

28. You can tell what country the kid in the barracks next door is from by the way his dad salutes.

29. You know every minute detail about each of your dad’s service ribbons.

30. You learned that Marines don’t wear hats.

31. The mantle above you fireplace is cluttered with ceremonial burial flags and the service graduation pictures that go with them.

32. You know the words to “Taps”.

33. Even your dog is a Marine. (His name is Chesty.)

34. You’re reminded on a regular basis who your dad’s senior drill instructor was. (My dad’s was Sr Drill Instructor SSGT Barron.)

35. Your bird can whistle the “Marines Hymn” as well as “The Star Spangled Banner”.

36. “The Jingle Bell Dogs” don’t hold a candle to the neighborhood hounds that can bark out the Marines Hymn.

37. Your dad’s alarm clock plays Reveille.

38. You, your brothers, your sisters and mother all address your father as “Sir.”

39. You have a full set of clothing in either forest green or dessert camouflage. (Bonus if you have both!)

40. You will be cast out and shunned by the family if you date a member of a SEAL or a DELTA FORCE team.

41. Your first step every morning is with your left foot.

42. In the cheesy war movie, you cried for hours when the obscure Marine in the background was shot and killed.

43. You address all your best friends by their last names.

44. In school, you always finished your answer to your teacher with “Sir, Yes Sir!”

45. The men’s room says Marines and the women’s room says WMs.

46. You know the name and rank of everyone in your local Marine Corps League.

47. You were nine years old before you realized that your dad did not in fact have 196,000 brothers.

48. Your faith in the president was re-affirmed when he sent in the marines to “Fix everything” on the movie Armageddon.

49. “In God we Trust” must answer with appropriate password when challenged.

50. Your family reunion is more like a unit reunion.

51. Your dad’s “Marines parking only” sign means Marines only.

52. KIA is not a car!

53. Your computer’s sound effects mimic your dad’s drill instructor.

54. In stead of “Hush Little Baby”, you were sung “I Don’t know, but I’ve been Told…”

55. While your friends dreamed about getting married in a frilly white gown to that wimpy little prince charming, you fantasized about getting wed in your dress blues gown to a battle-scarred Marine.

56. “A hummer” Is not someone who doesn’t know the words to a song.

57. Your prom date checked out a Humvee from his dad’s motor pool instead of renting a limousine.

58. “The Rock” is not Alcatraz.

59. You know how to subdue a fresh date, 28 different ways.

60. You know how to convert miles to clicks.

61. “Sight alignment” and “Sight pictured” is not just for cameras.

62. Your favorite cookbook is “256 ways to cook M.R.E.’s”

63. Thanksgiving dinner is made entirely out of M.R.E.s.

64. K-bar is not the local pub.

65. On Nov 10^th you bake birthday cookies for the local Marine Corp League.

66. When you turned 16, you learned to drive a tank.

67. Every night, you fall asleep at attention.

68. When your little sister sees a guy with an Eagle, Globe and Anchor tattooed on his shoulder and she shouts “Look Chelsey! He’s a Marine!”

69. When you go to make a “Top 10 Reasons you know you’re the daughter of a Marine when…” and you end up with 69 reasons!

From Bob H (Marine Linkedin email list.

This Top Ten was written entirely by my two young daughters about 0-dark 30 about half way from Rockford IL to Lincoln NE. ENJOY !

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