Thank you.

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America

I was just at the lobby of the office building where I work, where I saw this ad playing in the big screen.



This was touching, because for some reason, that's exactly how it feels when you are back from a long deployment. I felt so alone even though I was surrounded by people who love me and care about me. When I saw what was happening I decided not to let the war define who I am. I made myself a promise, that I would move on to the next stage of my life. But I was lucky because I have an awesome support system, and I had some goals set in stone that helped me keep my mind off the past. It also helps that I blogged about those experiences here in this blog.

However, there are times when you need more than that. I am thankful to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America for having this website. I sincerely thank you because I know there are some out there that can use your help. Veterans sometimes come with invisible injuries that must be treated.

Military Justice

I saw this article in the news today. The headline reads "Marine Jailed for Sex with Widow".

It's a short, very sad story. Recruiter gets a kids fresh out of high school in the Marines, kid goes to Iraq. Kid dies. Recruiter sleeps with the kid's wife. Pretty screwed up right?

If you get technical about it, the kid was already dead. And there was no adultery. In a civil court, (if adultery were to be a crime, which I don't think it is) the case would have been thrown out.

Not in the military. There's a widely practiced thing called "making an example out of you". I looked up Article 134 of the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice) and the definition of Adultery is vague enough to include the behavior of our Casanova recruiter.

Conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline or of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces. To constitute an offense under the UCMJ, the adulterous conduct must either be directly prejudicial to good order and discipline or service discrediting.

So that's what happens if you mess around. The story doesn't say how this came about, did the widow complain afterwards? I wonder how does she feel right now? Was the Marine Corps too harsh on the recruiter? Should the widow share some of the blame? Does all of this even matter since the kid is not even alive anymore?

So Sad. Damn.


J.V.