Berkeley USMC Recruiter Responds To Code Pink
The following is a letter published in the Berkeley Daily Planet recently by the Marine Corps recruiter, Capt. Richard Lund, that Code Pink decided to puke on.
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.
(Photo by Robert Livingston)
BDP
OORAH!! Capt. let those Pinko’s hear what a true american patriot has to say.
October 15th, 2007 at 8:13 amThat article wants me to give up my Army retirement and rejoin. The public doesnt realize that the military is just a TOOL, policies are made by politicians. I hope that the people who read that finally get their heads out of the fog and see whats right in front of their face. RLTW
October 15th, 2007 at 8:18 amCapt. Lund USMC is a shining example of the dedicated Men & Women of our Military who put their lives in harms way for us! I salute and admire them for their sacrifice and service. I have no doubt “code pukes” actions disgusts the average American and shows what TRAITORS, groups like code puke really are!
October 15th, 2007 at 8:23 amDamn it people, this is what happens when you put your parents in retirement homes! They get bored, get organized, and want to “make a difference.” All they’ll do is sit around the common room watching CNN all day and make little pink protest signs during arts and crafts hour. At least when they staged this protest it was after the office was closed, I couldn’t stand watching any video of these people talking shit to that recruiter. I thought old folks were morning people though…
October 15th, 2007 at 8:25 amGood going. While I love free speech, insulting those who serve is so immature counterproductive. Moderates like myslef do not respond to far left liberals. We may not like the war, but we respect the military highly and would never insult them.
October 15th, 2007 at 8:32 amThats an intelligent man right there. The best and brightest is what make up our armed forces so I wouldnt expect anything less..As for the Kode Pinkos, these people can all jump off the golden gate bridge for all i care
October 15th, 2007 at 8:33 amHe’s an intelligent man trying to reason with the unreasonable, emotional …possibly retarded and hadicapped
October 15th, 2007 at 8:55 amgoofballs that inhabit the PRC. Good luck Cpt. A reasoned response you will never get from them. Those are the kind of people that react better when you drop kick them in the ass.
Capt. Livingston: it’s like arguing with 4 year olds. Code Pink: juvenile imbeciles. Enough said.
October 15th, 2007 at 9:04 amDamn… who in the hell produces and raises pink pukes like that?
October 15th, 2007 at 9:46 amI’ve seen pictures of the Code Pinko bus- it looks like they dragged it out of the Vietnam-era hippie swamp. Stuffing your saggy tits into a pink shirt because you’re outdated & irrelevant isn’t cute. It’s not revolutionary or even the slightest bit clever. Please put your bras back on. When O When are the 1960s gonna be over? The glory of your youth has passed, Old Bags!
October 15th, 2007 at 10:02 amComplete details: http://www.MoveAmericaForward.org
October 15th, 2007 at 10:17 amCaptain Lund did a great job in responding to Code Pink. It is very disturbing that people, that are of Code Pink cloth, would pull this stunt on military personnel. It is also a shame that Captain Lund’s response to these people will go unnoticed by them. They are far too deranged and mentally incapable of comprehending what he wrote.
I hear ya Captain and good luck in the other war zone.
October 15th, 2007 at 11:40 amThe biggest self-misconception Code Pepto has is that they believe if they continue to do this sort of ass-hole protesting at recruiting offices they will somehow cause the whole of the military to “mutiny” the President and the government and possibly have a coup to overthrow said Prez. and government, and miraculously turn this country into the twisted fascist utopia the neoBolsheviks dream of.
October 15th, 2007 at 11:57 amThe letter mentioned that he recruits college grads,so I have a question; What is the maximum age for someone to join the Marine Corps? Also, do college grads benefit in some way that nongrads do not?
October 15th, 2007 at 12:18 pmJust like the Liberals in Congress who want to provoke Turkey (our ally) Liberals like Code Pink want to discourage recruitment of the Armed Forces.
That is the Liberals Plan DISCOURAGE & PROVOKE resentment toward the Bush Administration thus enboldening the enemy to continue the fight. They all suffer from BDS.
October 15th, 2007 at 1:30 pmHOOAH
October 15th, 2007 at 2:19 pmThese people and the rest like them show a helter-skelter constitutional pholosophy….They attack a recruiting office to vandalize and misrepresent it unfairly.
In their inattentive self righteous behavior they do not repect the law, or anyone else’s right to lawful citizenship. To them, their infringement on the rights of others is justified.
Blast them with a fire hose. They earned it.
I bet if they thought they would be shot at they wouldn’t be their…or at least they wouldn’t wear pink.
October 15th, 2007 at 10:03 pmOOPs, I mean Cpt. Lund.![:oops:](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_redface.gif)
October 16th, 2007 at 9:40 am