Anti-War Judge Denies Teen’s Delayed Entry Into Marine Corps
“I just want to serve my country”
“The judge said she didn’t support the Iraq war for any reason why we’re over there,” said Marine recruiter Sgt. Guillermo Medrano of the Simi Valley USMC recruiting office.
“She just said all recruiters were the same - that they `all tap dance and tell me what I want to hear.’ She said she didn’t want him to fight in it.”
L.A. Daily News:
SIMI VALLEY - Shawn Sage long dreamed of joining the military, and watching “Full Metal Jacket” last year really sold him on becoming a Marine.
But last fall, a Los Angeles Superior Court commissioner dashed the foster teen’s hopes of early enlistment for Marine sniper duty, plus a potential $10,000 signing bonus.
In denying the Royal High School student delayed entry into the Marine Corps, Children’s Court Commissioner Marilyn Mackel reportedly told Sage and a recruiter that she didn’t approve of the Iraq war, didn’t trust recruiters and didn’t support the military.
“The judge said she didn’t support the Iraq war for any reason why we’re over there,” said Marine recruiter Sgt. Guillermo Medrano of the Simi Valley USMC recruiting office.
“She just said all recruiters were the same - that they `all tap dance and tell me what I want to hear.’ She said she didn’t want him to fight in it.”
Sage, 17, said he begged for Mackel’s permission.
“Foster children shouldn’t be denied (an) ability to enlist in the service just because they’re foster kids,” he said. “Foster kids shouldn’t have to go to court to gain approval to serve one’s country.”
Mackel, a juvenile dependency commissioner at the Children’s Court in Monterey Park, declined through a clerk to speak about any court case or comments she may have made in court.
Transcripts of juvenile court hearings require a special release from a judge.
Court officials said a transcript of the Sage hearing, if released, would not be available for a week or more.
After Sage submitted a winning entry to the lawmaker’s Write a Bill Challenge, Assemblyman Cameron Smyth introduced legislation last month that would allow foster teens to enlist in the service without express permission from a judge.
Instead, AB2238 would allow foster children 17 or older to sign up with the consent of a foster parent or social worker.
“Here is one impressive young man who somehow made it through the challenge of the foster system, had a clear sense of a career path and was denied that opportunity by a judge basically because of her personal bias,” said Smyth, R-Santa Clarita, who will honor Sage today at a Royal High assembly.
“I find that to be a horrific abuse of her power.”
It was Oct. 12 when Medrano, in crisp dress blues, appeared with Sage before the commissioner to petition for his early enlistment.
The USMC Delayed Entry Program, like those in other services, allows high school seniors to enlist in the service up to a year before starting boot camp.
Recruiters encourage students to hone their study skills, learn to eat right and become fit enough to don a uniform.
By “DEPing in,” students can enlist at 17, get their high school diploma, then lock in a military job such as Force Recon - or scout snipers. They also qualify for a signing bonus.
“We just gave out the last one for recon today to another kid for $10,000,” USMC Master Sgt. Edgar Carpenter of the Marine Recruiting Office in Simi Valley said Wednesday.
“The Delayed Entry Program supports everything a parent would try to do: We make them stay out of trouble; get them in physical condition; and get them indoctrinated into the Marine Corps culture.”
Only Mackel - and it appears a court bailiff as well - objected to the program, despite pleas from Sage and Medrano.
“I tried. I said, `Please.’ I begged. He tried, he said, `Please’ and begged,” Sage said. “But she refused.”
Mackel said she denied delayed enlistment to an eager Navy recruit as well, Medrano said.
She expressed concern that recruiters treat recruits “like another warm body,” he said. “She said, `All you care about is your numbers.”‘
At this point, the 10-year Marine said the court bailiff raised his hand and addressed the young Sage.
“My son’s in the Army,” he said. “He did the Delayed Entry Program. They don’t care about you. They’re just there for the numbers.
“I said, `No, I’m not them,” Medrano said. “I care about Shawn (and) about every single person I put into the Marine Corps. I follow them. I take care of my kids. I treat them like my Marines.
“It just felt like, wow. I even told Shawn, I said, `Dude, it feels like we’ve been burned at the stake at the Salem witch trial.’ She just had some kind of animosity toward military personnel.”
Early this year, Berkeley city officials drew national fire for calling Marine Corps recruiters “uninvited and unwelcome intruders” while granting free parking for anti-war protesters. Lawmakers in Sacramento and Washington pushed bills to deny millions in funds to city coffers.
Sage, who lives in Simi Valley but is originally from Florida, was abandoned by both parents when he was 2 and now lives in a foster home with his brother.
He had wanted to join the military ever since he’d met a service rep at school at age 7 - first the Air Force, then the Navy, finally the Marines.
His foster parents, as well as his social worker, supported his decision to enlist early. Despite being denied, he still shows up for USMC physical training.
“Did they ever kick my butt,” he said proudly. “They still do.”
When he graduates and turns 18 in June, it’ll be all Semper Fi, bonus or no signing bonus, whether he’s allowed early deployment or not.
As winner of Smyth’s “there oughta be a law” contest, he will be flown to Sacramento to testify before the Assembly.
“I didn’t do it for the signing bonus, because I’m a motivated kid,” he said. “I am hoping to join the military before I graduate. I want to serve my country.”
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The chickification of the American male.
March 7th, 2008 at 10:09 amthe judge should be removed, period. end of story.
i hope the future devil dog just rolls with the BS and turns it into a little extra motivation
March 7th, 2008 at 10:10 amAnd here I thought ALL liberals were for “choice” …
I mean, if the kid had been female, same age, and pregnant, I am sure the same judge would have no problem with [her] having an abortion without “Mom and Dad” knowing … eh?
March 7th, 2008 at 10:15 amThis just gets my blood boiling. Doesn’t support the military!?!? Fucking hippie judges.
March 7th, 2008 at 10:23 amOH, this judge is really doing this kid a favor. In Cal., the sad statistic is most foster kids end up in bad circumstances, drugs, alcohol, crime. Poor kid wants to join the USMC, they would become his family, he’d finally be a permanent member of something. Instead, this idiot judge is denying this kid his chance at finally getting that family.
March 7th, 2008 at 10:53 amshe should be removed fm office and made to pay the kid the $10K..
March 7th, 2008 at 10:56 amImpartial court system? Give me a break, can we just burn the entire state to the ground?
March 7th, 2008 at 11:01 amThis just takes a steaming shit on the idea of “Fair and Impartial”
March 7th, 2008 at 11:12 amHey, does anybody know where to go to send her “dishonor” a nice friendly email?
March 7th, 2008 at 11:32 ami guess we didn’t believe in WWII either…not
March 7th, 2008 at 11:47 amI signed off on my son for the DEP after the recruiter promised him free college, fast car, fast girls, station in Hawaii and the legal right to drink beer before he was 21.
Man were we suckered, no one told me there was a war on !
………………
Another example of people choosing sides
March 7th, 2008 at 11:52 amThis is probably the most idiotic reason I have ever heard for not letting someone serve their country. Judge Mackel should be disbarred.
March 7th, 2008 at 12:03 pmEverytime I read stories about young people like Shawn Sage, I feel a little bit better about the future. It is easy to be all gloom and doom when you hear the hippie, America haters from the major Universities talk about how evil the U.S. is. It’ll be the young people like Mr. Sage that save this country in the end. God Bless!
March 7th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
This kid just has to wait one-more-year (18 then.).
March 7th, 2008 at 12:18 pmThis Court Commissioner Mackel represents all that is wrong with our judicial system. If the kid wants to become a U.S. Marine, well then just let him.
No social policies from the bench.
Just wait kid, you’ll probally be a great Marine. And then you’ll be protecting Mackel. See how this works?
Drillanwr nailed it!
March 7th, 2008 at 12:42 pmAmen Drillan!!
The judge should be recalled, and then disbarred, sued wo have all assets removed from her possession, turn them over to the foster care system, set a college fund or something.
Then have her citizenship revoked, and deported to Venezuela! While we are at it, fill the plane with the Berkely and Code Pink pukes, so we have economies of scale! Capitalism at its best.
What a great thesis idea ” how to deport traiters as cheaply as possible”
March 7th, 2008 at 1:04 pmUh, since when can you have Recon or Sniper School guaranteed before you enter the fleet? That is a selection process, not an MOS.
March 7th, 2008 at 1:10 pmI believe that judge violated that persons civil rights.
March 7th, 2008 at 1:42 pmWow what an admirable young man. That judge should be ashamed of herself. What a disgusting woman.
March 7th, 2008 at 2:36 pmNext the Bitch will want to take away his Birthday…
Wouldn’t it be ironic if after turning 18 and having a successful military career, this young man became a Juvenile court Judge one day?
March 7th, 2008 at 2:47 pmCome on “Terminator.” Put her in her place! No girlie boys allowed. No feminazi judges, either.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:38 pmCome on Governor “Terminator.” Put her in her place!
March 7th, 2008 at 4:40 pmJWALK
No e-mail, but here’s everything else:
Marilyn Mackel, Commissioner
Edmund D. Edelman Children’s Court (Dependency)
201 Centre Plaza Drive
Monterey Park, CA 91754
(323) 526-6402
March 7th, 2008 at 5:36 pm@USMC BEANS:
If I remember right, you can lock in a spot in a school, MOS, or unit after you graduate basic and AIT. If you fail, you go into a regular unit. There aren’t many slots, and they usually go to guys in the DEP, because that gives the recruiters a year to train the kids, giving them a leg up (and a push, sit and pull up) on everyone else. They’ll do stuff most weekends, usually PT, but also teaching them to use and maintain M-16s, radio procedure, military courtesy, etc.
Wish I’d done it when I had the chance.
March 7th, 2008 at 5:43 pmThis is so wrong-the judge should NOT have let her bias against the military sway her decision. This would have helped him, not hurt him.
March 7th, 2008 at 6:14 pmmaggott bitch, keep your opinion to yourself.
March 8th, 2008 at 5:50 amhey california take your state back from those idiots
March 8th, 2008 at 9:02 amAs for the recruiters. I had a step dad that was a Army recruiter and for many of the kids he recruited the Army was the best way out of the slum they were living in.
On the other hand the National Guard and Army Reserves recruiters that called me when I was 18 just out and out lied about things.
The young man is a ward of the court and the court is to watch out for his best interest. The Judges sole purpose
is to make an un-biased decision in the best interest of the youngman.
She failed miserable and should be disbarred.
March 8th, 2008 at 2:56 pmI know that this sounds funny but is that even legal?
Can the kid appeal? Obviously the judge is allowing her personal opinion of the circumstances influence her “impartial” ruling on the case. That doesn’t sound like a “fair” trial as guaranteed under the Constitution.
Someone needs to go to bat for that kid.
March 8th, 2008 at 3:02 pmIn the anti-American deck of cards, she and her ilk are Aces of Spades.
March 8th, 2008 at 4:26 pmI never thought I’d say this, but I actually wish physical harm upon another American citizen.
Some Judges are voted in, some are appointed and most consider themselves as God like beings.
Regardless he is a ward of the court and the Court (sounds like a living being) takes on the role of the guardian/trustee which gives the nay or yea on any decision regarding the kid.
Kind of like when my former spouse was having her new man over to the house immediately after the divorce, which made a bad situation worse and wasn’t in the best interst of our Number One repsponsbility……….but since there were no drugs and she wasn’t being endangered it was NONE of MY FUCKING BUSINESS according to the LAW and the COURT.
LMAO….dealing with the Courts and the Kids best interest ain’t fair or easy.
March 8th, 2008 at 9:37 pmThe bitch! The audacity to not even pretend to support the troops. The judicial system has far too much power–at every level of government.
March 8th, 2008 at 10:42 pm