Take the advice of Nike - the goddess of victory:

"Just do it".

Let the marines investigate it.

I'd just forward his email with appropriate comment to his CO.

I am sure that his CO would be interested in how his people are projecting the image of the USMC. Especially his PR people!

hackers can send fake emails with .mil domains in the address. if this guy is a jarhead.. i'm sure he is of a low rank. you can forward a copy to a CID or military police unit and they can track it down. it is a clear violation of regulations for official email.

Glenn, I would be tempted to forward this to the Marine's C.O. but the reality is that would be stepping on a cockroach for the joy of it. That is using power for no good reason. My impression is that you don't do those kind of things, and so I endorse your inaction. Let the Marine find this piece, realize that you could have burned him and quake in his sweat-drenched boots.

Reply to him, and ask if he recently mailed you. I'll give you odds that the headers are fake. If they're not, forward it to his CO. Someone with judgement that bad shouldn't be anywhere close to weapons. Or a government keyboard.

"Let the Marine find this piece, realize that you could have burned him and quake in his sweat-drenched boots."

And then squish the cockroach for being an anti-American, anti-Semitic fool. The last thing we need in our military is soldiers who hold the foreign policy of the United States in contempt.

In the unlikely event that this was the result of a hacker , all the more reason to report it through tht proper channels.

Well, there is a lance corporal by that name who works in the office that the email says it came from. The headers don't seem to be fake, but while I can sometimes spot spoofing, I'm sure I can be fooled.

Assuming it's genuine: I don't want to step on the guy just to get him in trouble. It was a dumb thing to do, but for all I know he realized that two seconds after he hit "send" and has been sweating ever since. On the other hand, he works in a freakin' public affairs office -- how dumb is it to go calling people who write for the public "cocksuckers" on your official email? (And to make this worse, this was sent in response to my FoxNews, column, so he knew that's what he was doing). I'm kind of torn on this, which is why I posted the question. I don't want to punish a guy for calling me a bad name. I'm a big boy, and I've been called worse. But on the other hand, a guy who'll do that is a loose cannon, and somebody probably ought to know. Shouldn't they?

My first reaction would be to bounce it on up his food chain. Also my second, third...

Smoke him out!

Yes. Send it to his CO. This clown is an insult to the entire military. He's probably already in six different kinds of sh*t anyway. If not, his superiors need to know what kind of guy they have working there. This would help them understand. On the other hand, you could blow this off and this clown could turn into the next Timothy McVeigh. Better to find out now if he is a McVeigh wannabe.

Yep yep. Send it to the CO. (In case the CO is computer-ignorant, mention the possibility of spoofing the address.)

This isn't "wanting to punish" the writer. If he were Joe Cashier or Joe Programmer or Joe Marketing Writer and sent such a letter, there'd be no call to forward it to his boss. However, he is (it appears) a member of our armed forces. If I were his CO, I'd sure want to know this, and not for trivial reasons either.

I am a 24 year USAF vet. Standard procedure in this case would be to forward this mail to his commander with a statement on how and when it was received. If it is a spoofed address, they need to take steps to correct it. If it was from the marine in question, they can correct him.

Speaking as a member of the military, I would strongly recommend that you forward the letter to his CO. He is *not* allowed to send abusive e-mail (of any sort) from a .mil domain, and his anti-semitism (he said "Jews", not "Israel") is also a violation of the military's EO programs. I am sure his superiors would be quite interested in what he had to say to you, and I doubt it will be dismissed with a tongue-lashing, especially in a Public Affairs unit.

There are times when I hear police officers complain about the double standard they have to live under. Actions or comments which are innocent or would rate nothing more than a shrug in the civilian world can ruin an officer's career.

I always agree that it IS a double standard, but it's a necessary one. The police have to be held to a higher standard because they represent authority, force and the will of the voters. If they didn't know what the job entaile they should quit, if they didn't want the responsibility they shouldn't have joined in the first place.

I think you can see where I'm going with this.

James

Tell the marines. If it's fake, they should know, and if it's real, they should know. Don't think of it as punishing him for calling you a bad name, think of it as screwing over an anti-Semite. It's not like he was calling you a cocksucker over colonizing Mars. (I don't think you should publish his info. It could be a fake, let the Marines find out who did it.)

We are paying his salary, and he is supposed to be defending us during a war. Notify, don't publish.

Forward to commander, raising possibility of being a spoof. Let the CO handle it. I did 20 years in Public Affairs and military broadcasting. This use of the office and resources is unacceptable.

My Grandfather (deceased) was a Major General in the USMC, a veteran of Belleau Wood, Saipan and Iwo Jima. He was wounded fighting for this country. He was also Jewish. The Marine who sent you the e-mail is a disgrace to the USMC; please forward it to his CO and trust the Marines to handle it properly. Thank you.

Goodness, just let it go and don't do anything except write him back and ask him to refrain from such idiocy from a government domain.

It was obviously written by a semi-literate kid who was either drunk or acting stupidly when he sent you that poorly-written and laughably-stupid e-mail. He made no threats of physical violence, nor was his "stop supporting the Jews" statement really racist as much as it was just ignorant.

He's a young, dumb, and misinformed Marine who should use more discretion and consideration before sending off personal e-mails--filled with hate and ignorance--from a government domain.

Send him a personal e-mail warning him that the next time he sends this kind of bile, you WILL contact his Commanding Officer.

Then let it go. He obviously has enough problems as it is.

I'm a marine (1983-1987) and this guy's CO needs to know what he's got working for him. He's a disgrace to the corp and needs to be stepped on. Hard.

Semper Fi.

His CO needs to know - we've got too much at stake in this war for the CO NOT to know.

Let the UCMJ deal with the punk.

To me, notifying the guy's commander would be the chickenshit approach. Telling the guy that you could have, and cautioning him about the potential consequences of sending personal e-mail from a military computer, would be the honorable way to go about it.

It's amusing to see how shocked (shocked, I say) your readers seem to be about this guy's anti-semitism. What world do they live in? There's a lot of that shit still around, folks, and it runs deep.

Regards,
Paul

E-mail the whole thing to the Commandant of the Marine Corps. His staff will take care of it.
This sort of thing is totally unacceptable.

I don't know why you are questioning if you should let his CO know. If this had been an anti- african american email instead of anti semetic, you would not hesitate.

Please re read the email and place South Africa ( pre-apartheid ) where it says Syria, and Blacks where it says jews.

Now how do you feel?

Inform his CO. If the e-mail was valid, we don't want someone with his attitudes and lack of judgment working in a PAO office, and we certainly don't want to give him an opportunity to re-enlist. I spent 28 years (11 active; 17 reserves) in the Corps, so I am hardly surprised, but I am disappointed. The 10% rule (you devote 90% of your time to 10% of the people) always lives on.

IMHO he is probably some combination of young, stupid, immature and full of testosterone. I would reply to his e-mail and tell him how honorable, mature people act. Maybe you can attach (or link) all these comments so he can see how out of line he is.

It is very easy to burn someone electronically - much harder to be a man and do it to his face.

A public affairs guy writing that? Punctuation's poor, anti-semetic, all caps - I'd write him, requesting a reply and telling him you think it was faked. Then compare message headers. If they're different, then they've been hacked, and their comm squadron needs to know NOW to start investigating it. If it's not, then forward things up the chain of command, because he apparently hasn't learned much from either his primary public relations training or his 'sensitivity' training and needs to be talked to (at the very least).

Paul Woodward: Anti-semetism, racism, and sexism exist in the military. Big whoop. What a surprise.

But what is NOT allowed is the expression of racist, sexist or anti-semetic statements. Every service member is supposed to represent the entire military to the public. We have regulations regarding wear of the uniform - because if you see a soldier, sailor, airman or marine out of uniform, it reflects on the military at large.

We have regulations regarding political expression as well while wearing the uniform, because the military at large offcially owes no allegiance to any party. We are cautioned to represent ourselves well in our on-line communications when we mail from official accounts.

I'm a Reservist. When I'm on duty, I'd be completely out of line to be sending out racist, sexist, or anti-semetic remarks on government e-mail. At the least, this guy deserves a letter of counseling - IF he sent it.

Send the information to his CO. If he indeed sent this, then his unit has a problem that they need to know about. If he didn't send this, then his unit has a different problem that they need to know about. Having spent 20 years working with computers in the Air force, I've seen first-hand how unintentionally leaving yourself logged onto a workstation can negatively affect you. The military does not tolerate discrimination when they know about it, and they need to have such ignorance pointed out so they can eliminate it.

Most of the comment that suggest contacting the Marine and telling him what you could have done, or why its wrong, etc., are taking a "reasonable" approach. But this assumes the Marine can be reasoned with. Stop making excuses for a bigoted cretin.

That comment did not come from a reasoning individual. Tell his CO or the Marine Corps Commandant's office. He needs to be corrected, not coddled.

I'm surprised none of your readers have mentioned the best option of all: tell the SSGT or Gunny in charge of his section. I guarantee a positive change in attitude for this particular Lance criminal if you do that.

What to do about this (real or spoofed) is a decision for his CO to make, not you.

I don't want anti-American Marines (And it's no huge leap to assume that's his attitude). I don't care if he's an assistant to the head magazine rack inspector. His CO ought to know.

If this guy was almost anything but a soldier, you would be reasonable, though not necessarily right, to keep quiet. But this guy is a MARINE, and his job is to kill and destroy according to American foreign policy.

American foreign policy is fairly supportive of Israel and fairly unsupportive of Syria. He needs to tow the line. He certainly doesn't need to be sending out emails on taxpayer time and taxpayer equipment that question supporters of American foreign policy. To the extent this guy has flouted official policy, his superiors need to know.

If you are scared for your own safety, that's one thing. But protecting this guy's identity from his superiors for his own sake is the wrong thing to do.

Dr. Reynolds,

I would recommend that you contact the young man in question and ask him if he did indeed send you the indicated message. If he replies in the affirmative, give him a chance to restate his opinion in more civilized terms.

If he fails to do so. Bury him. He's not some punk in a college computer lab. He's a member of the U.S. military. We don't need racists or idiots (and he appears to be both) in the service.

I know nobody wants to kill the career of somebody they don't even know, but we are speaking of the military here, so the decision ought to rest with his CO.

As you well know because you are really into computer technology, anyone can imitate anyone else with an email. This little piece seems to reek of somebody getting even with somebody.

Like he was given guard duty, KP, or some other assignment by the so-called sender and decided to wreck the guy.

Leave it be.

Based on 20 years in the Army, I see two possibilities.

One, it was faked.

Two, he's already in trouble with the Marines and they'd probably like to know about this. Based on the quality of the email and his judgement, he did not make Lance Corporal working in Public Affairs. He has probably already been moved out of his normal duty position pending some decision or action - screwups are generally moved (often to administrative positions) for the good of the unit or themselves.

You are only one known recipient of this idiocy, there could be many more. Though it goes against my usual inclination, I'd forward the email to his Commander.

Didn't the Syrians have something to do with the Beirut Marine barracks bombing? I remember the first time I saw "semper fi": It was on a sign a marine being airlifted out of the bombed barracks was holding. What would he think of this guy?

Well, I did email the guy earlier. So far he hasn't replied, but the email hasn't bounced. We'll see what happens.

Perhaps you should have responded and asked the sender if indeed they had sent that message?

By sending the complaint, you just gave that young Marine NJP, even if he is innocent. The Navy / Marine Corps will not admit to having their network hacked, or being hackable.

It appears as an act of cowardice on your part.

When I worked in the IT dept on a large millitary base I would always harp on people to log off when away from their computers. The 'mover and shaker" JOs were the worst. They didn't listen until I told them that someone might, while they were out of the office, email some candid comments to then president Clinton, with THEIR email header. That pretty much stopped it. (You would not believe how sloppy some were at staying logged on or having their password-on-the-blotter.)

Either this guy is a total idiot or one of his buds got his password and is doing him dirty.

No one seems willing to approch the idea that this guy might actually represent the views of many soldiers. If he is a Marine, and he honestly feels this way, can we safely make the assumption that he has not discussed these atitudes with others, both inside and outside his unit?

Also, in jest, too bad your not gay, for us the term cocksucker is a compliment.

I tend to be unsympathetic with current laws which impose anti-discrimination requirements on private businesses, and which impose heavy liability on businesses for the actions and attitudes of their employees (which they often have little knowledge of or control over).

Conversely, the government itself must not discriminate, and the government must bear heavier than normal liability for the actions of its employees who are entrusted with weapons and life-or-death decision-making authority (i.e., members of the military forces).

This person can rant all he wants as a private citizen, but how can we trust him as a marine? Would he carry out orders if they involved hostile action against Syria during the course of a Mid East battle? Would he protect fellow marines who were Jews? This is too serious to simply let slide. At the very least it requires further investigation.

And don't feel too sorry for him. He volunteered to join the marines. He voluntarily sent you the email. He must bear the consequences for his voluntary choices and actions.

Three Words:

boot camp recycle

No, James, this clown does NOT represent the views of military personnel. He's a disgrace and should have, at minimum, counseling.

By which I mean his CO or senior NCO tear some strips from his hide in a closed door session.

If I were his superior, and it could be proven that he really did send that e-mail, he'd be up on charges.

Uh, Sean, I did email the guy who sent the email; I didn't complain to his CO. Read what I posted before you start slinging accusations of cowardice.

Glenn: This is on a USMC "Letterhead", so to speak and that makes it a serious violation of many regulations. "To Preserve, Protect and Defend..." is the primary obligation of each and every person serving in our military forces and the responsibility of that Oath has long procluded the expression of personal political opinions while in uniform or via official communications.
Forward it all to the Commandant's Office with whatever caveats you wish but thousands have now seen this and it reflects upon each and every Marine. And they will not like this at all!
Edward

Glenn,
I AM a CO of a small unit and I would absolutely want to know if this kind of thing were going on in my command, on my network.

I hope the young man replies, apoligizes to you and then goes and tells his chain of command what a stupid thing he did. If not, burn him.

We're talking about a, what, e-3 in the Marines? At that rank, there's a chance you're talking to someone who isn't even old enough to drink. In that light, and considering the educational and income levels of your average young enlisted marine, and what he sent you is hardly shocking.

That said, forward it to his CO. When you forward it, go ahead and mention that it could have been hacked, but his CO is essentially his dad, and is responsible for this punk's behavior. If one of my children was sending email like that, I'd certainly want to know, so I could have a chance to correct them.

I agree with those who say that his CO needs to know. If it's a hack, he needs to know; if one of his Marines is a screwup, he needs to know. The judicious approach would be to tell the CO, with an appropriate statement to the effect that you can't verify if this particular Marine is the sender or not.

Just report the guy. We don't need any more Ali Mohammed's in the Marines. He had no reasonable expectation of privacy, confidentiality or anything else. What countervailing policy of equal or greater magnitude is promoted by allowing keeping this guy off the Marine's radar screen.

Gee, I can't imagine how they picked up the name "Jarheads".

Ha.

Funny (in a rather cynical, disgusting, way) to see all the future govt snitches coming out of the woodwork.

"Yeah, turn the guy in to his Commanding Officer," the trained seals bark in unison.

Does anyone have the slightest doubt that the TIPS, inform-on-your-neighbor program would go over just fine here in the States ?

"He didn't ask for anonymity," says Professor Reynolds. "So maybe I should turn him in," is the implication. "But I'm not man enough to make up my own mind about it, so maybe I can make him sweat for a while as I mull it over, and let him twist in the wind."

Go ahead Reynolds, turn him in. But either do it or shut up about it. And if you do, I invite that Marine to let us at VNN know about it afterwards, we'll make sure and publicise it widely.

I'm an army vet, not Marine Corps, but I'm sure you can make some trouble for the MAN, weenie, if you want to report him to his CO, or even to his platoon sergeant if you like. But either do it or shut up about it.

All the "tee-hee-hee, turn him in" comments from these heroes at their keyboards are a bitter testimonial to what the United States has become today. If you "magnanimously" don't turn the guy in to his superiors, why don't you publish the base he was writing from, and all these tough guys who are writing you can make individual arrangements to meet that Marine outside the main gate after work or on the weekend. Then they could really show him what they think of him -- in a private, one on one "discussion."

Mark Konrad
http://www.vanguardnewsnetwork

The Vanguard News Network has apparently started a chapter of "Nazis for Civil Liberties." And if you think that's a joke, then you don't know those guys.

Glenn,

This Marine, assuming that his email has not been hijacked, is in violation of at least two articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice -- Article 117 (Provoking Speech or Gestures):

"Any person subject to this chapter who uses provoking or reproachful words or gestures towards any other person subject to this chapter shall be punished as a court-martial may direct."

and Articlt 134, (the General Article):

"Though not specifically mentioned in this chapter, all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces, all conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces, and crimes and offenses not capital, of which persons subject to this chapter may be guilty, shall be taken cognizance of by a general, special or summary court-martial, according to the nature and degree of the offense, and shall be punished at the discretion of that court."

Despite the use of the word "court-martial" these offenses would likely not go beyond his Commanding Officer, unless you made a huge fuss about it. He's likely to have an interesting time at "Office Hours," however.

For non judicial punishment, his CO can reduce him in rank, throw him in the brig for up to a month, cut his pay in half for two months, restrict his liberty (time off) for up to two months, and give him 45 days of extra duty.

Normally, the best way to handle this would be to inform his immediate superior, most likely a First or Gunnery Sargeant. Since you probably can't get easily get the name of said individual, however, I reccomend forwarding this to his CO.

Don't sit on this -- this Marine is clearly not suited for his current job, and is a scandal waiting to happen. Letting him off with a warning would be passing the buck.

Imagine that. Someone in the military, of all places, thinks it's all the fault of the Jews.
Looks to me like the Armed Forces needs to be a little more selective in who they take in as recruits.

FYI, to save anyone else the trouble of following that horrid link above, Mr. Konrad is an anti-semitic nutcase and his website is full of vile stuff. He's only taking that moron marine's side because he's just as stupid and bigoted himself. Yuck.

Too late--I looked.

Ew. Ew. Ew.

I think I need a shower.

God Bless the Anti-Idiotarians!

'I don't want to punish a guy for calling me a bad name. I'm a big boy, and I've been called worse. But on the other hand, a guy who'll do that is a loose cannon, and somebody probably ought to know. Shouldn't they?'

This is ridiculous reasoning. That he likes Syria enough to insult you over it in no way implies he's a "loose cannon" who needs official military discipline, lest he do.....what? Continue to send insulting emails related to Syria? Truly, he's a threat to us all.

Would you feel a need to report him if he insulted you on, say, the last post on copyright law?

So Glenn, Let's assume this kid really did write the email. Now he just lies to you and say's he didn't. You've accomplished what? He goes on fostering his anti-American & anti Semitic ideas and cannot be trusted in our own military. He also knows now that you are a dupe and learns that he can spew his hate and get away with it. Good going.

Assuming that he didn't write it, then his CO should know so appropriate actions can be taken whether the system was hacked or somebody inappropriately used his email/password. He may not want to admit to you or anyone else that his email was inappropriately used, but embarrasment is no excuse for covering up a security lapse.

Ultimately, the CO should know because either situation is unacceptable.

Forward the Marine's e-mail to his CO. Tell the Marines to give the guy his due for his totally unacceptable behavior. Then ask if there are any spare Marines around to teach Mark Konrad a thing or two.

Boy, this sure got a lot more comments than I expected. You never know what'll do it and what won't. I appreciate all the advice; I'm going to ponder it a bit. I get hatemail all the time (including hatemail from Nazis like Konrad), but this seems different to me.

Note to Scott Koenig: Actually, I do have the name and phone number of the appropriate Gunnery Sergeant. Stuff like that isn't hard to find out, if you know where to look.

"To me, notifying the guy's commander would be the chickenshit approach. "

To me, not notifying his CO would be the bullshit approach.

Sorry, Glenn.

My bust. It's Jim who I hold up as a coward, based on the second response I saw on this topic. I got confused at first. I have many other words, but I've self-censored them out. Jim, it's folks like you I think make good body count when the battle is over. There. You get my drift.

Jim stated he just forwarded it on to the meat grinder that is the chain of command for this individual. I suspect Jim has no idea what it's like to have NIS crawl down your throat, innocent or not. Or to have the threat of receiving NJP waved above your head.

This is more likely an unattended logged-in system. Someone typed in that message. One can assume that a sh*tStorm is going down in that Unit right now if there was officer-level notification.

As far as the "the Marines are here to protect people of Jewish decent"... no, we are not. Nowhere is that mentioned in the oath I took when I signed up for my 4-year hitch.

Nor was there an anti-anything clause, except for enemies of the United States of America. We were sworn to kick their ass, in a most diligent manner. Just give us the word.

More than likely, someone in this young man’s unit is setting him up. He has a Muslim sounding name; what do you think the odds are it's one or more Red Necks in his unit setting him up?

Verify it with the supposed author. Give it some time. For all you know, he’s out in the field. E-3’s don’t have the keys to Nuclear Weapons. He works for a PR unit. He has an Arabic sounding name. He could be doing a story. For all you know, the real kid could be busy milking real world information out of someone to stop your sorry ass from being in the next terrorist act to go down in the United States. Or just covering the local unit’s soccer team scores in a game. He’ll get back to you. He’s in a PR unit.

At this point in time, the Marines, and all the other Armed Services, want more Arabic speaking members. Why? It’s a heck of a lot easier to have the interpreters in the service with you.

The Corps has more problems with young Marines who are Caucasian or African American. There are more problems related to alcohol abuse / wife abuse / bounced checks / etc, not Muslim infiltrators sending emails to high profile Internet bloggers.

Think about it: how many Marines with Arabic sounding names are there in the Corps, and at times like these, how many are going to profile themselves in this manner? How many are in a PR unit, which, btw, does have requirements regarding the ability to use English grammar? What… 10? 100? Surely not 1000. It’s close to 10 than 1000. A lot closer.

Did it cross the readers mind that maybe this is some kid who speaks Arabic fluently, and is actually working hard to ensure nothing goes boom the next time your are in a tall building? You just don’t know. Nor do you have a need to know.

Instead, I would suggest that you kiss your loved one and thank your lucky stars you are alive today, and have a miniscule chance of getting shot at by non-Americans. That’s one of the reasons kids like this are wearing the uniform.

Let me guess... Jim is pro-semite and anti-muslim. I'll even further the guess... Jim never served a day in his life in the military. Especially not in the Corps as an enlisted Marine. How could Jim know what the course of events would be if you followed his urgent suggestions to start the ball rolling?

Go tell it to the marines!

-Always wanted to say that and have it make sense.

To my mind, it's as if someone had written you a nasty, anti-semitic letter on company letterhead. Wouldn't you notify their boss that someone was using the company's name to spew anti-semitic/homophobic slurs?

If he'd written it as a private citizen, and you'd somehow found out that he was in the military, I would say not to report him. But he chose to use the .mil email address, though I can't say whether it's because he wanted to lend military cred to his actions, or he's just a complete idiot. Either way, he doesn't belong in the military. If this guy didn't want to get burned, he should have used a Yahoo account.

And then there's the third possibility, which is that he didn't write it. In which case either he should get spanked for failing to log out, or they've been hacked or need to know. Any way you cut it, I'd say you report him.

I will say one thing in this guy's defense: don't take the capitalized letters harshly. Many emails from Marines have come to me in capitalized letters and it's hard to contextualize capitalized letters AS CALM, ORDINARY PROSE. It may read more like a rant than it is.

CAPITALIZATION notwithstanding, the minority of commentators that thinks this guy's behavior (if not a hack or a prank) is fine or that Prof. Reynolds would be a low-down snitch if he tattles are missing the larger point: the guy is an enlisted Marine. He's not really allowed to have an opinion about American foreign policy. He's certainly not allowed to editorialize about his opinion on the United States's dime.

He's not a truck driver. He's not a KFC manager. He's not a nurse. He made an Oath to be a disciplined company man. If the guy was a KFC manager and did exactly the same thing, and Prof. Reynolds contemplated calling his district supervisor, Prof. Reynolds would be 100% wrong.

As far as the "the Marines are here to protect people of Jewish decent"... no, we are not.

The Marines are here to protect AMERICANS. And that includes Jewish Americans. If you disagree, Sean, then you are in the wrong line of work.

The corporal's message sounds like it could have come from Sirhan Sirhan.

This guy represents the USMC and in a way, all Americans. The use of USMC e-mail to send an anti-Semetic message is not simply inappropriate. It's completely wrong and as Americans we all deserve better.

I work in the business world. If I sent a hate-filled note to anyone on company letterhead I'd be out the door in a heartbeat.

The difference in that analogy is that I would represent only my company. This guy represents us all.

Can you include the headers in your response to his CO? (Since I don't know what e-mail client you use, the way in which you preserved the message, etc., I can't say. I will say, if you couldn't have, you should get another e-mail client).

If so, forward the message with its headers to the CO, suggesting that the Sender and/or Reply-to addresses could have been spoofed, and that some analysis be done on the Received headers. If you can't at this point, just drop it.

As far as the "the Marines are here to protect people of Jewish decent"... no, we are not. Nowhere is that mentioned in the oath I took when I signed up for my 4-year hitch.
Really, Sean? Perhaps you could point out where jewish people are excluded from the protection of the Marines? Or perhaps you should just withdraw for awhile while your mouth undergoes a much needed overhaul.

Sean,
Maybe it is one of your fellow rednecks setting this kid up. So let's just sweep it under the rug. That'll help him.

Regardless this kid works in public affairs so I doubt that he's doing intel duty, "milking real world information out of someone", or "actually working hard to ensure nothing goes boom the next time your are in a tall building."

Next, learn to read. I never said that "the Marines are here to protect people of Jewish decent" Your quotes not mine. It appears no where in the comments except from you. Actually, I thought that it wa the job of the Marines to serve the interests of all Americans regardless of race, religion etc.

As far as your comments about belonging in the body count. (Or are you just too cowardly/not dumb enough to post a real death threat?) You have no idea what you speak of.

I'm glad you signed up for your four year hitch. And since it sounds like you're out now I'm even more glad about that. I'm glad that you have such contempt for the people you signed up to serve. Your a better example of what's wrong with the military than this kid probably is.

Frankly, Had I been in Glenn's place I probably would have just discarded the note as the senseless hate mail that it is. Since He asked I gave my $.02.

The Marines are here to protect all Americans. And that means Asian-Americans, African-Americans, Caucasin-Americans, Latin-Americans, Native Americans, Jewish-Americans, Muslim-Americans. Baptists / Catholics / Agnostics / Atheists/ Mormons/ Scientologists / Snake Shakers/ etc. The list goes on. If I missed your group, don’t worry: you are covered. You are American, the Corps is one of the branches of the Armed Services that are there to make sure someone isn’t clamping a slave ring around your neck and telling you how to live. Or your mouth.

But first read this carefully: I am not in the Marine Corps at this time. It was back, when we had elected presidents, that I served in the Corps. There is no CO at my house that you can whine to. It’s not going to make a difference. I am the final authority regarding my opinion. You get to deal with me.

I do see the effort to paint this as a "let's punish the enlisted Marine now!" before Glenn checks with the supposed source.

I also what looks like a pack of civilians crying for blood.

Oh, a quick note: how on earth is 'STOP SUPPORTING THE JEWS. AND AMERICA WOULDNT BE IN THIS MESS..' anti-semitic? It's a foreign policy statement, not racism.

On parsing exactly how he violated the UMCJ:

'WHATS WRONG WITH SYRIA.. COCKSUCKER.. THERE NOT DOING ANYTHING TO YOU... STOP SUPPORTING THE JEWS. AND AMERICA WOULDNT BE IN THIS MESS..'

Right, he insulted you, and also used a work email for non-work purposes. That's it.

'I get hatemail all the time (including hatemail from Nazis like Konrad), but this seems different to me.'

Seriously, Glenn, I think the only reason this one "sounds different" is that it's a sorta-terrorism related one from an arab guy, and that sets off all sorts of alarm bells it didn't used to. That doesn't mean the underlying reality has changed.

I completely agree with Jane Galt here. If I were to write something as stupid using my company's email, I would be unemployed by now. You have got to be brain dead to send an email like that from your employer's system. It would be a different matter if the guy would have used his personal email, but he clearly didn't. Whether this means that he's just a moron (in which case he should be flipping burgers in McDonald's) or is not afraid that his superiors will find out about this, this behavior should be reported. We have enough idiots in law enforcement (e.g. FBI unable for figure out what on earth could have motivated the July 4th killer), we can't afford to have people like that protecting us.

Jim,

After seeing the witch hunt that can occur when civilians complain to the military about suppsed conduct of junior enlisted members, even though it was not my issue, I can truly say that most of the civilians out there have no clue what ball they are setting in action on the military side of the fence.

Also, it's not a death threat that I posted. I never intended it to be. It's a sign of my frustration with people who are more than willing to screw with the people who are keeping this country free.

I have friends / former neighbors / familly members who are vets.

Some of them have passed on. Some still live. Most of us have served. To protect everyone in America. Even the Nazi fools I despise so much. Got to protect those idiots too.

What I disagree with is civilians causing massive issues with guys in the military without using some common sense.

Sean, it's not just civilians. I have counted at least five currently on active duty (myself included) and a number of former military.

I am enlisted, but I have a supervisory position. If any of the people who worked for me sent something like that out, I would push for as hard a punishment as possible. Not only does it violate Art. 117 of the UCMJ, it also violates Art. 92, as I can guarantee that it contravenes the usage rules for networks on military installations.

For those who are (justifiably) concerned about spoofing, it appears that the address was valid, as Glenn said it wasn't bounced. Most .mil servers are very quick to reject bogus accounts, so it is safe to say that the individual in question actually exists.

Glenn -

Let the Gunny handle it. He (or she) will know what to do.

As a marine he is a public servant. Using his .mil email address he represents the USMC as well as himself. Were I to use my corporate email in the same fashion sending racist/anti-Semitic and vulgar language I would receive a sharp reprimand and, depending on the severity, lose my job.

As an employee he deserves no better. Just because he serves in the military does not exempt him from the rules or from punishment when he breaks them. It is not up to us to punish him. Regardless of what Glenn might say to a CO, that CO would verify the facts himself before proceding.

It doesn't matter what job we do. We know what the rules are and when we break them we need to face up to the consequences. I see no point in checking with the source.

obviously the grunt's on a crap raft, but my question is,.. why do your readers assume all semites are jews. A lot of them are arabs too.
Please people, look it up. Semitic is not a religion.
bob in the hills

weighing in late...

Guys, I firmly believe in holding the government to the same or higher standard as they hold us. Would the government go after one of us civilians if we sent a similar message to a ranking member of the military?

Oh, and the emperor has no clothes on.

speedwell

Speedwell,

The proper analogy is whether our employers would reprimand or otherwise punish us if we sent a similar email over our corporate email.

or

If some corporate flunky sent you a vulgar and racialy biased email would you complain to his boss? Simple question. What the boss does is irrelevant.

Timekeeper...

OK, OK. He's toast. Sooner or later Glenn will either cough it up, or receive a court order demanding the information to be released to the proper authorities.

This young Marine just became a poster boy for reasons not to post while you are in service unless you are required to.

Read: it does nothing but expose you to issues you may or may not be aware of: Like getting NJP / Office hours / Captains Mast / etc. Or just going to jail.

My feeling is that someone in PR wouldn’t' do this. Unless they have video proof that he was the one keying it in, I'm going with the concept that he's been set up. Now... would that be considered a hate crime, and if so, how's it going to be handled inside the oh-so-understanding military justice system? How does he prove his innocence?

One would think that all members of the Armed Forces with Arabic sounding names have gotten a lot of scrutiny since Sept. 11th.

Every active duty Military member who reads this knows there are people in service right now who harbor ill will towards Muslims, even if they are men and women of Muslim faith who are serving in the U.S. Military. As active duty personnel, you realize you have 10% that aren’t exactly poster boys/girls. I don’t think that changes over time.

It speaks oceans about the free society the youth of America are being asked to defend with their lives.

Tell his CO, most Marines understand "if you play, you must pay." And most CO's are pretty rational about appropriate punishment. In any case, there are probably plenty of computer literate Marines around, and this has probable "sky-line" written all over it.

22 year Marine vet (a stinking officer).

Well, nobody's going to serve me with a court order. I really wanted advice on what to do about this. My first inclination was to do nothing. But it bothered me that somebody -- especially in a public affairs unit -- was sending email like this. (Or maybe it's fake. But that's a problem too -- and wouldn't a fake email designed to get someone in trouble have said more -- you know "long live Osama!" or something?) It's certainly interesting to see people's different takes on this subject.

Glenn,

Am I the only one who sees this trend? I feel that if I state "We should not persecute American Muslims based on their ethnic background" that people jump to the conclusion that I'm obviously anti-Semitic. There seems to be a lot of baiting to get one to say something anti-Israeli / Anti-Semite / anti-Jewish.

???

What gives with this attitude? Has America become that simple minded?

I didn't wade through all 80 odd comments, but aside from the fact that someone needs to know about this whether or not it's authentic, another question comes to mind. If someone wanted to get him in trouble, why on earth did he select instapundit as the vector? Wouldn't the traditional media be more likely to assure a response to the authorities? Just a thought.

Glenn, as I see it, there are four possibilities:

1) The Marine in question left himself logged in or else shared his password with some young and semi-literate friend or relative who pranked him, in which case his CO needs to know about it so he can be lightly slapped upside the head and reminded about elementary computer security.

2) Someone is trying to set up the Marine in question, in which case his CO needs to know about it so the person or persons doing it can be found and punished.

3) The mail server the Marine in question uses has been hacked, in which case his CO needs to know about it so it can be brought to the attention of whoever sysadmins the box and connected boxes that might also be compromised.

4) The Marine in question actually wrote this drivel, in which case his CO needs to know what he's got working for him.

There's a common thread in all of these.

---

(bob, if you're not trolling, the term "anti-Semite" was coined in the nineteenth century. Go look up its meaning, and the term it was coined to replace.)

It is not true that either the email is legitimate or someone hacked a military network. The possibility that the apparent sender's CO will make this assumption (which several messages here seem to imply) worries me.

(It's entirely possible that someone just found a Marine with an Arabic name in the same database that Prof. Reynolds used to look him up by name.)

It doesn't take a hacker to forge email -- that is, someone could send you email that appeared to be from a .mil address without ever getting near an actual military computer, and without using any software except telnet. The only way to tell is that one of the Received headers (not the last one) would contain the actual sender's IP address.

Unless you can verify that every computer relaying the message was legitimate, there's no reason to assume that any email you receive isn't forged.

Posting all the Received headers except for the last few* shouldn't compromise the apparent sender's privacy, but would allow the relaying servers to be checked out by readers. (If the email is indeed forged, this might violate the forger's privacy.)

*Specifically, the ones of the form "Received: from ___ (___.mil [___]) ..." may reveal information about the sender. If ".mil" appears only outside the parentheses, the header may identify the forger, not the apparent sender.

As a Marine officer, I can only recommend that this matter be referred to this LCpl's CO for him to investigate and appropriately determine the facts.

Assuming here that he indeed sent the e-mail, and apart from the disgustingly anti-Semitic remarks, the "WHATS WRONG WITH SYRIA" item is particularly infuriating. Recall a certain suicide bombing on a building full of Marines in Lebanon, back in April 1983? I do. 241 servicemen died that day, and there is strong evidence that Syria as well as Iran aided the Hezbollah bastards who did it. The possibility that a young man wearing our uniform does not remember who killed so many of his fellow Marines, and how they did it, is beyond appalling.

I live and learn every day, and somewhere I will learn to temper my responses and not come off as a flaming idiot. This may take some time. But I’m sure you all can work with me on this issue.

Jim, I offer my sincerest apologies for my knee-jerk response. I wish you no ill.

As an olive branch, I offer this to chew on and ponder:

IEEE’s August 2002 issue has an article titled:
“Cognitive Hacking: A Battle for the Mind”.

When viewed in the context of this thread, one begins to ponder many things, including just what is the definition of secure email. Even from inside a military group.

It’s also obvious that if this email was misinformation, it had an effect on many of the people who stopped by and participated in this thread today.

Should your report this guy, who is violating a number of military regulations as well as common decency? Well, imagine if you had gotten an opportuntiy to report a similar e-mail back during Desert Storm from a young army sergeant named McVeigh . . .

You don't need to ruminate any more: your post and link has been sent to BG Andrew Davis, Director-Public Affairs Division at HQMC. The LCpl will be easy to find. If he has been hacked he will be grateful; if he has "loose lips" they will be circumcised.

Sean,

No sweat. It's easy to get carried away online.

In response to your statement that speaking out against discrimination against muslims has some people likening it to anti-Semitism: I don't think that people are really saying that. One can support the rights of one without denying the rights of the other.

People also have a tough time giving muslim's the benefit of the doubt given the current circumstances. But like all things talking in generalities people are different than when they actually know the individual.

Gee, Glenn, I got here very late today and did not expect to run into something like this! Well, I am not a U.S. Marine but I have some related background. First, let's be realistic about this. If I understand the circumstances accurately even though I read this issue through rather quickly, he probably speaks Arabic. And they are probably using him at least some of the time to translate for them which is a convenience. Didn't they say that they are short on Arabic translators? I believe so. Second, you are NOT "punishing" him by taking action. As a lawyer you need to clarify your understanding of this. I believe there are "regs" which pertain to his behavior. There are regulations or "laws" about non-discrimination in some way. If he is violating regs, then he is engaged in a form of insubordination which is illegal. This would be persuant to at least military law, if not civilian law, too. You should follow protocol which some of the Marines above may give you. I don't have time to study all these comments. I expect the proper procedure would go something like this: you would forward a copy of his communication to his supervisory officer along with a polite inquiry as to authenticate his identity and then ask (rhetorically) if this communication is Official Business from the U.S. Marines Public Affairs Office. You should then subtly suggest that the fellow may be in need of closer supervision. His supervisiing officer will then confer with the brass about what to do about this. We can't always just get rid of people during a mission. He may be filling an important role as a translator and not so easy to replace quickly. Don't expect any spectacular court martials or major upheavals. Glenn, you are not punishing this man by doing this. It is important that you do take action because our marines could find themselves in a trench next to this guy and with enemy forces advancing toward them. He could turn on the guy next to him. Or he might signal to the enemy and give out their position. Or he might even try to attack the marine next to him. It is an important safety consideration. You might even save a guy's life or avert a tragedy by taking appropriate action. Anyway, you are NOT "punishing" him. I want you to put that out of your mind.

I hope you find these remarks helpful.

Wait a minute...

Do you mean to tell me that it's possible for anyone to search the Internet and look up the name of a military member to find out where he or she is located?

Good gravy. If I were the enemy, I'd be laughing my ass off... and typing my fingers to the bone.

Ed: It's possible to search the Net and find pretty much anything, if you know where to look. Of course, the Public Affairs guys are supposed to be easy to find.

Interesting dialogue here, but the fact remains that his superiors should be advised. How they deal with the issue is within their brief. They should be left to determine whether the email was genuine and whether disciplinary action is warranted.

This conduct comports neither with the mission (as I understand it) of the USMC nor its traditions.

If this is the true attitude (and identity) of this Marine, he's clearly in the wrong organization. His commanding officer will be in a good position to determine his attitude, intent and commitment to the values of the Corps. Remember, honor and commitment are very important elements of what make the Corps a respected and effective military organization. It would seem that this LCpl has demostrated neither of them.

If the commanding officer finds any of these areas deficient, he has abundant and appropriate means at his disposal to address the problem.

I see the issue as fairly strightforward and easily solved.

Are Marines exempt from freedom of speech?

Are Marines not allowed to have opinions on foreign policy?

As Isaac Asimov once said, "I dsagree with what that man says, but I will fight to the death for the right of that man to say it." I think Marines can be reasonably allowed to hold any opinion they want - even stupid ones. But they still are putting their lives on the line. As long as they do their duty, their opinions are irelevant.

A strict reading of his email indicates he is a another knee-jerk anti-Semite. But not necessarily anti-American.

Casual reading of the 99 responses to this piece indicate that most of the commentators are ready to sign up for TIPS.

Aziz,

To a certain extent, marines (and sailors, and soldiers, and airmen) are *not* allowed to have opinions on foreign policy, *when they are acting in an official capacity*. Whether or not they agree with a course of action, they are not free to criticize it in a way that identifies them. By sending Glenn an e-mail from a .mil account, the marine clearly violated this policy (anyone in the military can confirm this) and needs to be dealt with.

There is a big difference between signing up for TIPS and smoking out a marine who is violating established military policy. To pretend otherwise is to trivialize his offense. I seriously doubt this would have been an issue at all if not for the .mil domain on the end of the e-mail; it probably would have been discarded without another thought.

Sean--the marine becoming a poster boy for not using e-mail for anything other than official purposes *is the point*. I don't know how long you've been out of the service, but a standard e-mail agreement (at least in my branch of the service) clearly states that e-mail is not to be used for personal use. No listserv subscriptions, no personal corrospondence, no joke of the day mailings, and so forth. I do *not* use my military e-mail address for any personal corrospondence; in fact, I do not use e-mail at work at all for personal affairs. Our IT people have blocked all e-mail portals (Yahoo!, Hotmail, AOL, Excite, and so forth), so the only e-mail address available at work is the .mil address. Sure it's not fun, but we're supposed to be working, not surfing, and certainly not sending insulting e-mail to others.

Glenn,

Scott Koenig has the correct analysis. He should be reported to his commanding officer, sooner rather than later. His popping off as he did is entirely contrary to the UCMJ and USMC discipline. I was a Marine (1968-70) E-5 and the conduct by this guy is intollerable. He may only be an E-3, but he is just one step away from command rank (Marines consider E-4 to actually be an NCO). Better the Corps knows of his actions/thoughts before he takes that next step.

Timekeeper:

I appreciate the emphasis on official capacity. But it isnt like this idiot emailed Saddam in support. At worst he is guilty of using military computers for personal use, and the response shoudl be the same as if he was caught checking headlines on CNN. Company time, and all that.

My TIPS comment is more aimed at the tone of most eople calling for this guy's head. Readthe comment after yours, for example - "before he takes it to the next level".

What is that supposed to mean? It's embodiment of the kind of paranoia that is being generated here. Frankly, if citizens who object to foreign policy are immediately viewed with suspicion as traitors, then we need someone to protect us from eth people who are supposed to be protecting us.

Re-read everyone's comments and tell me if you still don't agree that people are not obsessing about violation of a minor policy of non-personal use of IT resources. They are rabidly calling for this moron's head.

You may be a paragon of discipline in this regard but this is not really a big deal. And the thing that has people so incensed is the content of the email, not teh fact that he sent it from a .mil address. There would be exactly zero controversy if he had mailed in a note saying "Glenn, Syria sucks, keep sticking it to Ass(ad)"

and I wonder how many of the military personnel posting to the comment board have done so from their .mil computers? By your argument they shoudl have the book thrown at them with equal vigor.

It's clear that this guy is being excoriated for his opinion. And serving in teh military or not, freedom of speech does still apply. Relying on minor policy issues to silence him while ignoring equal violations by other active personnel who happen to share your views is simply partisan.

Aziz,

Please read the comments carefully. If you do your worries about "the kind of paranoia that is being generated here" might be lessened. The "comment after [Timekeeper's]" referred to taking it to "that next step" which in the context of his immediately preceeding statement about the Marine's being "one step away from command rank" clearly referred to his being promoted to E-4.

I suspect it is most likely that the Marine with the Arabic-sounding name carelessly left himself logged in while on a break. In any event whatever decisions are necessary should be made by those entrusted with the responsibility and capacity for them - his superiors.

Aziz,
I've read every comment on this post, and I don't think people are screaming for the guy's head. In fact, most folks have suggested the email is faked and his CO should be notified for that reason alone. I've counted maybe three alarmist posts that suggested he was the next Atta. Out of over 100.

Military personnel aren't allowed to be officially political. They have freedom of speech while OFF duty. They do not have freedom of speech while ON duty, using a government computer and a government account. This wouldn't be an issue if he hadn't sent it from a .mil address.

And as R J Lain was kind enough to point out to those folks who can't remember, there's PLENTY wrong with Syria from a Marine's perspective. Through a combination of islamic hatred and the the US government's stupidity, a whole bunch of marines were slaughtered.

Aziz:

"And serving in teh military or not, freedom of speech does still apply. Relying on minor policy issues to silence him while ignoring equal violations by other active personnel who happen to share your views is simply partisan."

Actually, freedom of speech doesn't apply. When you enlist in the military, you voluntarily give up a lot of the freedoms that civilians enjoy. Freedom of speech, freedom of movement, freedom to say "Take this job and chuck it" without consequences. This is explained to you BEFORE you enlist.

You put yourself under the rules in the Uniform Code of Military Justice and you're expected to comport yourself accordingly. And the UCMJ doesn't have a whole lot of give to it.

If this guy had been sending out KKK supportive e-mails, or JADF supportive e-mails, or Green Party supportive e-mails, or (insert favored/hated advocacy group) supportive e-mails with a .mil suffix, he's misusing government resources and in violation of the rules he VOLUNTEERED to live under. He is WRONG to do so, not just "naughty-naughty slap on wrist" wrong, but potentially "You go to jail" wrong.

If, for example, he prints out out opinion letters to the local paper on USMC letterhead and signs them LCpl Ima Dumas, USMC, then he's in the wrong. Sending them on regular paper as Ima Dumas is fine, sending them on letterhead as a Marine is not. Sending e-mail from a .mil domain is wrong, because he's using government resources for personal e-mails and his e-mail header identifies his name and rank, which is the equivalent of using USMC letterhead paper.

Doing so, he appears to speak for the entire Marine Corps. He's not, of course, but the image is there. A Lance Corporal, in a Public Affairs unit, sent an e-mail identifying himself clearly (so essentially on USMC stationery) the following message:

WHATS WRONG WITH SYRIA.. COCKSUCKER.. THERE NOT DOING ANYTHING TO YOU... STOP SUPPORTING THE JEWS. AND AMERICA WOULDNT BE IN THIS MESS..

Now, in most cases (like e-mailing parents & friends) such infractions are (and rightfully should be, I think) ignored. In this case, it shouldn't be. I'd say he deserves, at the least, a chance to explain to his superiors what's going on. And then decide according to that.

You may think it excessive - that's your right. But nobody forced the guy into the Marines. He knew what he was getting into when he started. He knows the rules, and he agreed to follow them.

I'm still thinking this is a fake, but it needs to be investigated to find out. If someone's spoofing the .mil domain, that needs to be stopped.

J.

you're absolutely right, Ken, let me apologise to Neville Crenshaw right off the bat.

however, I did re-read the comments and I still come away with teh impression that most of those who are advocating Glenn fwd the email back (who don't think it is faked), have cast clear doubts on this marine's fitness for duty.

I have to disagree with that, as a matter of principle.

I also do understand the difference between on-duty and off-duty, but I think that critique also applies to those military personnel posting in this thread. Isn't saying, "I'm a Marine, and I think this guy is wrong" also equally in violation of the no-personal-use policy?

I don't understand the hesitation. If the email is a fake, his superiors need to know there is a security risk on their system. If it's not, they need to know that they have (at the very least) a verbal loose cannon in their midst. It's not like you accidentally came across his private correspondence. He wrote directly to your weblog. My best friend's husband is a marine and his life depends on trusting the people who are watching his back (literally and figuratively.)

Aziz:

If you look at the identifiers of the posters on this thread (although I have to admit to only perfroming a spot-check), I think you'll find that those identifying themselves as armed services members did not use their govemernment email addresses or URL. It would appear, therefore, there is not a conflict with the "no-personal-use" as you suggest. I'd also note that most former Marines will identify themselves in the present tense as Marines. You know the saying, "Once a Marine..."

If they are active duty or reserves and are using government access to comment (and merely providing their personal identifiers as cover), they do so at their own peril. As did the LCpl in question (presuming, of course, he wasn't spoofed).

There is no question but that Marines (and other services members) often disagree with the foreign policy of their civilian leaders (e.g. Ask the defenders of Khe Sanh if they were in perfect agreement with their government at that time). It is also without question that this disagreement is not relevant to the function and discharge of their mission. It becomes relevant when they blatantly disregard well-known and established codes of conduct and bring disrepute upon themselves and their service in the expression of their opposition. Although the LCpl's transgression may seem trivial (and it may, in fact, be), it is an approrpiate matter for his immdeiate chain of command to evaluate and choose an appropriate course of action (which, in their judgement, might be nothing).

The email can be fake without the Marines' system being involved at all.

Say that some Syrian in a lab at example.edu wants to blame scapegoat@example.mil for an email to target@example.com. All he needs to do is telnet to port 25 of example.com's mail server and type

HELO mailserver.example.mil
MAIL FROM:
RCPT TO:
DATA
Received: from office.example.mil (office.example.mil [10.0.0.0])
{tab}by pc4.example.edu with SMTP id 12345678; 6 Aug 2002 19:16:04 +0100
From: Scapegoat
Date: Tue, 6 Aug 2002 19:16:01 +0100
Subject: hate mail
To: target@example.com
Message-ID:

You suck.
.
QUIT

The only way to tell that this email is fake is to look at all the headers, notice that one of the Received lines says

Received: from mailserver.example.mil (pc4.example.edu [127.16.1.1]) ...

or even

Received: from mailserver.example.mil ([127.16.1.1]) ...

and find out that 127.16.1.1 is not a server that would be used to relay mail from example.mil to example.com. Few people actually bother to check their email that carefully, and even if they do, one AOL dialup user can undetectably forge email from another AOL dialup user, because they use the same outgoing mail servers.

Glenn shared with me a link that details the LCpl's unit. He works for the S-1 (Personnel section) of a Marine Detachment that is involved in public affairs...he is not a public affairs specialist himself.

I suggested to Glenn that a quick note to this kid's 1st Sergeant should be enough to have a wrench applied to his ass and get him tightened up.

Glenn,

Your feeling that this is different was correct. The email that you received was a clear violation of several UCMJ articles, and email policies dating back over a decade. Having been in a similar position in the past, I've always reported it and let the chips fall where they may.

I think you oughta report him for being in Public Affairs and displaying that kind of pathetic grammar and punctuation.

If these replies represent a halfway decent sample of Glenn's readership...I'd say he's doing well. Only one respondent has serious problems parsing straightforward English (so he clearly doesn't understandard the arguments), another is so adept at dancing around the obvious that he must be practicing hard to be a public defender (and good luck with whatever you try next, son), and a third seems to have been fiddling, unsuccessfully, with his medications. Everyone else agrees about what should be done, with some slight differences about the degree (officially, through the CO, or a bit less officially, via the noncom? - with no military experience whatever, I'm not qualified to weigh in). All problems should be so easy.

Here's what ultimately happened. After waiting a while to see if the Lance Corporal would reply to my email (he didn't) I called his First Sgt., a typically efficient-sounding Gunny. By means of intonation and a single question (Sergeants in general, and Gunnery Sergeants in particular, seem very adept at low-bandwidth communication) he gave me to understand that this wasn't the first time they've had trouble with this guy. He asked me to forward the email, and said he'd take care of it. I expect he has.

And that worked out well, because later the same day I got an inquiry from an officer at HQ, USMC, wanting information about who had sent the letter. I replied by saying that I'd spoken to the 1st Sgt and that I thought it was taken care of, and that given that I'd rather not share the name of the individual involved. That seemed to lay the matter to rest.

So there you are.

I'm fairly certain that post was not from a Marine. My guess would be a local civilian employee used his P.C., perhaps inadvertantly left on in his absence. It may also some other Marine trying to get him in trouble or playing a stupid joke. It's just inconcievable to me that a missive that moronic could seriously be sent by someone assigned to a P.R. group. Send it to his C.O. ASAP so they can get to the bottom of this. This seriously damages the Corps image and is an insult to all Marines, active and former.

Kill Him!

Kill Him!