Marine commander Lt. Gen. John Bergman today announced he had endorsed a review board recommendation that Cpl. Adam Kokesh get a "general discharge under honorable conditions."
Bergman levied the penalty on Kokesh for his actions in a March war protest and his subsequent obscene communication with a superior officer. With the sanction, Kokesh will keep his veterans' benefits.
But the corporal, who is now a student at George Washington University, said he'll appeal.
"We can't drop this," he said. "No precedent has been established. The Marine Corps got away with something in this case."
His attorney, Michael Lebowitz, said he'll take the case to the Navy Discharge Board, and then to federal court if necessary.
Lebowitz said even though the appeal will continue, the general discharge was a good outcome for his client: "I want to stress that we did beat them back on the other-than-honorable (discharge)."
Kokesh said he wanted to continue to argue the case for other servicemen and women; that way, he said, "the next Marine who faces harassment and intimidation will have something to stand on."
If Cpl. Kokesh was indeed "protecting our rights" by his service as the brass and the pols pay lip service to, then he earned the right to say whatever he wants to once off active duty.
As far as wearing his uniform while saying the things the administration told the Corps' brass not to like, gimme a break! According to this article he was wearing wearing his desert utes with the military insignia removed. Are they gonna downgrade all the discharges of Vets who are living under bridges and that's all they have to wear? That doesn't make the administration look very good either. Oh, that's right, they're not on TV sayin' shit the brass don't like where the public might actually see them.
A General Discharge is a slap on the wrist compared to an 'other than honorable' discharge, but it's still a slap in the face. It's a punitive response to a good Marine doing what good Marines do - standing on their hind legs telling the truth in the face of an immense machine designed to keep them quiet through intimidation. Downgrading his discharge because he pissed someone off is the absolute definition of 'chickenshit'.
I'm not very proud of my Marine Corps right now because of their reprehensible reaction to this deal, but then I never liked officers very much anyway. As a class, that is. Some of 'em were OK, mostly Mustangs.
Note to Cpl. Kokesh: You keep fightin' this, bro. You're right and they're wrong. Damn the odds, keep pullin' that trigger. Semper Fi, Marine.
"Semper Fidelis" is something the brass better go back and try and remember the meaning of. It refers to your fellow Marines and our nation, not faithfulness to a criminal regime.
I call on the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Conway, to put a stop to this shit. This isn't going to go away until you do, and you know it's the right thing to do. You're embarassing all of us that ever wore Marine green.
Note to Sergeant Major Kent: kick Conway's ass a little until he shapes up. You know how to do it. You've done it to junior officers, it's time to do it to a senior one.
Corporal Kokesh is a better Marine than any of the officers who participated in this travesty. He deserves an Honorable Discharge. Period.
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