Marine faces trial for refusing to fight

Toronto Star ^ | 9/4/03 | Kathleen Kenna

[TastyManatees]

Marine faces trial for refusing to fight
`Against war,' reservist didn't want to kill during Iraq conflict

`It's my right to be a conscientious objector,' he say[s.]

KATHLEEN KENNA
STAFF REPORTER

A military trial that opens today in New Orleans is the first to try an American for refusing to fight during the Iraq war.

Stephen Funk, 21, a U.S. Marine reservist, said he faces the possibility of court martial with uneasy calm.

"I'm burned. I can't see them not doing it," he said by phone from Louisiana. "I just didn't expect it to be as big as it is."

Funk is charged with desertion for failing to follow orders to head to a San Jose, Calif. military base last winter. He admits to missing 47 days of training but has claimed conscientious objector status because he refuses to kill.

The case has spawned Web sites supporting Funk, as well as anti-war sites seeking donations for his legal costs.

It's also drawn a lot of criticism — messages of hate in the mail and on-line — from around the world, Funk said.

The Seattle man said he fell prey to a zealous recruiter who convinced him that the military was a safe avenue to a higher education, when he had just failed at one California university and was awaiting transfer to another.

"It was my choice to go into the military," he said. "And it's my right to be a conscientious objector. It's my right to leave because I'm a conscientious objector."

The court martial jury will get evidence that Funk took too long to claim he was a conscientious objector and didn't show any aversion to the military during the rigours of boot camp.

He excelled at marksmanship during the three-month training that preceded his induction as a Marine.

Funk said he didn't know his rights during basic training and questioning superior officers about conscientious objection was considered improper "because that's questioning authority."

"I've been very careful not to be against the military,'' said Funk, who has worked at a desk job in New Orleans since applying for conscientious objector status.

"I'm against the war in general — I'm not trying to make the military look bad."

Funk said he was always a "liberal, progressive" kid who went to an alternative high school and even organized a walkout once to protest the expulsion of a male student who wore a skirt to classes.

"I'm a very unlikely candidate," he said. "I've never even been in a fight before.

"If I can be persuaded to join, anyone can."

Funk's lawyer, Stephen Collier of San Francisco, says his client is being singled out for public punishment because he dared to go public with his claim.

Marine spokesperson Capt. Jeff Pool said there are more than 24 other conscientious objector applications being processed, but none of these face court martial because they didn't flout orders to serve.

Funk not only publicized his application but was a main speaker at anti-war rallies in the last few months in the San Francisco area.

By doing that, Funk said he hoped to encourage other military personnel to claim conscientious objection status if they objected to going to Iraq to kill.

He said he's encouraged by the supportive mail coming from families of youths serving in Iraq who were too late to file for conscientious-objector status.

"You have to be true to yourself," he said.

Funk noted, on his military application, that he was gay and has been public about his sexual orientation.

But he added he agreed, when he joined the Marines, with its policy of "don't ask, don't tell."

As a result, however, Funk said he's been getting a lot of criticism from other gays in the military who call him `traitor' and other insults.

"Some vets have been really harsh," he said. "One guy said, `I would rather be shooting you at close range than the enemy. You're a disgrace.'"

Funk acknowledges he was naïve when he joined, believing that the Marine reserves wouldn't be sent to Iraq for dangerous duty.

"I didn't ask myself that when I joined about the risk of killing or being killed in Iraq," he said.

"I would rationalize it: I'm a reservist. I'm not infantry. I'm not really part of it. But you are, no matter what you're doing."

Funk said he just wants his application to be accepted so he can go to university then become a teacher.

The court martial includes a full military jury and judge. If Funk is court-martialled, he can appeal it.

[TastyManatees]

Right. A "conscientious objector" claim from a volunteer. Hope they treat you well in prison, kid.

Tasty Manatees

[RoughDobermann]

Funk? A rather appropriate name for this Marine

[wideawake]

This rebarbative sodomite voluntarily signed on for money and benefits while refusing to do the work he agreed to do.

I wonder if my mortgage company would let me keep my home if I conscientiously objected to making my house payments.

[CholeraJoe]

Hope they treat you well in prison, kid.

At Leavenworth, deserters (pronounced Kow* erdz) and child molesters fare very poorly.

What did this loser think they were teaching him to shoot at man-shaped targets for?!

[dighton]

Funk noted, on his military application, that he was gay and has been public about his sexual orientation.

Strange if true. Should that not have automatically barred him?

[aculeus]

Funk said he was always a "liberal, progressive" kid who went to an alternative high school and even organized a walkout once to protest the expulsion of a male student who wore a skirt to classes.

[Conservababe]

I hope they eventually send him to Iraq, UNARMED, since he just recently realized he could not kill anyone.

[jjm2111]

What a slob. You volunteered, you idiot, so you can't be a conscientous objector. Furthermore, it's the Marines, not a welfare program. That's the Army. (Just kidding :).

What a loser.

[John Ashcroft]

One last useless turd soaking up government revenue. I hate those bastards! Knew a Captain that became a "conscientious objector" when called upon once. Funny that he didn't mind the Captain pay for 12 years of relative peace...

[Poohbah]

When I was in the Corps, I had to deal with a conscientious objector. He was a good Marine otherwise. He also had gone to me as soon as he realized that he was, in fact, a conscientious objector--which was during peacetime, with no crisis raising our alert posture.

He voluntarily forfeited some nice benefits (Montgomery GI Bill, et cetera) in return for following his conscience. The last I heard, he was working as a handyman somewhere in the Midwest.

I hope he is happy. He did the honorable thing, unlike the subject of this article.

[Poohbah]

Strange if true. Should that not have automatically barred him?

Yes. Don't ask...don't tell.

[Bogey78O]

You should hear him talk. His lisp is so evident one need not have Gaydar to pick him out.

He did it to get publicity. He's expecting large outcry to get him out of it and get him some interviews.

[cake_crumb]

He VOLUNTEERED for the military! What did he EXPECT?? Unlimited girls and all night FRAT PARTIES?? He has no right to object now that he's called upon to do what the military DOES get called upon to do!

No offense to the thousands of reservists who are serving with honor after being called up for active duty, but those reservists like Funk and the few that called for Rummy's resignation TO the press WHILE in uniform ON active duty are giving the entire military a bad name.

[Chad Fairbanks]

"I'm burned. I can't see them not doing it," he said by phone from Louisiana. "I just didn't expect it to be as big as it is."

"Killin'? I'm a'gin it! So I'm gonna go join me up with da Marines!"

Oooooooookay...

[tongue-tied]

As they say, "That boy just ain't right".

I wonder how many Marine DI's wasted time on this kid to coax him through boot camp. I wonder how he missed that little tidbit about Marines killing people and blowing stuff up for a "living"?

He's a poster boy for the new "progressives" out there that want us all to just get along and never have to fight. I mean damn, did he at least fight ONCE? Not even with his sister? (Maybe he got his butt kicked, hence his reluctance to ever fight again.)

[Redwood71]

He can leave the military. Just as soon as he pays back the thousands of dollars he took, and we spent, for the training he recieved and goes to jail for defrauding the government by entering into a don't ask don't tell atmosphere, contractually, and doing it purposely. Life has repercussions.

[Conservababe]

I once overheard a conversation between two physicans in the doctor's lounge at my hospital. I was standing outside with lab results in my hand and I knocked, but they were talking so loud, they didn't hear me.

Oh my! Seems that the younger doc told the older doc that he had "reservations" of going to Desert Storm, even if he was in the Reserve. He said that he just might try to pull strings to get out of going.

The older doc told him "You chicken shit little punk. I had to go to Nam. I operated on the front line, in the shack hospitals (whatever that means) in conditions you could never imagine. But, you, chicken shit, volunteered to serve this country and by God, you had better do it."

Whew! The door opened and the young doc rushed out all red-faced.

[PISANO]

How in heaven can a "VOLUNTEER" in our Armed Forces claim CONCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR status? The two terms can NOT exist simultaneously. I suspect he will have (or should have) about 10-20 years at Leavonworth to figure it out!

[metesky]

What did he EXPECT?? Unlimited girls and all night FRAT PARTIES??

Uh, no.

[trebb]

Funk? A rather appropriate name for this Marine

Until now, it's been a proud name - I recently lost an older friend who's name was Funk. He was in the Army when we had troops in Korea - jumped out of perfectly good planes to get on the ground and do some fighting. Not a thing like this coward....