Posted on 09/20/2004 5:27:26 AM PDT by DJ Taylor
Dan Rather is Not an Ex-Marine
Dan Rather cannot call himself an Ex-Marine, and he must stop referring to himself as such. To be a Marine, a recruit must graduate from boot camp, and Dan Rather did not; he was medically discharged before graduation. According to him, he was medically discharged from the Marine Corps due to a medical disability caused by a childhood case of rheumatic fever.
I went through Marine Corps boot camp at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) San Diego about the same time Dan Rather was there, and here’s my take on his brief tour in the Marine Corps. First of all, I find it highly unlikely that the Marine Corps would allow Dan Rather to enlist in spite of a known disability. At the time, a childhood case of rheumatic fever would have made him ineligible for enlistment in the Marines. So, if Dan Rather did not simply medically "wash out" through no fault of his own, as he says, then how did he manage to enlist and then leave the Marine Corps in such a short period of time (three months)? I cannot say with certainty that I know how he did it, but here is how I saw others do it at the time:
I remember well that my recruit-training platoon consisted of about 50 recruits. About 20 of us were high school graduates, about 20 were high school dropouts and about 10 were college boys in their third or fourth year of college. However, come graduation day, none of the college boys were there for graduation; they had all dropped out along the way, as did Dan Rather. I knew at the time how they did it, but I had to think about it for a while to figure out why.
In the Marine Corps of the 1950s, it was not easy to simply quit once you entered recruit training. A recruit quickly learned that it was much easier to go through to graduation than it was to attempt to quit. For a recruit to attempt to quit, he revealed that he lacked motivation. If a recruit required additional motivation, he was removed from his platoon and sent to the Special Training Platoon (STP). In STP, a recruit’s life was a living hell until he could show that he was properly motivated, and then he was sent back to a training platoon. All that attempting to quit would gain a recruit was an additional few weeks in STP before he could return to a training platoon, complete training, graduate and leave.
A medical discharge from recruit training due to a preexisting disability was seldom attained, simply because the enlistment physical was so thorough that very few recruits were admitted with existing physical defects. A medical staff who had seen it all could easily identify recruits who attempted to fake injuries or infirmaries, and these recruits quickly found themselves doing time in STP. So how did Dan Rather receive a medical discharge from the United States Marine Corps in May 1954? In all likelihood, he did it the same way the college boys did in my recruit-training platoon.
There was one so-called medical condition that the Marine Corps would not put up with, or even question, and that was bed-wetting. If a recruit wet the bed, you never saw him again. He was gone, out, no STP, no second chance, no counseling, he was quickly medically discharged and sent home, as was Dan Rather.
The reason for these rapid medical discharges for bed-wetting was simple. If a man truly could not control his bladder, he did not belong in the Marine Corps for obvious reasons. If a man wanted out of the Marine Corps so badly that he would wet the bed in order to leave, then no Marine wanted to breath the same air that such a man breathed. He was removed from the Marine Corps and good riddance.
I believe Dan Rather received one of these bed-wetter medical discharges just as the college boys did in my recruit-training platoon, and he probably did it for the same reasons. The college boys in my platoon had avoided the draft throughout the Korean War by claiming student deferments, as did Dan Rather. Now, they were soon to graduate from college and would no longer be eligible for a student deferment. However, if they were to obtain a medical discharge from the Marine Corps, they would no longer be eligible for draft into the U.S. Army. So, they dropped out of college for a semester, enlisted in the Marine Corps, wet the bed, received a medical discharge and no longer had to worry about the draft after graduation from college.
If you ask why these bed-wetters didn’t simply allow themselves to be drafted and then receive a medical discharge for bed-wetting, it just didn’t work that way. You must remember that, at that time, the Marine Corps was all volunteer and it was into the U.S. Army that a draftee was inducted. If a draftee wet the bed in Army basic training, he was simply issued rubber sheets and he continued on with basic training. There was always a job in a unit somewhere in the vast U.S. Army that even a bed-wetter could do, but he Marine Corps was too small and too proud to even consider trying to place such a person in any Marine unit.
In my over 30 years of military service, I found only one type of man more scurrilous than a bed-wetter, and that was a man who would feign wounds in combat in order to receive Purple Hearts. Yes, any man who will use fake awards to abandon his comrades in combat is even more shameless than a man who will wet the bed in order to avoid service to his country in time of war. Dan Rather is in his true element defending John F. Kerry’s traitorous conduct while amateurishly and feloniously forging official U.S. Government documents in an attempt to damage the reputation of the President of the United States during an election year.
I believe that Dan Rather is a bed-wetter, and I will continue to believe that until he releases his medical records and proves me wrong. If he has nothing to hide, he will fill out and sign Standard Form 180 and release his military records to the news media just as he has demanded of our Commander in Chief, President George W. Bush.
Donald J. Taylor Semper Fi
Kudos. Sign a 180 Kenneth.
Heard this on Sean Hannity's show (rerun on Saturday) where Ollie North was blasting Dan Rather and calling Rather unAmerican. Ollie also stated that Rather washed out of the Marine Corps after 44 days....Dan couldn't hack it so he wimped out....Ollie North was burning up the wires...:)
Ollie was great. "Dan Rather is a LIAR..this is not political..this is personal!"
He was talking about Rather's "Wall Within" debunked report
Bravo!
One of the happiest looks I ever seen on my son's face was when we were walking down a street and another Marine of higher rank saluted back. Until that moment, he was just a recruit. Not even worthy of being alive. A mere worm. When he became a Marine he became one of them. Rather isn't a Marine.
Besides. There is no such thing as an Ex-Marine.
bump
As a long-time avocational student of military history (since age 10 or so), I can tell you that exact situation is far from uncommon. You see that again and again over the years , over the wars (see Band of Brothers for just one example), to the point that it is what Kerry did that seems uncommon.
Guess you don't understand media limosine liberals. Its the seriousness of the allegation that makes them require comment, not whether any facts exist to support the allegation.
So answer the question Mr. Rather, were you in fact cashiered out to the US Marine Corps for being a pansy bed wetter?
We have an inter-Marine Corps standing argument that all "Hollywood" Marines must wear their USMC boot-camp issued sunglasses FOREVER!
This is so we know who to ask about the next big hit movie!
(If you aint a Marine, you have no idea what I'm talking about, except for innuendo)
Parris Island Marines RULE!!! :-)~
Semper Fi
DJ Taylor - Welcome to Free Republic! I've certainly not heard this perspective in the past, and it's definitely an interesting one. It would certainly explain Gunga Dan's false bravado in the face of Rathergate -- every day it seems as if we pajama-wearing geeks have uncovered another skeleton in these RATs' closets.
You should definitely pass this along to Hannity, Rush, et al. If this sticks -- and it certainly could -- it would deal yet another huge blow to what few shreds of credibility Gunga Dan still clings to.
Great first post, and welcome again!
12 Weeks is minimum. Recruits can be recyled. If he was in for 4 months, he was likely recyled which is being put in another group that had an earlier start.
1. Discharge dates: a medical discharge can take some time in the military. I believe a medical hearing board has to review and recommend.
2. Why? Basic Training is physically and emotionally demanding. Everyone does not make it through (enlistee's anyway).
Then there is further training depending on your job speciality. Everyone does not make it through that either. When I was in technical training (a years worth) after Basic, you could only fail an exam once. After that, you were subject to being re-assigned 'at the Dept. Secy's pleasure.' During the Vietnam War, that could mean just about anything. And no, once they have invested some time and money in you, you don't just quit because you are dis-satisfied. I was required to sign a 6 year committment, of which 3 would be active duty.
Also, our tech school's ran 24/7 to pump out us through the system. Had my first difficult 8 week module midnight to 8am. Talk about sweating it out.
Having said all that, the Army went to great lengths to point out that you were basically a 'soldier' which meant that you could be pulled at any time to hump a rifle. Also while in Nam, our unit pulled guard duty on our compound, nearby patrols, and facility protection(destruction in the event of an over-run.) I also did things such as drive a 2 1/2 ton truck between various camps in-country.
I'd have to say that graduating in Oct. '92 was one of the biggest highlights of my life. Since then, I've earned two degrees and am now a Navy Chaplain. But there is no higher honor than being called "Marine."
ping
You are right about all of that. What you relate was all true up through the early 70s. STS (motivation platoon) was indeed hell on earth and those who were sent to it for one day by our DI came back with a truly renewed motivation to graduate, and their story had the desired effect on the rest of us. Dan spent 3 months there and I don't know about the 50s, but in 1969-70 three months was the duration of the training give or take a few administrative weeks. What was he doing all that time? The only thing I take issue with is the part about the "college boys". I enlisted in late 69 and quite a few of us were in that category, we enlisted for many reasons and were all highly motivated to become Marines. We ALL graduated, did quite well, I reached the rank of E-5 before going back to finish college, get an AF commission and complete my military career. Enlisting in the Corps was the best thing I did in my early years. Semper Fi.
How does CBS explain this?
A Democrat Party activist, Mental Patient, known Bush hater and Forger is an "Unimpeachable source" but a 250 multiple decorated Vietnam Veterans of all political persuasions are "partisan liars" - althouugh they don't address the charges or disprove a single one.
No Bias there, move on.
Yep. THAT was another "out" that was available. As soon as I started reading this post I thought to myself, "wait a minute...there was at least one another way."
Another tipoff: ALL of the college-educated platoon mates in his training serial failed to get through basic? 10 out of 10? Not likely, statistically or otherwise.
The Marine DI's may not have liked college-boys at that time, but the Marine Corps has always been full of a-typical people. I don't think that the Marines trashed an entire category of recruits in any era, just for the heck of it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.