“Dear Commandant Neller,

The United States Marine Corps gave me something very special when I was a teenager. The principles of honor, courage, and commitment. Valor. The fierce mantra of “improvise, adapt, and overcome–” to never let the enemy get the best of you, whatever that enemy might be. These ideals helped me adapt to all the BS, to improve my ways of thinking, as well as helping me become physically fit.

Time passes, and I got a better idea of what serving in the Corps means, and it wasn’t from a commemorative coffee table book or a Hollywood movie. You prepare our Marines to be fighting ready at moment’s notice, with bare hands or with hand me downs. You prepare them mentally and physically to be the devil dogs our country relies on. Civilians take for granted what serving the country and sacrifice really means, just as I did as a teenager. The public rarely sees the negative results that military culture has on men and women, bored men and women who are fighting fit and ready but demoralized daily just because their superiors “can.” You know very well what the battle ready are doing while they’re waiting to fight, and often it comes from a bottle, or worse. Bad behavior is discouraged, Commandant, but these people are primed and ready to behave badly, SAPR be damned. I know you know the statistics. Sexual harassment, intimidation, and assaults are hushed up, the victims are punished, and it’s just another day in the office.  The stain this leaves on an already small branch who are serving honorably is enormous.

Women volunteer to become Marines to serve their country.  Their training standards should be high, and they deserve respect just like their male counterparts. What will the USMC do to put an end to the rape/intimidation culture and earn back a woman’s trust, our country’s trust?  I know one can’t repair the culture overnight, this feast of boredom in a famine of fight, but what will it take to overcome this enemy?  Can you train a Marine to be battle ready in mind and body but still retain their soul? Is this an obstacle no one can overcome?

It’s hard to extinguish the fire that’s burned in my heart for the Corps all these years, but I cannot support or excuse a cause that can’t make sweeping, permanent change for the benefit of all.

Respectfully I Remain,”

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Dousing a light that’s burned for so long was painful and sad. If I won’t stand for a filthy president, how can I stand for a Corps that refuses to put a stop to assault and harassment, both female and male? No more.  I look forward to hearing they get their shit together.  It’s all hands on deck for these issues and no excuses. Moving on.