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Marine obeys his conscience/Reservist didn't ship out with his unit
to Iraq
By Pamela J. Podger San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer- 4/2/03
Marine Corps reservist Stephen Funk, second from left, with his mother, Gloria
Pacis, left, turns himself in at his reserve unit in San Jose, Calif., Tuesday April 1,
2003. The 20-year-old Marine reservist who got called to active duty refuses to
serve in the Iraqi conflict, claiming conscientous objector status.(AP Photo/Eric
Risberg)
A 20-year-old Marine reservist showed up at the gates of his San Jose base
Tuesday -- conscientious objector papers in hand -- ready for punishment for not
joining his unit's deployment to Iraq. Marine Lance Cpl. Stephen Funk said he had
had a lapse in judgment when he signed up as a 19-year-old, swayed by his
recruiter's pitch of new skills, camaraderie and a naive belief that it would be "like
the Boy Scouts."
At the San Jose base, Marine Capt. Patrick O'Rourke said Funk must report for
duty at 7:30 each morning while his application is reviewed. "The Marine Corps
understands there are service members opposed to the war, " O'Rourke said. "He'll
be treated fairly." Funk is one of several service members in today's volunteer
military who are seeking conscientious objector status. The recruits say their
idealistic expectations of military service -- travel, tuition and adventure -- jarred
against the harsh realities of killing another human and ran afoul of deeply held
religious, ethical or moral views. "They don't really advertise that they kill
people," Funk said. "I didn't really realize the full implications of what I was
doing and what it really meant to be in the service as a reservist."
In San Diego, Marine Staff Sgt. Nick McLaren said the new recruits are clearly
told about combat and involuntary recall to active duty in the case of a national
emergency. Recruits also must declare whether they have conscientious objector
reservations stemming from firm or fixed beliefs. Funk said his moral quandary
had begun at boot camp, where he was trained to shout "kill, kill" as he slashed
with his weapon. He said he felt like a "hypocrite." He shared his qualms with
military chaplains.
When his unit was deployed Feb. 9 for active duty, Funk failed to show up. He
has prepared a statement on his pacifist beliefs and will be interviewed by a
military chaplain, psychiatrist and investigative officer before his fate is clear.
"There are so many evil things about war," said Funk, who is originally from
Seattle. "There is no way to justify war because you're paying with human lives."
His mother, Gloria Pacis, 49, said she prayed daily for her son. "I'm proud of the
fact that he owned up to his reservations and was not a hypocrite," she said. The
military acknowledges that recruits may change their views during training and
allows service members an exit if they prove a religious, ethical or moral
objection to war. Conscientious objector applications can take up to one year for
review. The outcomes range from a noncombat job, still in the military service, in
the United States to, in the worst case, a court martial and possible prison terms.
Funk's attorney, Stephen Collier -- a member of the National Lawyer's Guild
Military Law Task Force in San Francisco -- said he would seek a general
discharge for his client.
Anti-war groups report that their hot lines have been flooded by calls from service
members. The "GI Rights Hotline" that counsels service members logged about
3,500 calls in January and 3,100 in February -- double the monthly average in
2002. Teresa Panepinto of the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors in
Oakland, which runs the hot line, says in today's mostly volunteer military there is
"economic conscription" as young people join the forces for job skills or tuition --
not to fight wars. "The ads for the military are sold as a scholarship tool. There is
no footage of combat," she said. "It is a real bait-and-switch that is costing young
people their lives."
Critics of conscientious objectors, however, say it is disingenuous to volunteer
during peace time and then seek an escape hatch when war breaks out. Jason
Crawford, 23, who founded the Internet site Patriots for the Defense of America,
said: "I think it is a grave dishonor to back out when your country needs you.
There aren't any proper objections to this war. It is a just war."
Funk is being helped in his bid for a discharge by 1991 Gulf War conscientious
objectors: Army reservist Aimee Allison, 33, of Oakland who ultimately took her
fight with the military to federal court and was given a discharge, and Marine
Corps reservist Erik Larsen, 35, of Milpitas who spent five months in the brig and
was granted a dishonorable discharge after his case was handled by Amnesty
International. "There is nothing un-American or unpatriotic about saying killing is
wrong, and I won't kill," Allison said.
According to the Center on Conscience and War in Washington, D.C., there had
been an estimated 3,500 conscientious objectors in World War I; 37,000 in World
War II; 4,300 in the Korean War; more than 200,000 during the Vietnam War;
and 111 during the 1991 Gulf War. George Houser, 86, who once lived in
Berkeley and now lives near New York City, said he and seven others had spent a
year in federal prison in Danbury, Conn., for defying conscription. "For me, that
year in prison was an important slice of my life," he said. "It led to other things,
one step at a time."
Chronicle staff writer Maria Alicia Gaura contributed to this report.
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