Fleet Marine Life #109 – 1st Amendment
In the Marine Corps, your constitutional rights are somewhat… non-existent. When you enlist in any branch of the military, you have to take an oath to protect the constitution from all enemies both foreign and domestic. But what exactly is the constitution? I’m sure if you’ve asked any member of the military, they probably wouldn’t know that much. No one is forced to read it. So it’s not surprising if many Marines have gone through their career without reading it.
But of course, we all have a general idea of what it is.
The constitution with the bill of rights says what the government can and cannot do. It also lists the basic rights that citizens of the United States have. It is the supreme law of the United States of America.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Us_constitution
If you’re a Marine, I recommend you take about 30 minutes out of your day and read the “Original Text” section of the article linked above. It’s honestly not that long.
In the next series of comics, I will draw and write about how the USMC pretty much shits over the basic rights of Marines.
Wikipedia says:
“The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.”
In the Marine Corps, you can’t protest any wrongdoings that your chain of command may have been doing without any problems. Request Mast is there for Marines with serious issues but hell, it’ll sometimes get “shot down,” which nobody in the Corps is allowed to do if the problem is legitimate. Even if you suggest requesting mast, your command will do everything in their power to make your life miserable as if you are the very source of the problem that you may be trying to address.
If someone said that my mother was a whore, I would, at the very least, say “Fuck you.” In the Corps, you don’t have freedom in speech. One day, my SSGT called me a retard because I couldn’t prevent another unit from losing their secret documents. Gee golly whiz! I didn’t know it was my job to make sure Marines from a whole different unit didn’t lose their own secret documents.
If I told the SSGT, “Fuck you,” I would have lost my rank, hundreds and hundreds of dollars, and I would have had to pay for it physically for the rest of my time under his charge.
I knew a guy that got NJP’d for looking at his SSGT the wrong way. The SSGT was pissing this Lance Corporal off and then this Lance Corporal just didn’t say anything back. He just stood there and gave his SSGT a blank stare. He got NJP’d for “having an attitude,” and became a PFC the next week.
Getting NJP’d for defending yourself since 1775.
this happens ALL the time in LS Co!!!!! aka “Life Sucks” Company!
There was one SNCO who treated us so badly that our entire company agreed that if he got shot in combat no one would run out to rescue him, we would leave him for the wolves.
I love how butt-hurt the SNCO looks in the 2nd panel
It’s his, “How could he disrespect a god like me?!” face.
Yeah, totally sweet.
dude i fuckin love you like soooooo much..last night while on duty, i read this for hours..im 7000 miles away from my wife, i loath the corps and the only 3 things i want in life is my wife, freedom and soul..fuck money..ill work at mcdonalds if i have too..you inspire me:)
Just stay with it. Trust me, the GI bill is worth it, and then some.
Haha, thanks! Spread the demotivation.
Dude, would love to know what’s up with you now. Hoping you’re using your benefits that you paid for.
Also, don’t forget to check into the VA hospital. If you wait too long, you may not be able to later. There’s some kind of time limit. But once you’re in the system, all’s fine for you later.
This is one of the biggest reasons I got out. I have noticed that veterans, especially marines vets, enjoy the basic rights so many take for granted. I guess it’s true that you don’t appreciate water until the well runs dry. No one thinks about their 1st amendment right or any other right under the constitution, but once you sign your life away and lose those rights, you long for them. I am married and I sometimes go weeks without shaving and go months without a haircut and my wife asks me why. My response is always “Because I can”. I knew a guy who got out and came back to visit a year and a half later. In that year and a half he didn’t get his hair cut once and he shaved twice, and he said to us “I’m still not over the fact that I don’t have to do those things”.
I grow out my hair just because I can.