As we were standing in the concession line for a dog and a beer, the Star Spangled Banner came on over the sound system. Believe it or not every concession worker, security staff, and nearly every spectator stopped what they were doing, took off their hat (if they had one), and placed their hand (or hat) over their heart during the singing of the national anthem. One lady working behind the counter pulled out a small flag and began waving it to us in line. It was a stunning moment. I couldn't believe it.

Afterward I saw a sign posted at the concession stands, "In honor of our troops, we will stop work during the playing of our national anthem".

Way to go Cardinals. Pass it on.

Wendy McKay thought she had met someone special when the Marine colonel deployed to Iraq started chatting with her on the online dating Web site.

Someone claiming to be Col. Richard Bartch told her he was in Iraq for the first time after volunteering for duty. And like her, he was divorced. Chats quickly led to e-mails and within a day he sent her photos of himself in uniform.

In one, he stood in his woodland digital-patterned utilities, proudly holding up his Bronze Star citation and medal. In another, he's lounging in desert cammies in a chair, with his service pistol holster pulled taut across his broad shoulders just next to his name tape.

His e-mails were romantic, echoing the sentiment of a schmaltzy Hallmark greeting card: "I went to sleep last night with a smile because I knew I'd be dreaming of you . . . but I woke up this morning with a smile because you weren't a dream," he wrote to the 52-year-old British woman Oct. 21, just one day after they made introductions online. "Though miles may lie between us, we're never far apart, for friendship doesn't count the miles, it's measured by the heart."

The e-mails quickly picked up intensity. "[T]he feeling is getting stronger and stronger," he wrote the next day, Oct 22. " . . . think it will not be hard to LOVE you huh!"

By Oct. 23, his e-mails reflected he was sure it was love. "You awakened a part of me that had lay [sic] dormant all of life. [A'lthough [I] had loved and been loved before, never had it been so intense and so deep as what we feel for each other. [T]his much [I] am sure of, we share a love so true that [I] have never before experienced the true joy of complete empowering, soul-felt love as we share," he said.

McKay almost bought it. That is, until she realized doing so was really going to cost her.

Bartch - or more accurately, the con artist who had stolen the identity of the real Marine officer, from a family-oriented military Web site - wanted her to send him $5,000.

Do you know that over 2 million men and women have been through the Global War on Terror efforts in the past five years?

Do you know that the one third of all the documented male adult homeless are veterans? and the numbers for women has not been documented. Read this again...as this is how we treat those who have given so much...This statistic itself should shock you.

Did you know that for the first two and a half years of the war, the wounded were not counted nor were their injuries documented? Because of this, these men and women do not have any way of knowing their benefits, as well as the programs and resources that are available to them.

Do you realize the average ages of our wounded is between 18 and 22? as well as the fact over fifty percent of the Marines at this age are single? These two facts mean multi layered consequences. First, the brain is not fully formed to make long term life altering decisions and also that the expense and challenges of caring for the wounded service member will ultimately fall to the parents...many who are aging...

Were you aware that only one percent of the American population knows of, or has someone in the military? These small numbers mean that most people have no idea what it means to have a loved one in the military for eight years of their lives.

There are several differences between the Viet Nam War and the war being waged today. The first being that medical battlefield technology has dramatically increased the number of men and women that are surviving and the injuries are much more traumatic. It is now common for men and women to have two or three losses of limbs or other body parts.

This war has men and women not decompressing between deployments as it increases their likelihood of injury or death when they return back to the hotspot. This keeps them hypersensitive, as well as being detrimental to their relationships.

The impacts and effects of this war are also much more far reaching then ever expected. The legal, financial and spiritual components have not been addressed the way they are needed, and so we have many women, and men, that are being forced into untenable positions...

When the Department of Defense chose to open the Military Severely Injured Center, it was tendiing to all branches of the service. About a year ago, the Army Wounded Warrior program pulled all its files...and started its own program within a two day period. The case managers/workers that had a bond with our wounded, were now replaced with people who had very little training.

The computer programs between the VA and the DOD have never spoken to each other, and many of our wounded , although having been in VA facilities, still have not been told of their benefits. The "news" at Walter Reed was not news, and our familes have testified for five years before Congress as to ways to help stop the disconnects....again falling on deaf ears. We do not need more governmental committees and commissions we need people who are ready and willing to take action and do the work needed....

The families of our wounded., even if there is a Fisher House available, many times are unable to stay there....and the expense to the family to be with their loved in can run into the thousands for a two week period. Families of the wounded are financially broken, and we are not supporting families to stay together....The divorce rate is phenomenal....90% of the wounded will be divorced within a year...leaving them more vulnerable then ever. Mothers and fathers and siblings are not being supported and our wounded are sent home to live with them...Their families are fractured...

There are very few chaplains available to walk as spiritual companions with families and veterans. There are no long term casualty assistance programs nor are there any family support partner programs created. At Moffett Airfield, there have been three attemtped suicide attempts in six months...

The VA is not allowed to ask for funds for and depends on community support to bring the issues to light. The VA has been underfunded and understaffed for years...We want to be able to ask for shut down military installations to be reconverted into community housing for our wounded families..

At Palo Alto, after a wounded service member is released from a one to two year program, they are left with little or no contact from the hospital staff and left to fend in a new community on their own....This is traumatizing and plans and programs, as well as land and facilities are needed for a transitional program and housing to slowly acclimate our wounded back into community and family life.

The number of men and women ...and here I will not use the correct wording so I beg forgiveness...I have the general idea...
The trained therapists...that know of what happens in combat operations is so very small, yet the need for skilled people to tend to the invisible wounds is huge. The therapist may have one chance to see the wounded or a family member and if they have no knowledge of what the client is speaking of, there is a high probability the s/m will never return. Training the therapists is crucial.

Law Enforcement programs are needed to help police and sheriff departments understand the issues surrounding our returning vets....How PTSD and TBI do the ugly dance...and that many of our vets will not wear seat belts, will not respond quickly and efficiently to commands....and how we must start discussing this before tragedy occurs.

Respite care for caregivers. is a huge need...Money management and legal guidance is also desperately needed....

A dear friend whose husband was severely wounded in Iraq has had ten case workers in three years, and she as well as her family suffer secondary PTSD. They need skilled people to come to them....she has no time to go to the therapist...because she is constantly running to doctors or school appointments.

We need people that would be willing to help find or create steady, sustainable levels of funding for community run programs....not government run programs. Our veterans are coming back into community not into government and the resources, programs and information is not and has not gotten to them....

They have been trained since boot camp not to ask for anything....and so they do not until the need is overwhelming or they never ask, and commit suicide....slowly or quickly.

We need people that would be willing to help financially, as for many, social security and veterans benefits may not start working for a year. How does someone survive with no money coming in? Employers do not want to hire someone with combat experience...

We need to truly understand what TBI and PTSD mean to individuals, families, communities, states and our nation. We will have seven generations to see this play out...and we are woefully unprepared to companion and walk alongside of those who have given so much.

We need programs that are created by women for women...veterans only....We have no idea what impacts will be when the women start returning to their families. Remember, they have seen, felt, smelled, heard unimaginable things....how will these traumas affect raising a family and relationships? Again...programs for women veterans, on campuses for women only....due to the high volume of sexual abuses in the military.

We also need to have non traditional forms of healing....I have a woman vet who wants to build a sweat lodge from the bottom up...We need sacred land....

Talk of sexuality is not being addreesed for our wounded....We need to lift this voice...Drinking is so accepted by our culture, yet our wounded should not be drinking or self medicating. How do we turn this around in our culture...as it is so socially acceptable to drink and self medicate? Each time our heroes are celebrated, alcohol is served....The spouses, family members, do not know how to handle this....

Pain medications...the numbers and intensities have shifted. Getting the resources to small communities...the small town doctors have never seen the types nor dosages of medications required for pain management. I know of one vet who has undergone 54 operations in two years.

Bottom line for a lot of this is....our veterans do not know the right questions to ask, nor know the right words to use, nor know if they have gotten the correct answer....as they have been trained not to ask....for anything...and the system, the bureaucracy is so large, there is little compassion or continuum of treatment and levels of care needed. The people in the system may have compassion, the system itself does not so our veterans lose hope.....We need trained advocates and ombudsmans and community programs available 365/24/7....internet, face to face, by phone...using all forms of media.

We need to shift the paradigm and realize we are no longer tending just our service member...but also their family.

"This is the first M777 battery to deploy to Iraq, so we're looking forward to the experience," said Lt. Col. James C. Lewis, 3/11 battalion commander. "We can't wait to see how the capability is employed and we'll take lessons learned for future deployments if necessary."

An awkward feeling of gloom and excitement hung over the Combat Center Monday as India Battery said goodbye to their friends and families.

"I'm really sad," said Lindsey Ledbetter, wife of Cpl. Tyler Ledbetter, artilleryman, India Battery, 3/11. "I'll probably cry when he says goodbye to our daughter. It's very depressing he's leaving, but I'm very proud of him."

Ledbetter agreed with his wife, but said he's been waiting a long time to go to Iraq.

"It's going to be hard leaving my wife and daughter behind, but I'm really excited to get this show on the road," he said. "Chesty Puller!"

Sgt. Trevar Perkins, fire direction control man, India Battery, 3/11, also expressed his excitement to deploy to Iraq. He said he felt the message should be short and to the point.

"Let's do this," he said.

Overall, it seemed the Marines and sailors of India Battery were excited to deploy to Iraq, but would miss their friends and families.

"I'm excited, but I just want to go over there and come home as soon as possible," said Cpl. Matthew Beaudin, fire direction control man, India Battery, 3/11. "I want to come home to my family and move on to other things."

The day that I have been dreading is soon approaching.

October XX, 2007 will register as one of the Worst Days Of My Life.

That's the day that my little brother, my best friend, my hero, will board a plane and land in Iraq.

He will be gone for about eight months, and will return to the US in June 2008.

He is doing his job, fulfilling the oath he took in July of 2006, "to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, forgien and domestic; that I will bear true faith and alleigance to the same; that I will obey the Orders of the President of the United States and the orders of my officers appointed above me, according to the regulations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

So, I guess this is where I get all cheesy and sentimental. This is where I get all teary-eyed for you.

Adam is my best friend. I could not survive without him. He has been my rock for as long as I can remember, and I hope that I have done the same for him. Growing up, we went through a teenager's form of hell. Our parents got divorced when I was 19 and he was 14. Very tough and touchy times for anybody that age. But, we were the lucky ones. It wasn't a bitter divorce, nor was it messy. Our parents remain pretty close still today.

That being said, it brought Adam and I closer, however, not until he was about 18 or 19, and I was approaching 24 . . . 25. We're best friends, and I can always count on him to be there for anything. Whether it be something major, or something petty. He's my best friend, and I hope I am that to him.

I went through HELL while he was in MCRD for boot camp. I had no contact with him!! I remember he called home once, he was rewarded a 20 minute phone call home . . . and he called me. It was the first time I'd heard his voice in about three months . . . I bawled my eyes out after he had to get off the phone.

I remember flying to California for his graduation. A friend of mine, who had been in the Marines also, sent me a text message that I recieved just as the plane touched down, it said, "remember those who came before your brother and I. Remember the traditions and the honor. Say a thank-you." I had tears everywhere when I was getting off of the plane.

I remember sneaking to the Parade Deck the day before his EGA ceremony. Watching them practice. I picked him out of his platoon, and he heard me trying to get his attention. I knew very well he couldn't break his stance, but I could see how red his face was turning because I was EMBARASSING HIM in front of his platoon and his DI's.

I remember the next day, my family and I walked to the Parade Deck, and hearing the band begin to play. I remember seeing all of the platoons march out. I remember counting the rows of Plt 3047, to look for the seventh row, last guy in the line . . . . THAT was MY brother.

I remember the speech that was given. How they would transform from Recruit to Marine by one single action. I remember watching all of the pomp and circumstance as these men were being presented with their EGA pins that they would proudly display on their covers.

I remember watching my brother. He was looking directly at his Drill Instructor. He shook his hand, and was given his EGA pin. He took his cover off and pinned the EGA to it, he was so proud, as were our parents. I looked at him, and he had tears streaming down his face.

That was HIS defining moment.

That's where HE BECAME a Marine, a Man, a defender of YOUR Freedom.

I remember that it was announced that the band was going to play the Marine Corps Hymn for THEM, because they had now, finally, earned that Title of Marine, and NOBODY could take that away from them.

All of the men stood at POA, and saluted the colors as they all fought back tears while that hymn was playing. Most of them didn't hide the fact that they were crying. They had been through Hell, and they had for DAMNED sure EARNED their titles.

The next day was graduation. They marched out onto the parade deck, standing taller than ever, because THEY were MARINES. They executed their movements with such precision and perfection. They had been working on this for weeks, and their hard work showed. It was haunting . . . dead silence, then you'd hear the haunting cadence calls of the DI's.

You would hear one DI call out the orders, and you would hear the marching. The tight and taut marching of 300 men, sounding like one. Their movements were perfect. They were putting on a show. They were given the order to salute the colors, it was one fluid movement, one sound. They stood at attention, and all of their feet snapped to position, and hands behind their back...one motion, one sound. It was like nothing you'd ever seen before. They would "Lean Back and Strut . . . " How precise they were. How perfect these Marines were.

When they were dismissed, it was awesome. They started with one platoon, and it was so quick, like a domino effect. They would spin around so fast and break their perfect lines after they were given the order they had been waiting so long to hear, "Dismissed!".

No words can describe how incredibly proud I am of you, Adam.

Now, you're off to do another part of your job, and it will require sacrifices.

Stay safe, keep your sense of humor, and know that you have your family and friends here at home that love you very much.

We think about you EVERY SINGLE DAY, and pray for your safe return home in June.

You make me proud every day, Adam. Every time I see the picture I have of you in your Blues, every time I see a USMC flag, or run into a vet, or another Marine. I always think of you.

I proudly wear my little yellow ribbon for you every single day.

Semper Fidelis, Little Bro . . .

Love Ya,
-Sis

Marge Lasky, a member of Grandmothers Against the War, said she had no idea that the office was there.

"I am pretty shocked it's here," she said. "Why would the marines come into the belly of the beast? Either they are really desperate for recruitment or they think they can get people by being near Berkeley High and the university."

Kali Steel from Code Pink said the group would protest in front of the office every Wednesday until it was shut down.

"This is exactly where our kids hang out," she said. "We don't want military recruiters in Berkeley."

"Keep it up," said a lady in a silver Toyota. "We love what you do."

No one came to drag the protesters away as they stood waving banners and talking for almost two hours.

"It's my first-amendment right," Budd said smiling. "Who's going to stop me?"

While the protest that you staged in front of my office on Wednesday, Sept. 26th, was an exercise of your constitutional rights, the messages that you left behind were insulting, untrue, and ultimately misdirected. Additionally, from the comments quoted in the Berkeley Daily Planet article, it is clear that you have no idea what it is that I do here. Given that I was unaware of your planned protest, I was unable to contest your claims in person, so I will therefore address them here.

First, a little bit about who I am: I am a Marine captain with over eight years of service as a commissioned officer. I flew transport helicopters for most of my time in the Marine Corps before requesting orders to come here. Currently, I am the officer selection officer for the northern Bay Area. My job is to recruit, interview, screen, and evaluate college students and college graduates that show an interest in becoming officers in the Marine Corps. Once they've committed to pursuing this program, I help them apply, and if selected, I help them prepare for the rigors of Officer Candidate School and for the challenges of life as a Marine officer. To be eligible for my programs, you have to be either a full-time college student or a college graduate. I don't pull anyone out of school, and high school students are not eligible.

I moved my office to Berkeley in December of last year. Previously, it was located in an old federal building in Alameda. That building was due to be torn down and I had to find a new location. I choose our new site because of its proximity to UC Berkeley and to the BART station. Most of the candidates in my program either go to Cal or to one of the schools in San Francisco, the East Bay, or the North Bay. Logistically, the Shattuck Square location was the most convenient for them.

Next, you claim that I lie. I have never, and will never, lie to any individual that shows an interest in my programs. I am upfront with everything that is involved at every step of the way and I go out of my way to ensure that they know what to expect when they apply. I tell them that this is not an easy path. I tell them that leading Marines requires a great deal of self-sacrifice. I tell them that, should they succeed in their quest to become a Marine officer, they will almost certainly go to Iraq. In the future, if you plan to attack my integrity, please have the courtesy to explain to me specifically the instances in which you think that I lied.

Next, scrawled across the doorway to my office, you wrote, "Recruiters are Traitors." Please explain this one. How exactly am I a traitor? Was I a traitor when I joined the Marine Corps all those years ago? Is every Marine, therefore, a traitor? Was I a traitor during my two stints in Iraq? Was I a traitor when I was delivering humanitarian aid to the victims of the tsunami in Sumatra? Or do you only consider me a traitor while I am on this job? The fact is, recruitment is and always has been a part of maintaining any military organization. In fact, recruitment is a necessity of any large organization. Large corporations have employees that recruit full-time. Even you, I'm sure, must expend some effort to recruit for Code Pink. So what, exactly, is it that makes me a traitor?

The fact is this: any independent nation must maintain a military (or be allied with those who do) to ensure the safety and security of its citizens. Regardless of what your opinions are of the current administration or the current conflict in Iraq, the U.S. military will be needed again in the future. If your counter-recruitment efforts are ultimately successful, who will defend us if we are directly attacked again as we were at Pearl Harbor? Who would respond if a future terrorist attack targets the Golden Gate Bridge, the BART system, or the UC Berkeley clock tower? And, to address the most hypocritical stance that your organization takes on its website, where would the peace keeping force come from that you advocate sending to Darfur?

Finally, I believe that your efforts in protesting my office are misdirected. I agree that your stated goals of peace and social justice are worthy ones. War is a terrible thing that should only be undertaken in the most dire, extreme, and necessary of circumstances. However, war is made by politicians. The conflict in Iraq was ordered by the president and authorized by Congress. They are the ones who have the power to change the policy in Iraq, not members of the military. We execute policy to the best of our ability and to the best of our human capacity. Protesting in front of my office may be an easy way to get your organization in the headlines of local papers, but it doesn't further any of your stated goals.

To conclude, I don't consider myself a "recruiter." I am a Marine who happens to be on recruiting duty. As such, I conduct myself in accordance with our core values of honor, courage, and commitment. I will never sacrifice my honor by lying to anyone that walks into my office. I will never forsake the courage that it takes to restrain myself in the face of insulting and libelous labels like liar and traitor. And, most importantly, I will never waver from my commitment to helping individuals who desire to serve their country as officers in the Marine Corps.

During and after World War II, Hollywood was more than willing to make films that helped the war effort and gave audiences a look at our brave soldiers and the battles they won.

Take "Sands of Iwo Jima," a 1949 film starring John Wayne. It shows the Battle of Iwo Jima where we see Marines fighting against the Japanese, as well as the iconic raising of the American flag on Mt. Suribachi. The film portrays the heroism of American soldiers during one of the war's most important battles.

In today's world, however, it seems that Hollywood is more intent on making films that distort the truth and slander our brave men and women. Given the downright hostile nature Hollywood has toward the war in Iraq, it is not entirely unsurprising that their films reflect that same attitude. Look at Brian de Palma's "Redacted," for example. It is a "docudrama" that is based upon the "Mahmudiyah killings" that occurred in Iraq in March 2006. In this incident, five U.S. soldiers murdered three Iraqi civilians, gang-raped a 14-year-old Iraqi girl, and killed her as well. Now, any reasonable person will realize that incidents such as these are not the status quo in Iraq and they do not go unpunished (three of the men have been sentenced to life in prison, the other two have not been sentenced as of yet). But according to de Palma, the event is "the reality of what is happening in Iraq."

Another film, "Harsh Times," takes a look at the life of fictional soldier Jim Davis, who returns to Los Angeles after tours of duty in the Middle East. In the opening of the film, we see soldiers in a desert area attacking Arab terrorists; one of the soldiers goes as far as killing a terrorist who makes it clear that he wishes to surrender (once again, this is supposed to be the norm). For the rest of the film, we watch Jim do drugs, kill people and cause general mayhem and destruction with his friends. He is clearly a psychotic individual and even goes so far as to refer himself as "a soldier of the Apocalypse." His unstable condition and predilection toward violence and death are due to his experiences in combat, which is naturally the military's fault, and is naturally true for many soldiers returning from combat, as Hollywood would have you believe.

Actor Tim Robbins, appearing on "Real Time with Bill Maher" this past August, said, "(The U.S. military) have killed over 400,000 of (Iraq's) citizens." This is a preposterous claim, and only someone who is already predisposed to thinking the worst of our troops could make it. The anti-war Iraq Body Count Web site's maximum count of civilian deaths due to the war is 80,333. That should say something about Robbins' attitude toward our military.

Hollywood seems to be aware of only the atrocities that have occurred in the war, which are few and far between. Much more numerous are the acts of heroism that our troops have committed. I think of soldiers such as Cpl. Jason L. Dunham, who was manning a vehicle checkpoint near Husaybah when a terrorist jumped from a vehicle and threw a hand grenade. Dunham threw himself over the grenade, sacrificing his own life in order to save the lives of the Marines who would have been killed by the blast. I also think of Lt. Brian R. Chontosh, who was leading his platoon south of Baghdad when insurgents ambushed them. Facing mortars, automatic-weapons fire, and RPGs, he had the driver advance into the enemy's trench while he jumped from the vehicle and fired at the insurgents. According to the citation of the Navy Cross awarded to him later on, "he twice picked up discarded enemy rifles and continued his ferocious attack . . . when his audacious attack ended, he had cleared over 200 meters of the enemy trench, killing more than 20 enemy soldiers and wounding several others."

Why are Hollywood studios not making films out of these heroic efforts? Because the studios are directly opposed to the war and the U.S. military. It is easier to make a film that portrays soldiers as being psychotic killers and rapists, which fits Hollywood's stereotype of an American soldier, than pay homage to the selfless efforts of real soldiers in the real world. I realize that a film itself is fiction, but is it too much to ask that Hollywood's silver screen storytelling reflect reality instead of the arrogant and slanderous attitudes of its glitterati? So far, the answer is a resounding no.

Last Wednesday, while flying from Phoenix to the Alamo City on U.S. Airways Flight 207, a San Antonio man, Gil Anderson, witnessed something memorable.
Shortly before takeoff, he overheard a flight attendant tell a young uniformed soldier sitting in front of him:

"A lady in first-class wants to switch seats with you."

The soldier accepted the offer and walked up to the first-class section.

"When the lady came back to our area, I had a tear in my eye," Anderson said when he phoned this column soon after his plane landed. "I gave her a little round of applause."

"Then, by golly, everybody in that area started applauding," he said in a voice tinged with emotion. "It was a very moving moment."

Acknowledging the applause of Anderson and the other passengers, the first-class lady said simply:

"I did it because he deserves it."