When discussing wars of bygone eras, we often hear that members of the United States military ‘died for our freedom’, or that ‘freedom isn’t free.’ On more than one occasion, members of the Bush administration defended the criminal invasion of Iraq on the grounds that they want to provide freedom to the Iraqi people. When joining the military, service members swear an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. In layman’s terms, that is generally boiled down to ‘defending freedom.’ Now, the United States Marine Corps is attempting to turn that notion on its head.
Former marine and Iraq war veteran Sergeant Adam Kokesh is a prominent member of Iraq Veterans Against the War. He has gained prominence by participating in high-profile protests since leaving active duty last November. The Marine Corps apparently didn’t like his behavior and has threatened to turn his honorable discharge into a dishonorable one. They offered a plea bargain, saying that if he would host a pro-war radio show they wouldn’t go through with the threat. Kokesh rightly refused and is challenging the decision in a hearing scheduled for June 4. This may not seem like much of an issue to someone who has never served in the military, but the ramifications are huge. The Marine Corps is essentially attacking the free speech rights of members of the Indivdual Ready Reserve (also known as the ‘inactive reserve’).
For those who aren’t familiar with the IRR, I will explain. When you sign up for military service in America, you are generally offered a choice of the length of your initial active-duty service. When I joined the Army, for example, I had the options of two, three or four years. However, no matter which option you choose you really owe the military eight years of your life as active duty and/or active reserves, plus IRR. After your initial term of active duty, the remainder of the eight years is spent in the IRR. As an example, if you sign up for four years and then leave the military at the end of that period, you will owe four years in the IRR. Even if you decide not to leave and instead reenlist for two more years (for a total of six years of active duty) and then leave, you still have two years of IRR remaining. The only way to avoid the IRR commitment is to serve eight years of active duty or active reserves.
In civilian parlance, active reservists are known as ‘weekend warriors.’ Service in both the Reserves and the National Guard count toward the eight-year commitment. The term ‘active reserves’ is used because reservists must report for duty one weekend each month and two weeks each summer and they get paid to do so. Members of the IRR have no such commitments and receive no pay, hence the IRR is known as ‘inactive reserves.’ The purpose of the IRR is to provide a pool from which personnel can be drawn in times of crisis. When active duty personnel, reservists, and the National Guard are all mobilized, members of the IRR can be called back to active duty to fill in the gaps. So, in essentially every respect, IRR members are civilians who can go about their lives without any involvement with the military–no uniforms, no haircuts, no training missions–unless they are called back to duty.
I served in the Army from 1990-1994. My IRR commitment ended in 1998 and I was never called up during that time. Over the four years of my IRR membership, I worked on the U.S military compound in Seoul in different government jobs. My legal status was that of a civilian. Any rules and regulations that applied specifically to military personnel did not apply to me. In practice, the only thing that visibly linked me to the IRR was the reservist ID card issued to me when I left the service. It was the same ID card issued to active reservists. ID cards were color-coded: green for active duty, pink for reserves (active and inactive) and brown for civilian employees and contractors. Essentially, though, the reservist ID card was useless to me. In order for reservists to use certain restricted facilities, they are usually required to have orders. This means that active reservists can use those facilities on the weekends they report for duty, but aren’t supposed to otherwise. Inactive reservists never have orders so are never eligible (I found that in reality, there is a bit of leeway with this, but I wasn’t supposed to be eligible for some things). The brown ID card I was issued as a civilian government employee made me eligible for those things the reservist ID didn’t.
Never once during the four years did I even think about my IRR commitment. The only time I ever used my reservist ID was to gain access to Anderson Air Force Base on a vacation trip to Guam. I was able to stay at lodgings there for $10 per night. At some point, I lost my reservist ID but I have no idea when or how. Once the IRR period passed eight years from my date of enlistment, I was no longer a member of the IRR. I don’t think it really dawned on me until a few years later when I was reading about IRR members being called up as part of the “War on Terror.”
Now that the background is out of the way, perhaps it is clear what the issue is with Adam Kokesh. From what I can gather, he served around seven years as an active-duty marine. Upon his discharge from the service, he automatically became a member of the IRR until the remainder of his commitment has passed. He no longer wears a uniform. He reports to no one. He is, for all intents and purposes, a civilian. Military personnel understand that while they wear the uniform they are expected to avoid certain activities that could have an adverse effect on the military, such as joining in anti-war protests. Even when a service member strongly disagrees with the mission, they accept that they must compromise their personal beliefs and keep their issues private (amongst friends and family). Once the uniform comes off, however, the game changes.
IRR members are not military. They are civilians with the distinction that they could be called to duty at any time. They are not bound by the rules and regulations of uniformed service. In my case, my fours years of IRR in Korea did allow me access to base, but did not grant me legal protections under the SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) which covers active duty, active reservists (there are actually three American active reserve units in Korea), government employees and some contractors. Had I not taken a civilian position with the government, I also would not have had access to the post exchange or commissary. Since IRR members are not treated as military personnel when it comes to benefits, I don’t see how the Marines can mete out any sort of punishment to an IRR member who doesn’t adhere to the active duty code of conduct.
In peace time, I would wholly expect Kokesh to win his challenge hands down, if it were even to go that far. But given the behavior of military leadership and government officials since the Iraq war began, I’m not so confident. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the hearing becomes a political farce that results in Kokesh losing his honorable discharge. Such a decision would be a severe blow to the freedom of speech of IRR members. But I’m also confident that if the hearing is not favorable for Kokesh, there will be a backlash as many IRR members and other veterans protest the decision. Then we’ll see if the marine corps is willing to punish people en masse and risk the wrath of even active-duty members.
Military personnel are loyal to a point, but current policies are stretching that point to its limits. Active-duty service members are voicing their doubts about the war in growing numbers. If the government and the military continue with their wrongheaded decisions, the breaking point will come eventually. It’s hard to be loyal to a commander-in-chief who is a liar and military leadership that doesn’t respect a veteran’s rights to the freedoms he believed to be fighting for.
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