SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AND THE PERSIAN GULF CRISIS
Marine in Growing Group of Enlisted Objectors
By AMY WALLACE
TIMES STAFF WRITER
SAN DIEGO—As his brigade prepared to deploy to Saudi Arabia, a 22-year-old Marine Corps corporal based at
Camp Pendleton announced Monday that he has applied for an honorable discharge as a conscientious objector,
joining a small but growing group of servicemen who claim moral objections to the military buildup.
Kenneth Turner, a Michigan native who enlisted in 1987 for six years of service in the Marines, said a spiritual
“reawakening” he experienced during mock war training exercises earlier this year led him to file his application Oct.
30. When the 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade is deployed--reportedly on Saturday--he said that he will refuse to go.
“My religious beliefs are no longer compatible with the way the Marine Corps wants me to train and operate,” said
Turner, a former squad leader who claims that he has nightmares about leading men into combat. “Any duty that I
perform in the military is more or less supporting the efforts of a war machine. My God is behind me and giving me
the strength to stand up and say this—it’s against the word of God to participate in any kind of killing.”
He added: “Within the near future, we’re supposed to deploy. So I’m looking at within the next couple of days
possibly going to the brig.”
Turner’s application—apparently the first to be filed at Camp Pendleton since Operation Desert Shield began in
August---puts him in “an extremely small minority,” according to Maj. Doug Hart, a Pentagon spokesman in
Washington.
Since early August, Hart said, fewer than 100 of the 2 million active duty troops and 80,000 reservists and National
Guardsmen have asked to be relieved of their military obligation. Of those, he said, fewer than 10 have applied for
conscientious objector status.
On Monday in New York, five members of the 25th Marine Regiment at Ft. Schuyler declared themselves
conscientious objectors as other members of the company were on their way to Camp Lejeune, N.C., for deployment
to the gulf.
Anti-war advocates say they are receiving hundreds of calls from military servicemen and women requesting
information about how to make a conscientious objector claim. Harold Jordan, coordinator of the American Friends
Service Committee’s national youth and militarism program, said his Philadelphia-based office is working with at least
30 service members to prepare conscientious objector statements.
“The meaningful statistics are hard to come by. If you ask the military, they’ll say there hasn’t been a substantial
increase,” said Jordan.
“It’s not at the level that it was in Vietnam—nobody means to suggest that,” he said. Conscientious objector
applications are on the rise, Jordan said, and there is every indication that they will not be handled as they were 20
years ago.
“During the Vietnam War, it was routine to hold people stateside [while their applications were processed]. They
are clearly saying the opposite is in effect now.”
That is precisely what Turner is afraid of, according to Mark Lamanna, a military counselor for the Central
Committee for Conscientious Objection.
“The only way to get a proper review is to be on the mainland United States,” said Lamanna, noting that the Marine
Corps has kept Turner on combat duty, assigned to a rifle platoon bound for the gulf.
Turner, who sent his wife, Joelle, to read a statement at a news conference Monday at a Methodist church in San
Diego, said he wanted others to know of his decision despite warnings from his superiors that he not talk to the media.
“I want people to know that you can stand up for your religious beliefs and that it’s OK to oppose war, if that’s
what you believe,” Turner, a Methodist, said.
Turner said he enlisted in the service to help pay his way through college, and did not give the idea of going into
combat serious thought. But during advanced infantry training earlier this year, Turner said he became increasingly
aware that he was being trained to kill.
Capt. Rose-Ann Sgrignoli, a spokeswoman for Camp Pendleton, said that to be granted conscientious objector
status on religious, moral or ethical grounds, a serviceman must prove his belief is a controlling force in his life.
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From: Los Angeles Times / 11/27/90
Classwork (1-27-12): After reading the article “Marine in Growing Group of Enlisted Objectors,” read the following
questions and answer them in complete sentences. Defend your opinions with textual support from the article and Thoreau’s
“Resistance to Civil Government.” Use clear explanations to support your responses.
1. What aspect(s) of Kenneth Turner’s actions would Thoreau approve? Explain why.
2. What aspect(s) of Kenneth Turner’s actions would Thoreau disapprove? Explain why.
3. What recommendation(s) would Thoreau give Turner to make Turner’s actions match the
principles he is advocating in his essay? Explain why Thoreau would make these
recommendations. (Why, in Thoreau’s opinion, would this make Turner’s actions more
effective?)
4. What, according to Thoreau, should Turner do to deal with the government fairly in this
case?
Explain/Support.