Where I Stand -- Mike O'Callaghan: Consequences of truth

FEW THINGS UPSET ME more than people whining about the military. After serving a couple of hitches overseas, I came to love it warts and all. This doesn't mean that I still don't criticize our armed forces but above all I understand them and support them. Or at least I thought I understood the military until recently reading about what happened in my initial service branch, the U.S. Marines.

A Camp Pendleton base newspaper reporter asked Staff Sgt. Paul Rinnander if anything about the Corps bugs the 11-year veteran. He answered, "Recruit discipline. There is a total lack of discipline and respect shown by Marines coming out of basic training." So what else would you expect coming from a man who is dedicating his life to the Marines? Well, that just depends upon the Marine you ask.

The Corps' senior enlisted man, that's a position I can't recall after more than 50 years, Sgt. Major Lewis G. Lee, went ballistic upon reading the comments published in the base paper. This resulted in a new set of orders that sent Rinnander to Paris Island, S.C., as a drill instructor almost immediately and not when originally scheduled. Also arriving in Camp Pendleton was an e-mail from Lee saying he regretted he didn't have the opportunity to chew out Rinnander personally.

Lee's message also said, "It would have been an unforgettable meeting for you." According to the Los Angeles Times he also wrote, "... Don't respond to my e-mail, you'll only (expletive) me off more than I already am."

I don't know either Lee or Rinnander, but sending a threatening e-mail to tell another Marine that a face-to-face confrontation would be "an unforgettable meeting for you" sounds like a childish long-distance challenge to me. Sure doesn't bring back memories of non-coms taking off their stripe-bearing shirts and duking it out until one or both wound up in the sick bay.

Lee also was quoted by the Los Angeles newspaper as saying "Hell, I don't care what Marines say to each other. I've heard it all. But, hey, you take a swipe in public at what the commandant and I and a lot of fine Marines are trying to do, you shoot your mouth off to a newspaper, and you are going to hear from me." Mmm, what he and the commandant are trying to do.

As a newspaper man, I find it rather humorous to believe that the base newspaper quote is going "public." Furthermore, I can't find anything in Rinnander's remarks that are unusual or damaging to the Corps and certainly are far less destructive to good order and discipline than the remarks of Lee.

I'd say it's about time Marine Commandant Gen. Charles Krulak takes Lee's e-mail privileges away from him. This could keep him out of trouble before he retires. Sooner or later, some young sergeant is going to return one of his e-mail challenges and ask him out behind the barracks. Yeah, they still make Marines with that kind of spunk and attitude. You can safely bet that ANGLICO and Recon outfits are loaded with them.

Maybe next time a base reporter, or anybody else, asks Rinnander what bugs him he will reply, "Sgt. Major Lewis G. Lee." No, it's best he doesn't say that because the last time he gave a reporter an honest answer he got into trouble.

He came into the room on crutches and with a smile asked, "What are you doing down here, Mike?" "Not jumping out of airplanes," I replied because that's how our U.S. Ambassador Bill Walker had injured himself a couple of days earlier.

That was 10 years ago in San Salvador, El Salvador, when Sen. Harry Reid and I met with Bill. The security was especially tight and the political tension was at its height. This was just the place for a man who loves people and isn't afraid to call 'em as he sees 'em.

I first came to know Bill many years earlier when he was assigned to a federal executive exchange position in the San Francisco area. He was always friendly and when discussing government and economics showed unquenchable curiosity.

Earlier this month, the qualities I admired in Bill caused Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to call for his removal from Kosovo within 48 hours. He later backed down from his demand triggered by Walker accusing Serbian security forces of the mass murder of ethnic Albanian villagers.

Walker had done it again, he called 'em as he saw 'em and again he had 20/20 eyesight.

Walker was sent to Kosovo because he has a long string of successes representing the United States in hot spots. He's wise to armed guerrilla activity and military style politics. He understands danger and doesn't draw hasty conclusions that can jeopardize an operation.

Ambassador Bill Walker is right where we need him, in Kosovo.

Another man I admire is U.S. Sen. Max Cleland from Georgia. Max lost both legs and an arm in Vietnam and has become an outstanding member of the Senate. Visiting with Max is always a pleasure because he, like Bill Walker, calls 'em as he sees 'em.

In a recent interview with Motion, a magazine for amputees, he gave some most refreshing personal views of health care and government.

"When I think back to when I was wounded 30 years ago on the battlefield in Vietnam following a grenade explosion, laying there near death, I must say that I am glad I had the full support of my Army health care behind me rather than an HMO. With the extent of my injuries, I am afraid an HMO representative would have found that I was not cost-effective. ..."

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