Published 07 August 06

Young men doing extraordinary things

By Carole Moore
Special to World Defense Review

When I worked as a police officer in a military town, I met a lot of brand-new Marines. Thousands of these kids call the barracks home. Most are not long out of high school: 18, 19 or 20 years old at best. They work hard and play with the same intensity. They have jobs where they rise early, leave late, can't count on holidays off, much less being home. They make next-to-nothing, and face horrors that others simply cannot imagine. Yet they still manage an uncommon courage.

It's the same quality police officers muster when they strap on their weapons and go to work. While law enforcement and the military aren't exactly alike, they do share an obvious commonality – both jobs can get you killed. As one who has looked down the business end of a gun barrel, I can tell you that when this happens, you just plain do what you have to do. Survival becomes a matter of luck, training and the ability to think faster than the guy who's drawn down on you.

But even the best officers make mistakes, and sometimes people die because of it. A police officer's error, no matter how good his intentions, follows him the rest of his life – if there is one. In that there is universal ground with the Band of Brothers. Both understand how easy it is to do the right thing in a classroom when the worst you face is embarrassment. In the reality of combat, mistakes kill.

When it's not a mistake, when a cop breaks the code of conduct because he's mean or a cowboy or blatantly careless, fellow officers despise him. That's because they know that when he brings himself down, he takes the profession with him. And that, I think, is the way Marines feel, too. They like to know the guy who has their back aims for the right target for the right reasons.

Most law enforcement agencies can't or won't put you on the street until you're at least 21. Others wait until 25. But Marines can go straight from the prom to boot camp to war. Imagine that. While one teen gets used to dorm life, another clutches a loaded rifle and hopes he won't get his head blown off.

War isn't like a game of Monopoly. Each side doesn't wait for its turn. The rules are made by whoever has the upper hand at the time. Sometimes things go wrong, and then the condemnation chorus starts, usually led by people who don't know which end of the bullet you load.

I'm not trivializing deadly mistakes or intentional cruelty. But I wish those so quick to brand these young warriors as miscreant killers could see them as people in my town do – on a Saturday morning volunteering to clean up the yard of an elderly resident on a fixed income. Or unloading supplies from a food drive. Or helping out at a school or church fundraiser. It happens all the time. And if there's a broken down car on the side of the road, you can bet your ass that the one who stops to help will be a Marine. Those are the Marines we see, those are the Marines we know.

Whether they're out on the town or standing guard duty in some dusty place a half world away, these young men – and women – deserve both respect and the benefit of the doubt.

As I cop, I fully understood the concept of innocence until proven guilty. The rush to judgment in the case of the military bothers me. We ask Marines to put their lives on the line before they've had a chance to live theirs, yet instantly believe the worst about them. Why do bona fide criminals fare better in public opinion than members of our own armed forces?

I left law enforcement years ago, but still live in a military town. Each day I come in contact with Marines doing their jobs, living their lives, participating in this community. They are not monsters. They are not killers. They are no different from you or me, except for their courage and dedication to an impossible job.

And I firmly believe that is the lens through which they should be viewed.

— Carole Moore, a former police officer, is a contributing editor and columnist at Law Enforcement Technology magazine. Her work has appeared in Prevention, Family Circle, Harvard Magazine, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, and many others.

© 2006 Carole Moore

Also by Carole Moore:
• Both Sides of the Tracks
Black Marine-Pioneers Fought Two Wars [23 Oct 06]