A SOLDIER'S PERSPECTIVE
THE WEB'S LEADING MILITARY BLOG SINCE 2004
California is just straight out of control.
A Los Angeles Superior Court commissioner dashed [Shawn Sage's] hopes of early enlistment for Marine sniper duty, plus a potential $10,000 signing bonus.
In denying the Royal High School student delayed entry into the Marine Corps, Children’s Court Commissioner Marilyn Mackel reportedly told Sage and a recruiter that she didn’t approve of the Iraq war, didn’t trust recruiters and didn’t support the military.
Since when is it the job of a judge to inject her personal views into the lives of American citizens? A judge’s job is to interpret the law and act in the best interests of the public and resolve disputes in a legal and objective manner.
Activist Children’s Court Commissioner Marilyn Mackel
Thankfully, there is a bright side to the California insanity that seems to plague the state.
Assemblyman Cameron Smyth introduced legislation last month that would allow foster teens to enlist in the service without express permission from a judge.
Instead, AB2238 would allow foster children 17 or older to sign up with the consent of a foster parent or social worker.
“Here is one impressive young man who somehow made it through the challenge of the foster system, had a clear sense of a career path and was denied that opportunity by a judge basically because of her personal bias,” said Smyth, R-Santa Clarita, who will honor Sage today at a Royal High assembly.
“I find that to be a horrific abuse of her power.”
I want to personally thank Assemblyman Cameran Smythe for what he is doing to allow our nation’s youth to sign up and serve their country. This all started when the teen entered a “There Oughta Be A Law” contest sponsored by the Assemblyman and chosen to be introduced in law. There were over 700 entries in the district and most were more than a page long. Shawn’s entry was a single paragraph.
From the time Shawn was 7 years old, he’s wanted to join the Marines. Unfortunately, to join the Marines under the Delayed Entry Program (DEP), one has to get the permission of parents or guardians if they are under 18 years old. Shawn is a foster child and a “ward of the state”, he had to ask the court for permission to join the military. This puts teens in the unfortunate position where they are subject to self-righteous, special interest judges for permission.
Under Smyth’s bill, titled AB238 “Foster Care Military Bill”, foster children 17 or older who reside in the state, will be able to enter DEP “with the consent of his or her foster parent or social worker”, both of whom were supportive of Shawn’s decision but powerless to do anything about it.
Today, the Assemblyman was invited to attend a special assembly (strange coincidence for sure) being held at Shawn’s school, Royal High School in Simi Valley. At the assembly, Mr. Smyth presented Shawn with a certificate of appreciation for bringing this important issue to light. In front of hundreds of fellow students, Shawn tearily described how much he wanted to be a Marine. The high school has been very supportive of Shawn and his desires. In attendance were also students that obviously opposed the Iraq War, but they showed strong support for the military and Shawn.
I called Assemblyman Smyth’s office to personally thank him for attacking this problem head on. Smyth represents the 38th State Assembly District, which includes Santa Clarita, Simi Valley and San Fernando Valley. Our country deserves to have loyal, patriotic Americans willing to serve it and its citizens, regardless of the situations in which they find themselves.
If you live anywhere near the state capitol in Sacramento, there will be a committee hearing on the bill on April 1st at 1330 in room 437. This is your chance to express your support for the bill and encourage lawmakers to pass this otherwise unecessary law. If you have any questions about the hearing, you can call Mr. Smyth’s office at Ph: (916) 319-2038. Please pass this along to anyone you know in the area and have them show up if they’re able.
I’d also like to ask you to send Shawn a quick letter or card of support for his decision to the join the military. Regardless of your opinion about war, military service itself is an honorable profession and a necessary one. Without willing volunteers, this country would be forced to man the military with drafted citizens who don’t want to be there. Please send your letters and cards of support to the following address:
Shawn Sage
c/o Royal High School
1402 Royal Avenue
Simi Valley, CA 93065
Additionally, please take the time to write a thank you note to Assemblyman Cameron Smyth through his aides to the following email address: ed.masterson@asm.ca.gov
See, I’m just as good as asking for positive action as I am negative action! But here’s the address if you’d like to be angry too:
MACKEL, MARILYN Commissioner
Edmund D. Edelman Children’s Court (Dependency)
Dept:402 Phone: (323) 526-6402
AND/OR
Edmund D. Edelman Children’s Court
Juvenile – Dependency Court
201 Centre Plaza Drive
Monterey Park, CA 91754
Phone: (213) 974-5401
H/T to the Grodner Effect for the info.
(21) Readers Comments
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yankeemom
Aww, you made me tear up again, CJ.
I love happy endings, esp out of CA!
I will be sending a card to Shawn and a thank you to Assemblyman Smyth.
Isaac
I hope the city council can over-write the judges ruling, this man deserves his right to serve.
Having a draft would mean destroying the entire military at this moment. My own country has a draft and frankly, our military sucks.
John Breland
To express your opinion directly to the Edmund D. Edleman Children’s Court where Commissioner Marilyn Mackel pretends to dispense justice, go to this website: http://pview.findlaw.com/view/3895940_1?noconfirm=0. Then click on the “Contact Us” link.
Grumpy
There is something is this story that just doesn’t add up right. With the story as written, Assemblyman Smyth should stay out of it. Mr. Shawn Sage wants to live a life of discipline, but he is starting it with rebellion. This shows contradictions in motive. The Military has certain guidlines on such issues. This especially true with the “Military Occupational Specification” or sniper. They don’t really want them before the age of consent. By the way the extra years will make him a better sniper.
Grumpy
Donna
I just sent my letter of “thank you” to Assemblyman Smyth. I think that judges have no right to tell someone whether they can serve in the miitary or not.
The guardian of the young person should be making that decision whether they should sign for them, not some judge who doesn’t have the interest of the child or the country at heart.
Leta
And what the heck is up with the bailiff raising his hand and being allowed to comment as he did? Good grief!
Card going out to Shawn tomorrow.
Old Soldier
California, what do you expect, at least there are a few with the balls. This sounds like the kind of young man the military would welcome with open arms. Semper Fi.
CajunTiger
And these are the types of judges we will be flooded with for the next four years if Clinton or Obama are elected. So sad! I hope O’Reilly and Rush get a hold of this and make it a major issue.
Oscar
Ever hear of the “Grodner Effect”? This is a good place to put it in practice, with this “judge”.
The Grodner Effect:
A person, politican or company, particularly a lawyer or law firm who is corrupt and arrogant tries to create a position in which he or the company, party or entity for which they work or represent can repress or harm an individual or individuals simply by having connections in the legal system, political connections or personal wealth. That person, party or entity gets blogged and the entire story goes viral on the Internet, causing the person or entity who is blogged about to lose pretty much everything, like our hero and pet, Jay Grodner.
http://www.grodnereffect.com/
the meyers
We are sad to hear that this young future soldier was not allowed to join the Marines.If that is what he wants the judge should not have interjected her own opinion about the war.Right or wrong ,My Country first. He would have made any parent proud. Even if you do not agree with the war ,you should support our soldiers.
JD
21 should be the minimum age for enlistment in today’s military. By the time a young person reaches that age he is better equipped for making such life-changing decisions.
I spent three years recruiting for the Marine Corps. Our primary target audience was young and impressionable high school students. We knew we could sway them with stories and images as well as our bearing, discipline and demeanor. We successfully met our quotas. 99% of the youth today, as well as a decade ago, do not have the necessary life experiences to understand what the impact on them can be from being persuaded to join the military. Also, military service today is much different than it was 10 or 20 years ago. Bush’s foreign policy in Iraq has made the military an organization I would not encourage ANYONE to join. So far I have been successful in dissuading two of my nephews from joining the Marine Corps and a third nephew out of the Air Force.
Although I vehemently disagree with the state for interfering in this young man’s life, he really should wait until he is at least 21 before deciding to become a Marine.
SSgtJ
JD, exactly what in the ‘H’ are you talking about? “Bush’s foreign policy in Iraq has made the military an organization I would not encourage ANYONE to join.”
In case you didn’t hear, Bush chose not to run for a Third Term. How does this soon to be ex-president effect YOUR tour as a Marine?
By the way, should we deny 18-20 year olds the right to vote also?
David
Comments for the above two posts. I agree that at 18, you don’t know as much what to do with your life as you do at 21. The detriment of joining the Marines isn’t the most tramatic thing in the world. The reason why you were able to sway your potential candidates is that their parents didn’t sway them otherwise. My parents didn’t care one way or the other. I joined the US Army at 18 and left after my two year hitch was up I left honorably, proud to have served.
As for SSgtJ’s comment, respectfully the president cannot run for a third term, even if he so chose. This is a good thing, because I don’t believe this country has been welll-served by him. As well, I agree that at 18, they can vote and should be able to serve. Some guys I know were ready to do this at 13. Others weren’t ready until they were 25.
Go figure…
And by the way, thank you both for your service to this country.
David
Ymarsakar
California is incubating tyranny. Too many people given too many luxuries and not enough responsibility.
Seal Patriot
A judge who uses her political beliefs to decide what someone else does with their lives? Not very professional!
Seal Patriot
Isaac, I am sure that Judge Mackel’s ruling will not stand without a fight. At my school, a political science professor felt the Marine Corps should be allowed to participate in the career day meeting that was being held on campus. However, the other professors as well as the University President didn’t feel that they should.
So, anyway, they told the professor that were he to collect enough names through a petition on campus, then the Marine Corps can participate. They set up a minimal number of names requirement. The professor felt the minimum was ridiculously high, and that the University Board(who raised my tuition by 15 percent for their profit) was just setting a minimum that they were sure the professor couldn’t possibly meet.
To the professor’s surprise and the president’s, we got enough names and the Marines participated on career day. Just goes to show you what fighting an uphill battle with confidence and a “never die attitude” can get you. The next day was funny, my math professor was furious. He said the recruiters should be permanently banned from the campus.
One of the students who had planned to join the Marines a year prior but was too shy and nervous to be open about it, stood up to the professor and said they weren’t recruiters. Which, technically was an accurate statement. After all, those Marines came all the way from Camp Pendleton to give the presentation at our career day meeting, and they weren’t recruiters. They didn’t have desk jobs at a recruiting office. They had no numbers to try and beef up, and for a fact, they were foot soldiers who knew life in the Corps during deployment here or abroad better than anyone else.
There were three Marines; one was a part of Force Recon, the other was a Harrier pilot, and the last drove an amphibious tank. Yeah, I think that my math professor spouted off a little too much ignorance with what he said.
Anyway, Shawn’ll get his chance to make his own decisions. The good thing about this is, now he has more time to think about his final decision. In a year, if he still wants to serve, he may do so unopposed. Which will be a perfect serving of justice for Shawn in addition to what ever the price this judge is paying right now for unethically turning this country’s court of law into a three ring circus.
SSgtJ
David, I know that the President of the United States of America can only be elected to two terms. Apparently you can’t missed the sarcsam.
What do YOU mean when you say ‘The reason why you were able to sway your potential candidates is that their parents didn’t sway them otherwise.’? Are you saying that their parents should have swayed them otherwise? Is it bad for our youth to serve in the Military?
David
SSgtJ,
I guess I’ve never been good at detecting sarcasm. As for the second comment, the previous recruiter mentioned that he could sway potential candidates with “stories and images as well as our bearing, discipline and demeanor”. That only works if their parents don’t persuade them otherwise. If the kid wants to join the Marines and the father wants him to be a truck driver, Dad’s already got a leg up on the recruiter. Just don’t faction parents out of the picture, is all I’m trying to say. For a young person to join the Marines (or any of the other branches of service) is an honorable thing, indeed.
David
David
Just came to my feable mind that my roommate during basic training was there because a California judge put him there (Son, you can join the Army or go to jail). When he graduated, he sure seemed like his life was turning around for the better. Said it was the first thing he felt he really accomplished. Still can’t figure this judge out, but they will hear from me.
David
Nick
Well, this old veteran thinks the kid can wait until he’s 18. He could spend the year getting in shape and learning what he’s about to get himself into. I put my time in. I was 20 when I joined and it gave me an advantage. I’d lived a little life, had a son and wife. I didn’t appreciate the judges comments but I think needing permission at age 17 is proper. That’s awfully young. I remember those boys. Maybe that’s when the Marines figure they can best fill one’s head. God knows, I know several 17 year olds whose heads a fairly empty. God bless the kid for wanting to serve. I wish we had more.
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