Liquamen II

Today I’m going to talk about something that you might not want to hear or see. I surely didn’t. It is an issue that has made me angrier at my country than I think I have ever been.

I joined the United States Marine Corps in 1998; an idealistic young man who wanted above all to serve his country. I had wanted to be a Marine since I was seven years old, and when I graduated from high school, I shipped out. While I was in high school, my patriotism and desire to be a Marine must have rubbed off, because a number of my friends, most of whom were younger than me, also joined the Marines. I had a good career in the Corps; I loved being in the Marine Corps. But I left to move on to bigger and better things. Many days since my discharge, I’ve regretted leaving. I missed it. As of this moment, that is no longer the case. See, I was indoctrinated with the belief that Marines and the Marine Corps take care of their own. Sure, I always knew that in the bigger picture this wasn’t really the case; it wasn’t always practical, because the needs of the Corps always outweigh the needs of the troops. Nevertheless, I felt that it was a noble idea; it is generally an idea that is practiced at the small unit level. But yesterday evening, my self-imposed blindness was assaulted. It is impossible for me to ignore what I’ve always known.

Mike, a friend that I’ve known since he was in middle school, was one of the young men who somewhat followed in my footsteps. Yesterday, he posted a Myspace bulletin about a Marine that he served with while he was in (Mike is since out as well). That bulletin was about United States Marine Corps Sergeant Carmelo Rodriguez. Rodriquez’s is a story that is incredibly painful for me to tell, not only because it is about a person who I consider a Brother despite having never met him, but because his story fundamentally undermined my belief in my Corps and my government. Sergeant Rodriguez is dead.

He did not die in an IED attack. He wasn’t killed by a sniper. He didn’t jump on a grenade and save his men. He wasn’t accidentally run over by a Hummer or killed by equipment that has fallen from a 5-ton truck. He did not die in a plane or a helicopter crash. He didn’t drown in a training exercise. His death did not occur in the line of duty at all, in any way. Dying in the line of duty, while always a tragedy, is to die with dignity and honor, and in doing so, our military and our nation usually, USUALLY, treats such troops with the honor and respect. Sergeant Rodriguez died needlessly. His death was a waste because it could have been easily avoided. And this is only part of what angers me. Sergeant Rodriguez died because of military medical malpractice; misdiagnoses. Sergeant Rodriguez had melanoma, skin cancer. Sergeant Rodriguez did not have a wart.

In 1997, Carmelo Rodriguez enlisted in the US Marine Corps. During his pre-entry physical, the doctor noted skin abnormalities, and made a notation that said, very clearly, “melanoma on the right buttocks.” Rodriguez was not told to follow up with another doctor. This was 11 years ago. While Rodriguez was in Iraq in 2005, he went to see a “doc”, most likely a Navy Corpsman. This doc indicated to him that his condition was nothing more than a wart and that he should see a doctor when he returned stateside in five months. He didn’t know it at the time, but this doomed him.

Eventually, inevitably, the truth of Rodriguez’s condition became clear, and the hard-charging Marine was forced to retire. This, I believe, was not out of malice, but it is what happens when a Marine can no longer perform his duties. I was nearly forced to retire because of an arthritic condition in my knee. Regardless, Sergeant Rodriguez was doomed at this point. He had Stage IV melanoma. In 18 months, a supremely physically fit Marine was reduced to a mere 77 lbs as the cancer ravaged his body.

This was about the time, three months ago, that Rodriguez asked CBS news to come to his home to interview him and Byron Pitts was sent by the network to do so. As the CBS news crew was setting up for the interview, a mere eight minutes after Pitts met the 29 year old Marine, Rodriguez died. He was unable to give his story. His family, however, was interviewed, and they relayed to Pitts Rodriquez’s reasons for wanting to speak out. He wanted his story to be known; he wanted other troops to know that they might very well be neglected by the government they had sworn to support and defend.

But while malice may not have been intended when Rodriguez was made to retire, the results of this decision is nothing short of malicious. By making Sergeant Rodriguez retire, the military was no longer obligated to take care of him. I’m still trying to look into what obligations the military has in regards to cancers, but have not been overly successful at this point. It’s possible that the military, or the government in the form of the VA, had to pay for his treatment and hospital/hospice care. I do not know. It’s also possible that they simply argued that his was a preexisting condition and were not obligated to pay for treatment. This happens all the time. Most insulting, however, is the fact that because of Rodriguez’s retirement, the military was not obligated to pay for the military funeral that he rated. His family did. His seven year old son, who will receive 55% of his father’s retirement benefits, was presented with an American flag, while a bugler played “Taps” and Marine riflemen gave him a gun-salute. Let me say it again: his family had to pay for something that the government should have been obligated to do as a result of his service.

You can read the CBS news story HERE, and I hope that you will. I will warn you, however, the video that accompanies the story is disturbing; watch at your own risk. Another version, one less small, is available HERE. I am telling you, beware. The images presented within the video bothered me, and I am not easily shaken. And this is how I force you to watch, because watching might be the only way you’re compelled to act.

By all accounts, Rodriguez was a good Marine. My friend Mike served with him in the 8^th Communications Battalion, Headquarters and Service Company, Motor Transport. Mike met Rodriguez when he (Mike) first checked into the Fleet Marine Force, and was immediately drawn to him. A Corporal at the time, he was a gung-ho, 300-PFTing “Devil Dog” who was a hard-core-motivator. Mike looked up to him; wanted to emulate him. They frequently spoke of their love of art, and Rodriguez mentioned that he’d like to pursue their shared dream when he got out. He mentioned his work as a part-time actor who once shared the set with Katie Holmes on “Dawson’s Creek.”

Here we see such a promising individual, a verifiable asset to our nation and society, discarded as if his service meant nothing. And the worst part, my dear readers, is that there is no recourse for this gross violation of justice. None. Whereas you can sue your doctor for misdiagnosing you and causing undue harm, Rodriguez’s family can do no such thing. The Feres Doctrine, as decided in 1950 by the Supreme Court, prevents any service member from suing the government for injuries sustained while in active duty. This doctrine is generally a good thing, as family members would be constantly suing the government for the deaths of their loved ones in the line of duty. But this surely cannot be the spirit of the law, can it? Was it really designed to protect the government from complete and total negligence? I would contest that it is not. And I implore our legislature to act to protect our service members from such malpractice. Such malfeasance.

We can do something about this. You can write your Congressmen and Senators, just like I will be doing over the coming days and weeks. Contacting the people you pay to represent you needn’t be limited to this issue; contact them liberally. But I hope you will, at the very least, do so on Sergeant Rodriguez’s behalf. We need to make sure that we’re taking care of our Marines, sailors, soldiers and airmen. To do otherwise is unconscionable. We ask them to sacrifice for us, and it is our responsibility to make sure they are getting what they need, be it guns, bullets, armored vehicles, or quality health care, and failing that, the ability to be taken care of if the government fails them so utterly. To plagiarize from Barack Obama, this is change that we can believe in. A change far more substantive than anything he has suggested. Write your representatives, all of them, and ask that the Feres Doctrine be reexamined. We shouldn’t let what happened to Sergeant Rodriguez and what has happened to countless others continue to happen. Send us to war, send us to die, sure. We accept that. But do not treat us as animals. Do not throw our lives away needlessly. And pay your debts to us with the same equity as we serve you unquestionably.