A Two-Faced Justice...

[budman]

A Two-Faced Justice A young Marine from CV awarded with Purple Heart...

By : Emma Krasov : 6/6/06
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Judson Parkin, a Castro Valley High School graduate, had no time to lose right after his graduation in June 2003. The country was at war, and he joined the United States Marine Corps in mid-August.

After the usual bootcamp and the School of Infantry at Camp Pendelton, CA, he trained for six month before being deployed to Ramadi, Iraq.

“Upon deployment PFC Parkin became my personal radio operator,” wrote First Lieutenant Brian P. Iglesias in the character statement on Parkin in August 2005. “He performed his duties in an outstanding manner and never wavered under fire. He upheld the Marine Corps tradition of bravery, risking his life...”

As far as personal achievement goes, who would ask for anything more?

But there was more.

“Thank you for your dedication to this battalion and to your fellow Marines!” wrote R. P. Newman, Parkin’s commanding officer in February 2005, upon awarding Parkin with the Purple Heart Medal. “It’s only through your willingness to bravely face personal danger that we were able to accomplish our mission.”

Highly regarded by other commanders and rewarded with seven medals and ribbons in his three years of service with the Navy, shouldn’t this brave young Marine from Castro Valley rest happy and content?

Apparently, his bravery and all his dedication was not enough to outweigh one infraction, namely a small amount (less then one gram according to Parkin) of marijuana, found in his room right before deployment to Iraq.

All the good words and all the awards happened after that, mind you.

One would imagine that the young Marine’s heroism at war had buried the one and only shameful weed episode forever, but PFC Parkin was not so lucky.

As the time passes, his ordeal looks more and more like a quote from Kafka, with endless circling of a bureaucratic machine around and around the same issue, never moving an inch ahead, multiple punishments for the same insignificant crime and growing numbers of official letters confirming the receipt of a complain, but never bringing any solution.

“During Private Parkin’s deployment, he was not recommended for promotion because of his past drug abuse,” wrote Major J.R. Jurgensen of the U.S. Marine Corps Office of Legislative Affairs in December 2005 in response to Senator Feinstein request about Parkin’s fate.

Not recommended for promotion? That’s punishment number one.

“His punishment included reduction in rank...” That’s punishment number two. “...the recommendation for an Other than Honorable [discharge] (OTH).” And that’s punishment number three.

“If the Marine Corps discharges me as OTH,” wrote Parkin to Jeff Goldstein, his history teacher in high school, “I will lose ALL my benefits, including the GI Bill and my veteran medical benefits.”

Scary as it sounds, Parkin prepared for the worst, but he could not imagine that yet another punishment, arguably the most severe one, was in store for him.

Since September 2005, when his commanding officer at the time, J. M. Odonnell recommended OTH, Parkin was left at Camp Pendelton as a Remain Behind Element (RBE) to wait for a decision made on his behalf.

In the time period, his papers got lost several times, his chain-of-command officers cannot give him any time frame of the upcoming decision or tell him when his punishment number four will be over, so he spends his days tending to miscellaneous chores — from gardening to heavy lifting — and basically rotting away.

“I don’t perform my job as a military personnel,” said Parkin in a phone interview from Camp Pendelton. “I don’t know when I get out of here, I appealed to be reinstated with rank and pay, and I never heard back from anybody. My benefits were taken away. I am 20 years old, I want to be in Iraq serving my country, or I want to be free to leave as a civilian.”

He does not try to hide behind his awards and achievements, but enduring those multiple punishments, we would like to see the end of it all one day.

“I know I did bad,” said Parkin, “I just want to be punished and let go. I’m rotting away here.”

Parkin’s high school teacher characterizes him as “a great personality.” His grandma says he is “a very special and caring person.” His aunt and mother state that “Judson was never involved with drugs or alcohol during his school years,” and ask various Navy officials to consider “his punishment over the last year,” but to no avail.

Parkin said his legal representative, Capt. Woodmanzee does not return his calls. At press time, she hadn’t return this reporter’s call, either.

Help Private Parkin to get some justice, anybody?