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WTF? Judge Tells Foster Kid He Can't Join the Marines

By Kat on March 8, 2008 | | Comments (7)

[Kat]

Hat tip to Instapundit

Anti-war judge rejects foster teen's bid to join military

SIMI VALLEY - Shawn Sage long dreamed of joining the military, and watching "Full Metal Jacket" last year really sold him on becoming a Marine.

But last fall, a Los Angeles Superior Court commissioner dashed the foster teen'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.

I understand that foster children are technically in the legal custody of the state and that the state's responsibility is to keep them safe while they are in their custody. However, this seems to be extending that responsibility beyond the judge's and the state's original responsibilities as well as extending that beyond the age and time when the state will have legal responsibility: 18.

What would be interesting would be to discover how many cases this judge sent to private or state run boot camps.

Still, in the end, the judge gave the wrong reason to keep the boy out of the Marines. She didn't say that Marine DEP was dangerous to his health right now. She says that she is against the Iraq war (how does she know he'll even go there? Marines are getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan, go to Ethiopia, Djibouti, El Salvador and many other places on humanitarian and relationship building programs).

The Marines, contrary to many idiotic anti-military people like this judge, do much more than go places and break things, though that is often their favorite. They teach more skills than killing people. They teach discipline. They teach thinking. They teach exactly what the judge thought they didn't care about: camaraderie, team work and taking care of the members of your unit.

In short, they teach brotherhood.

Has the California foster child system ever been able to teach that?

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7 Comments

By Marine6 on March 8, 2008 12:24 PM
Yet another proof that California is the land of fruits, flakes and nuts. The job of a judge is to apply the LAW, not their own personal views. One wonders if a clever conservative lawyer (if there is one in California) couldn't find a way to sue the judge for infringing on the Constitutinal right of association and thereby denying this individual their civil rights.
 
By Boquisucio on March 8, 2008 1:20 PM
... And with mixed emotions I look forward to moving to the land of Cocoa Puffs.
 
By Fishmugger on March 8, 2008 6:13 PM
When I read the article off Blackfive this morning, I couldn't understand the part about not allowing a 17 year old to have a DELAYED ENTRY. Does that mean the only thing she refused him was the $10,000 signing bonus? If he waits for graduation like the recruiter set up, he maybe will have a few months to hang around until his adulthood. Oh well.
 
By FbL on March 8, 2008 7:14 PM
Fish Mugger, that's my understanding, too--that all she has done is deprive him of his $10,000 delayed-entry signing bonus. In a few months, he'll be able to enlist as an adult... without her approval and without the signing bonus. Really obnoxious.
 
By HomefrontSix on March 8, 2008 8:37 PM
When he's 18, he should turn around and sue said judge for the $10K she just denied him. And that judge needs to be removed from the courts for allowing her personal viewpoints to cloud her interpretation and application of the law. Hopefully the Marine recruiter might be able to work with the recruiting command and his/her higher ups and get this young man the bonus to which he is entitled.
 
By NevadaDailySteve on March 8, 2008 9:40 PM
Isn't there an appeal the young man can make to overrule this overreaching judge? I'm not familiar with the laws in Granola-land but surely she isn't the final say in this, is she?
 
By Karla (threadbndr) on March 11, 2008 11:56 AM
Good Grief. This makes NO sense. The kid is working hard for a good future. You have to be clean with the law and have a passing GPA to get into the DEP (I know, since that's the way the Marine!Goth went in, though his MOS didn't have a signing bonus at the time). Would she have rather had him be one of those foster kids that ends up in some street gang? (Glad I don't live in CA!)