Email to Benson:

You are a deplorable and despicable disgrace to freedom, democracy, and all of the values that Americans hold dear. Your disregard for the impeccable legacy of the Marine Corps is beyond reproach. You have desecrated an emblem whose significance you cannot begin to understand. The legacy of the Eagle, Globe and Anchor is one marked by constant courage, honor, and commitment in the fiercest of battles. It is obvious that someone as self-absorbed as yourself cannot begin to understand what the words honor, courage, and commitment represent. You are too busy looking for ways to further weaken the cause of freedom in the world.

I spent three months of my life in a struggle to attain the symbol that you have so easily defaced. I would spend evenings at boot camp staring at the ceiling, looking for strength to continue another day. I would find that strength in the memory of the many men who had slept under that same ceiling. So many men had gone before me. They had served in some of this Nation’s most intense and deadly battles. Admiral Chester Nimitz had characterized the courage and discipline of the Corps during the battle for Iwo Jima. His words, “Uncommon valor was a common virtue,” are memorialized at the Marine Corps Memorial in Arlington VA. The legacy of the Corps is what makes it the fighting force that it is.

My grandfather was among those that shaped the legacy of the Corps. He served this Nation proudly in the Korean War, and beyond. He was a part of the Marine Corps for sixteen years, and carried the honor of his service with him to the grave this year.

You have disgraced the legacy of the Corps with you mindless actions, just as any Marine that has acted outside of the Articles of War has disgraced the Corps. The only consolation is that you are not brethren of the Corps, but rather a pissed stained coward.

In the case of the Marines who may have brought dishonor onto the Corps at Haditha, they have yet to be indicted. We are a Nation of laws, laws that Marines are sworn to uphold, and within our Nation we are assumed innocent until proven guilty. Just as the media assumed troops were guilty at Abu Gharib and Guantanamo Bay, they have assumed that the Marines at Haditha are guilty.

The fact that you would desecrate a symbol as impeccable as the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor shows that you are worthless to this Nation. The fact that you would paint an organization with such a harrowing history as the Marine Corps with such a broad brush shows that you are mindless in your pursuit to achieve your political goals. You are as mindless as those that would portray all Muslims as terrorists.

I served this Nation proudly and honorably. I placed myself into harms way during Operation Enduring Freedom to insure that Americans can continue to enjoy the freedom that they so often take for granted. I do not ask for recognition of my service. I do not expect gratitude or special considerations. I do, however, expect that those people who did not have the courage to stand in defense of freedom do not desecrate the memory of those who have.

Brandon