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Honor Lost, and Honor Fulfilled
By Slab
Many of you have read about HM3 Melson J. Bacos, a Corpsman who served with 3rd Battalion 5th Marines on their latest deployment to Iraq. HM3 Bacos was one of the men charged with murdering an Iraqi man in Hamdaniyah on the night of April 25th, 2006. He recently made a deal to testify against the Marines who were charged with him, in exchange for pleading guilty to conspiracy and kidnapping charges, for which he was sentenced to 5 months on top of the time he has already served. HM3 Bacos was quoted as saying, "Now, I feel that my honor is gone, and I have let down others."
The reaction to Bacos' deal has been mixed. Many Marines feel like he sold out his brothers in exchange for a lighter sentence. Gidget Fuentes, writing for Marine Times, had this to say about Corpsmen in general:
"In combat, they become that all-important first responder, the first line of defense to their platoon under fire. As sailors, though, platoon corpsmen are not Marines, a status that even Bacos admitted left him out of the inner circle."Furthermore, Fuentes quotes David Segal, a military sociologist and professor at the University of Maryland; who said:
"Anyone who is not a Marine in a Marine unit is an outsider. In the band of brothers, he was the stepbrother."
Interesting perspectives, especially since neither Fuentes or Segal ever served in a Marine infantry platoon in combat. I can tell you now that, beyond any doubt, the Corpsmen that served in my platoons in 2/8 were never "outsiders" or left out of the "inner circle".
No matter how you feel about HM3 Bacos, I would have to say that I agree with him, his honor is long gone. When I was a Rat at VMI, I distinctly remember our Company XO telling us that our honor was the only thing that could never be taken from us, we had to give it away. HM3 Bacos has done exactly that. Unfortunately, when he did, he also stained the honor of all FMF Corpsmen.
However, the honor of the Navy's Hospital Corps is much more resilient than Bacos'. "Docs" have been fighting and dying beside their brother Marines for decades, and are continuing to do so even as one of their own testifies about his complicity in an illegal killing, and agrees to testify against the very Marines he used to serve. The stain of his misdeeds will fade with time, and Docs will continue to occupy their storied place in the history of the Corps.
Here is just one example of the continued bravery of our Corpsmen. Hospitalman Maggard of 2d Battalion 8th Marines (my old unit, no less) is the subject of the Marine Corps News article, "Doc Fights Pain, Gains Marines' Respect". Below are some excerpts from the article.
Maggard, a 26-year-old hospital corpsman from Corsicana, Texas, attached to 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, gained the respect of Marines he serves with by treating the wounds of two Marines and an Iraqi soldier. He did it all under fire while ignoring his wounds to his face.
...
"Doc was hit in the face with shrapnel," Walker said. "It had busted his jaw. It looked like someone hit him with a baseball bat."
...
"On the ride out he was still treating the Marines," said Cpl. Craig T. Smith, a 21-year-old team leader from Toms River, N.J.
...
"It gives me a lot more respect for corpsmen," Hammann said. "I think because he knew his job so well, he saved those Marines lives."
Remember, it is the stories of Corpsmen like Doc Maggard, not Bacos, that define the legacy of Fleet Marine Force Corpsmen.
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Comments
I'm confused also. Are you coments predicated by the assumption that HM3 Bacos is lying or downplaying his contributions to the crime or are you suggesting that he looses honor by not helping with a coverup?
Mike
He lost his Honor when he committed the illegal military action. That is assuming what they did was illegal at the time.
Ben Bauman 79
One more point...to previous message.
If what the Marines did that night was legal, then the Corpsman lost his honor by turning on his fellow Comrades when they were innocent because he could not stand the pressure. Either way the man lost it.
Ben Bauman
VMI 79
VFW Post 9949
PS: Lightening is correct..Honor is about the only thing in life than cannot be taken from you, and YOU have to give it away.
Honor is first lost any time we give ourselves over to something we know, or simply believe, is wrong. This is true whether by participation or by simply turning our heads.
If the accusations are true, then which ever one applies to HM3 Bacos, honor was lost. Further, to continue in that wrong action, or the condoning of it by silence, merely increases the dishonor. In that case, honor, while still lost, is at least partially restored by doing what is right--in this case, telling the truth.
If, on the other hand, the accusations are false, and HM3 Bacos has given in to pressure from authorities, then the honor is still lost, but is not generally recoverable. Lying among the Brotherhood of War is not easily forgiven.
I sincerely hope, for the corpsman's sake, that honor is recoverable in his situation.
At first, I thought it was obvious that Army Lawyer and Mike S. were completely missing the point. Now, what is obvious is that my communication skills were sorely lacking when typing this post. I had hoped that readers would focus on the "Honor Fulfilled" part, and Doc Maggard's actions.
I was specifically vague about Bacos because I did not want the focus to be on him. He was an attention gainer. Also, I want to be careful of what I say before the Marines have been tried. Innocent until proven guilty and all that. It remains to be seen whether Bacos' testimony was a baring of his soul or lying after cracking under pressure from the prosecution.
Army Lawyer, if you must know, if Bacos' testimony was completely truthful, then the dishonor of his actions that night override anything else. His honor is gone, unrecoverable. However, in my opinion, cutting a plea deal was no more honorable than staying silent. Confessing, and then standing beside his brothers to face the full consequences of their actions, would have been the closest thing to an honorable course of action available to him.
Remember, it is the stories of Corpsmen like Doc Maggard, not Bacos, that define the legacy of Fleet Marine Force Corpsmen.
HM3 Bacos lost his honor when he copped a plea deal with the prosecution REGARDLESS of what happened that night.
The right course of action would have been to refuse to even partake of what was alleged to have occured when it was proposed that fateful night in Hamdaniyah.
However, once you take a blood oath with the men you serve with in combat, then it is for life, right or wrong. You stand next to eachother, come hell or high water, and accept the responsibility for that action. Anything less is unacceptable.
If the action is right in the first place, you hold your head high. If wrong, well then you look yourself in the mirror and if you can't live with what you see, then there's only one thing left to do.
The Marines in question are still innocent until proven guilty as well their actions, and the good Army lawyer should remember that until there is a conviction, we must refer to any criminal act as alleged criminal act. In the interim, Marines have every right to suspect Bacus' integrity and pride especially when accepting deals from prosecutor's whose cases depend on weak rats jumping at any opportunity to save themselves; where is the honor in that and what ever happen to going down with ship?
I'm simply shocked that commenters here suggest that telling the truth, even as part of a plea deal, is somehow less honorable than lying and participating in a coverup. "Keeping Faith" with your brothers in arms does not extend to covering up criminal acts of this magnitude. I don't know about the Marines, but in my service in the Navy and Air Force we are constantly taught that failure to report criminal acts is, itself, a criminal act.
If the allegations against these men are true then they all have lost their honor. If they really believed the principles instilled in them by the military they would have either stood against the criminal act in the first place, or reported immediately.
As someone who has experience with the military legal system I can not blame HM3 Bacos for taking his lawyers advice and neotiating a deal. Unlike civilian courts, you can't confess to something you didn't actually do in a military court, and the judge will take steps to ensure what HM3 Bacos is admitting to is what he really did. I'm sure Army Lawyer can explain how that would work in this case better than I.
You know what? Forget about Bacos. If his testimony was true, then he weaseled out of what he deserved by turning his back on the rest. They will have to face their own consequences. Now read the stories about Docs Maggard and Kirby. THOSE are FMF Corpsmen. That's the whole point of this post.
Andy, no one has said that lying and participating in a coverup is more honorable than a plea deal. You are trying to read too much into people's comments. If you are talking about me, I believe I stated my views clearly, and they are not what you are suggesting.
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I know Doc Maggard. I am also in 2/8 but am in a different platoon. I am a Marine but I have the utmost respect for our corpsmen. Doc Maggard is an excellent example of the kind of corpsmen we had in Echo 2/8. I will say that our corpsmen worked harder and did more then any one there. Our corpsmen names were Ordonez and Simon. They often patrolled on less sleep and in worse health because there was no one to share the load with and at no time did they complain or try to shirk their work. My hats off to all the "Devildocs" of their caliber. After all, they keep grunts like me alive.
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Maybe I'm missing it in my reading of your post...but are you saying that Bacos lost his honor b/c of his conduct at Hamadiya or because he made a deal with prosecutors?
I assume, and hope, it's the former (though with the emotion this case has produced among some, who knows)