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| USMC Sergeant Major Estrada campaigns for Sen. Barack Obama |
| 2008-03-05 |
| Estrada campaigns for Sen. Barack Obama By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writer Posted : Wednesday Mar 5, 2008 13:23:58 EST Just eight months after taking off his uniform, the recently retired 15th sergeant major of the Marine Corps is jumping into the campaign fray, stumping for Sen. Barack Obama and echoing the Democratic candidate’s call for pulling troops out of Iraq. “I stood up and I said I agree with him when he said we should pull out of Iraq. I think it’s time for the Iraqis to stand up and take charge of their own country,” retired Sgt. Maj. John Estrada said in a telephone interview Feb. 25. “He’s not talking about snatching everybody out of there. He said he will do it over a 16-month period. He will deploy the troops to places where they’re needed, like Afghanistan. ... He’s a guy who will use force reasonably,” Estrada said. Estrada, 52, was the highest-ranking enlisted Marine for nearly four years before retiring in June 2007 after 34 years. He formally endorsed the Illinois senator for president of the United States during a rally at a high school gymnasium in Beaufort, S.C., on Jan. 24. Estrada served twice at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort and is well-known among the locals there. He planned to campaign again for the senator in Texas on the weekend preceding the critical March 4 primary between Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton. “He has this — I want to call it a unifying force. I see him uniting our country more so than the others. Old, young, across all ethnicities,” Estrada said. Estrada currently works for a defense contractor and lives near Orlando, Fla., with his two children. A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Estrada moved to Washington, D.C., when he was 14 to live with his mother, a health care worker. He joined the Corps in 1973 and later became a U.S. citizen in the 1980s. Representatives from the Obama campaign contacted Estrada in January and asked him to attend a round-table discussion with other veterans in South Carolina shortly before the primary election there in January. Estrada said he was impressed by Obama’s knowledge of issues such as traumatic brain injury and his apparent concern for veterans’ affairs and the Department of Veterans Affairs, which Estrada believes is woefully underfunded. After meeting with Obama, campaign officials asked Estrada to introduce the candidate at a rally later that evening, and Estrada accepted. During the introduction, Estrada gave Obama his full endorsement. Some scholars say Estrada is part of an alarming trend of political involvement among military leaders. Many say the trend began in 1992, when Bill Clinton — then the governor of Arkansas — rounded up a list of endorsements from retired general officers. “This is a trend that a lot of us are not really happy with in terms of military officers getting out and throwing themselves into a campaign,” said Jim Currie, a professor of national security studies at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. “You don’t want an officer corps that is seen as a Democratic officer corps or a Republican officer corps.” Peter D. Feaver, a political science professor at Duke University in North Carolina, agreed. “It politicizes the military, even when that is not the intention of the former military person,” Feaver said. “Obama will love this until he becomes president — and then he starts to worry about the political leanings of the people serving under him in the military.” Enlisted Marines, however, are not necessarily held to the same standard for political activity. Only commissioned officers are subject to Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which threatens a court-martial against those who use “contemptuous words” against the president or defense secretary. “With [commissioned] officers, it’s a much bigger issue,” said Michael Noonan, a captain in the Army Reserve and a research fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia. Estrada said he thought about all of that and nevertheless chose to speak out. “This is the freedom we fight and die for,” Estrada said. “I know some people won’t like that I’m doing this, but I earned that right. I had people die to give me that right.” He agrees that officers and noncommissioned officers should not talk about politics while in uniform. “I used to tell my Marines, ‘We don’t discuss politics in work.’ I don’t think anyone knew how I felt about anything politically. I said, ‘You have a chance to express your opinion — on Election Day.’” Estrada said he was not a citizen and could not vote when Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980. He voted for Bill Clinton in 1992. He said he liked John McCain’s candidacy in 2000, but ultimately voted for Al Gore because McCain lost the Republican primary to President Bush. Estrada dismissed the notion that pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq will lead to more violence and chaos. “We’re not going to just pull out and leave them hanging. But once they see that we’re serious about leaving, they are going to wean themselves and start standing up and it will force them to come together as a nation.” Current troop levels in Iraq are making America less safe, Estrada said. “We are stretched so badly — our equipment is worn out, our sailors and Marines are tired, some are in their fifth and six deployment. I think that puts us in a very vulnerable position. “Suppose a couple other incidents break out in the other parts to the world. We may have trouble responding to them and dealing with them effectively.” Nevertheless, Estrada does not expect all U.S. troops to leave anytime soon. “I think there will be some kind of U.S. presence there for a long time, but I don’t think it needs to be what we have going on right now.” Some Marines have already shunned Estrada. Shortly after making his initial endorsement, he was visiting Marine Corps Base Quantico and dropped by to see a senior officer whom he used to work for and considered a friend. The officer refused to see him. “It was a little disappointing,” Estrada said. “I will probably lose a few friends, but they need to remember — this is why we serve our country.” |
| Posted by:0369_Grunt |
| #5 WTF is up with the Marines? They feeding them Stupid Pills over in the Corps? |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-03-05 21:51 |
| #4 he has more than earned the right to speak his mind and participate in politics. I sincerely thank him for his admirable service and disregard his recommendation |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-03-05 19:57 |
| #3 Once he became a civilian, he is as entitled to speak out as anyone else. I consider him a good example of citizenship to those he served with, and to the rest of us as well. And as a sergeant his concern was the welfare of the enlisted Marines, who along with their families have been stretched more than normal, and maintaining adequate levels of supplies and equipment, which also have been stretched more than normal. One fourth of our troops are registered Democrats, if I recall correctly, and that ought to be respected by their fellows, just as a small but significant percentage are atheists. I still hope John McCain wins, though. ;-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-03-05 18:31 |
| #2 So why not pull the troops first from Europe and Asia on the basis of "I think it's time for the Iraqis to stand up and take charge of their own country," or are 'browns' less worthy at a shot at democracy than whites or yellows have had for decades? Is this what Bush referred to as the 'racism of low expectations'? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-03-05 16:34 |
| #1 “This is the freedom we fight and die for,” Estrada said. “I know some people won’t like that I’m doing this, but I earned that right. I had people die to give me that right.” I don't like the guy he's backing, but I'm not gonna argue with that. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-03-05 16:34 |