29 Palms

[Guest guest]

This is the beginning of a letter I have composed to send to senators, tv

stations, radio stations, anyone I can think of. It pretty much sums up how

I feel about this whole thing.

My son, Lance Corporal B. Austin, and four others at 29 Palms,

CA are being court martialed because they refused to be injected with the

Anthrax vaccine. They all have impeccable records and are good Marines.

There is no standard punishment for refusing to take the Anthrax shots. Some

at 29 Palms have been given other than honorable discharges, no brig time, no

court martial. The Marines have decided to sacrifice these five young men to

set the standard of punishment for future refusers. They want the punishment

to be so severe that others will not refuse.

Law, justice and common decency have no place in this court martial.

With a judge this biased the prosecutions work is done. The judge refused

to allow the defense vials of the anthrax vaccine to have it independently

tested. He said he would have and the others court martialed before

they could get the test results back. The defense was denied any usable

evidence. The judge is allowing 2 out of 20 witnesses. Because the judge

has ruled that the order was a lawful order, the safety and efficacy of the

vaccine doesn't matter. In the court room, instead of checking for weapons,

the participants were checked for tape recorders. It appears the Marines

want this kangaroo court to remain in the court room. The old saying, " We

will give you a fair trial and then hang you. " holds true here. The court

martials are scheduled to start June 16, 1999, so time is of the essence.

These young men do not deserve to be thrown in the brig and given

bad conduct discharges. does not drink, smoke or do drugs. He tries

to eat healthy and lifts weights. It took three Marines to replace

when he was relieved of duty. Not being injected with a dangerous vaccine

should be everyone's God given right, even in the military.