Camp Pendleton Marine shot to death by police

L_H, please give my best to your son. I hope his next command has a better 'climate'.

Local_Historian wrote: I'll poke a stick in this.

Suffice it to say, the Marine Corps is not what the older gentlmen who served remember. Here's why I say this- Son, as some of you know, went in 14 months ago. He went in expecting the old style Marines, what people expect Marines to be. Yet during basic, he found dishonorable behavior overlooked regularly. When he got to his current base, some of the women Marines were discharged for having a stripper pole in their barracks and doing "shows". Many of his fellow Marines- his age (not quite 20)- a regularly drunk and regularly bait the locals, much in the manner of the young man in the story that started thisonline firefight.

Because of this type of behavior, son's fiances's family doesn't even want to meet him, because dad was a Marine and saw what the other guys do, brother the same, and they all assume that he is one of "those" Marines. Unfair bull, but NOTHING is being done to improve the behavior of his mates. (On the other hand, her parents need to unbend and actually meet a person before making a judgement call- so that is their fault.)

Marines are still the first in, Marines are still the hardest group to get into, Marines can be honorable, decent guys. However, there's enough that are pulling stupid stupid crap that it end up in news stories, it ends up coloring people's views about what and who a Marine is, it ends up with sad, pointless stories like this - there was no reason for this, and no call for it. If it had been any civilian, we wouldn't even see this story.

Straight up, this behavior was a discrace to the Marines- PTSD or no- and the Marines need to tighten up their ship and clean out the guys who are pulling this kind of thing, so the men and women who are MARINES can continue their careers and not be booted out because of military cutbacks. I still support Marines and am damn proud of my son - Lance Corporal now, BTW- but I don't support the bad behavior in any group.

Local_Historian wrote: I'll poke a stick in this.

Suffice it to say, the Marine Corps is not what the older gentlmen who served remember. Here's why I say this- Son, as some of you know, went in 14 months ago. He went in expecting the old style Marines, what people expect Marines to be. Yet during basic, he found dishonorable behavior overlooked regularly. When he got to his current base, some of the women Marines were discharged for having a stripper pole in their barracks and doing "shows". Many of his fellow Marines- his age (not quite 20)- a regularly drunk and regularly bait the locals, much in the manner of the young man in the story that started thisonline firefight.

Because of this type of behavior, son's fiances's family doesn't even want to meet him, because dad was a Marine and saw what the other guys do, brother the same, and they all assume that he is one of "those" Marines. Unfair bull, but NOTHING is being done to improve the behavior of his mates. (On the other hand, her parents need to unbend and actually meet a person before making a judgement call- so that is their fault.)

Marines are still the first in, Marines are still the hardest group to get into, Marines can be honorable, decent guys. However, there's enough that are pulling stupid stupid crap that it end up in news stories, it ends up coloring people's views about what and who a Marine is, it ends up with sad, pointless stories like this - there was no reason for this, and no call for it. If it had been any civilian, we wouldn't even see this story.

I wish the best for your son, I am sure he is a proud Marine, thank him for his service for me.

Straight up, this behavior was a discrace to the Marines- PTSD or no- and the Marines need to tighten up their ship and clean out the guys who are pulling this kind of thing, so the men and women who are MARINES can continue their careers and not be booted out because of military cutbacks. I still support Marines and am damn proud of my son - Lance Corporal now, BTW- but I don't support the bad behavior in any group.

I agree with you on everything but the disgrace to the Marines. PTSD can cause one to really do things that would be out of character, out of the norm. I know this personally. My son, has it, my Dad has it. We deal with it day to day. What bothers me most is why no one in his chain of command noticed it. Had that happened there are ways to help them deal with it. Its not perfect by no means, but it helps alittle. I was lucky enough to notice that my son was doing things that were typical of one with PTSD. Had I not had to deal with it myself day to day, I would not have noticed. I made the Army get him into mental health. He is doing a lot better now but like me and his grandfather has his days. The biggest problem in the military is lack of training for the senior folks on PTSD. That is where the problem is. One cannot expect to send our young men and women into combat, give them an ROE that is unrealistic and then think for one damn minute they are going to be normal coming home after dealing with what they do over there. This Marine did not disgrace the Marine Corps, this is a sad ending to a fine young man's Life that may have ended differently had he been getting the help he needed.

I am sure your son is a proud Marine. I wish him all the best and thank him for his service for me please.

otisptoadwater wrote:

It's easy to sit back in the comfort of your home and speculate about what it might be like to be living and working in a theater of war. It's a whole other animal to actually be in a theater of war, hands tied by the rules of engagement, and coming home with that experience. Even so, many of our Service Men and Women go back and volunteer to do it all over again because they recognize that the job has to be done. The consequences of not addressing threats to our National Security and the National Security of our Allies are far too great to ignore.

Military service is not compulsory in the United States, that's probably a good thing because those who are too emotionally unstable to serve have the freedom to do something else with their lives. Even those who are stable enough to serve can be and often are unnerved by too much trauma, especially when the Rules of Engagement suppress what seems like a reasonable response to an act of violence on the Enemy's part.

Regardless, this incident and those like it are tragic and nothing good will ever come from these kinds of incidents. It's my opinion that the DoD should increase their efforts to assess Service Members as they return from theaters of war and ensure that those who need or express a desire for assistance receive it. I know there are some very basic programs already in place, I just think the DoD could do more. Veterans need to remain engaged with those serving today and share our experiences with them. There are no magic answers, it's normal to be affected by events that occur in a Theater of War but it's not acceptable to allow a fellow service member to get so far off track that they lash out, become depressed, and harm themselves and or others. Lecture from my inner Chief Petty Officer ends here.

Said better than I could, Thanks Otis

Apparently the Marine or his girlfriend stole a wallet and iPhone.

During the investigation, Palm Springs police were contacted by the victim of an alleged theft. The theft victim told police his wallet and iPhone had been taken from him in the downtown area before the shooting. The victim used an application for his iPhone and tracked the phone to the area of the shooting. Investigators at the scene began hearing the victim's stolen iPhone ringing in the suspect's vehicle and recovered it. The theft victim's identification card and an ATM card were allegedly later found in DeVillena's pants pocket. The theft investigation is ongoing

http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts ... ed-by-palm

So maybe it wasn't PTSD, as everyone is speculating.

Sounds more like your basic Stupid Young Male Syndrome than anything reflecting on the USMC.

This kind of stuff has been happening since the B.C.'s

navycpo7 wrote: The biggest problem in the military is lack of training for the senior folks on PTSD. That is where the problem is. One cannot expect to send our young men and women into combat, give them an ROE that is unrealistic and then think for one damn minute they are going to be normal coming home after dealing with what they do over there. This Marine did not disgrace the Marine Corps, this is a sad ending to a fine young man's Life that may have ended differently had he been getting the help he needed.

I don't expect any of them to be "normal" when they come home. I'm not getting into a pissing match with hellish stories that I've been told by these guys when they get back, and having to forcibly change the subject and shake 'em outta shit cause they're in full "movie mode." Eyes glassed over and they're somewhere else.
Yes, he DID disgrace the Corps. The minute he dedicated himself to that uniform, he should've stood up for it. If not, then he should've quit ahead of time or discharged out. I won't hear crappy low man excuses about the Corps itself either, won't hear 'em (about the Corps hasn't come from you Nav) Why can't things be like the old days? Take a few guesses. There are ways out of every situation, and again, I'm not gonna berate that either. Yea, things probably would've ended up differently had he been getting mental help, but that's not the way it happened. To top that, he could at least have had more gall man. I've known and know plenty of vets and current active warriors, they all have problems, but for some reason, 100% deal with it in one way or another. God in Heaven, is it hard, but they do it none the less. I have nothing but proud feelings for our armed forces, but I won't excuse anything. Sorry, I'm a di**, and was raised strictly with concrete immovable ideals.

otisptoadwater wrote:
It's easy to sit back in the comfort of your home and speculate about what it might be like to be living and working in a theater of war. It's a whole other animal to actually be in a theater of war, hands tied by the rules of engagement, and coming home with that experience. Even so, many of our Service Men and Women go back and volunteer to do it all over again because they recognize that the job has to be done. The consequences of not addressing threats to our National Security and the National Security of our Allies are far too great to ignore.

Military service is not compulsory in the United States, that's probably a good thing because those who are too emotionally unstable to serve have the freedom to do something else with their lives. Even those who are stable enough to serve can be and often are unnerved by too much trauma, especially when the Rules of Engagement suppress what seems like a reasonable response to an act of violence on the Enemy's part.

Regardless, this incident and those like it are tragic and nothing good will ever come from these kinds of incidents. It's my opinion that the DoD should increase their efforts to assess Service Members as they return from theaters of war and ensure that those who need or express a desire for assistance receive it. I know there are some very basic programs already in place, I just think the DoD could do more. Veterans need to remain engaged with those serving today and share our experiences with them. There are no magic answers, it's normal to be affected by events that occur in a Theater of War but it's not acceptable to allow a fellow service member to get so far off track that they lash out, become depressed, and harm themselves and or others. Lecture from my inner Chief Petty Officer ends here.

Believe it or not, I agree. This is because the guys actions weren't pardoned. Well said Sir.

FredHayek wrote: Sounds more like your basic Stupid Young Male Syndrome than anything reflecting on the USMC.

This kind of stuff has been happening since the B.C.'s

*sigh* The minute he put on that uniform and dedicated himself to the CORPS, he lost the priviledge of just being some Stupid Young Male. Short of partying with friends in the safety of someones home once in awhile, he became a warrior in an elite group. No?

Dedicated himself to the Corps? Maybe, but a lot of those guys are just there for one term, some training and work experience before getting out.

Did Petraeus dishonor the Army by having an affair and letting the woman have access to classified information? You think he would know better.

Jekyll wrote:

navycpo7 wrote: The biggest problem in the military is lack of training for the senior folks on PTSD. That is where the problem is. One cannot expect to send our young men and women into combat, give them an ROE that is unrealistic and then think for one damn minute they are going to be normal coming home after dealing with what they do over there. This Marine did not disgrace the Marine Corps, this is a sad ending to a fine young man's Life that may have ended differently had he been getting the help he needed.

I don't expect any of them to be "normal" when they come home. I'm not getting into a pissing match with hellish stories that I've been told by these guys when they get back, and having to forcibly change the subject and shake 'em outta sh** cause they're in full "movie mode." Eyes glassed over and they're somewhere else.
Yes, he DID disgrace the Corps. The minute he dedicated himself to that uniform, he should've stood up for it. If not, then he should've quit ahead of time or discharged out. I won't hear crappy low man excuses about the Corps itself either, won't hear 'em (about the Corps hasn't come from you Nav) Why can't things be like the old days? Take a few guesses. There are ways out of every situation, and again, I'm not gonna berate that either. Yea, things probably would've ended up differently had he been getting mental help, but that's not the way it happened. To top that, he could at least have had more gall man. I've known and know plenty of vets and current active warriors, they all have problems, but for some reason, 100% deal with it in one way or another. God in Heaven, is it hard, but they do it none the less. I have nothing but proud feelings for our armed forces, but I won't excuse anything. Sorry, I'm a di**, and was raised strictly with concrete immovable ideals.

I kinda sorta agree with you. I deal with mine daily as does my father as does my son, who is currently still on active duty. Like a told my son, its a two way street. He has be willing to go through with getting the help and they (his seniors) are there to help him get that help. I would be curious though I this young Marine, where he came from and his back ground. The Armed Forces is having a problem with gangs within the Military now also.