The few, the proud, the criminal

Time was, all the Marines were looking for was a few good men.

Up the road from us, in the Mendocino County city of Ukiah (known for its hot springs, vineyards, pear orchards, and marijuana farms), the hot story recently has been the lawsuit filed against the United States Marine Corps by two female high school students who were sexually assaulted, allegedly by two Marine sergeants manning the local recruitment office. Both recruiters involved have already been court-martialed and convicted for other sexually based offenses involving other recruits, and have left the corps — likely with combat boot imprints on the seats of their pants.

One of the two young women acknowledges that she was drunk at the time she was raped. That most certainly doesn't excuse the crime, but there's probably a lesson to be learned there: Don't get liquored up and hang out with Marines.

The second victim was raped three times by her recruiter, who repeatedly told her that she had to have sex with him in order to join the Marines. Again, this doesn't excuse this creep taking advantage of a teenage girl, robbing her of her virginity, and giving her chlamydia, but...

How gullible can you be?

If you're signing up for the Marines and the recruiting sergeant says, "You have to have sex with me first," wouldn't you say to yourself, "Wait a minute — I don't recall seeing that requirement in the brochure"? Wouldn't you glance through the application and think, "Hmm... must be 17 years of age... must be a legal U.S. resident... hey, there's nothing in here about 'must get jiggy with Sgt. Dunzweiler'"?

And if that is a requirement...

What were these two clowns doing with male recruits?