thedrifter
06-27-06, 04:08 AM
Malice and the Marines at Miramar
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
The Oregonian
M aj. Arthur Dixon, a Marine Corps F/A-18 fighter pilot who calls Portland home, faced a formal board of inquiry Monday at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar outside San Diego. Brought up on charges of making false statements and conduct unbecoming, Dixon argued the Marines are, instead, retaliating against him for his efforts to retire from the Corps and join the Oregon Air National Guard.
"They're like the jealous lover," Dixon said. "If they can't have you, they're going to kill you."
Dixon, still active duty at 36, flew 38 combat missions for coalition forces in Iraq in 2004. Few of those sorties, apparently, were as stressful as this yearlong odyssey, which began when the Marine reserve unit to which he is attached -- VMFA 134 -- flew from Miramar to Poland for four days of training with the Polish air force.
On June 28, the unit's second night in Poznan, Dixon says he went out for dinner and drinks with two officers, Lt. Col. Doug Steele and Major B. J. Lawler, his section head. As they were joined by numerous pilots in the unit, there was no shortage of alcohol: Over the course of five hours, Dixon said, he probably had eight drinks.
According to Dixon's lawyer, retired Col. Ed Switzer Jr., Steele and Lawler left Dixon alone in the bar at 2:30 a.m., "in a state of intoxication, in violation of the squadron liberty order 'strictly' requiring the buddy system."
On the way back to his hotel, Dixon fell and broke his wrist. Polish police found him unconscious at 5:30 a.m. In pain and needing surgery, Dixon says, he received no treatment until July 1 when he was flown to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.
As that was the beginning of the July 4 weekend, Dixon said, "The orthopedic clinic was closed," and no surgeons were available for non-combat injuries. "They said, 'Where's your home station? That's the best place for you to go.' " On that recommendation, Dixon flew back to San Diego where he had surgery at Balboa Naval Hospital on July 3, five days after his injury.
When his unit returned to San Diego on July 9, Dixon was told he was being investigated for failure to obey the orders sending him to Germany for treatment and making false statements in order to return stateside.
Marine Forces Reserve in New Orleans and the Corps' media office at Miramar had no comment on Monday's proceedings, but several Marines testified on Dixon's behalf, including retired Maj. Gen. Charles Bolden Jr., who flew four space shuttle missions, including the 1990 flight that deployed the Hubble Space Telescope.
Dixon said he is baffled by the relentlessness of the Marine Corps inquiry: "They've already ordered flowers and had the fat lady sing." He believes the Corps' response is tied to his three-year pursuit of a posting with the Guard's 123rd Fighter Squadron in Portland. In 2005, Gov. Ted Kulongoski twice wrote to Gen. Michael Hagee, the Marine Corps commandant, on Dixon's behalf.
"I've served these guys well. I've done my time in combat," Dixon said. "I still want to serve my country, and there's a Guard job available in Oregon. It's unfathomable there's so much malice in stopping me from doing other things in life."
Switzer admits he has reservations about Dixon's conspiracy theory: "That's a reach. I don't think the Air National Guard has anything to do with this. (But) I don't think it matters why they're doing it. What matters is what they're doing."
And what the Marines are doing, Switzer wrote in a letter to Lt. Gen. Jack W. Bergman, commander, Marine Forces Reserve, includes "flagrant misstatements, false allegations and blatant misrepresentations of the facts surrounding Major Dixon's injury and subsequent treatment."
Particularly distressing, Switzer noted, was the appointment of Lawler -- one of the officers Dixon says abandoned him in Poznan -- as the investigating officer.
Steve Duin: 503-221-8597; 1320 S.W. Broadway, Portland, OR 97201 steveduin@news.oregonian.com www.oregonlive.com/weblogs/papertrail
Ellie
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
The Oregonian
M aj. Arthur Dixon, a Marine Corps F/A-18 fighter pilot who calls Portland home, faced a formal board of inquiry Monday at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar outside San Diego. Brought up on charges of making false statements and conduct unbecoming, Dixon argued the Marines are, instead, retaliating against him for his efforts to retire from the Corps and join the Oregon Air National Guard.
"They're like the jealous lover," Dixon said. "If they can't have you, they're going to kill you."
Dixon, still active duty at 36, flew 38 combat missions for coalition forces in Iraq in 2004. Few of those sorties, apparently, were as stressful as this yearlong odyssey, which began when the Marine reserve unit to which he is attached -- VMFA 134 -- flew from Miramar to Poland for four days of training with the Polish air force.
On June 28, the unit's second night in Poznan, Dixon says he went out for dinner and drinks with two officers, Lt. Col. Doug Steele and Major B. J. Lawler, his section head. As they were joined by numerous pilots in the unit, there was no shortage of alcohol: Over the course of five hours, Dixon said, he probably had eight drinks.
According to Dixon's lawyer, retired Col. Ed Switzer Jr., Steele and Lawler left Dixon alone in the bar at 2:30 a.m., "in a state of intoxication, in violation of the squadron liberty order 'strictly' requiring the buddy system."
On the way back to his hotel, Dixon fell and broke his wrist. Polish police found him unconscious at 5:30 a.m. In pain and needing surgery, Dixon says, he received no treatment until July 1 when he was flown to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.
As that was the beginning of the July 4 weekend, Dixon said, "The orthopedic clinic was closed," and no surgeons were available for non-combat injuries. "They said, 'Where's your home station? That's the best place for you to go.' " On that recommendation, Dixon flew back to San Diego where he had surgery at Balboa Naval Hospital on July 3, five days after his injury.
When his unit returned to San Diego on July 9, Dixon was told he was being investigated for failure to obey the orders sending him to Germany for treatment and making false statements in order to return stateside.
Marine Forces Reserve in New Orleans and the Corps' media office at Miramar had no comment on Monday's proceedings, but several Marines testified on Dixon's behalf, including retired Maj. Gen. Charles Bolden Jr., who flew four space shuttle missions, including the 1990 flight that deployed the Hubble Space Telescope.
Dixon said he is baffled by the relentlessness of the Marine Corps inquiry: "They've already ordered flowers and had the fat lady sing." He believes the Corps' response is tied to his three-year pursuit of a posting with the Guard's 123rd Fighter Squadron in Portland. In 2005, Gov. Ted Kulongoski twice wrote to Gen. Michael Hagee, the Marine Corps commandant, on Dixon's behalf.
"I've served these guys well. I've done my time in combat," Dixon said. "I still want to serve my country, and there's a Guard job available in Oregon. It's unfathomable there's so much malice in stopping me from doing other things in life."
Switzer admits he has reservations about Dixon's conspiracy theory: "That's a reach. I don't think the Air National Guard has anything to do with this. (But) I don't think it matters why they're doing it. What matters is what they're doing."
And what the Marines are doing, Switzer wrote in a letter to Lt. Gen. Jack W. Bergman, commander, Marine Forces Reserve, includes "flagrant misstatements, false allegations and blatant misrepresentations of the facts surrounding Major Dixon's injury and subsequent treatment."
Particularly distressing, Switzer noted, was the appointment of Lawler -- one of the officers Dixon says abandoned him in Poznan -- as the investigating officer.
Steve Duin: 503-221-8597; 1320 S.W. Broadway, Portland, OR 97201 steveduin@news.oregonian.com www.oregonlive.com/weblogs/papertrail
Ellie