thedrifter
10-18-06, 02:50 PM
Author, military dad visits SOI Marines
October 18,2006
ANNE CLARK
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Frank Schaeffer’s son had apparently gone astray. When the younger Schaeffer enlisted in the Marine Corps, one alarmed parent at his private New England high school demanded a study of the curriculum.
“People were acting as if my son had been arrested,” said Schaeffer. “They wanted to know what went wrong.”
Their reaction still irks the elder Schaeffer, who has made it a personal mission to challenge this country’s elites — in politics, in the national press, on corporate boards — to take up their fair share of America’s battles.
“A lot of civilians are having a party, while a small group of people are doing the heavy lifting,” Schaeffer told a room of young students at Camp Geiger’s School of Infantry.
Schaeffer’s visit there Tuesday happened to be the same day the American population officially hit 300 million. But it’s a very small fraction who serve in the military.
Among the ranks was Schaeffer’s youngest son, who served five years in the Marines. He came from a family of relative privilege — the elder Schaeffer directed films and is a best-selling author — but the son wanted adventure. He enlisted in 1999.
“He volunteered, but I was drafted,” said the elder Schaeffer. He drew on some conflicting feelings — pride, concern, confusion — for his latest novel about a wealthy father who rejects his son for becoming a Marine. The son later dies in Iraq.
“In ‘Baby Jack’ you’ll meet a father who was a real jerk, but I wasn’t that dad,” said Schaeffer. “I just asked him a lot of questions.”
In writing the novel, Schaeffer explores his premise that class, more than politics, is a predictor of who serves in the military and who doesn’t.
The reality of the class divide became obvious the night Schaeffer’s son left for his first of three combat tours.
The elder Schaeffer prayed on his knees. Later he took a phone call from a wealthy friend fishing for a salmon recipe. He needed it for an upcoming Oscar party.
That night, their worries couldn’t have been more different.
“I wanted to challenge people who’ve never considered service and ask, ‘What have you ever done for anybody?’” said Schaeffer.
His earlier nonfiction work, “AWOL,” co-written with Marine spouse Kathy Roth-Douquet, examined why this absence of moneyed elites in the military hurts America.
“Political leaders haven’t paid their dues,” said Schaeffer. “They lack moral authority.”
An exception, he noted, is decorated veteran John McCain, who has one son in the U.S. Naval Academy and another enlisted in the Marine Corps. President Franklin Roosevelt’s four sons all served in World War II.
“After 9/11, we were only asked to go shopping,” said Schaeffer. “If our leaders put their money where their mouth is, they’d be less embarrassed to ask others to serve.”
He sees Marine Corps service as a higher calling.
“Marines are a better quality of human being,” said Schaeffer. “Your caring for others, discipline, sense of duty. If you’re a good parent, you want that for your kid.”
In a fair world, those who support sending troops to war would themselves have made the same kind of sacrifice.
In a perfect universe, the military would proportionately represent all races and classes.
It starts from the top, Schaeffer said. And it starts with parents.
Lance Cpl. Adam Hamilton enlisted in the Marine Corps nine months ago. His father, a military veteran, looked at it this way:
“The father in me doesn’t want you to do it, but the soldier in me isn’t going to deny you the opportunity.”
Hamilton celebrated his 21st birthday in a boot camp sand pit. At graduation, the younger Hamilton remembers saluting his father, “one warrior to another.”
It was the first time he saw his father cry.
Schaeffer hopes that, decades from now, these Marines will make up the next generation of political and business leaders.
And it won’t be a function of birthright or privilege. It will be an honor, hard-earned.
Ellie
October 18,2006
ANNE CLARK
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Frank Schaeffer’s son had apparently gone astray. When the younger Schaeffer enlisted in the Marine Corps, one alarmed parent at his private New England high school demanded a study of the curriculum.
“People were acting as if my son had been arrested,” said Schaeffer. “They wanted to know what went wrong.”
Their reaction still irks the elder Schaeffer, who has made it a personal mission to challenge this country’s elites — in politics, in the national press, on corporate boards — to take up their fair share of America’s battles.
“A lot of civilians are having a party, while a small group of people are doing the heavy lifting,” Schaeffer told a room of young students at Camp Geiger’s School of Infantry.
Schaeffer’s visit there Tuesday happened to be the same day the American population officially hit 300 million. But it’s a very small fraction who serve in the military.
Among the ranks was Schaeffer’s youngest son, who served five years in the Marines. He came from a family of relative privilege — the elder Schaeffer directed films and is a best-selling author — but the son wanted adventure. He enlisted in 1999.
“He volunteered, but I was drafted,” said the elder Schaeffer. He drew on some conflicting feelings — pride, concern, confusion — for his latest novel about a wealthy father who rejects his son for becoming a Marine. The son later dies in Iraq.
“In ‘Baby Jack’ you’ll meet a father who was a real jerk, but I wasn’t that dad,” said Schaeffer. “I just asked him a lot of questions.”
In writing the novel, Schaeffer explores his premise that class, more than politics, is a predictor of who serves in the military and who doesn’t.
The reality of the class divide became obvious the night Schaeffer’s son left for his first of three combat tours.
The elder Schaeffer prayed on his knees. Later he took a phone call from a wealthy friend fishing for a salmon recipe. He needed it for an upcoming Oscar party.
That night, their worries couldn’t have been more different.
“I wanted to challenge people who’ve never considered service and ask, ‘What have you ever done for anybody?’” said Schaeffer.
His earlier nonfiction work, “AWOL,” co-written with Marine spouse Kathy Roth-Douquet, examined why this absence of moneyed elites in the military hurts America.
“Political leaders haven’t paid their dues,” said Schaeffer. “They lack moral authority.”
An exception, he noted, is decorated veteran John McCain, who has one son in the U.S. Naval Academy and another enlisted in the Marine Corps. President Franklin Roosevelt’s four sons all served in World War II.
“After 9/11, we were only asked to go shopping,” said Schaeffer. “If our leaders put their money where their mouth is, they’d be less embarrassed to ask others to serve.”
He sees Marine Corps service as a higher calling.
“Marines are a better quality of human being,” said Schaeffer. “Your caring for others, discipline, sense of duty. If you’re a good parent, you want that for your kid.”
In a fair world, those who support sending troops to war would themselves have made the same kind of sacrifice.
In a perfect universe, the military would proportionately represent all races and classes.
It starts from the top, Schaeffer said. And it starts with parents.
Lance Cpl. Adam Hamilton enlisted in the Marine Corps nine months ago. His father, a military veteran, looked at it this way:
“The father in me doesn’t want you to do it, but the soldier in me isn’t going to deny you the opportunity.”
Hamilton celebrated his 21st birthday in a boot camp sand pit. At graduation, the younger Hamilton remembers saluting his father, “one warrior to another.”
It was the first time he saw his father cry.
Schaeffer hopes that, decades from now, these Marines will make up the next generation of political and business leaders.
And it won’t be a function of birthright or privilege. It will be an honor, hard-earned.
Ellie