Students reflect on service in Iraq
October 22, 2007
By Laura Rumpf

For the vast majority of Stanford students, the war in Iraq is a far-removed political issue which only really affects us come election time and in debate among peers in the comfort and seclusion of the bubble. Two students on campus, however, gave the first years of their adulthood to military service in a time of conflict. One found himself in jail for his moral opposition to the war, and another challenged University administrators to reach out to veterans in admissions.

Now, as Stanford students at different points in their education, they share their unique personal stories about their years of service in the war. They discuss how it feels to be at Stanford knowing the war continues and that most of their fellow servicemen will never have the educational opportunities they enjoy.

STEPHEN EAGLE FUNK

Stephen Eagle Funk ‘08 is a self-described pacifist activist feminist optimist leftist individualist. Despite the seeming contradiction between possessing these characteristics and serving in the military, Funk enlisted for the Marine Corps in 2002 at age 19.

“I was feeling protective of our country [after 9/11] and I wanted to be a part of the institution that defended our values and freedoms,” he said.

Looking back on his decision to enlist, he admitted that, “It wasn’t well thought out.”

In fact, Funk realized almost immediately after starting boot camp in Afghanistan that he opposed the war and could not morally be a part of violence he did not condone.

“During rifle qualifications in basic [training], I shot like an expert. My coach told me not to think anything of it — he didn’t think I would do well in actual combat,” recalled Funk of the moment he realized he could not willingly continue to be in the Marines.

“Without thinking, I told him he was right because I don’t want to kill anyone. In boot camp, you’re not even allowed to use the word ‘I,’ express personal opinions, especially opinions like that,” Funk said. “Of course I got in trouble for saying that, but hearing aloud what I had been feeling inside crystallized my beliefs. After that point I could no longer just go along with the program, but I had no idea about conscientious objection as an option until I researched my military rights online.”

Funk filed for conscientious objector status in November 2002 and lived in San Francisco as a reservist while he waited for confirmation. When his troop was deployed to Iraq for active duty on Feb. 9, 2003, Funk did not show up. He was under the impression that his platoon understood his reasons for not serving and did not believe he was committing a crime.

The Marines Corps saw things differently. On Apr. 1, 2004, he reported to his reserve post in San Jose, only to be charged with desertion and unauthorized absence.

“My platoon knew where I was the entire time,” maintained Funk. “It’s not like I was in hiding.

“I was encouraging people to think, and they wanted to make an example of me,” he said. “No one else had spoken out against the war at the time except the Dixie Chicks and Michael Moore. I wanted people in the military to think harder about their moral values towards service.”

On Sept. 1, 2004, Funk became the first known soldier to be jailed for refusing to serve in Iraq. In a victory for anti-war activists helping his cause, he was acquitted of desertion charges, but he received a six-month sentence in a military brig at Camp Lejune, N.C., for unauthorized absence. For a public conscientious objector and openly gay man, the brig posed a lot of risks, but Funk managed to finish his sentence in five months for good behavior.

After leaving the Marines, Funk attended a city college before transferring to Stanford in 2005. He is working to complete a degree in international relations.

“My first-hand experience with the military and how wars are operated spurred my interests to study international relations and help prevent [future wars],” he said.

On campus, Funk is active in the LGBT community and at the Native American Cultural Center. He serves as chapter president of the San Francisco Iraq Veterans Against the War organization, which helps raise enlistees’ awareness about their rights, among other activities. One of his main concerns is veterans’ education.

“Many exceptionally bright people are discouraged from even applying to schools like Stanford because they doubt that they could feel comfortable in a culture they see as elitist, and I think military veterans are especially hesitant,” Funk said. “High school students can receive encouragement from teachers and guidance counselors to apply to elite schools, but veterans don’t usually have access to academic advisers. Any school benefits from a diverse student body, and Stanford is definitely lacking a veteran presence.”

CHUCK STERN

Iraq war veteran and Stanford student Chuck Stern ‘10 grew up watching Marines save lives on television, and he wanted to be given the chance to do so himself after high school. After he moved to the United States from Jamaica at the age of 17, Stern joined the Marine Corps in 2000. He served for two years.

Stern said he “held no romanticized idea of what war was going to be like,” and was prepared even for the most difficult experiences he had overseas.

“Seeing your friends die and seeing kids that are starving and people you can’t help, that’s really hard to deal with,” he said. “In the end, you get on a plane and go back to the world, but you know they’re still stuck in their sad existence.”

His most rewarding experience was a “day of backbreaking work” in Cite Soliel, Haiti.

“In full combat gear we had to lift these massive jugs of water onto people’s heads so they could balance them and walk home,” Stern said. “At the operation’s end we returned to our base. I was sore all over and so horribly fatigued that I lay down directly under the A/C — in the dark, in pain, bur I smiled knowing that every ounce of pain was well worth it because somebody had a little more clean water to give their babies or sick elders.”

Though Stern is proud of his military service, he has reservations about the way the war in Iraq is being handled.

“As far as the Iraq war is concerned, the Bush administration is guilty of gross incompetence,” he said. “There is a consistent record of them ignoring sound advice from ground commanders, condemning our valiant troops and innocent Iraqis to die. That said, anti-war people are great Americans but I’d tell them this: a couple Marine battalions could go a long way to ending that genocide in Darfur. I’d rather see that put to an end by the measured use of military force than let it continue unabated as we protest and boycott back here in the States, to no avail.”

Now that he is out of the Marine Corps, Stern is very eager to glean all he can from his education at Stanford.

On a campus where students and faculty alike have spoken out against the war, Stern does not want to be judged by his experience with the Marine Corps.

“I don’t make a point to walk up to people and say, ‘Howdy, I’m a vet!’” he said. “But when people inquire about my age or why I’m a transfer [student], I explain it to them. I don’t think it’s too important to know I’m a vet — I’m just another student here on the Farm.”

At Stanford, Stern hopes to work for the same things that motivated him to join the military.

“In many ways I am still at war because the real forces I fought against, such as poverty, greed and human suffering, still exist, and I intend to spend my life battling them,” he said.

Stern champions veterans’ rights and has a very direct message for the University regarding the admissions of veterans like himself.

“I would like to issue a challenge to the provosts of Stanford University and also to the rest of the nation’s elite institutions,” he said.

“I challenge you to reach out to qualified veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and to encourage them to attend your universities,” he continued. “Give these young veterans an education equal to the efforts they gave their nation. I implore you to not fall victim to the patronizing bias that portrays those of us who serve in the military as being incapable of participating in the nation’s intellectual discourse.”

Ellie