Sergeant Says Mini-Mutiny Shocked Him

A motivational speech to 512 Camp Pendleton Marines in training for possible duty in the Persian Gulf last November turned into a shocking mini-mutiny that caught superiors “off guard,” an infantry training sergeant testified at a special court-martial Monday.

Gunnery Sgt. John M. Koon, testifying at the special court-martial of Pvt. Michael J. Balaskovitz, 18, said that he sought to make an example of the young Marine when he learned that the private wanted to leave the Corps. Koon said he called Balaskovitz to the front of a crowded classroom and asked if there were any other “quitters” present.

“This man doesn’t want to be a Marine,” Koon recalled telling the 512 men who were about to begin Marine combat training. “He doesn’t want to go to Saudi Arabia. . . . He just wants to protect his own skin. . . . Anybody else want to join him? Last call. Don’t be afraid. Stand up! Be a man!”

“At that point, the learning lesson started for me,” Koon reflected, noting that eight men responded to his offer to send them “back to their mommies” and joined Balaskovitz at the front of the room.

“I was caught off guard. . . . I quite honestly was kind of shocked that I had so many Marines who had doubts about being Marines.”

Koon’s testimony provided the most detailed description of the Thanksgiving Eve incident that has become known on the base as “The Magnificent Seven” case. The nickname was adopted in the brig by the recalcitrant Marines after two of their group opted to rejoin the platoon.

At Monday’s trial, Balaskovitz was convicted of conspiracy and of willfully disobeying an order. The military judge recommended the harshest sentence yet levied upon one of the seven: four months’ confinement, the forfeiture of $485 of $754 monthly pay for four months and a bad conduct discharge, commonly known as a BCD.

Outside the courtroom, Koon also disclosed that another of the seven Marines who has already been tried is now missing from the base.

“The one they let out? Six hours later--AWOL,” he said, referring to Pvt. Eric Ruzek, who was convicted at a previous special court-martial of disobeying an order but received no punishment and was returned to his unit.

Judging by the smile on Balaskovitz’s face, the Michigan native was not upset by the outcome of his trial Monday. During the sentencing phase, he read a prepared statement to the judge in which he asked to be discharged in order to attend Michigan Technological University near his home of Twin Lake.

In his statement, he said he had joined the Marine Corps at the age of 17 for the “sole purpose” of getting financial aid for college, where he wants to study environmental engineering. Once he completed boot camp, however, he concluded that “my personality and the military way of life do not work together.”

In the hallway after his trial, Balaskovitz saw another of the seven, Pvt. Michael J. Spencer, who congratulated him with gusto.

“BCD? You got out!” Spencer said, raising a fist in solidarity. Spencer, who was tried last month, was convicted and sentenced to nearly identical imprisonment and fines, but was not discharged.

Asked whether he was happy, Balaskovitz smiled broadly and nodded.

Balaskovitz and Spencer both said that their attempts to leave the Marine Corps were not motivated by the conflict in the Persian Gulf.

“I feel confident in speaking for all of us when I say that never once came up,” said Spencer, who is serving his sentence in the Camp Pendleton brig. He said his reasons for seeking a way out of the Corps were related to family problems. He called his decision to join the Marines “a mistake.”

But Koon, the gunnery sergeant, said that the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia weighed heavily on his mind that November day.

“I knew when I went in that morning that these Marines were probably going to recruit training at about the time that the situation in the world would change radically,” he testified, adding that his remarks to his men were made “given the current world situation and my past experience. . . .”

“I’m not new to the Marine Corps. I knew where these kids could possibly be going,” he said. Of the seven Marines who were charged after the Nov. 21 incident, two others besides Balaskovitz, Spencer and Ruzek have been tried and convicted. Pvt. Robert S. In received the same sentence as Spencer, four months confinement and forfeiture of $500 a month off his salary for four months. Pfc. Frank J. Fuchs was sentenced to three months confinement, forfeiture of $400 a month for three months and reduction in rank to private.

All of the seven are being held in the brig except for Ruzek, whose whereabouts are unknown, officials said.