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The Fourth Wall
Jeremy Naugle
A Marine in Fallujah shot
and killed an unarmed
insurgent on November 13%,
2004. Marines from the 3%
battalion, 1% regiment were on
patrol in Fallujah when they
entered a mosque and found
five insurgents pretending to be
dead (violating the laws of
warfare). The Marine in
question claims that the
insurgent made a threatening
move; he fired his weapon in
response, killing the Iraqi.
Kevin Sites, an embedded
freelance reporter, caught the
incident on tape. Sites, who
freelances for NBC, reported to
the investigators two different
accounts. At first, Sites
defended the Marine in
question. He later claimed that
he did not see any threatening
gestures and that the Marine
fired for no reason.
The young Marine was in
charge of the five men under his
watch and responsible for their
safety. He had been injured in
an earlier incident and the same
unit lost a member because of a
booby-trapped body that was
moved to verify that the person
was in fact dead. The Marine
has faced fanatical insurgents
who would violate any human
or ethical law to justify their
means and in an intense
situation, the Marine reacted to
the best of his ability.
The media has turned an
accident into fuel for their
crusade.Similar incidents have
happened as early as the first
caveman who hit one of his
peers with a rock, only this time
it was captured on tape. We are
fighting a small group of people
who are not playing by the
rules. Why is it that when one
American reacts in a confusing
situation the media turns it into
a plan that stems from the top
down?
I have served five years in
the U.S. Army and I support the
Marine. I understand Sites’
position and respect his
submission to a higher
authority; I can respect the Iraqi
who fought and died for his
belief, however misguided I
feel his decisions were in this
war. I was not there and only
the Marine knows how he felt.
Having been in uncomfortable
situations myself, I support this
Marine and others in this
situation. We are in a war.
People die and I hate to think
that our Marines should die
Studies
playing by the rules when their
opponents are cheating.
A war is not pretty and it is
not a controlled game in which
we can call time-outs to
reposition players. The
insurgents have shown that they
will kill women and children,
proving that they are fanatics.
Would you gently shake an
Iraqi insurgent who, for all you
know, may be faking his death
or be rigged with explosives,
and ask, “are you alive?”
Vanessa Lugo
If instructor Morgan
Jenkins could tell her students
interested in a career in music
anything it would be
to “Love the music
first, be dedicated
and diverse; don’t
wait for opportunity |
to come to you, seek
out opportunities
and somehow you'll
make it.”
Coming from a
musical family,
Jenkins has been
interested in a career
in music for as long
Her career goal was to be a
full-time free-lance performer.
However, her experience as a
teaching
assistant in
graduate
school made
1 her realize
how much
she liked
teaching,
w hiich
¢ offered a
more secure
career.
Interested
Morgan Jenkins in the
as she can remember.
As a flute player since the sixth
grade, she was strongly
influenced by Jethro Tull. By
her freshman year of high
school, music had given her
direction in life.
Jenkins then attended the
Peabody Conservatory of the
Johns Hopkins Institute in
Maryland where she earned her
BA in music, focusing on
classical flute performance. She
went on to James Madison
University in Virginia for her
master’s degree.
college level,
Jenkins came to PSUMA in
1989 and has been full-time for
the past ten years.
When asked why she chose
this campus, Jenkins says, “I
love the beauty and the nature
of the setting; with small classes
it’s easy to have interaction with
students. There are a wide
variety of things I can teach
here.”
She is currently teaching
Intro. to World Music, The
Evolution of Jazz, Intro. to
Western Music and coming in
the spring, Jazz Ensemble.
Mont Alto once had a
larger music department, but
because of budgetary reasons
Jenkins is currently the only
full-time instructor of music.
She would like to see this
department grow once again
by bringing back the choir,
instrumental lessons, jazz
ensemble offered every
semester, and more faculty
members. Unfortunately,
Jenkins has to use her own
equipment for the jazz
ensemble because there is no
money for music here.
Jenkins did not have to give
up her dream of having a
career in music to teach. She
has been a member of the
classic rock band The Holders
for the past forteen years
playing the rock flute,
saxophone and vocals with
performances every weekend.
For more information you
can visit her website at
www.personal.psu.edu/
~mjj6. There is also a link to
The Holders website where
you can find locations and
dates for upcoming
performances.