http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/ADVENTIST_MARINE?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULTRALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- A soldier who re-enlisted with the Marines after becoming a Seventh-Day Adventist has been jailed for refusing to pick up a gun.
Cpl. Joel D. Klimkewicz, 24, of Birch Run, Mich., was sentenced last month in a court-martial to seven months in Camp Lejeune's brig. He also received a reduction in rank to private and a bad conduct discharge.
In refusing the order, Klimkewicz told his superiors he was a conscientious objector and cited his new status as a member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.
The timing of Klimkewicz's conversion and re-enlistment were issues in his case, church attorney Mitchell Tyner said Tuesday. The Marine Corps said he should have known better than to re-enlist after joining the church, he said. "Marines are not big on this kind of thing," Tyner said in a telephone interview from the church office in Silver Spring, Md. "The whole thing comes down to the timing."
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
