Marines Say War Objector Jumped Ship, Faces Trial

A 22-year-old Marine corporal who was deployed to the Persian Gulf under protest last November is back at Camp Pendleton after allegedly jumping ship in Hawaii, officials confirmed Tuesday.

Cpl. Kenneth Turner, a conscientious objector applicant who claims his religious beliefs are incompatible with military service, left his ship in Hawaii on Dec. 10, according to Capt. Rose-Ann Srgignoli, a Camp Pendleton spokeswoman. Less than a month later, on Jan. 6, he surrendered at Camp Pendleton’s back gate, she said.

Turner is charged with missing a troop movement and unaccountable absence, Srgignoli said, and the commanding officer of his unit has requested a special court martial. If he is convicted, the maximum punishment is six months confinement, forfeiture of two-thirds pay per month for six months, a reduction of rank and a bad conduct discharge.

Turner, a Michigan native who enlisted in 1987 for six years, has said that a spiritual “reawakening” he experienced during mock war training exercises led him to file his conscientious objector--or CO--claim in October, 1990. He was the first Camp Pendleton Marine to apply for CO status after Operation Desert Shield began in August.

In November, as his brigade prepared to deploy, Turner made his CO claim public in the hopes that the Corps would keep him at Camp Pendleton until his claim was resolved. When the 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade was deployed in December, however, he boarded his ship in order to avoid disobeying a direct order.

At the time, his wife, Joelle, said he had been deployed under moral protest after the Corps agreed to expedite his CO claim.

Srgignoli said Tuesday she could not discuss the status of Turner’s CO claim.

In general, she said, if a Marine is discharged before his CO claim is processed, the claim becomes moot. If, however, a Marine is sentenced to a period of confinement, and his CO claim is approved while he is jailed, he can receive an honorable discharge once he completes his sentence.

Turner is now working in the division inspector’s office organizing maps, Srgignoli said--a job that does not make him privy to any classified information. He is not being confined and is free to return to his off-base home at night, she said.

The date of Turner’s trial has yet to be determined, Staff Sgt. Vicki Turney said.