I always thought the second I heard Justin’s charges were dropped that our lives would instantly go back to ‘normal.’ To my surprise, it did not happen; yet at the same time I think we are all finally settling down and looking ahead.
Justin spent the past five months home in Pennsylvania, where he and two fellow Marines kept our parents busy! They worked on the Jeep, fixed their motorcycles, played video games, and enjoyed the holidays with our family. In mid-February the boys left and headed back to California. They are now living near San Diego, working and planning their future. Justin plans on attending a mechanics school in the fall and is in the preliminary stages of starting up his own shop. We are also working with a producer on a movie based on our family and the Haditha situation, which is very exciting, and quite crazy to even imagine! I am looking forward to spending time with Justin in March while out in San Diego on a business trip. Our family also is planning my Chicago wedding to my wonderful fiancé, Matt Smith, which will take place October 2008. Justin will be standing as our Best Man.
It is hard to make myself not remember the past, and to realize life is working out for the best. It is challenging to not relive the fear of the unknown, or to not worry about something terrible like this happening to another family. Regardless, nothing feels better than the happiness I experience after a two hour phone conversation with Justin, each minute spent catching up on the latest in our lives, both of us grinning ear to ear. Now that is the Justin I know… that is my little brother.
Justin’s four-year term with the United States Marine Corp officially ended on September 27, 2007. He is currently en route home to Pennsylvania with a U-Haul full of military uniforms, personal belongings, the Jeep, scooter, and his newly purchased motorcycle. I hope he left behind the pain and misery he had to experience from the past 20 months, but we cannot be sure just yet. Justin will be staying home for a few months, decompressing, working on his Jeep and bike, visiting friends, and enjoying time with our family for the holidays. We will also be meeting with news stations and talk shows, obligingly going through the motions of follow-up interviews.
Before we know it Christmas will be here and this year we have a lot to be grateful for, especially considering a year ago on December 21st we were at a press conference, listening to the USMC charge Justin with three counts of murder. I believe right now life is definitely on the upswing!
My brother is planning on returning to California after the New Year. We are going to spend some time looking into trade schools and colleges over the next few months and slowly begin piecing back together his future and realigning goals. It is a very exciting time for all of us! To celebrate in a way that only my brother can pull off, LCpl Sharratt took it upon himself to utilize the inexpensive haircuts issued at Camp Pendleton the day before his departure; he got a tri-hawk haircut (a three strip Mohawk)… I guess he wanted to make it count!
It is over. For the past 20 months I did not think I would ever be able to say those words. Yesterday, on August 9th, Justin had a 7:00 a.m. meeting with General Mattis, where he was handed the documents to sign that officially exonerated him. In a matter of ten minutes our lives changed, but this time for the better.
Throughout this series of unfortunate events, my family has seen prayers answered, and even some miracles. Ranging from a close friend contacting me in May 2006, after the inaccurate Time magazine article, and offering to send out an email to his firm in Chicago which, in turn, led our family to obtaining the strongest legal defense team; NewsMax collecting donations to help the Haditha Marine families with legal fees; emails sent from Marines, family, friends; the kindness of absolute strangers, who wrote daily blogs, made videos, posted stories, sent emails, and shared words of kindness and support. Without these people in our lives, a majority of them we have never met, but they knew my brother was innocent. They believed. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for everything.
If you are following the story of my brother then you are aware that his Article 32 went as well as it could have, given the circumstances. Lt. Col. Ware has recommended to Gen. Mattis to drop the murder charges against Justin. He does not see any relevant evidence against my brother, and acknowledges he was doing his job, a task he was trained to do by the USMC. With this wonderful news, a small burden has been lifted from the shoulders of my family. Although we all have embedded in our minds to not jump ahead or assume anything, I think we all have a newfound glimmer of hope. This euphoric feeling is being enhanced with every email we read, every message we respond to, every encouraging phone call we receive. It can be read about in the papers; listened to on the radio; seen on the television. Most importantly, it is heard in the voices of my family.
The phrase ‘everything happens for reason’ is always pressed on someone when they cannot grasp why a situation or circumstance popped up into their lives and made a mess of things. I learned to stop asking myself this question, realizing it only added to the confusion that currently spins through my thoughts. However, I am a bit suspicious of the odds that the majority of our family has made plans, all at different times, and for various reasons, to return home to Pennsylvania next weekend. Maybe because it is my Mom’s birthday, or we have not seen my brother for a long time… or perhaps since ‘everything happens for a reason.’
I tend to avoid saying my hopes, prayers, or dreams out loud just in case they do not happen; but today I will. I close my eyes and imagine us all sitting out on the back deck, laughing at stories (including my favorite of a five-year-old Justin asking Moms why there are so many dogs out in the pasture… they were really cows), and then the phone rings. The caller will be our attorney, Gary Myers. He begins the conversation saying he has news, and we all gather around the phone, listening with a level of intensity that you can feel. His words will blur, but I manage to decipher Gen. Mattis dropped the charges. That my brother is free. That this nightmare is over. That is the reverie of my family.
Plane tickets are scheduled, hotels are booked. We are t-minus nine days until the start of Justin’s Article 32, set to begin on Monday, June 11th. With this being the second time we have had dates for the trial it is hard to truly believe it will happen until my parents arrive at Camp Pendleton. I am still up in the air if I can attend due to work obligations (I will not even get into that ordeal). In all honesty, I do not know how I am expected to sit back and wait to hear daily updates from my family and continue to go on like one of the most pertinent events of my life is not occurring in another world on the west coast. Some parts of life just do not make sense…. a lesson learned since March 2006, when we first heard of this scenario, not believing anything would ever pan out.
Another ironic twist is the feelings we all have about his Article 32. It has been a time we have anxiously awaited since this situation charged full force into our lives. It also involves more time waiting, more time holding our breath. Basically, at an Article 32 a military judge will hear each attorney’s side of the case… witnesses, evidence, etc. It will last from 5 to 9 days. After the judge hears both sides he will construct a report to give to General Mattis regarding his opinion on whether the case merits a hearing. If he thinks there is enough evidence my brother will be sent to a Court Martial hearing, where our attorneys will be defending my brother from spending his life in prison. One person, this judge, will determine the fate of my brother, our family, our lives.
I haven’t seen Justin since February. I have no idea if he is still smiling. Words and phone conversations only reveal so much. It is difficult not to worry every day. Matt and I took a few days over Memorial Day weekend to visit Moms and Dad in Pennsylvania. Trying to avoid the topic of my brother was like trying to put toothpaste back in the tube. Overall we all did have a great time, and nothing feels better than being home. I am hoping we will all be together in July for Moms birthday. Hopefully Justin will be able to make the trip home. Hopefully we will know the verdict of the Article 32. And maybe, just maybe, we will be celebrating him being exonerated, and getting out of the Marine Corps as scheduled on July 28, 2007, leaving all this behind us forever.
