Dear General Smith

General Eric M. Smith
Commandant of the Marine Corps
Headquarters, US Marine Corps
3000 Marine Corps Pentagon
Washington, DC 20350-3000

Dear Commandant Smith:

I am writing to ask you to rescind my title as “US Marine” because by engaging in hostile actions recently in Los Angeles, California, going against Americans, you are violating their Constitutional Rights. This is unsat. It’s what SSgt Varaney, SSgt Morrison, and Sgt Simione (DIs for Platoon 2060, Parris Island, 7/81–10/81) instilled in us the importance of being a US Marine: to safeguard and defend the US Constitution and our fellow Americans; not going against.

I did not enlist to be ordered to go against my fellow Americans or discredit the US Constitution. I did sign up to protect Americans’ US Constitution and Bill of Rights, which is something that I am now doing as a Veteran.

Somewhere along the way you lost your Honor.

May I respectfully remind you of the Nuremberg Trials.

From now on, I will simply be referred to as Former Marine.

Respectfully submitted,
/s/
William G. Kibler
Former L/Cpl, United States Marine
USMC Beirut Veteran 82/83
Webmaster, www.beirut40th.com
Webmaster, www.gayveterans.us
Hermitage, TN

Addendum

As a reminder.

Officer oath of office

I (state your name) do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

Enlisted oath of enlistment

I (state your name) do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to the regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), service members violate their oath by disobeying a lawful order, as their oath to uphold the Constitution includes following such orders. However, they have a duty to refuse an unlawful order, which is an order that violates the Constitution, U.S. law, or internationally recognized human rights. Therefore, disobeying an unlawful order is not a violation of the oath; rather, it is a fulfillment of the oath to the Constitution, and attempting to enforce an unlawful order can lead to prosecution for both the service member and the issuing officer.

Source: Marine Corps League, Westchester Co. Detachment, Westchester Co, NY. The Eagle, Globe and Anchor emblem and the name Marine Corps are registered trademarks of the United States Marine Corps. Marine Barracks, Beirut, Lebanon: public domain.

U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer ruled on September 2, 2025, that the Trump administration’s use of federalized National Guard and Marine troops in Los Angeles was illegal. The ruling found that the deployment violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which generally prohibits the use of federal military forces for domestic law enforcement. The court issued an injunction to stop the administration from using troops for law enforcement purposes in California.

The Washington Blade: ‘This is not the military I gave my life for’: LGBTQ veterans respond to Hegseth

I was not in Beirut on the day of the bombing. My unit left a few months before, and had I returned with my unit, I would have been there that day.