Oh, Jarhead, where art thou?

[unhappycamper]

Oh, Jarhead, where art thou?
By Bryan Mitchell - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Oct 25, 2008 7:04:13 EDT

Knocking on doors is what Sgt. Jordan McMahon does. A recruiter in northern Arkansas, McMahon spends plenty of time wandering up to homes, rapping on the screen and making his pitch. Sometimes he’s welcomed with open arms. Other times he’s told to get lost, or worse.

Seldom — check that, only once so far — are people so shaken by the sight of the Marine recruiter that they barrel out the back door, kicking up a trail of dust as they flee. Most of the people McMahon visits are looking to get into the Corps, not get away from it.

But on Aug. 21, as McMahon stood on the front stoop of a mobile home in Mountain Home, Ark., inquiring about two wayward Marines, the pair tore off into the hinterlands, continuing a not-so-great escape that began three weeks earlier, and more than 1,500 miles away, at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

That’s where Pfc. Robert Hudson Jr. and Lance Cpl. Justin Walker, described by police as “pretty sad examples of Marines,” were assigned to 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines. Only they never showed.

Instead, they were off on an unauthorized absence, burning through their cash while driving to Arkansas in an effort to get as far away from the Corps as possible. It would not be the duo’s final lapse in judgment.


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/10/marine_uam...