Ermey throws weight behind name change - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Ermey throws weight behind name change

Retired Gunnery Sgt. R. Lee Ermey, widely known for his performance as the sadistic drill instructor in the 1987 film “Full Metal Jacket,” headlined a Thursday news conference in Washington, D.C., calling to rename the Department of the Navy the Department of the Navy and Marine Corps.

The event, at the Longworth House Office Building, was aimed at drumming up support for House Resolution 24, a bill authored by Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-N.C., that formally proposes the name change.

“We’re not asking for a promotion. We’re not asking for more money. We don’t want a uniform change,” Ermey said. “The only thing we want is for future Marine who shed blood for their country to at least get respect and receive honorable mention in the department they fall under.”

Jones has introduced a version of his resolution, which now has 367 co-sponsors, every year since 2001. Despite wide-spread support in the House, it has failed in the Senate each time.

For the eighth year, the language of the resolution was included in the National Defense Authorization Act, unanimously approved by the House Armed Services Committee in June.

Each year since 2001, however, the Senate has stripped Jones’ name change from the legislation. Jones is now waiting to see if it will happen again, but remains hopeful.

“I think we have a chance. We really do,” Jones said when asked if he thought the measure might pass the Senate this year.

Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., introduced a sister bill in the Senate, but it has just two co-sponsors — Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan from North Carolina.

“Why can’t we call it the Department of Navy — and Marine Corps?” Roberts asked. “Why can’t we add three words to right an injustice? Why can’t we add three words to remind the Secretary of the Department of Defense and the world that the Marines are second to none?”

Ermey said he struggles to see logic in those who oppose the name change.

“I can’t imagine anyone looking one of these wounded veterans without arms or legs in the eyes telling them no.” Ermey said. “How do you reason that?”

Other speakers included Gen. Anthony Zinni, former commander of U.S. Central Command; former Commandant Gen. Alfred M. Gray; Bronze Star recipient Sgt. James Eddie Wright, a Marine who lost both hands in combat in Iraq yet went on to become a Marine Corps Martial Arts Program instructor; Michael Blum, the Marine Corps League’s executive director; Tracy Della Vecchia, founder of MarineParents.com; and Dick Linn, whose son was killed in Iraq in 2005.

After the conference, Ermey made his way to Bullfeathers of Capitol Hill, a nearby bar where he planned to hold a rally to drum up additional support and publicity for the departmental name change.

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To read more about what Ermey had to say on the name change and other hot-button issues facing the Corps — including “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the tattoo policy and rules of engagement — look for our exclusive Q&A in the March 8 issue of Marine Corps Times, on newsstands this coming Monday.