Tayyib Rashid is a U.S. Marine veteran and a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
I'm a Muslim and a U.S. Marine. But I'm pained more today than I ever was during boot camp.
The United States Marine Corps has been horribly tarnished by allegations of systematic hazing and torture of a Muslim Marine recruit, Raheel Siddiqui.
I'm horrified by the failures at multiple levels of leadership which led to recruit Siddiqui's death. These failures have provided terrorists with invaluable recruiting material. They have thus put the lives of all my fellow Marines and service members around the globe at risk.
In my view, these failures are equivalent to that of domestic terrorism or treason.
Janet Reitman's recent article in the New York Times contains details of the investigation into Recruit Raheel Siddiqui's death. While reading her article, I initially felt a strong sense of nostalgia as I reflected on why, 20 years ago, I chose to enlist in the Marines.
I recalled the inspirational conversations with my High School English teacher Joe Morgan and my friend Pete Dolpheid - both former Marines. They helped trigger my obsession with earning the title of "the Few and the Proud."
Some family members were immediately supportive - though others, not so much. I remained undeterred, however, inspired by the ideal that the United States Marine Corps is an elite leadership military organization committed to excellence, honour and courage, to the United States Constitution and to America's citizens.
My decision hardened once I received the approval of the local Imam - who also happened to be my father. "Always remember," he said, "that duty to your nation is part of your faith. If this is how you want to serve your country, you have my full support."
I departed from O'Hare Airport in Chicago on 12 January 1997 to the Marine Corps Recruiting Depot in San Diego. As I read Janet Reitman's account, I saw my experience playing out through the eyes of Raheel Siddiqui - or so I thought.
But this initial nostalgia quickly turned to discomfort, then anger, and finally disgust. Joseph Felix was Raheel Siddiqui's drill instructor. He was recruit Siddiqui's leader, confidant and mentor. But what Felix and his accomplices did to Siddiqui and other recruits can only be described as torture. Torture, which is forbidden even for enemy combatants by International law and the Geneva Convention.
Raheel Siddiqui tried to fulfil his religious and patriotic duty to serve his country. But sadly, he paid the ultimate price of his own life at the hands of the very institution he trusted to make him better. The Marine Corps failed him and all of us by turning a blind eye for years to reports of abuse and torture. Instead of making this country stronger by embracing the diversity of all recruits, the Parris Island Marine Corps leadership confirmed and validated the Da'esh terrorists' propaganda and bolstered their own recruiting efforts. In the eyes of Da'esh, they now have "proof" that Muslims who try to serve the United States will end up tortured and killed.
Rather than uphold the spirit of the U.S. Constitution and strengthen the bonds of United States born and naturalized citizens, the Parris Island Marine Corps leadership sabotaged this brotherhood and fractured the unity of the Corps.
The men who inspired me to become a Marine were not only the toughest, meanest men I had ever met. They were also men of noble character, profound wisdom, extraordinary intelligence and, above all, stewards of justice and equality in all matters of life. Cowards like Joseph Felix and his co-conspirators don't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as my senior drill instructor Staff Sergeant West, or my drill instructors Sgt. Hall, Sgt. Quresma, or Sgt. Olivera. My drill instructors - through their own examples of toughness, firmness and fairness - transformed an irresponsible, weak and undisciplined Recruit Rashid into a strong member of the greatest military force on the face of the earth. By instilling the values of honour, courage and commitment into Recruit Rashid, they created the kind of warrior who is capable of defeating, not just a terrorist, but also the root of terrorist ideology.
By contrast, the actions of Joseph Felix potentially create more terrorists, not only for Da'esh but also potentially within the Corps itself by teaching recruits that it's acceptable to despise and torture someone based on their religion.
Given what my drill instructors accomplished with the inadequate raw materials of Recruit Rashid, I can only wonder with profound regret what a magnificent American asset such men of character would have produced with a valedictorian like the self-sacrificing Recruit Siddiqui. Alas, we will never know what could have been.
It is critical for the Marine Corps to return to its roots. The Marine Corps must prosecute to the fullest degree those who compromise the Marine Corps' reputation. The Corps must deliver the harshest possible punishment for these egregious violations of its ethos and its code. The Marine Corps is a body of leaders. And the formula by which the Marine Corps produces such leaders is tried and tested. It must remain faithful to the motto: Semper Fidelis. The damage done by to my beloved Corps is deep, and it will take years - if not decades - to heal.
Fortunately for us, we have just the men and women to take on this difficult challenge - the Few, the Proud, the Marines.
Tayyib Rashid is a U.S. Marine veteran and a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.