APD A United States Marine Corps court-martial has sentenced a Marine, who came to a belief in non-combatancy shortly after signing a two-year re-enlistment, to seven months in jail, rather than separating him from the military. Observers say this is a highly unusual outcome for such a case, which is usually handled less drastically.

Marine Corporal Joel David Klimkewicz, a native of Birch Run, Michigan, is married and has a 3-year-old daughter. He will be imprisoned, suffer a reduction in rank to private, and given a Bad Conduct Discharge from the Marine Corps, according to the Dec. 14 verdict of a court-martial held at Camp Lejeune, one of the nation's largest Marine Corps bases.

"In 36 years of dealing with these cases, this is the first one I've seen go so far," said Richard O. Stenbakken, a retired U.S. Army chaplain and Seventh-day Adventist church pastor who, until recently, headed Chaplaincy Ministries for the 13.4-million member church.

Adventist church attorney Mitchell Tyner said, "The Marine Corps, in its zeal to prevent others from avoiding combat, has totally misread this soldier and the result is a serious miscarriage of justice. We hope the Corps will reconsider the total disproportional nature of the sentence and reduce it immediately."

Klimkewicz, who experienced a religious awakening while on a shipboard assignment in the Marines, formally joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the summer of 2003. Before his conversion, Klimkewicz, by his own admission, led a less-than-exemplary life. Afterward, his wife, a Japanese citizen who has a temporary residence permit and is seeking permanent resident status in the United States, as well as his coworkers and superiors in the Marines, noticed a marked change in his behaviour and attitude.

Klimkewicz told Marine Corps officials that he was willing to serve, but not to carry a weapon or to take a life. The Seventh-day Adventist Church supports non-combatancy for its members who serve in the military, but leaves such decisions to a member's individual conscience.

In such cases, a service member is often given an assignment that supports his views, or is given an administrative discharge from the military. Klimkewicz volunteered for two separate deployments where he would help clear land mines in Iraq, a task in which he would not have to carry a weapon, but superiors refused him. He was charged with "disobeying a lawful order" from a superior, Major Kirk Cordova, executive officer of the Second Combat Engineers Battalion of the 2nd Marine Division, to carry a weapon.

Stenbakken, and attorney Tyner, are asking the Marine Corps to revoke the sentence imposed on Klimkewicz, which can be done either through an appeals process or by the commanding general of the 2nd Marine Division. The two believe no useful purpose is served by jailing the corporal: "This is not a man who needs to be 'reformed,'" Stenbakken said. "He's turned his life around and his peers say so."

Local Adventist church members in the Jacksonville, North Carolina area have indicated they will help Klemkewicz's wife and daughter as needed through this situation.

With approximately 114,000 congregations in 203 countries and areas of the world, the Seventh-day Adventist Church has long advocated non-violence and peaceful solutions to conflicts. The church operates one of the largest educational networks in the world, and also emphasizes healthy living in its worldwide outreach. [Editor: Mark A. Kellner for ANN/APD]