After Five Marine Call-ups, Lt. Col. McCarthy Is Weighing No. 6

[img]116|left|Lt. Col. McCarthy||no_popup[/img] Christmas season was on nearly everybody’s minds this past winter when U.S. Marine reservist David McCarthy, freshly home from his latest tour of duty in the Iraq War zone, was unhappily detoured on his way to the office. Instead of walking into a warm welcome from longtime colleagues, he was, instead, promptly placed on paid administrative leave.

Only after those results were toted up could he resume his duties as a deputy city attorney on the third floor of City Hall.

As Mr. McCarthy, a 13-year veteran of the City Attorney’s staff, graphically reported last week in a Letter to the Editor of the Daily Breeze in the South Bay, after receiving counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder before doffing his uniform, he was ordered to receive a sizeup from a civilian forensic psychiatrist before he would be allowed to reclaim his office.

Describing his unpleasant experience for this newspaper, Mr. McCarthy said, “I felt humiliated, disheartened, demoralized.”

He was delayed one full month, January, in returning to work. “Trust me,” he said, “paid administrative leave is no vacation.”

Question: What were your work obligations during that period?

“You have to do what they tell you to do. Be available. You don’t have to be sitting at your house. But you have to be in the area in case they say, ‘Come here.’ ‘Go there.’ ‘Do this.’ ‘Do that.’”

Availability is crucial, Mr. McCarthy said.

“One time I was annoyed,” he said. “At the last minute, the Wizard (the label military personnel use for psychiatrists) wanted to reschedule the appointment literally at the last minute, the night before. He wanted to make it two days after the scheduled appointment.

“I said, ‘No. I’ll see you next week.’

“The city called me in and said “No, it doesn’t work that way. You’ll go when he says to go.’”

Question: How different was the session with the forensic psychiatrist from the post-traumatic stress counselor provided by the military?

“Totally different. The post-traumatic stress counselors are there to help you. (The psychiatrist) was there to evaluate me.”

Question: How did you feel when you returned to City Hall?

“What I told you before, disheartened, moralized, whatever.”

Question: How many times have the Marines called you up in the years you have been on staff?

“I was called up for Desert Storm. And this latest was my fifth appointment — one Afghanistan, one Horn of Africa and three Iraq.”

Question: Even by Iraq War standards, and especially considering that you are 50 years old, that is an amazing record. You have been in the Marine Corps 26 years, active and reserve. In these militarily cynical days, where are you greeted as a conquering hero?

“My church group, and friends associated with my church group, had a very nice homecoming for me in Manhattan Beach literally the day after I got home.”

Question: Are you likely to be called up again?

“The Marine Corps called me two weeks after I got home. They asked if they could send me back. I said, ‘I need a little bit of down time.’ They have called me five other times since then, asking if they could send me back.”

Question: Are you softening?

“I feel compelled to go back.”

Question: How soon? Weeks or months?

“Months.”

Question: You look fit. About 6-foot-4, 240 pounds?

“Just a clever disguise. Suits are tailored to make it look that way. You are close on my weight. Actually, it’s 235, which is even high by Marine Corps standards.”

Question: You have to be in very good condition, don’t you? Do you work out?

“Every day. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I lift weights. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, I run or bike.”

Question: Is the test one of distance or time?

“The Marine Corps Physical Fitness Test, which you have to take twice a year, is pull-ups, max score is 20, sit-ups or crunches, 2 minutes, 100 is a perfect score. Then there’s a 3-mile run, 18 minutes is a perfect score. They are phasing in a Combat Readiness Test, which is just a killer. It involves running, crawling, low-crawling, running with someone within 10 pounds of your weight over your shoulder. Word on the street is the Physical Fitness Test will be replaced by the Combat Readiness Test.”

Question: Is there any downside to being on active duty at this age, in this war?

“For a lot of people, it can be a detriment to your career to deploy. My own brother called me once and asked me what his legal obligations would be if he employed a reservist. The clear implication was, ‘Do I want to hire this guy if he is going to be gone?’ That is my own brother, whom you think would have some sensitivity to the issue.”