His call sign is "Hadji," meaning "one who has made a pilgrimage to Mecca"
"It's a pilot thing," explains Colonel Douglas Burpee, the highest ranking Muslim officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. Now in his 23rd year of military service, Colonel Burpee recently returned from flying helicopters in Afghanistan.
"Everyone knows I'm a Muslim. When I fly, attached to my dog tags, I wear a pendant with a passage from the Koran," he says. "I try to set a good example based upon what I believe.... I can be a soldier and a Muslim at the same time. I have no problem with that."
Certainly that's Colonel Burpee's view. "These people who commit terrorism have just adopted the face of Islam - nothing they say or do have anything to do with Islam," he says. "The Taliban is a terrorist organization - they are bad people doing bad things and they've attached religion to it. They are ruthless when it comes to killing people, but that's how you move helpless people around - you use fear."
Colonel Burpee's path to both Islam and the military is not necessarily typical. With blond hair that is now going gray, he was born in America and raised Episcopalian. He converted to Islam when he was 19 for a very American reason: "I met a pretty girl" - an Egyptian woman named Hala who was a fellow student at the University of Southern California in the late 1970s. Three years later he was accepted at the Officers Candidates' School in Quantico, Va. Now he and Hala and their five sons live in Glendale, Calif.
"We believe in god and family and prayer - the same things as everyone who believes in religion," he says. But his reaction to September 11th fit a less typical script. "I watched the attacks on TV, like everybody else. The first thing we did afterwards was go to the mosque because people were concerned about a backlash. On the other hand, I had to call into my squadron and ask, 'Hey, are we being activated?'" Colonel Burpee straddles his two worlds, but he is not typical of Islam or the military.
Perhaps a more typical portrait of a Muslim soldier in the U.S. military comes from Sergeant Youseff Mandour of the U.S. Army. He immigrated to America from Morocco at the age of 17 and joined the army at age 22. Now 25, he just returned from 12 months in Iraq. Like Colonel Burpee, he aspires to a lifelong career in the military. "I'm fighting for a better life and a belief in freedom," he says. "I had a chance to get involved. I learned the English language and appreciate everything this country has given to me. That's why I joined the Army. The U.S. is doing great things."
Colonel Douglas Burpee - 23 Years Of Military Service - A Muslim
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