Doctor Recommended

Hundreds of U.S. Soldiers Emerge as Conscientious Objectors

I saw this article originally linked by Rob over at STR. For several reasons it appears that enlisted men and women are unpleased with what their job entails them to partake in.

Not that any of you care, but I actually enlisted in the Army National Guard in May of '01 to help finish paying for college.

Well, if you know your months of the Gregorian calendar that was also a few months before Everything Changed (tm). I never went to Basic Training, but rather attended the monthly drills (I was enlisted in the Delayed Entry Program for Officer Candidate School). Despite having both moral and economic objections to the institution I was now part of, I played by the rules and didn't open my mouth.

By the time January rolled around I was tired of getting up at 5:30 am to go stand in line for 2 hours then come inside and spend an entire day shuffling papers, mobilization papers. That was pretty somber because these forms were for insurance, medical and financial aid material -- because well, believe it or not, metallic objects flying at supersonic speeds have been known to puncture the epidermis in some hominids.

February comes around and I spend a few days brainstorming, trying to think of legitimate reasons to leave the unit without causing a big scene. I decided to use a family matter (very serious one) to sway them. I typed up 10 points for why I should be discharged, printed out a copy and drove on over to see The Powers That Be.

I made contact with 'my' Staff Sergeant who actually helped recruit me, and upon hearing what I had to say was very understanding and helped move me along. Then I ran into a hard ass 'God Bless America'-type Captain who was the company commander. He was an ROTC graduate from A&M, a former cadet, a proud Aggie (I was a non-reg at the school).

I actually thought that we would have some sort of camaraderie between us because of our school ties. No dice. I sat down (stood up really) in a room with the Captain and the Staff Sergeant and explained my situation thoroughly, not missing a detail. At the end of my spiel, I looked up from the paper and the Captain had a smirk on his face and candidly stated:

"You really think that could get me to discharge you?"

I try to prepare or at least plan through possible scenarios mentally, but what the Captain was displaying was not one of them.

After a lengthy discourse by him about why I would essentially end up at McDonald's flipping burgers and impregnating women, I asked him if he wanted to discuss this or hear himself talk. Showing his intelligence he just rambled on about 'sacrifice,' 'honor,' 'courage' -- basically quoting a script that Worf or a Klingon would say. I was not moved or touched, nor did he change my mind.

At one point throughout his collectivist speech he asked me what my MOS was (that's your military specialty) believing probably that he could tear my character apart once more. I mentioned that I was going to be an Officer and then proceeded to explain how he knew less about me (if I didn't wear a uniform he wouldn't have known my name) than his proud chauvinistic (in the historical sense) and overbearing character was willing to admit.

I then ended my brief rebuttal by asking him: "what can I say that would convince you to discharge me?"

Beaming a smile reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat: "Nothing."

So I pulled the only card I could, proclaiming my status as a 'conscientious objector' and with that, the meeting wrapped up quickly. I made a B-line to the saner world outside the barracks, jumped into my roommate?s car (he let me borrow) and left that world for good.

I went home and began my googling. I didn't know much about 'conscientious objectors' and what was required to be classified as such. Little did I know that the Captain could do nothing, his own Uniform Code of Military Justice (the biggest oxymoron) could not assist his ambitions.

After doing meticulous research I found that since I had not gone to Training, I was still "free" to do as I pleased. In fact, there are several organizations that specialize in assisting people just like me to avoid the military (most in my shoes were overzealous high school kids who wisened up at the end of their senior year). I contacted no less than 4 different lawyers and 3 different paralegals, all of whom stated the same thing: just don't go anymore.

Apparently because of how I enlisted, my status would eventually disappear and I would be erased from the books permanently without a weird discharge and without having to hear, speak or listen to any of the Uniforms again. And I never did.

For those of you that think I'm a pussy, or a peacenik or some sort of lame hippy, I challenge you to join one of the branches and see how much "honor" and "courage" and "dignity" you find in it. For those already in one of the branches, you can call me any of the names you would like, but you're still a tool, a lemming, someone who has had their individualism sucked out in a Kafka-esque Metamorphosis manner. Melodramatic you say? Fine, say whatever you want, but there is no valid logical justification for the institution of war or aggression.

Self-defense you cry? Indeed, but no one is invading. The tactic used this past month could be comparable to me shooting a tough-looking Latino who's walking in my neighborhood - then searching for evidence that he was planning to break in (I missed the large Iraqi camelized military convoy that invaded, forcing the Coalition forces to "retaliate").

Killing for peace is like fucking for chastity. Additionally, the spending spree itself is destructive: $100 billion dollars sucked from an already depressed economy, placed into products that do not create wealth in any way, but rather obliterate wealth and property -- the Broken Window Fallacy lives on.

Posted by Tim at April 18, 2003 02:20 AM | TrackBack