Here’s a website of “Jeremy Hinzman, a U.S. Army soldier who became a a conscientious objector”:http://www.jeremyhinzman.net/faq.html in the course of his service. His applications denied, he moved to Canada and is seeking political asylum there.
I find I can understand the issues all too well. In only a slightly-parallel universe, I’d be in iraq myself instead of publishing Nonviolence.org. My father, a veteran who fought in the South Pacific in World War II, really wanted me to join the U.S. Navy and attend the Naval Academy at Annapolis. For quite some time, I seriously considered it. I am attracted to the idea of service and duty and putting in hard work for something I believe in.
Hinzman’s story is getting a lot of mainstream coverage, I suspect because the “escape to Canada” angle has so many Vietnam-era echoes that resonate with that generation. I wish Hinzman would flesh out his website story though. His Frequently Asked Questions leaves out some important details that could really make the story – why did he join the Army in the first place, what were some of the experiences that led him to rethink his duty, etc. I’d recommend Jeff Paterson’s “Gulf War Refusenik”:http://jeff.paterson.net/ site, which includes lots of stories including his own:
bq. “What am I going to do with my life?” has always been huge question of youth, and today in the wake of the horror and tragedy of New York September 11th this question has increased importance for millions of young people. No one who has seen the images will ever forget… If I hadn’t spent those four years in the Marine Corps, I might be inclined to fall into line now. Most of the time my unit trained to fight a war against peasants who dared to struggle against “American interests” in their homelands-specifically Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala… Faced with this reality, I began the process of becoming un-American-meaning that the interests of the people of the world began to weigh heavier than my self-interest. I realized that the world did not need or want another U.S. troop…
There are bound to be more stories all the time of service-people who find a different reality when they land on foreign shores. How many will rethink their relationship to the U.S. military. How many will follow Paterson’s example of becoming “un-American”?
Quaker Ranter
A Weekly Newsletter and Blog from Martin Kelley
Tag Archives ⇒ army
Iran-Contra alum behind Terror Psychic Network
July 31, 2003
The Idiot who came up with the “Terror Psychic Network” is leaving the Pentagon over the flap. What’s even more striking is his identity: it’s John Poindexter, one of the people at the heart of the Iran-Contra scandal that rocked the Reagan Administration.
For those too young to remember, in the Iran-Contra affair Reagan’s kookiest spooks secretly sold arms to U.S. archenemy number 1 (Iran) in order to circumvent Congressional demands that they not fund an opposition army against U.S. archenemy number 2 (Nicaragua), with the money being funneled through the country that then and now still inexplicably isn’t public enemy number 3 (Saudi Arabia). It was the circuitousness of it all more than anything that kept Reagan out of jail for all of this.
Why Poindexter was ever allowed back anywhere near Washington, much less the Pentagon, is a mystery. Here are some articles on Poindexter’s return to Washington and return of the Iran-Contra crew to the (Bush II) White House. Here’s another article on the resignation of the Reagan crook turned Bush-II fool.
Army of None
July 17, 2003
I’ve always found U.S. Army recruiting advertising fascinating. It’s not just that the ads are well-produced. They catch onto basic human yearnings in a way that’s the teen equivalent of self-help books. “Be all that you can be” is wonderful – who wouldn’t want that. And the current ads making the Army look like a extreme sport also hits the nexus of cool and inspiring. The current US Army slogan is “An Army of One,” which might almost make potential recruits forget that a basic cornerstone of military training is wiping away individuality to mold recruits into interchangable units. The link above is to “Army of None,” a smart parody of the official recruiting site.
Army of None
July 17, 2003
Recruiting Satire. I’ve always found U.S. Army recruiting advertising fascinating. It’s not just that the ads are well-produced. They catch onto basic human yearnings in a way that’s the teen equivalent of self-help books. “Be all that you can be” is wonderful – who wouldn’t want that. And the current ads making the Army look like a extreme sport also hits the nexus of cool and inspiring. The current US Army slogan is “An Army of One,” which might almost make potential recruits forget that a basic cornerstone of military training is wiping away individuality to mold recruits into interchangable units. The link above is to “Army of None,” a smart parody of the official recruiting site.