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On this day, Veterans Day, we would like to express to the American public why we, veterans of the Global War on Terror, have chosen to refuse orders to reactivate into military service. We are direct witnesses to the horrors of this war, having experienced its atrocities at their source, and we have decided that we can no longer carry out these illegal and immoral policies.
We believe that veterans and active duty G.I.s are in a key position to stop illegal and unjust war, and we are inspired by the resistance of troops who stood against the war in Vietnam. One of the pre-eminent reasons for the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam was increasing dissent among the active duty troops stationed abroad and at home. By the end of the war, there were entire units refusing to participate in combat, many going as far as outright mutiny.
The U.S. learned a lesson from the Vietnam War: that it is unlikely, except in the event of self-defense, that regular civilians will execute the life threatening orders that are given to them by military authority. The solution of policy-makers was to create an all-volunteer force that negated the need for a draft. This translates into a mercenary force composed of America's disadvantaged: a sector of the U.S. demographic that is particularly susceptible to military recruitment for lack of other options and finding themselves with deployment orders again and again.
To compensate for huge pitfalls in recruitment since the invasion of Iraq, the military has resorted to recalling former service members. This policy is known as "involuntary activation" and utilizes deactivated service members, who still have time on their contracts in the Individual Ready Reserves (IRR), to fill shortcomings in specific job specialties. The abuse and misuse of this policy has escalated under the Bush administration to such a degree that it can now only be viewed as a "backdoor draft" that targets the same disadvantaged individuals the military sought out for enlistment, namely because they are better at not questioning orders.
However, we have now begun to question these orders. We are veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and members of the IRR who have refused or will refuse any activation orders that would lead to use serving an unjust and imperial U.S. foreign policy. It is a prevailing notion that this refusal is unpatriotic, but we consider our actions the only choice. Not only did the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan do great harm to the people of those countries, but it undermined the ostensible goal on which the wars were begun. Instead of stopping terrorism, it has proliferated terrorism, an expectation that was predicted well before the war started.
By refusing activation we are refusing to participate in wars that serve the purposes of furthering the careers of politicians and high-ranking officers. We openly support other IRR members who follow in these footsteps. The military is a force that rules through fear of retribution for disobeying its will. In reality, more than a third of IRRs simply refuse to report to duty. Most of the rest report out of fear that the military will change their discharge status or prosecute them for desertion, but up to this point, prosecution has been rare. Members of the IRR are not under the uniform code of military justice, and thus far, the military has had a practice of not prosecuting them with criminal charges unless they report in some form or function to activate. Very few willingly volunteer for activation.
There can be no promise that President-elect Barack Obama will stop the stressful and unfair techniques of back-to-back deployments, "stop-loss," or the backdoor draft that are damaging the psychology of veterans in irreparable ways. Nor that he will stop encouraging global violence by unlawful uses of force. It is in this vein that we turn to organizations like Courage to Resist, Iraq Veterans Against the War and many other large scale and grassroots organizations to solicit change in a largely unrepresentative democracy, and, to allow the voices of the people to ring through the halls of the Capital.
26 Comments so far
Show AllA wise pundit said that wars will end when the people refuse to fight them.
"War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today."
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy
These men have served and only they can decide if their action is right. I certainly cannot. But anyone that makes a decision after serving certainly can not be called unpatriotic.
Hmmm, only a vet can decide whether killing innocent civilians in the name of fighting terrorism is right or wrong? It is MURDER and it's WRONG, period. Those who don't think so are war criminals
I didn't see any mention of killing innocent civilians mentioned above.........
Thomas More,
I don't think you did mention that, but I have often faced the attitude that as a civilian who has never experienced battle, I am less capable of making decisions about the morality of war. I resent this implication, and I'm sure that feeling is what sparked the comment, no intention of yours.
Gotcha.
It doesn't take a combat veteran to make a decision about the morality of war and I can see how you would resent any implication that it does. Consider the reverse side of that coin by the way.
Thanks for your comment. It is always helpful when someone sees something and say's "hey doofus!"
Thanks again.
"Murder" has a specific literal and legal definition, look it up.
Some people serve because they feel very powerless and have no hope of getting anywhere else in life. Back in my state, unemployment keeps on piling and yet so too does recruitment from the young boys and girls in high school and college. I used to think it was patriotic of them but now I realize that they're being duped into false patriotism along with the false sense of being secure. They're misled into thinking they'll get a better job when they get back home and that they'll have a better chance of avoiding foreclosures because of something this or something that. In the end, none of it matters because either they're dead or if they're alive, they're physically injured and possibly disabled for life and/or they're rendered mentally restless (PTSD). It's very easy to get swayed into believing that being a war man/woman will make you a "hero" but in the end, you're most likely only costing yourself more than you would have otherwise. Think before you enlist yourself.
Terrance Mitchell
Redfield, South Dakota
Any conservative you care to name will insist that big government is bad, and that you can't handle systemic unemployment by handing out government jobs. Never occurs to them that that's exactly what a career in the military is.
http://www.users.bigpond.com/pmurray
http://www.paulmurray.id.au/ageofworms
Excellent point!! The military as a government job.
Thanks.
Bunk. Every conservative I have ever heard of specifically cites constitutional justification of the military aspect of the government. I can't beleive you never heard that.
Some people have one opinion, some another. Not everyone shares the same opinion. Some join because they are patriotic, some for economic reasons, some because they are stupid. It was the same in Roman times I'm sure.
Others think its wrong, think that no one should serve, we shouldn't have a military, various other opinions.
The only people that are wrong are those that would judge someone else's actions without personal knowledge or proof.
These are brave men and I applaud their courage. Undoubtedly they will face derision, scorn and hatred, but they are heroes and should be recognized as such.
Thats a very kind thing to say. And its appreciated by all who serve. But "hero" is a bit strong...in 14 months I only saw 3 and one was NVA. Most just serve and do their duty.
An act of conscience is a personal decision. It is a fundamental right. Each of the authors is willing to take whatever consequences under the law the military and/or courts mete out to them. I respect each man's choice.
You are taking a painful path, but in the end if you do not follow your moral values you will suffer much more than anything the military can do to you.
I would never presume to tell you what specifically to do - but my own decisions that fell short of my own standards have and will bother me every day and especially night. I have never had to kill people for a wage so I have had easy choices compared to some.
On the up side if you do the right thing when it is hard to do it you will be forever honored by people. You can feel it just as strong as contempt in a room when you have done wrong.
There are many reasons why people chose to enlist in the United States armed services. In past postings (usually in conversation with Thomas) I wrote about my brother who enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at the height of the Vietnam conflict but I never stated why he did so.
The answer was simple. He wanted to be a Marine. A French Canadian with a degree in science choose to apply for landed immigrant status in the United States, and when this status was granted he went straight to the nearest Marine Corps recruiting depot in downtown Boston and signed up. The guy who signed him up thought he was nuts. No worrying about the draft for my brother.
Before he (and we) knew it he was in South Caroline (Parris Island) undergoing basic training after which he was sent to Jacksonville (Camp LeJeune) and then off to Viet Nam he went.
My brother returned safely from his tour of duty and chose to remain with the Marine Corps where his career continued on for twenty years. (After obtaining US citizenship he was granted a commission.) My brother retired with the rank of Major. (middle management as he referred to it.)
It was a career choice and to him there was no better job out there that compared with belonging to the USMC. After leaving the USMC he was immediately employed by the Boeing Corp. in the Washington DC area. ( Yea I know ...from the military to a military contractor). He died suddenly from cardiac diease a couple of years ago. He questioned the war in Viet Nam but never his decision to be a Marine.
My brother talked much about physical courage being common while moral courage being something rare. I know he would salute those vets who today are refusing to re-deploy. They have displayed both physical and moral courage. (Just thinking about him today and thought I would share this.)
Excellent post as always. You are so right about what he would have said.
I was so touched to watch what you Canadians did for your guys going down the "Highway of Hero's".....made me feel I should be a Canadian.
Yes Thomas, that is really an emotional sight to witness. I witnessed a motorcade carrying the body of a young soldier, killed in action in Afghanistan, approaching the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia. They were taking him home. No hiding this young man's sacrifice as he entered his city with the honour and dignity usually reserved for heads of state. And Thomas, that is how it should be.
Amen! And thanks for your postings.
It confounds me that people have trouble understanding that kids like these two are just making a choice as others who choose to serve do. Doesn't make either choice a hero.
Sometime months back someone put some quotes by Dwight David Eisenhower at the end of his CD essay comment. When I read them I could feel the kind of shiver I used to feel when I was still proud to be an American from the United States. Now again I feel hope. And I think because of the bogus nature and reasons for the "wars" our young soldiers have been involved in for so long, I think IKE would be proud of you and other soldiers for refusing now to continue what should have been ended long ago.
Reflections on and some quotes from IKE:
General Eisenhower's face and voice were as familiar to me as any of my neighbors. He felt like family to most people. Over-all he was a decent man and a good general. And when he became Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, he was known for his ability to manage conflicts among officers, some of whom thought, he later said, that they were the only general in the war. He made some mistakes, and he was not perfect as a man, a general or a president, but as a little kid, when I would see and listen to him in the newsreels of the battles going on across the world, and later, as a teenager, when he became president and that big grin would sweep across his face, I, as well as most Americans, felt safer because of him and what he stood for and believed. Some said he was not terribly articulate or inspiring. You be the judge.
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
"Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you're a thousand miles from the corn field."
"Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people and who would preserve what is good and fruitful in our national heritage."
"I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity."
"Any man who wants to be president is either an egomaniac or crazy." [He finally succumbed to the pressure to be a candidate, and hopefully, in this our time of 2008, the new President-elect is neither an egomaniac or crazy as IKE was not, but as some others have been and are.]
"Don't join the book burners. Do not think you are going to conceal thoughts by concealing evidence that they ever existed."
"Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels - men and women who dared to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion."
"How far can you go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without"?
"Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends"
"I feel impelled to speak today in a language that in a sense is new--one which I, who have spent so much of my life in the military profession, would have
preferred never to use. That new language is the language of atomic warfare."
"If men can develop weapons that are so terrifying as to make the thought of global war include almost a sentence for suicide, you would think that man's intelligence and his comprehension... would include also his ability to find a peaceful solution."
"If the United Nations once admits that international disputes can be settled by using force, then we will have destroyed the foundation of the organization and our best hope of establishing world order."
"In most communities it is illegal to cry "fire" in a crowded assembly. Should it not be considered serious international misconduct to manufacture a general war scare in an effort to achieve local political aims"?
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." [IKE's prescient farewell address and warning to the new president, JFK, and the nation's people.]
"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it."
"Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him."
"Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative."
"Don't think you are going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed."
"There is no glory in battle worth the blood it costs."
"I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it."
DWIGHT DAVID EISENHOWER.
THANK YOU guys, for having the courage to resist
I swear to support and defend the Constitution of the USA against all enemies, foreign and domestic, to obey the lawful orders of those appointed over me, to faithfully execute the office upon which I am about to enter, and that I take this obligation with no mental reservation or purpose of evasion. So help me, god.
No regime change. No war for oil or "national intere$t$". No sworn allegiance to the President.
The top brass should have been all over this one, too, but they weren't. They even went as far as to say that there was no level of command below CIC that could make the call on an illegal order (Foreign Affairs Magazine- Colin Powell, etal., 2006 or 07).
We can bring it back. We can make it right.
Like Lt. Watada, you guys are moral giants. I prostrate myself at your feet!
Juanito Crandello
4th Inf. II Corps
RVN, 1969
The truth about repeat deployments deservces to reach a much wider audience- people should understand the damage that these policies (stop loss, back-to-back deployment) are inflicting on our enlisted men & women AND their communities.
Recent news reports talk of an increase in suicides for returning vets and, once again, as with Viet Nam vets, an increase in homelessness for vets.
They are treated as throw-aways, the hypocrisy is quite blatant- even as they are called heroes by those, like Bush, who have avoided actual military service.
I hope that the ranks of those refusing to re-deploy will grow!