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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI Hereby Resign in Protest Effective Immediately
I Hereby Resign in Protest Effective Immediately
by Brandon Toy
I hereby resign in protest effective immediately.
I have served the post-911 Military Industrial complex for 10 years, first as a soldier in Baghdad, and now as a defense contractor.
At the time of my enlistment, I believed in the cause. I was ignorant, naïve, and misled. The narrative, professed by the state, and echoed by the mainstream press, has proven false and criminal. We have become what I thought we were fighting against.
Recent revelations by fearless journalists of war crimes including counterinsurgency “dirty” wars, drone terrorism, the suspension of due process, torture, mass surveillance, and widespread regulatory capture have shed light on the true nature of the current US Government. I encourage you to read more about these topics at the links I have provided below.
Some will say that I am being irresponsible, impractical, and irrational. Others will insist that I am crazy. I have come to believe that the true insanity is doing nothing. As long as we sit in comfort, turning a blind eye to the injustices of the world, nothing will change. It is even worse to play an active part, protesting all along that I am not the true criminal.
I was only a foot soldier, and am now a low level clerk. However, I have always believed that if every foot soldier threw down his rifle war would end. I hereby throw mine down.
Sincerely,
Brandon M. Toy
Stryker Engineering Project Management
General Dynamics Land Systems
Sterling Heights, Michigan
* * *
The crux of the NSA story in one phrase: 'collect it all'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/15/crux-nsa-collect-it-all
How the NSA is still harvesting your online data
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/27/nsa-online-metadata-collection
Inside America's Dirty Wars
http://www.nationinstitute.org/featuredwork/fellows/3260/inside_america%27s_dirty_wars/
Revealed: Pentagon's link to Iraqi torture centres
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/06/pentagon-iraqi-torture-centres-link
The Global Intelligence Files
http://wikileaks.org/the-gifiles.html
Leaked HBGary Documents Show Plan To Spread Wikileaks Propaganda For BofA... And 'Attack' Glenn Greenwald
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110209/22340513034/leaked-hbgary-documents-show-plan-to-spread-wikileaks-propaganda-bofa-attack-glenn-greenwald.shtml
Guantanamo Detainee Begs to Be Charged as Legal Limbo Worsens
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324069104578527012686080732.html
Collateral Murder
http://www.collateralmurder.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License
https://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/07/16-5
[hr]
Brandon Toy works for US defense contractor General Dynamics as an Engineering Project Manager building Stryker armored fighting vehicles. Previously, Brandon served in the Michigan Army National Guard as a Multiple Launch Rocket System Fire Direction Specialist, Team Leader and Vehicle Commander. He was deployed as a military policeman to Baghdad, Iraq in 2004 - 2005.
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CaliforniaPeggy
(156,338 posts)
Catherina
(35,568 posts)"He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder."
- Albert Einstein
dixiegrrrrl
(60,152 posts)Ideas like that could bring the perpetual war machine to a halt.
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)
Bernardo de La Paz
(60,320 posts)
TeeYiYi
(8,028 posts)TYY 
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)dkf
(37,305 posts)Classic!!!
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)I hope many more are inspired
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)I quit my job with the USAF back in November 1986.
True, part of the reason was that I was bored and hated working 45 hours a week, with five hours of commuting weekly.
But another part was that I did not want to be part of Reagan's war machine.
I was a GS-9 when I quit and was promised two more promotions, one each year until I reached GS-12. Pretty decent money.
As I say it, I jumped off the good job train, and have been unable to get back on since. GS-7 paid almost 300% of the poverty line. And since quitting I have been spending much of my life below 150% of the poverty line http://upload.democraticunderground.com/1002625762
And the war machine has hardly slowed a step, and now in the media, members of the war machine are hailed as heroes who "serve their country". I could have been one of those heroes, making over 500% of the poverty line income and being honored for how I "serve my country", just like a major (O-5) in the Air Force or Army.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Too much secrecy. A lot of the secrets should be open to scrutiny.
We can't claim to be democratic if our government keeps from us so many secrets that do not need to be secret. If the government is not violating the Constitution or breaking the law, it does not need to keep so much of what it does around the world a secret.
How can we vote up or down if we don't know what we are voting for?
Catherina
(35,568 posts)
99Forever
(14,524 posts)... that transparency was promised by just another lying, self-serving politician. We hoped that he was different, now we know he isn't.
Cleita
(75,480 posts)Last edited Wed Jul 17, 2013, 03:56 PM - Edit history (1)
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)I pray for angels to have his back 
Mr. Toy is a very brave man to do this.
Thank you Mr. Toy. As with Manning, Assange, et. al. for standing
up to be counted at this crucial hour. 
snooper2
(30,151 posts)
You want to give the guy back problems!
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)thanks for the heads up. I fixed the spelling.
the things spell checkers miss.
halve his back ? Ouch.
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)is becoming a river, as in ".. let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream". Amos 5:24
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)newfie11
(8,159 posts)Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)byeya
(2,842 posts)woo me with science
(32,139 posts)This needs to happen EVERYWHERE.
Enough is enough.
snooper2
(30,151 posts)
Le Taz Hot
(22,271 posts)Happens all the time. No biggie.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)With the wars going away, use of computer tech. Now is the perfect time to half their budget.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,152 posts)so they can build MORE...BIGGER...BETTER...FASTER....computer run weapons of war.
truedelphi
(32,324 posts)Didn't catch the man's name - he had been a writer for "Wired." He stated that much of our 1.2 trillion dollar military budget is being slated for diversion over to Surveillance. And of course, if you caught the C Span hearings from the Senate Committee on Intelligence, Di Feinstein looked pretty anxious to have her husband Richard Blum cash in on that new source of revenue. (Sen Feinstein heads that committee.)
A couple can never have too many 16 million dollar homes, you know.
Hutzpa
(11,461 posts)in enabling her husband with these billion dollar military contract.
How do you stop our own from eating us from within?
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Recent revelations by fearless journalists of war crimes including counterinsurgency “dirty” wars, drone terrorism, the suspension of due process, torture, mass surveillance, and widespread regulatory capture have shed light on the true nature of the current US Government. I encourage you to read more about these topics at the links I have provided below.
<...>
Brandon Toy works for US defense contractor General Dynamics as an Engineering Project Manager building Stryker armored fighting vehicles. Previously, Brandon served in the Michigan Army National Guard as a Multiple Launch Rocket System Fire Direction Specialist, Team Leader and Vehicle Commander. He was deployed as a military policeman to Baghdad, Iraq in 2004 - 2005.
...what took him so long? Did he sleep through the Bush Presidency?
NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)That opportunistic, self-important, racist!
ProSense
(116,464 posts)NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)should have caught up with their conscience then, not under Obama!
Because, Lord knows, they didn't have anything else to deal with.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)He starts enlisting under some honest, though misguided, patriotic fervor, next thing you know he's off fighting in Iraq well before the revelations of civil liberties abuses, torture at Guantanamo, or the covert dirty wars, and he's thinking about quitting!
But then, he realized, Bush is white! If I only wait a few more years for the first black president to get himself knee-deep in scandals and civil liberties violations, then I can quit a job at a civilian defense contractor and make a big stink!
Those damn libertarians.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)What took so long?
NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)Because, as we know, former military personnel form opinions miraculously overnight, and never as the consequence of years of guilt, nightmares, and something weighing heavily on their conscience. That unprincipled bastard should have just sucked it up and faced the death penalty or life in prison over something he wasn't even conclusive or sure about!
It's how those racist, Obama-hating libertarian traitors work, donchaknow?
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Also, what exactly did he resign from? He's listed as a former service member, but a current employee with a defense contractor.
NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)I mean, it took me four days of visiting security offices, filing paperwork, and verifying the cancellation.
Or it might have occurred to the person publishing the letter online to include his employer as current, since that's how he signed the letter!
ProSense
(116,464 posts)
LiberalLovinLug
(14,616 posts)I'm laughing at your banter with ProSense. In a black comedy kind of way.
Woooooooosh!
zipplewrath
(16,698 posts)You're "begging the question". You haven't established that this is "long" much less "so long". Considering all the people that have yet to even come to this conclusion, one could suggest he is potentially ahead of the curve.
In an alternate point of view, his decision could be founded in the realization that it doesn't matter much who is in charge, the outcome stays fairly consistent.
Th1onein
(8,514 posts)Damn, Nadine, you got a crystal ball over there, or something?
chimpymustgo
(12,774 posts)issue at hand.
deurbano
(2,984 posts)president.
JoeyT
(6,785 posts)Fans don't get to have it both ways: Either that shit was important enough to do something about, or it isn't important enough to keep bringing up. Either you're looking forward or you aren't.
OnyxCollie
(9,958 posts)Through illegal spying, the Iraq war, Blackwater, Halliburton, torture...nothing.
chimpymustgo
(12,774 posts)zeemike
(18,998 posts)Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)Why did it take so long for Obama to come out for gay rights. Was he asleep during the Bush presidency?
Hissyspit
(45,790 posts)L0oniX
(31,493 posts)
JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)
Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts)Ever sense the first "opposition to the surveillance state is racism" thread, the fawning, sycophantic "my party and my president, right or wrong" crowd have shouted without credibility. We aren't listening to you.
7962
(11,841 posts)I'm sure there is a long list waiting to fill it.
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)
Fantastic Anarchist
(7,309 posts)Thanks for posting!
forestpath
(3,102 posts)
BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)I hope his message gets out and changes hearts & minds. He will be labeled a turncoat and a traitor, but maybe others will join him. RESPECT!
Laelth
(32,017 posts)-Laelth
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)The mission goes far beyond what can be termed "defense".
frazzled
(18,402 posts)I mean, 10 years is a long time, and there is not a thing in his list that he shouldn't have known 10 years ago. Misled? No, obviously he turned a blind eye.
These sudden epiphanies and conversions are melodramatic attention grabbers.
Anyone who ran off to join Bush's army and lived through the invasion of Iraq and knew of all the surveillance programs, in at least their broadest outlines, has no excuse. If I wouldn't have listened to this guy ten years ago telling me why it was a good thing to rush off into the military, I'm certainly not inclined to listen to him now.
deurbano
(2,984 posts)<<Ellsberg served in the Pentagon from August 1964[5] under Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara (and, in fact, was on duty on the evening of the Gulf of Tonkin incident, reporting the incident to McNamara). He then served for two years in Vietnam working for General Edward Lansdale as a civilian in the State Department.
After serving in Vietnam, Ellsberg resumed working at RAND. In 1967, he contributed to a top-secret study of classified documents regarding the conduct of the Vietnam War that had been commissioned by Defense Secretary McNamara.[6] These documents, completed in 1968, later became known collectively as the Pentagon Papers. It was because Ellsberg held an extremely high-level security clearance and desired to create a further synthesis from this research effort that he was one of very few individuals who had access to the complete set of documents.[7]
Disaffection with Vietnam War
By 1969 Ellsberg began attending anti-war events while still remaining in his position at RAND. He experienced an epiphany attending a War Resisters League conference at Haverford College in August 1969, listening to a speech given by a draft resister named Randy Kehler, who said he was "very excited" that he would soon be able to join his friends in prison.[8]
Ellsberg described his reaction:
And he said this very calmly. I hadn't known that he was about to be sentenced for draft resistance. It hit me as a total surprise and shock, because I heard his words in the midst of actually feeling proud of my country listening to him. And then I heard he was going to prison. It wasn't what he said exactly that changed my worldview. It was the example he was setting with his life. How his words in general showed that he was a stellar American, and that he was going to jail as a very deliberate choice—because he thought it was the right thing to do. There was no question in my mind that my government was involved in an unjust war that was going to continue and get larger. Thousands of young men were dying each year. I left the auditorium and found a deserted men's room. I sat on the floor and cried for over an hour, just sobbing. The only time in my life I've reacted to something like that.[8]
Decades later, reflecting on Kehler's decision, Ellsberg said:
Randy Kehler never thought his going to prison would end the war. If I hadn't met Randy Kehler it wouldn't have occurred to me to copy [the Pentagon Papers]. His actions spoke to me as no mere words would have done. He put the right question in my mind at the right time.[8]>>
Blue_Tires
(57,596 posts)Savannahmann
(3,891 posts)Well done.
raouldukelives
(5,178 posts)"As long as we sit in comfort, turning a blind eye to the injustices of the world, nothing will change. It is even worse to play an active part, protesting all along that I am not the true criminal."
Now if we could just get Wall St investors (lap dogs of the 1%) to follow suit we'd be onto something.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)to do what you think is right. Just watch your back.
Big decision, with ramification(s)
struggle4progress
(125,742 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)JI7
(93,381 posts)i didn't read any of this carefully so maybe i'm missing something.
7962
(11,841 posts)temmer
(358 posts)Reading the headline I thought you would "resign" from DU and stop posting your info nuggets here out of frustration 
I'm delighted - thanks for the information!
Catherina
(35,568 posts) 
starroute
(12,977 posts)Catherina
(35,568 posts)"What America must be told today is that she must be born again. The whole structure of American life must be changed."
- Martin Luther King Jr
CanSocDem
(3,286 posts)And thank YOU for the OP and your progressive voice. Glad you're not going away...
.
Le Taz Hot
(22,271 posts)one of the greatest musicians/guitarists this country has ever produced and she goes largely unrecognized and unremembered. Thanks for the link.
valerief
(53,235 posts)a new generation, the assholes will always get new recruits.
zipplewrath
(16,698 posts)Slight quibble, every foot soldier on both sides threw down their rifle. This cannot be unilateral.
An historical reference is the famous "Christmas Peace" from WW I. Everyone did lay down their rifle. None the less, ultimately they went back to war, mostly when their own officers threatened them.
If we want to try "unilateral peace" we can go down that road. MLK was a large advocate of it. But make no mistake, it will involve people dying, and potentially in large numbers.
I'm a fairly big advocate of "violence avoidance". Wars don't really accomplish much. But it is also a fairly historical reality that people who are not ready to defend themselves from hostile actions are doomed to elimination. What we are doing now is stupid, I'm not sure that this means that the complete opposite is the right answer either. That's resting an entire philosophy on basically a false dichotomy.
dreamnightwind
(4,775 posts)but has almost nothing to do with our vast military and surveillance establishment. In the rare events they are defending us from anything, it is from blowback from their own actions.
Mostly, they do the bidding of the vast corporations who use our "defense" and "security" institutions to guarantee them access to cheap, unregulated labor markets, and to natural resources anywhere on the planet. Our oil under their sand, and all that.
What's the "other side" you refer to? I honestly don't know what people consider the other side to be. This isn't the old days of the cold war, it's a new era dominated by corporate superpower.
People involved in this work would do well to just walk away, as apparently the guy in the OP did. For many of them, it isn't about what they thought it was about when they signed up.
zipplewrath
(16,698 posts)We have 10 times the military we "need".
As for the "other side", it is always true that a country will have "enemies" of some sort. Who it is can change regularly. And since we have agreements with countries around the world to come to their aid (or oil) their enemies become ours. Currently, the two biggest "threats" to our friends are North Korea and probably Pakistan, maybe Iran. And really, those threats aren't that great.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)truedelphi
(32,324 posts)Duval
(4,280 posts)very strong!! I commend your decision and wish the best for you that life has to offer. Thank you so very much for your post!!
Duval
(4,280 posts)I read it too quickly and at first thought it was You. Sigh!!
blackspade
(10,056 posts)
WillyT
(72,631 posts)
PufPuf23
(9,726 posts)
ReRe
(12,183 posts)Yes, we need to down-size the MIIC. But we do need to keep in mind this: If all of our soldiers threw down their weapons and walked out the door, we would still have to pay for the MIIC. They would just go around that little obstacle by farming out our military to private contractor mercenaries and send us the bill for it. But Bless Brandon Tow for doing it.
Hey, Catherina, this OP is going to take up the rest of my evening. Wow! That's allot of information. Thanks so much. I love to read. 
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)
- I figured that since we're clearing the decks, it needed to be said......
“Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission.
How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror.
I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. ” ~ Alan Moore, V for Vendetta
xocet
(4,372 posts)When Bush turned to the generals and told them to invade Iraq, they should have resigned on the spot.
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)Raksha
(7,167 posts)and hope it goes viral...both the words and the action.
matthews
(497 posts)We are calling on Congress to take immediate action to halt this surveillance and provide a full public accounting of the NSA's and the FBI's data collection programs. We call on Congress to immediately and publicly:
1.Enact reform this Congress to Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act, the state secrets privilege, and the FISA Amendments Act to make clear that blanket surveillance of the Internet activity and phone records of any person residing in the U.S. is prohibited by law and that violations can be reviewed in adversarial proceedings before a public court;
2.Create a special committee to investigate, report, and reveal to the public the extent of this domestic spying. This committee should create specific recommendations for legal and regulatory reform to end unconstitutional surveillance;
3.Hold accountable those public officials who are found to be responsible for this unconstitutional surveillance.
https://optin.stopwatching.us/
Selected Signatories:
18MillionRising - 350.org - Access - American Civil Liberties Union - American Library Association - Americans for Job Security - Applied Research Center - Association for Progressive Communications - Association of Alternative Newsmedia - Association of Research Libraries - Big Bad Lab - Bill of Rights Defense Committee - Bitcoin Foundation - Blog Action Day - Bradley Manning Support Network - Calyx Institute - Campaign for Liberty - Center for Democracy and Technology - Center for Media Justice - Centro de Cultura Luiz Freire - ColorOfChange.org - Competitive Enterprise Institute - Consumer Watchdog - Courage to Resist - CREDO Action - Daily Kos - Defending Dissent - Demand Progress - Detroit Digital Justice Coalition - Digital Fourth - Electronic Frontier Foundation - Electronic Frontiers Australia - EngageMedia - Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) - FIDH - Worldwide Movement for Human Rights - Fight for the Future - Firedoglake - Foundation for Innovation and Internet Freedom - Free Press - Free Software Foundation - Freedom of the Press Foundation - Freedom Works - Gandi.net - Generation Justice - Generation Opportunity - GNOME - Green Party of Rhode Island - Green Party of the United States - Greenpeace USA - Guardian Project - HackThisSite.org - Icelandic Modern Media Initiative - Internet ArchiveLeague of Technical Voters - Learning About Multimedia Project - Libertarian Party - Liberty Coalition - LibrarianShipwreck - Main Street Project - Mansfield North Central Ohio Tea Party Association - Media Alliance - Media Literacy Project - Media Mobilizing Project - MoveOn.org - Mozilla - National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers - National Coalition Against Censorship - National Security Counselors - Occupy Wall Street NYC - OccupyWallSt.org - Open Internet Tools Project - Open Technology Institute at New America Foundation - OpenMedia.org - Participatory Politics Foundation - Partido PIRATA - PEN American Center - Pirate Party of Austria - PolitiHacks - Praxis Project - Privacy and Access Council of Canada - Privacy Camp - Progressive Change Campaign Committee - Progressive Librarians Guild - Public Knowledge - R Street Institute - Reel Grrls - Restore America's Voice - RestoreTheFourth - Revolution Truth - Rights Working Group - Rocky Mountain Civil Liberties Association - RootsAction.org - Tactical Tech - TechFreedom - Telecomix - Tenth Amendment Center - The Other 98% - Tor - Upwell - Urbana Champaign Independent Media Center - WBAI Radio - Whistleblower Defense League - WITNESS - Women in Media & News - World Wide Web Foundation - YourAnonNews
saidsimplesimon
(7,888 posts)suicide. I both love and detest Libertarians who plant stories. Not that this is the case, it's just my own suspicions that nothing is what it seems to be, and no one is who they say they are. "Moscow Rules".
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)He's going to be pissed if someone else wrote the letter.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)FarCenter
(19,429 posts)It's possible he's being pranked.
ConcernedCanuk
(13,509 posts).
.
.
Nothing shows up on Google News or Web for Brandon Toy
It will though, because even though it is a prank - the news mongers will promote this.
CommonDreams needs to supply some answers methinks
OH
just got it
"Dreams"
Like a military contractor is gonna put something like that out there, along with his picture??
Gimme a break - and hundreds of DUers gobbled this down like it was gospel.
Nice "letter" tho - too bad it ain't the truth . . .
CC
hunter
(40,496 posts)He was designing sophisticated radiation-hardened electronics for tanks and other armored vehicles. This was during all the media hype about "neutron bombs" and such. One day he thought to look up what would happen to the people inside those armored vehicles at the levels of radiation they were expected to endure.
He realized the crews exposed to those levels or radiation would all be dead men fighting, survival measured in days, no hope. But the tanks would still be functional...
Before that he hadn't thought much about what sorts of machine he was building, or what his roll in the bigger picture he was. It was just a job. He gave notice shortly after that and went back to school.
It was a very odd class he taught, engineering with a side order of humanities.
We also had a purple-heart veteran in the class who was missing an arm. When class started he was wearing a cosmetic prosthetic, I suspect because he was a little uncomfortable being back in school and didn't want to stand out in the crowd. Somewhere along the way he started wearing his functional plastic and metal prosthetic arm, I think his "coming out" was in this class when he removed the cosmetic arm and shared his story.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)
defacto7
(14,162 posts)Just wow.
pacalo
(24,850 posts)
great white snark
(2,646 posts)How is this news? He wasn't a soldier any more-he was a clerk who quit his job to protest....10 year old news? Allegations?
Man, CommonDreams has got riling up the ungrateful left down to an art form.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Thank you, Mr. Toy!
Thanks for the heads-up, Catherina!
TBF
(36,055 posts)
pasto76
(1,589 posts)he quit his big money job? Not betting on that.
so he was a 13P (Im currently 13M), but deployed as an MP? this is a weird statement from him.
TheJames
(120 posts)having figured out, and thought deeply about why we were in that "war". I had, some months previously, noticed the C-4's parked off to the side on the flight line at Clark AB, where I was stationed. I found out that these were "special flights". They contained coffins. Going "in theater", they were stacked on pallets. Coming "out of theater", they were on racks, so as not to have coffins stacked. I made an appointment with my Commander and told him in no uncertain term that I was no longer willing to assist them in pursuing this war. We talked for about an hour and a half about personal responsibility and choice. Lucky for me, there was a reduction in force going on, and rather than bother with me, he just put me out, "General Discharge, at the convenience of the military".
And, yeah, I didn't think too deeply about war at my previous duty station, Hickam AFB, hard by Pearl Harbor. Hawaii can be so distracting to a 20 year old, raised in the country in rural Louisiana.
It can take awhile to "get your head", as we used to say in the '60's.
Then ensued long talks with my Dad. "What if everyone felt like you? The Russians would be over here in a week," he asked. My reply? "Dad, if everyone felt that way, that would include the Russians and there would be no one to "come over here".
Martin Eden
(15,458 posts)That's a very black & white statement in a world where shades of gray abound, but it's difficult to dispute there is a large measure of truth in it.
How does this happen in a representative democracy?
I think the answer lies in whose interests are being represented, and who is really pulling the strings.
2naSalit
(101,176 posts)the whole article! I didn't know if that was "legal" when I made an OP about it earlier today. You seem to have the knack for getting the OP title right. Glad this is getting all this traffic!
And I agree with everyone who hopes this is the beginning of a trend/movement/change!!
Hutzpa
(11,461 posts)it's sipping out now.
99Forever
(14,524 posts)May they all follow your lead.
snot
(11,598 posts)DemocratForJustice
(78 posts)GREAT piece
Hotler
(13,746 posts)They people of America are number one at doing nothing to stand up against the PTB. A few of us were brave and joined OWS , but we should have had tens of thousands backing us up instead of calling us hippies and turning the other way.
noamnety
(20,234 posts)Enlisted under Reagan, had time in, then out, then in when I was recalled. Then was a contractor, and it took me a very long time to make that leap of walking away from a secure defense contractor job, and take a nondefense related job with a third of the pay.
For those wondering why it took him so long: First it seems the surveillance revelations from Snowden may have been the final straw for him. And for that, I give Snowden a lot of credit. When he went public with the whistleblowing, I thought it was a big issue - that everyone would ignore. I didn't fault him for revealing it, but I did fault him for being naive enough to think he could change anything. I am stunned actually to see that it's influencing the actions of both people at the top of the chain (congress) and people at the bottom (the workers).
And second, for the people who think it's an immediate process: you enlist, you see one thing that feels off, you quit the next morning. Looking at the timing and knowing there's an 8 year enlistment contract (even if you are only serving 2 years active), he may have only been released from the national guard as recently as last year, depending on when his basic training began. Most likely, it was sometime during Obama's presidency at any rate - not something where he waited for Obama to become president just to screw him (uh, after waiting 5 years? seriously guys, that doesn't even make any sense.) That's not a thing you can exactly "resign" from. So the consequences are very different. As a soldier, it's not that I consciously decided "no, I'm not willing to go to jail to make a stand." It was just a thing I couldn't consider as a single parent. I didn't consider then reject it - I just didn't consider it an option to refuse orders, in the same way I don't consider stuffing my entire house into a backpack and carrying it around on my bicycle.
Beyond that, even if the enlistment was over, being on the contractor side gives you a fuller picture of the entire system and makes you consider the role of all the cogs, instead of just your own day to day smaller mission. It takes time to process all of that. It took me a lot of time, and I had a time of thinking "yeah, this probably isn't the most ethical job, but it's a job, and if I leave someone else will just fill it anyway." People upthread have expressed the same sentiment. No point in refusing to work for the defense department because someone else will just take over for you anyway. It takes a long time to work through ethics issues like that, when you have to weigh what you are doing with your life personally against the negative effects on you of walking away from a steady paycheck, if it doesn't even ultimately have an impact on the war machine.
I wonder if the people in this thread have all never had a bad relationship, a divorce or something lesser, where they knew they wanted out, but stayed for some length of time first. I wonder if they have any concept of how it is that women stay so long in abusive relationships - and what it takes to get them mentally to a decision point of taking action.
navarth
(5,927 posts)Sterling Heights isn't that far from here. I'd like to buy this guy a beer.
markiv
(1,489 posts)after Ike's farewell speech last night, i think the whole thing's exposed now
NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)
DissidentVoice
(813 posts)I am a Captain in the Civil Air Patrol, the volunteer Auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force.
I have over 17 years' service. I also served in the Air National Guard and the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary.
CAP is a noncombatant volunteer force that supports the Air Force in some of its noncombat missions (search-and-rescue, aerospace education and cadets). None of us are paid, except for some of the Air Force staff that oversees us. Mostly, though, our missions and practice missions are overseen by Reservists, who get drill time credit for doing so.
We wear a modified version of the AF uniform. However, military personnel are not obligated to salute us, even though many do.
Cadets are not obligated to join the military, however, those who do go in at E-3 (Airman 1st Class) once they complete Basic Training.
What is crazy is this: am I doing good volunteer work in the CAP or am I perpetuating the military-industrial complex?
Believe me, I keep my political beliefs under wraps for the most part (aside from the Obama/Biden bumper sticker on my car), as in my experience the vast majority of my colleagues are ardent Republicans. My former CO at a different unit was a good friend, but he had a near-pathological hatred of the Clintons.
I have mostly enjoyed my CAP service and the people I've served with...as long as politics aren't discussed.
Reading this about Brandon Toy has again brought up the perplexing question of "should I continue or not?"
Like I said, chances are good I'm just crazy.
Catherina
(35,568 posts)In your own time, your conscience will guide you. But if it's prompting you already, I'd start looking at other things that bring you fulfillment, so you have everything worked out if that day comes. Best wishes to you.
DissidentVoice
(813 posts)I have flown as Observer (navigator, guy in the right-hand seat) on operations looking for downed aircraft - that is fulfilling.
Providing a structured environment where young people can be in a safe environment and not be bullied - that is fulfilling.
I love airplanes; virtually anything about them. I always have.
CAP is not like the Air National Guard, where you CAN be called upon to be an instrument of your government's will and you can't do FA about it. We can quit any time and we are forbidden to use weapons. We are also forbidden from direct support of law enforcement because of the Posse Comitatus Act. We are not subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and have never been allowed to discriminate against membership because of race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.
The Coast Guard Auxiliary is kind of like that too, except in a maritime environment (also, no cadets).
I came from a military family. My stepfather served in West Germany when the Soviets sealed off the East. My uncle was in the Air Force around the time of the Berlin Airlift; I think he took part.
I grew up just as the Vietnam Veterans were coming home. I could see both sides of the story. It was immoral as hell that our government got us involved over there and got so many killed, and that the draft was massively unfair. However, those that just did their bit, came home and wanted to move on with life didn't deserve the treatment they got.
I am a Lutheran and firmly believe in the Augustinian doctrine of "just war." If we are attacked, defending ourselves is just. Stopping an Adolf Hitler is just. Deposing Saddam Hussein was not, especially since we propped him up for so many years.
However, I also have relatives who are Mennonites and will not take "the sword" under any circumstances. One of my uncles did Alternative Service during the Korean War working in a VA Hospital in Seattle and did it conscientiously. I think that is one thing that helps me see the pacifist side of things...too many are too quick just to dismiss them as "cowards" or whatever, when the fact is that it is damn tough and courageous to maintain such beliefs, especially with a rah-rah, rally round the Flag, bomb the hell out of them, Administration is in office.
One thing is for certain...we sure as hell didn't listen to Dwight Eisenhower when he warned us about the Military-Industrial Complex. Hardcore right-wingers now dismiss Ike's admonition...after all, what did a five-star General know that Karl Rove, et. al., didn't?
Thanks for allowing my silly rant.
felix_numinous
(5,198 posts)and for them to know that they are brave and to be admired for acting in the best interests for the country.
None of us support actions that would endanger lives, but there is no better way for a corrupt system to change but from within as well as without. I hope that more and more people of conscience are inspired to take wise actions within their sphere of influence to help this country get back on an honest track.
Thank you again, Catherina!
B Stieg
(2,410 posts)for your early career. You've made a whole lot of tough moves to save your butt since then.
It's all part of the journey.