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Why did I enlist?
1. Money - the pay was higher than the retail work I was in.
2. School - training and money for college
But I came out brainwashed that going to war 7000 miles away was protecting US freedoms. That everything I was doing was noble somehow.
1. Money - the pay was higher than the retail work I was in.
2. School - training and money for college
But I came out brainwashed that going to war 7000 miles away was protecting US freedoms. That everything I was doing was noble somehow.
What I saw was beautiful land marred by ugly military bases and machinery. Scared people being radicalized to blow themselves up to try to make us leave. People whose hearts and minds we were supposed to sway hating us for the garbage way we treated them.
And to be fair if foreign soldiers invaded my country in order to destroy local crime lords, but killed my family and friends in the process, I'd want to take up arms against them too. At the very least I'd never forgive them.
Basic training, boot camp, etc is a program of psychological indoctrination. Cult training to the extreme. How else can you train someone to treat a commander like a God and run head first into gunfire without a second thought at their say so?
To kill without hesitation requires being broken, either before or after training. This is partly why the suicide rates of vets are so high.
An "instructor" once told me (paraphrased) "I told the mother and child to halt, she was crying over her husband who'd been shot and killed. Her and her child began walking towards us and we thought they could be wearing an explosive vest under their clothes..."
"She was clearly in pain, and wouldn't stop, but I also had a responsibility to protect my team. I fired.
When you get home you smile at your family, hug your spouse, laugh and say you're welcome when they thank you for your service. So they don't have to suffer with you."
When you get home you smile at your family, hug your spouse, laugh and say you're welcome when they thank you for your service. So they don't have to suffer with you."
"When the nightmares wake you up at night, when you're alone and their faces are as clear as the moment it happened. That is when you grieve. That is when you cry. Because you know that what happened was wrong, and you are the only one that has to suffer for it at home."
"Let them be in ignorance, because you signed that paper with the intention of protecting them. This is the only real chance you'll get."
I never killed anyone. But I saw people die. Was close enough to feel the force from rocket explosions and the earthquake of gun fire. Nothing glorious about it. So if you wonder why I am Never War, and why a vote for war is a vote for Evil, this is all I can offer.
