COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Leaving Military: Veterans
Veterans expose the recruiters' lies
Jon Van Camp, The Socialist Worker
January 26, 2007
AS A high school teacher in a working-class school, I come across students
all the time who are being courted by military recruiters. Often these
students are personally against the war in Iraq and despise the Bush
administration, but they fail to see the connection between right-wing
policies and "the toughest job they'll ever love."
An antidote to this attitude comes in the form of a powerful new
documentary out on DVD, The Ground Truth by Hollywood director and peace
activist Patricia Foulkrod. The film focuses exclusively on Iraq war
veterans--many of whom are now prominent antiwar activists such as Aidan
Delgado, Jimmy Massey and Camilo Mejía--and allows them to describe the
brutal reality of the war and their disillusionment with the military.
We are lead through the various steps soldiers go through from recruitment
to combat in Iraq to the grueling aftermath of war. Veterans first recount
how they were misled and lied to by recruiters when they joined.
One soldier was told they were not sending any more troops to Iraq so there
was no need to worry. Others were enticed with promises of college benefits
and training. As one veteran pointed out, however, no recruiter talked
about your primary purpose in the military--which is to kill.
One of the most shocking parts of the film is the description of basic
training. Soldiers are consistently desensitized to death and killing.
Realistic video games allow soldiers to simulate battle while killing
cartoon characters.
The cadences that the new recruits sing as they march are chilling: "Ring
the bell inside the schoolhouse. See those kiddies gather round. Lock and
load with your 240. Mow those little motherf----rs down."
Even those soldiers who were shocked when they heard this found themselves
singing along to lyrics like these. When they get to Iraq, the soldiers
encounter killing for real.
Incredible footage depicts the ease with which human beings are mowed down
from a distance. One scene shows the view from what looks like a mechanical
drone, which drops a bomb and annihilates at least 50 people instantaneously.
One veteran describes his torment at having killed an innocent woman who
was carrying a white flag. Another describes how a soldier slows down a
vehicle to let a child cross the road, then speeds it up to run the child
over. The incident is shrugged off because military regulations prohibit
vehicles from slowing down or swerving to avoid civilians.
After the soldiers return, they find that far from being a benefit, their
military tour has destroyed a part of them. Soldiers talk about the limbs
they lost, and the physical scars and mutilation. But even worse are the
emotional scars.
One veteran describes getting in a fight at a bar and instinctively pulling
out his gun and pulling the trigger. Only a malfunctioning weapon prevented
a tragedy and a long prison term.
Jimmy Massey describes how he went to the Veterans Administration hospital
for help with post-traumatic stress disorder. When he tells the
psychologist he has trouble dealing with all the innocent people he saw
killed, the psychologist tells him he will be unable to help him because
they do not deal with conscientious objectors.
Many of the veterans in the film are members of Iraq Veterans Against the
War, and the film describes their journey from disillusioned veterans to
activists. Camilo Mejía goes to prison because he refused to return to the
war in Iraq. Others are shown participating in protests and speaking out
around the country.
As one veteran said, these veterans still care about duty, but their real
duty was not in Iraq--it is fighting against the war here at home.
Ultimately, the beauty of The Ground Truth may be its impact on those who
watch it.
I showed this film to my 11th grade World History classes before winter
break. After break, we had a discussion about it, and at least half a dozen
kids told me they had been seriously considering the military, and at least
one was ready to enlist, but after seeing this film they said they would
never join.
Hopefully, this film and others like it can continue to have an impact like
this.
This archive consists of a topically organized selection of
articles culled by members of the Counter-Recruitment List Serve from printed
publications and web sites. The archive is not complete. We have chosen
material relevant to the work of