The Soldier Who Wouldn’t Fight

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“Anyone would have inhibitions about taking someone’s life, but there are a variety of ways that we’re indoctrinated and desensitised. The esprit de corps, the sense of pride they instil in us and each other, sometimes it seems like some sort of monastic brotherhood or cult. You learn unwavering devotion to each other. When we’re fighting it’s not for the cause or country. It’s for each other, for the person to your right and your left.

“That was the hardest thing, leaving my friends, people from my unit, having them go without me, dedicated, hard working people whose values are being exploited by the US government.” Jeremy Hinzman left his unit when it was sent to Iraq, having spent two years applying for conscientious objector status. He applied before his unit was sent to Afghanistan, requesting a transfer to a non-combat role. It was deliberately mishandled, the authorities claiming they had never received it but later giving the papers back to him in a package with a further application and advice to drop the matter.

One of two US soldiers who left the army and applied for political asylum in Canada on the grounds of refusal of his conscientious objector status, Jeremy now has a support base around the world, with his website, jeremyhinzman.net, having received ver 30,000 visits since it's launch in march.

In a recent post by british activist, Wildfire Jo, his time in the Military was described as training in the "dehumanisation of the people in future warzones". Jo quoted Jeremy as having said “It’s easy to get one person to shoot another. In the first week we shoot at black circles, learn how to aim, how to breathe, and the next week there are shoulders added and then torsos and then they become pop up targets, but all the time they’re targets, not people, and shooting them is a reflex."

"Recruitment starts in high school with glossy brochures, recruiters like car salesman cold calling to lists of students without a ticket into university, he explained, with an underclass maintained for precisely that purpose. Someone asked about the draft. The draft hasn’t been active since the Vietnam war but young men are still required to register for it. Failing to register with the Selective Service System means ineligibility for federal student aid , federal job training or civil service employment from the post office to the parks service and in some states you can’t get into state colleges."

I remember watching a documentry made shortly after September 11th 2001 about three "working class" americans, who'd signed up for duty in the Army. It followed there progress through basic training, and ended with two heading to Iraq and one going AWOL.