First Ammendment Rights in the Military Shorn Away With the Hair

We received a call from our daughter-in-law Haley last night telling us that our son Joel had safely arrived at his base to begin his enlistment with the Navy. She was told that his family would not be allowed to write to him until he has permission for them to do so. Someone with a uniform and a Napoleon complex stood by his shoulder and told him exactly what to say. Haley said that she could tell that Joel was surprised and unhappy with this turn of events. Obviously this is not what the jolly recruiter sells to young folks looking for a way to pay school loans and earn a steady pay check. In fact, it occurs to me that this is why the Bush administration won't spent any money for education; it's a good way to beef up the military through desperation.
My father was a Marine recruiter for nearly all of my life with him. (He died in a single car accident when I was 16, a result of his intoxication. He was an alchoholic from the time of his return from Vietnam until his death.) In the last few years of his life he switched his "MO" to corrections and was a warden at the brig at the Marine Corp Training Depot in San Diego. I remember clearly his fretting over meeting his monthy quota. They sell a good line of bull and laugh with each other about it. Don't get me wrong, I still love my dad and miss him desperately. He never got to meet a single one of his grandchildren or see me graduate from high school or walk me down the aisle when I was married. I am now 9 years older than he was when he died. I have been married for 12 more years than my parents were. But, I sure understand his need to self medicate.
I know that boot camp is all about turning individuals into a unit. They do this by breaking down the individual and blanket punishment meant to either bring together or tear apart the group. (My father was a drill instructor fro a brief time when I was very young.) Their reasoning is that the robots need to be able to follow orders without question. At times, if the commander is a decent one, it could mean the difference between life and death. It also takes away from each and every one of the human beings in the unit.
One of the possitive things about my father's death is it took me away from a military base setting and put me into a situation where I learned to question, ALWAYS question, authority. My background of being raised to consider the group made me aware that there was a huge segment of the population that was not being represented by the government in charge. I saw through the lies we were being told. I understood the effort the government was making to generate fear and paranoia. The only difference between then and now is that then Communists were coming to get us, now it's terrorists. So much bull shit.
I was reading on Truthout (www.truthout.org) this morning an article from the Seattle Post Intellegencer about Ehren Watada, a young man that was able to hang on to enough of his individuality to refuse to be deployed to Iraq. He considers the invasion illegal, which it is. Are we having fun now, supporting illegal actions by our government with our tax dollars? Also, we can pay to prosecute a young man who is brave enough to point out the hypocrisy and immorality of it all.
My guess is that Joel was kept from actually having a conversation because of the embarassing revelations made by those darned soldiers that tattled to the world about abuse, torture, rape and other injustices commited in the name of "not having to fight this war on our soil". I hope my Joel will become one of the tattlers. He is bright and articulate and I hope that he takes careful note of everything that goes on.
In the mean time I complain on at least monthly basis to the powers that be. One of my favorite whipping boys is U. S. Rep. Greg Walden from our district. This guy apparently has had a microchip implanted by the Bushies. If it's morally repusive, he'll support it. About two weeks ago there was an article in our local paper that had Rep. Walden whining about the lack of Federal funding for one of his pet projects. I couldn't just shut up. I emailed and asked him where he thought the Federal tax dollars were all going. No response.
Anyway, keep a positive thought for the loved ones of those who have made the stupid choce of enlisting in the military. Stupid or not we love them anyway. And if you have the chance remind everyone that the first ammenment still is in effect unless there was a "judicial opinion" to the contrary!